By Bill Felker

 Stay together,

Learn the flowers,

Go light. – Gary Snyder, from “For the Children”

The Moon and Planets

The First Week of Late Spring

The Gilded Goldfinch Moon, having turned most of the goldfinches and daffodils gold, becomes the Warbler Migration Moon at 3:28 p.m. on April 30. Rising before dawn and setting in the evening, this moon passes overhead throughout the day, encouraging fish to feed in the late morning, especially as the cool fronts of April 28 and May 2 approach.

Late Spring pushes the land toward summer. The sun reaches a declination of 15 degrees on May 1; that’s a little over 60 percent of the way to summer solstice.

Now Spica is the star of May nights, Virgo above it, Corvus below. Libra is becoming more prominent in the southeast, Lupus below it, Sagittarius behind it.  Arcturus moves overhead, announcing the close of frost season in the Lower Midwest. A star chart or an on-line map of the stars should help you find all of these.

The Eta Aquarid shower appears across the southeast in Pegasus after midnight until May 28. The moon will provide the darkest skies for meteor watching in the first days of May.

Weather Trends

From May 1 to June 1, only a few mornings of light frost occur in this part of the country. Chances of freezing temperatures around the follow dates are May l: 45 percent; May 5: 35 percent; May 10: 25 percent; May 15:15 percent; May 20: 10 percent; May 25: 5 percent; May 31: 2 percent.

In advance of the last front of April, highs in the 90s become possible as far north as Chicago, and the chances of a high in the 80s pass the 20 percent mark at lower elevations along the 40th Parallel. The warmth, however, comes at the cost of rain five years in 10, and the last days of April are typically some of the wettest days of the fourth month’s fourth week. New moon on the April 30 is certain to bring turbulent weather near that date. And the first three days of May are frequently marked by a “Lilac Winter” high-pressure system that chills one of the most fragrant times of the year.

Zeitgebers: Events in Nature that Tell the Time of Year

Bluebell, toad trillium, bellwort, meadow rue, ragwort, columbine, white violet, winter cress, small-flowered buttercup, large-flowered trillium, wood betony, miterwort, jack-in-the-pulpit and rue anemone are still flowering in average years. Wild phlox, wild geranium, wild ginger, celandine, spring cress, sedum, golden Alexander, thyme-leafed speedwell, garlic mustard, and common fleabane are budding or opening.

Lilacs are in full bloom, the peonies are budding, maples are leafing out, buckeyes come into full bloom, and dandelions have gone to seed. The tree line is alive either with new pale leaves or orange buds and gold flowers. There are buds on the black raspberries, mock orange, and mulberries. Dogwood blossoms take over after the redbud flowers have gone.

Yellow–flowered wood sorrel blossoms in the yard and garden, telling you to look for ruby-throated hummingbirds to arrive at your feeders. When you see redbud trees getting seedpods, then go looking for horseshoe crabs mating along the Atlantic coastline. Or listen for the first crickets of the year singing in a field near your house.

Birders might see the rare sandpipers and thrushes and should be scouting the woods for the great May migration of warblers.

In the Field and Garden

The dark moon favors traditional worm control methods, such as liming the pasture, planting garlic and plowing in mustard. In the fields, fight armyworms, cutworms, sod webworms and corn borers. Attack carpenter bees around the barn and weevils in the alfalfa.

When buds appear on black raspberries, mock orange and mulberries, then soybean planting is in full swing, and when you see pink spirea in bloom, then lettuce and radishes should be big enough for salad. When lilacs reach full bloom, then look for the first lilac borers to emerge. The peach tree borers will be coming soon, too.

It’s not too late to go to the local nursery and purchase small shrubs and trees in full bloom, and May (especially under the dark moon) is an excellent time for adding to your fruit tree collection.

Ramadan ends on May 2. Plan now to market lambs and kids to the halal market. Next comes Cinco de Mayo (May 5), then Mother’s Day (May 8).

Mind and Body

The S.A.D. Index (which measures the forces thought to be associated with Seasonal Affective Disorder on a scale from 1 to 100) rises into the moderate 40s for several days as May arrives. It then falls throughout May’s first week into the spring-feverish 20s.

Almanack Classics

Lightning Strikes Twice!

by Peggy Hiller, of Van Wert, Ohio

In 1947, I was 16 years old and keeping house for Lewis and Margaret Cooper and their two sons, Gary, age 8, and Jerry, age 3.

One evening when the family was all together, the boys thought they could take their sitter down, so we got in a tussle. It was a stormy night, and this was our entertainment. I got them down and tied their hands and went over to sit in the big easy chair to relax.

All at once the lightning cracked. I never got to sit down!

Lightning came through the telephone line, hit me in the hip, tossed me across the room and set the curtains on fire. Lewis jumped up, pulled the curtains down, stomped out the fire while I untied the boys. Scared us, but we were fine.

Then in the mid-1950s, I was doing dishes in an old sink with a metal strip around it, in my own house. Just had my arms lying across the metal strip when lightning struck outside and came through the pipes.

I screamed. My arms were numb to the elbows. I scared my children and myself.

When it storms to this day, I am still jumpy, won’t do dishes or talk on the phone. I still have problems with my hip, a hot spot. Lucky me!

***

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.

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.

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THIS WEEK’S RHYMING SCKRAMBLER

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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.

Copyright 2022 – W. L. Felker