Above the arching jimson-weeds flare twos

And twos of sallow-yellow butterflies,

Like blooms of lorn primroses blowing loose,

When autumn winds arise. – James Whitcomb Riley

The Third Week of Late Summer

The Moon and Stars

The Soaring Swallow Moon waned into its final quarter on Aug. 18 and reaches apogee, its position farthest from Earth, on Aug. 22 at 5 p.m.

Rising in the middle of the night and setting in the middle of the day, this moon passes overhead in. the morning, encouraging activity in all creatures after sunup.

Now Libra has moved deep into the west by 11 p.m., with Scorpio following close behind along the horizon. The Northern Cross (or Cygnus the Swan) has moved directly overhead and will tell the time of year throughout the autumn until Orion appears in the east once again.

Weather Trends

The weather of the middle of August is often uneventful until the cool front of the 17th arrives. Even this front, however, is a mild high-pressure system, often bringing heat rather than cold to most of the nation. At higher elevations in the Northwest, on the other hand, this front can bring frost and light snow.

After the Aug. 24 front, the likelihood of severe heat in the nation’s midsection is only half of what it was at the beginning of August, and this late-August high-pressure system brings chances for light frost along the Canadian border. Across the central states and the South, however, this front brings little change.

Zeitgebers: Events in Nature that Tell the Time of Year

The third week of August is the week in which the Judas trees often show patches of bright orange in the otherwise solid green of maples. It is the week that elms, box elders and catalpas start to wear thin, and showers of black walnut leaves foretell autumn.

Buckeye leaves are browning under the high canopy. Scarlet has appeared in the sumac, Virginia creeper and poison ivy. Redbuds and cottonwoods can be yellowing from the heat. It is high bloom for velvetleaf, jimsonweed, prickly mallow, wild lettuce, ironweed and wingstem, but teasel and tall bellflower time is over. Elderberries are ready for wine.

In August, the last spicebush swallowtails visit the garden. Tiger swallowtails and giant swallowtails often remain into September. Murmurations of starlings become more common, and long flocks of blackbirds follow the harvest.

In the Field and Garden

Most summer tomato plants, set in the ground around Memorial Day, are producing fruit. Before frost, pick and preserve some marjoram, sage, clover and fennel to feed to your ewes and does after birthing. Some owners say these herbs stimulate increased milk production. Also collect and freeze colostrum for your winter lambs. Plant or divide lilac bushes. Prune your privet hedges.

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) remains in the mild 20s and 30s until new moon time on the 27th, when a high of 44 suggests some danger of S.A.D.

On the other hand, as the summer progresses, look for the first signs of a pre-autumn surge in energy and euphoria. This surge may reflect an ancient biological trigger that helps people prepare for winter; take advantage of it to finish your summer projects.

Almanack Classics

An Embarrassing Pickin’

by Edna Mae Hale, from Rensselaer, Ind.

Back in 1949, my dad married a woman named Carol. He met her and her sister Claire when they came to our house, bringing eggs for sale. Carol and my dad got married that fall, 1949.

I was just 6 years old then. We moved to the next hill over from where we used to live. They called it Pine Ridge or Dry Ridge. I like the name Pine Ridge better.

When then I was 11 or 12 years old, a lot of us would get together and go berry pickin’. So one day, everybody wanted to go pick berries.

I wore dresses and skirts back then. I didn’t have no pants. So, one of Carol’s brothers let me use one of his old pants. I thought I had it made. We got in a berry patch. And we were laughing. And having fun. And picking berries.

But all of a sudden, the back of my pants ripped out. We were far away from the house, and we decided to spend the night with some people who owned a store. I was too embarrassed to tell the woman there about my pants was tore. I tried to walk so she wouldn’t see them because I was so embarrassed.

The next morning at breakfast, it was even worse because there was even more people there. After breakfast, I was so glad to go home. Some of Carol’s brothers got their kicks out of my embarrassment. They sure thought it was funny.

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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.

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