By Bill Felker My dream world today was a sunlit April woods at sunset time, beyond which were immense misty valleys. –Charles Burchfield, Journal The Moon, Sun and Stars The Second Week of Middle Spring The Gilded Goldfinch Moon waxes throughout the period, reached apogee, its position farthest from Earth at 2 p.m. on April 7, and enters its second quarter at 1:48 a.m. on April 9. Rising in the middle of the day and setting before sunrise, this moon is overhead in the evening. On April 10, the sun reaches about 65 percent of its way to summer solstice. And the field and garden day is increasing at an average rate of two minutes per day. Late in the evening, look for the twins of Gemini in the western half of the sky. A little farther west, almost directly above Orion, the brightest star is Capella. Along the southwestern horizon, the most prominent star is Sirius, the Dog Star of middle summer. Hydra fills almost the entire southern horizon. Behind Hydra, Libra has risen from the southeast, Sagittarius on its heels. Ahead of Hydra, Monoceros moves into the west below the Dog Star, and the Milky Way settles into the sunset even as it rises with the first stars of Cygnus in the northeast. Weather Trends Although the April 11 front is usually a relatively mild “sandwich front,” nestled between the April 6 system and the wet and windy April 16 front, April’s third week is expected to be quite turbulent, thanks to full moon on the 16th and lunar perigee on the 19th. Be prepared to protect tender plantings and blooming fruit trees from frost. And there is pollen in your future this week. Allergy season is here throughout the nation. During April, trees are in full flower throughout the Central Plains, the Northeast, the Northwest and the Rocky Mountains. In the Southeast, all the grasses are coming into bloom. The April 11 high-pressure ridge typically sweeps the northern pollen across the East, and the low pressure that precedes the high pressure brings up the pollen from the South. The increase in pollen can increase the chances of colds, bronchitis and pneumonia. Zeitgebers: Events in Nature that Tell the Time of Year This is the average week for violets to bloom from Washington D.C., all the way across the nation to central California. When violets flower, that means that swamp buttercups, toad trillium, cowslip, trout lily, small-flowered buttercup and ground ivy will also blossom. Downy woodpeckers are mating. Baby groundhogs have come out of their dens. Water rushes and purple loosestrife, water lilies and pickerel plants have suddenly produced foliage. Water striders are courting now, and small diving water beetles hunt for food. Crab apple and cherry blossom time begins in the Lower Midwest and usually lasts into the last week of the month. Columbines and bleeding hearts are bushy and nearly a foot tall. Bird migrations intensify as April deepens. Look for barn swallows, rough-winged swallows and purple martins. Often the passage of a high-pressure system will bring migrants through your yard. Redbud branches turn violet as their buds stretch and crack. The trillium grandiflorum is starting to flower. The first yellow trout lilies of the year come out. Star of Holland and the fritillaries bloom. Cowslip flowers appear below the ash and sugar maples in full bloom. In the Field and Garden Japanese beetle grubs now move to the surface of the ground to feed. They are fat, white and shaped like crescents. Look for them when you are working in the garden. Across the country, farmers are seeding oats and spring barley. Field corn planting is in full swing throughout the South and the central states, cotton planting along the Gulf. Mounds begin to show on your lawn as moles wake up and hunt grubs and worms. When the moles start working, flea season begins for pets and livestock. And flies are infesting the barn. Rhubarb leaves are bigger than a big man’s hand, the stalks hinting about rhubarb pie. In your yard, the grass is long enough to cut. This week is one of the busiest times of the marketing year as Roman Easter (April 17), Orthodox Easter (April 24), Passover (April 15-23) and New Year’s Day for immigrants from Cambodia, Thailand and Laos. (April 14-16) all approach. Mind and Body The S.A.D. Index (which measures, on a scale of 1 to 100, the forces thought to be associated with Seasonal Affective Disorder) falls into benign 30s until April 11, when it starts to rise because of the approach of full moon. Almanack Classics A Wild Ride: A True Story by Linda Sauder, Shiloh, Ohio One lovely day in August, my 14-year-old brother, John, and I drove our old horse Tony and the farm wagon one-half mile up our country road to a main highway. We had a load of fresh produce from our truck patch to sell by the roadside. Mom was rather unsure if we could handle it alone, but we convinced her we’d be fine. After a hot, busy afternoon, we were ready to head for home. We still had some produce left but decided to leave anyway. My brother untied the horse from the telephone pole across the road, and I helped him hitch up. Then, just when John was ready to climb on the wagon beside me, Tony’s patience ran out. With a toss of his head, he jerked away from my brother and took off for home. John did his best to hold him back as he ran along beside, but he lost his grip on the reins, and we were gone, leaving him in a cloud of dust. We tore down the road, and there I sat with no reins, just hanging on. Thump, thump, thump! What was that? I glanced back and gasped. We’d forgotten to close the tailgate, and our leftover produce was dancing merrily out of the wagon onto the road. But we sailed on. We were fast approaching our lane and the horse wasn’t even slowing down. But without a pause, he swerved in. We took the corner on two wheels but made it (the last of the produce escaped). Down the lane, lickity split. Imagine Pop’s thoughts when he heard us come tearing in like that. “Boy drives like a teenager,” he thought disgustedly as we sailed past the farmhouse and came to a panting halt in front of the garage. Believe me, I wasted no time getting off that wagon. When I stood there, still shaking, I remembered my brother. I saw him coming in the distance, walking, unconcerned and gathering up our wayward produce. Send your memory stories to Poor Will, P.O. Box 431, Yellow Springs, OH 45387. Five dollars will be paid to any author whose story appears in this column. Poor Will’s Almanack for 2022 is still available, containing the S.A.D. Index, as well as natural history essays for each week of the year, monthly weather reports, some of the best reader stories of all time, and a monthly farm and garden calendar. Purchase your copy from Amazon or, for an autographed Almanack, order from www.poorwillsalmanack.com. Or send $22 to Poor Will, P.O. Box 431, Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387. ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK’S SCKRAMBLER In order to estimate your SCKRAMBLER IQ, award yourself 15 points for each word unscrambled, adding a 50-point bonus for getting all of them correct. If you find a typo, add another 15 points to your IQ. UEEYBLBRR BLUEBERRY YRREBYAB BAYBERRY REBYRAWSRT STRAWBERRY SAREBPRERY RASPBERRY KCALBYRERB BLACKBERRY BERYRULM MULBERRY YOBNESEBRYR BOYSENBERRY YRBRLKHCUEE HUCKELBERRY WBEDRERY DEWBERRY OOEEYRRBSG GOOSEBERRY THIS WEEK’S RHYMING SCKRAMBLER HSIULB YIOHSB DLHHCIIS VLHSIA NABHSI HIANSV FHSMAI DADIKHS NINSAMH ERIPHS Copyright 2022 – W. L. Felker |
