By Bill Felker

 To loll back, in a misty hammock, swung

From tip to tip of a slim crescent moon

That gems some royal-purple night of June,

To dream of songs that never have been sung

Since the first stars were stilled and God was young.... – James Whitcomb Riley

The Moon and Planets

The Third Week of Deep Summer

The Fledgling Moon became a full Supermoon (perigee plus full) at 1:38 a.m. on July 13 and reached perigee, its position closest to Earth, at 4 a.m. the same day. Rising in the night and setting in the morning, this moon passes overhead near midnight, making that the most favorable time for fishing, especially as the mid-July cool front approaches. The arrival of cool fronts on the 14th and 21st will cause the barometer to dip and should stimulate more angling action.

Saturn rises with Capricorn after midnight. Jupiter comes up several hours later in Cetus, followed by Mars in Aries, both planets prominent in the southeast. Venus is the latest, as well as the brightest of the morning stars, climbing out of the east before dawn.

In the late evenings of Deep Summer, the teapot-like star formation of Libra lies in the south, followed by Scorpius and its red center, Antares. Sagittarius, the Archer, follows the Scorpion in the southeast. Above the Archer, the Milky Way sweeps up toward Cassiopeia in the north.

Weather Trends

Mid-July weather is relatively stable in most years (hot and dry with an occasional thunderstorm), but the likelihood or rain increases as the July 21 front moves across the United States. Thanks to this weather system, highs in the mild 70s are recorded about a fourth of all the years in the Lower Midwest. The nights around the 23rd bring relatively cool sleeping conditions more often than at any time in July.

The Shooting Stars

The Southern Delta Aquarid meteor shower began on July 12 and continues through August 25. The meteors of this shower cross the sky at the rate of about 20 per hour. To find them, look south in the vicinity of Aquarius and Pisces.

Zeitgebers: Events in Nature that Tell the Time of Year

Sycamore trees shed their bark, marking the center of summer. Hemlock and parsnips turn brown and brittle in the sun. Peaches ripen, a sign that strawberries are coming in throughout Ontario, and peonies are flowering on homesteads along the northern rim of the Great Lakes.

When you see the foliage of multiflora roses yellowing, you know that poisonous white snakeroot is budding in and around the woodlots. And when wild grapes ripen, then begin the dry onion harvest.

When the green fruit of the Osage orange is big and fat enough to come down in thunderstorm winds, then watch for swallows to be congregating on the high wires, resting on their way south.

Morning birdsong continues to diminish, making way for the increase of insect volume. Blackberries are August size this week, but still green in the North. Milkweed pods emerge almost everywhere; they will burst at the approach of middle fall, just 80 days from now.

Once their young are grown, adult geese start getting restless (you’ll see them flying back and forth and hear them honking). Watch for changes in the number and kinds of birds visiting your feeders. Listen for changes in bird calls. Keep track of the presence of fledglings, noting dates of their appearance. That way, you can create a general timetable for the breeding season in your yard.

Field and Garden Time

Wild cherries darken on the wild cherry trees, alerting farmers and gardeners that potato leafhoppers could be causing serious damage to the potatoes.

The most intense period of heat stress begins for summer crops. San Jose scale and flathead borers are active on flowering fruit trees.

Double-crop beans are being planted after wheat harvest. July can be peak parasite month in the fields. Drench lambs and ewes together (it’s easier) every 30 days as long as they are on lush pasture. If possible, keep lambs in a field that has not been used since winter.

Watch for brown spots in the lawn, signs of the sod webworm. Give plenty of water to the infected area and treat with pyrethrums. And don’t cut the lawn too short while the summer is at its hottest; let it rest a little longer than you would in June and cut it high.

Mid-July rains can cause soybean root rot and leaf yellowing. Japanese beetles reach major levels in the soybeans.

Calculate estimated losses in productivity due to late planting, drought, insect infestations, hail and other problems. Plan counter-measures such as increased production in other areas of your farm and garden operation.

Mind and Body

The S.A.D. Stress Index (which measures the forces thought to be associated with Seasonal Affective Disorder on a scale from 1 to 100) reached a high of 54 on July 13, thanks to Deep Summer’s Dog Day heat. But then it declines to only half that. by July 20.

Almanack Classics

Duck Killer

A true story by Susan Perkins from Hardtimes Farm, Kentucky

Two summers ago, my daughter-in-law Brandi came running into the house screaming, “I think a snake’s getting the baby ducks!”

My daughter Laurie and I jumped up and ran out to the shed where Brandi said she heard a bunch of glass breaking. A mother duck had made her nest in a cardboard box stored on the top of some wooden shelves used for storing my canning jars.

It was real dark in the shed, but I could make out part of a snake in the filtered light that made its way through the oak boards covering the building. When our eyes became adjusted to the dark, we could not believe what we saw.

A huge - and I mean huge - cow snake had coiled around the mother duck twice and was squeezing the life out of her. His intention was not to eat her, but rather all her newly hatched babies. The mother duck must have fought him like the devil to cause him to try to kill her. And kill he would have, if I hadn’t grabbed his tail, startling him enough to uncoil, allowing the duck to break free. The snake disappeared through the cracks in the floor, falling beneath the building.

Three of the babies were dead, crushed from the fight that had taken place. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would never have believed a snake could kill a big duck by playing python. We moved mother and the remaining babies to a safe location, as I was sure the snake would return to finish the job.

Send your memory stories to Poor Will, P.O. Box 431, Yellow Springs, OH 45387. Four dollars will be paid to any author whose story appears in this column.

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Copyright 2022 – W. L. Felker