Our November day itself is like spring water. It is melted frost, dissolved snow. There is a chill in it and an exhilaration also. The forenoon is all morning and the afternoon all evening. The shadows seem to come forth and to revenge themselves upon the day. The sunlight is diluted with darkness. The colors fade from the landscape, and only the sheen of the river lights up the gray and brown distance. – John Burroughs

The Third Week of Late Fall

The Moon, Sun and Stars

On Nov. 14, the Robin Migration Moon reached lunar apogee (when the Moon is farthest from Earth) at 2 a.m. It entered its final quarter at 8:27 a.m. on Nov. 16. On the 23rd, it becomes the Goose Gathering Moon and reaches lunar perigee at 5 p.m. on the 25th.

After dark, find Cassiopeia and Cepheus almost overhead between the Milky Way and the North Star. The Big Dipper will lie along the northern horizon. Due south, the scattered star groups of Pisces and Aquarius wander above the tree line, anchored by Fomalhaut.

Weather Trends

Although the Nov. 16 weather system (the fourth major high-pressure system of the month) can be gentle, sometimes it brings highs only in the teens or even 20s as far south as Kentucky. After the front moves through, favorable harvest conditions typically follow.

The fifth major high to cross the nation in November usually begins to complicate the holiday travel season, and the chances for deep snow increase in the North. Like all the fronts of November and December, this one pushes the hard-freeze line well into the South. New moon on the 23rd intensifies the likelihood of cold.

Zeitgebers: Events in Nature that Tell the Time of Year

Euonymus berries split and reveal their orange seeds, beech leaves fall, and winter wheat is often 2-4 inches tall in the fields. Craneflies are half grown; they become more obvious as some of the few insects out in the cool weather, spinning in the sun.

In a warm fall, spring’s new henbit can be budding. But decorative pear leaves often fall near this date, creating a major change in the urban landscape.

Beech, honeysuckles, boxwood, forsythia, and the strongest of the maples, Osage, pears, and sycamores keep scattered color in the landscape past Thanksgiving. When Early Winter arrived between from Dec. 8-15, however, it took out almost all the holdouts.

The first rutting period for deer usually comes to a close this week, lessening the chances that deer will run in front of your car.

In the Field and Garden

Feed the lawn – fall is a better time than in the spring – the winter’s rain and snow, freezing and thawing will gently work the fertilizer through the soil. Work gypsum into the soil where salt, used to melt winter’s ice, may damage plantings. Mulch the wet perennial beds to prevent drying, January’s heaving, and cold damage.

This is a good time for setting in all your indoor bulbs like amaryllis and paperwhites. If you plant them now, they should grow well as dark moon waxes. The week is also excellent for all livestock maintenance activities, especially worming, vaccinations, crutching and facing ewes, dipping for parasites and trimming feet.

Mind and Body

New moon on the 23rd is likely to increase Seasonal Affective Disorder for people who are having an adverse reaction to the collapse of the leaf canopy. And rheumatism increases as the weather grows colder, often foretelling precipitation; aches and pains may flare up the most at the approach of the Nov. 20 cold front. The S.A.D. Index reflects these issues and more as it climbs steadily throughout the week, reaching a wintry 91 by Nov. 22.

Almanack Literature

A Seismological Alert

By Clarence Dinnen, Jamestown, Ohio

This story has been passed down to me by my mother. It is about her father, my grandfather. I have no recollection of my grandparents as they died before or shortly after I was born. I was born in 1931 BC (before cholesterol).

My grandfather was an outdoorsman. He loved to hunt and fish. One of his favorite meals that he prepared was roast possum with sweet potatoes. My grandmother would not eat it.

He owned a farm in southern Ohio that had a small coal mine on it. It provided coal for his winter heat. One day, he was working in the mine and his coonhound came to the entrance and began barking and howling. The dog persisted and would not stop.

Grandfather thought the dog had a raccoon treed and came out of the mine to investigate. The dog stopped barking, jumped on him and greeted him.

Grandfather took out his pocket watch and saw it was almost time for dinner. He and the dog went to the house. He ate his noon meal and rested for a while.

When he returned to the mine, the whole hillside had caved in. The mine was buried, along with his tools. The dog sensed what was going to happen and saved my grandpa. He never forgot what a great dog he had.

 

ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK’S 

SCKRAMBLER

EREB BEER

AREY YEAR

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THIS WEEK’S RHYMING SCKRAMBLER

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Copyright 2022 – W. L. Felker