If we are to live in the present, being truly alive, then everything recedes except these simple things that we observe, these particular movements that we make, a walk in the garden, the watching of birds. – Robert Orwell

The Second Week of Early Winter

The Moon, Sun and Shooting Stars

The Goose Gathering Moon wanes throughout the period, entering its final quarter at 3:56 a.m. on Dec. 16. Rising in the middle of the night and setting in the middle of the day, this moon passes overhead in the morning, making mornings the most favorable lunar period for seeking game or forgetting your diet.

On the 14th of the month, sunset began to occur a minute later every two to three days in this area. This small advance, however, is offset by the sun rising later in the morning. And the point-counterpoint of time lost and gained creates a weeklong standoff around winter solstice during which the day’s length remains its shortest of the year, about nine hours and twenty minutes in this area.

The Geminid meteor shower peaked on Dec. 13-14, sometimes bringing up to 100 shooting stars per hour. The month’s second shower, the Ursids, will fall across the sky on Dec. 21-22 at the rate of just a handful every hour. Look for them near the North Star. The dark moon will create favorable conditions for seeing them.

Weather Trends

The third week of December always brings in a strong cold wave between the 15th and the 17th, and if this frigid front arrives on its earliest date, the 15th, expect another on the 19th or 20th. The coldest December days, those with better than a 35 percent chance for temperatures in the 20s or below, all come at this time of year: the 17th, 18th, 19th, 25th and 26th. The most bitter day this week in weather history is the 19th, with a 30 percent chance for highs only in the teens. And more below zero temperatures occur between the 18th and the 26th than on any other December mornings. Precipitation is common throughout the period, with every day this week bringing a 50 percent chance for rain or snow except Dec. 16, which is typically the driest and the sunniest day between now and Christmas. Double digit below-zero temperatures are possible between Dec. 15 and March 22.

Zeitgebers: Events in Nature that Tell the Time of Year

 Instead of hundreds of wildflowers changing the landscape weekly, winter brings the gift of constancy. The black centers of the empty milkweed pods face the sun, free from change, hiding nothing. Basal leaves of thistle and garlic mustard lie flat, close to the ground; they remain passive and unmoving until March. Sleek heads of ironweed, dry and soft, wait for sparrows week after week. Only one flower blossoms in the warmest years: the skunk cabbage in the swamp. It often stays in bloom all winter, long enough for almost anyone to find it.

In the Field and Garden

Be on the lookout for small whiteflies that may have come indoors on the house plants you kept outside during the summer. Whiteflies seem harmless enough in early winter, but they can get out of hand by February and destroy otherwise healthy plants. Also look for the tiny spidermites with a magnifying glass when leaves begin to become discolored or diseased. Scale insects (looking a little like elongated bumps on plant leaves and stems) may have taken over your spider plants during the late summer. If you see them on one plant, they may be on others.

The Christmas tree harvest is almost over, but the peak of tree sales begins this week. Crafts, Christmas cookies, fruitcake, wreathes and dried flower bouquets are still popular at the farmers markets and roadside stands.

Mind and Body

When the barometer falls in advance of the Christmas cold front and the New Year’s cold front, your emotions could also take a tumble. And arthritis, sinusitis and old surgical sites may also cause you problems until those weather systems pass through.

Almanack Classics

A Scary Halloween

By Ibbie Ledford, Willard, Ohio

Just last week, I attended the funeral of my cousin and best friend Nellie, whose mind Alzheimer’s disease had destroyed. Growing up, Nellie and I had been as close as sisters, and vivid memories of things we did together came flooding back, especially one Halloween when my sisters played a scary prank on us.

Nellie was spending the night with me, as she often did. We wanted to go trick-or-treating but we had no costumes. So, Mama gave us each a flour sack, a scissors and crayons to make our own.

The sacks fit perfectly over our heads. Places needed for eyes and mouths were carefully marked, cut out and painted as scary as we could make them. We put them on and began to pester Mama to let us walk down to my brother Chock’s house, about a quarter of a mile away, to peek in the windows and scare him and his wife. Mama warned us it was very dark and we might be afraid, but we assured her we wouldn’t. After all, we weren’t babies; we were 10 years old.

As we walked down the road, we didn’t feel a bit afraid. We watched the moon peek out every so often from behind a cloud to light our way. As we approached Chock’s house, we crept to the window, quickly showed our masks, then ducked down, trying to muffle our giggles.

Chock, suspecting the goblins were Nellie and I, slipped up behind us, and as we lifted our heads to peek in the window again, he grabbed us and yelled, “Boo!” It scared the daylights out of us, as he picked us up, one under each arm, and carried us into the house where his wife, Mae, had teacakes and milk waiting.

After we ate our fill, Chock offered to walk us back home, but we declined. We were giggling and talking when we suddenly heard rustling in the bushes right beside us. Then two white figures, looking like what we had been told ghosts looked like, lunged at us from the roadside.

We ran toward home, screaming and crying, My body tried to outrun my legs, and I fell face-down, sliding in the gravel. The next thing I knew the “ghosts” had me cradled in their arms, only they looked a lot like my sisters, Margaret and Irene, with sheets draped over their heads. They had meant to scare us but never dreamed it would be so traumatic.

They made a “pack saddle,” interlocking their arms so I could sit on them and hold on to their shoulders, and they carried me home with Nellie following, holding on to their skirts. The packsaddle ride home was almost worth the scare.

ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK’S SCKRAMBLER

OIOLF FOLIO

ZABGBO GAZEBO

ELTSIMTEO MISTLETOE

TLUMTOA MULATTO

OOAVTC OCTAVO

OOHI OHIO

OOIARTN ONTARIO

CHIOATSPI PISTACHIO

PRESIMSOIRA IMPRESSARIO

OOOIARRT ORATORIO

HACEPUA CHAPEAU

THIS WEEK’S HARD RHYMING 

SCKRAMBLER

This Sckrambler is a humdinger! If you solve all of these, you are just about a genius. 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. Yes, you are a genius.

OMISSILARENEG

OIIAMSSVRB

AGOHIPELCRI

TAIOHCUM

IIOONCGNT

OOALVCN

IOIRV    TIOGRVE

MOERO

OOETRML

GAHHOTUL                 

Poor Will’s Almanack for 2023 is now available. Order yours from Amazon, or, for an autographed copy, order from www.poorwillsalmanack.com. You can also purchase Bill Felker’s new book of essays, The Virgin Point: Meditations in Nature, from those sites.

Copyright 2022 – W. L. Felker