Now every motion of the day

Presents another portion of the Spring,

The calling of the cardinal and the jay,

The robin’s whinny, juncos on the wing. – Robert Ames

Astronomical Data and Lore

The Great Groundhog Moon reaches apogee, its position farthest from Earth, on Feb. 18, and waxes into its second phase on Feb. 19 at 1:47 p.m. Rising toward the middle of the day and setting near midnight, this moon passes overhead in the evening, encouraging creatures to be most active at that time, especially as the cold fronts of Feb. 20 and 24 approach.

Weather Trends

Chances for highs in the 40s or above climb to 80 percent by the 20th, and then between the 18th and the 23rd, chances for highs in the 50s or 60s reach an average of 35 percent per day, the first time that has happened since Dec. 10. The weekly chances for an afternoon in the 60s swell from last week’s one in 10 to five in 10.

Zeitgebers (Events in Nature that Tell the Time of Year)

Small moths appear in the warmer afternoons. Water striders mate when water reaches above 50 degrees. Ambystoma salamanders breed at night in the first mild rains.

Mallards scout for nesting sites. Red-winged blackbirds, meadowlarks, starlings, eagles and ducks of all kinds migrate this time of year.

Deer come together and feed in herds; if your land borders extensive woodland, be ready to have visitors in the garden.

Great-horned owlets hatch. Wild turkeys are flocking now; they will be disbanding and scattering into smaller family groups by April.

If maples and chickweed are blooming this early, queen bees may start laying eggs. 

Countdown to Spring

• One week to the start of snow crocus season and owl hatching time and woodcock mating time.

• Two weeks to the beginning of the morning robin chorus before sunrise.

• Three weeks to early daffodil season and silver maple blooming season.

• Four weeks to the first wave of blooming woodland wildflowers and the very first cabbage white butterflies.

• Five weeks until golden forsythia blooms and skunk cabbage sends out its first leaves and the lawn is long enough to cut.

• Six weeks until the peak of Middle Spring wildflowers in the woods, and crab apples flower.

• Seven weeks until American toads sing their mating songs in the night.

• Eight weeks until tulip time in the garden and toad trillium time in the woodlands.

• Nine weeks until the Great Dandelion and Violet Bloom begins.

• 10 weeks until azaleas and snowball viburnums and dogwoods bloom.

Mind and Body

The S.A.D. Index, which measures seasonal stress on a scale from 1 to 100, falls to a low of 53 on both Feb. 18 and 19. After that, the Index rises slowly into the 60s, but the numbers indicate that the worst time of seasonal affective disorder has passed for this half of 2023. For full S.A.D. statistics, consult Poor Will’s Almanack for 2023.

In the Field and Garden

By this week of the year, the start of snowdrop season, first pussy willow season, aconite season, crocus season, and daffodil budding season are all a matter of the natural history record throughout the lower two thirds of the United States.

Tomatoes, eggplant and peppers seeded now under lights will be just the right size for setting out after all danger of frost has past in the middle of May. Prune and fertilize houseplants, allowing them to begin fresh growth as the days lengthen.

If you hear spring peepers (they sound like “peep - peep”) or wood frogs (that sound like a flock of ducks), then get ready to transition livestock from lick tanks and hay to pasture.

Honeybees may emerge from their hives to look for skunk cabbage and maple tree blossoms when the temperature rises into the 50s. Frustrated bees may appreciate a serving of sugar syrup and a pollen substitute.

Pull back garden mulch to allow soil to dry out and warm up. Repair arbors and trellises. Dig horseradish, dandelion and comfrey roots before the weather begins to moderate. Spray trees with dormant oil when temperatures are in the upper 30s or 40s.

Budburst time begins in the most precocious maple trees, the new green barely visible in the swollen buds. If you drive deep into the South, you will see budburst gradually turning the tree line pale yellow green.

Almanack Literature

We Go to a Bullfight

By Betty Osborn, Covington, Ind.

There are people who feel very strongly against bullfights, even if they are a cultural tradition in some places. They are brutal, bloody and inhumane. Bullfights should be banned everywhere, I argue.

So why did we get to a bullfight feeling as we do?

Well, we were notified our herd sire and the neighbor’s sire in the adjoining pasture had managed to trample down the fences and were together trying to claim superiority over their nemesis. With two tons of rampaging beef going at each other, injury was bound to happen. The two bulls had to be separated with each in his own pasture with his own girls.

But how!

Farmer (my husband) gets out the MM tractor and wife (that’s me) goes along to help as needed, holding on to the fender with one hand and waving a wooden stock cane in the other. We prepared to meet the foes.

When we get to the scene of the mayhem, it was difficult to see the combatants because of the cloud of dust hanging over the scene. There were bellows of rage, pawing the ground, heads repeatedly coming in contact with terrifying sounds. Screams and yelling and frantic waving of the stock cane came from wife.

The only way to separate the two foes was to drive the MM between them to get them apart. Wife is holding on for dear life, telling Farmer what she will do to him if he she survives the battle.

But in the end, the operation was successful with each bull going back in his own pasture. The fence was repaired. The next spring, there were no strange-colored calves on either side. The old quote, “Good fences make good neighbors,” was never more true.

 

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.

ELDRUC CURDLE

CILCOUN COUNCIL

OICLLARTS CLOISTRAL

TORCHEL CHORTLE

NNCHLAE CHANNEL

IEEDSL DIESEL

MALDIS DISMAL

SALDOR DORSAL

LFDRDUEA DREADFUL

FUFDEL DUFFLE

THIS WEEK’S RHYMING SCKRAMBLER

GLEJIG

GGJLUE

DELNIK

GALLE

BLEMGRU

ZZUGEL

AZHEL

ELITOSH

YMNHLA

REBGIL

Poor Will’s Almanack for 2023 Is Still Available. For your autographed copy, send $20 (includes shipping and handling) to Poor Will, P.O. Box 431, Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387. You can also see a sample of the Almanack and order online at www.poorwillsalmanack.com.

Copyright 2023 - W. L. Felker