How restless are the snorting swine!

The busy flies disturb the kine,

Low o’er the grass the swallow wings,

The cricket too, how sharp he sings! – From “Signs of Rain” by Dr. Edward Jenner

The Moon: The Blackberry Moon, entered its second quarter on July 25, waxes throughout the period, becoming completely full at 2:33 a.m., on Aug. 1. Rising in the evening and setting in the morning, this moon passes overhead in the night.

The Sun: As the Sun travels through Leo in July and August, the midday stars of this sign are a prophesy of the midnight stars of January: the Big Dipper moving in from the east, Cancer and Gemini almost overhead and Orion fading into the far west.

The Planets: Returning to Cancer in August, Venus is too close to the sun for easy viewing. Mars in Leo is also obscured by sunlight in the evening. Jupiter, rising in Aries before midnight, is the bright morning star overhead at dawn. Saturn in Aquarius rises in the evening and is visible throughout the night.

The Stars: Nights of late July bring the Summer Triangle deep into the sky. The easiest formation to identify in this star cluster is Cygnus (the Northern Cross), that appears like a great cross (or swan) in the east.

The Shooting Stars: The nights of July 28-30 bring the  peak of the Delta Aquarids after 12 a.m. in Aquarius.

Weather Trends: At the very end of July, normal average temperatures start to fall in almost every state of the union. That means that light frost season is only three to four weeks away along the Canadian border, six to seven weeks away in the lower Midwest, and eight to 10 weeks away in the northern parts of the South.

Sunshine remains the rule for this week of the month, with three out of four days bringing at least a partial break in the clouds. Chances of rain typically decline as July comes to a close, dropping from 40 to 45 percent on the 24th down to just 20 percent on the 30th and 31st.

The Natural Calendar: Now, the yellowing locust and buckeye leaves, and the brown garlic mustard give a sense of fall to the woods. Shiny spicebush, boxwood, greenbrier and poison ivy berries have formed. Seedpods are fully formed on the trumpet creepers. White vervain blossoms reach the end of their spikes. Lizard’s tail and wood nettle go to seed along the riverbanks. A few black walnut leaves are falling. Late-summer fogs appear at dawn. Some full-size Osage fruits and walnuts are heavy enough to fall to the ground in summer storms, another marker for the advance of the year.

Cicadas still dominate the days, but katydids begin singing after dark and crickets intensify their song. Geese become restless as a Judas maple here and there turns red and the Moon turns full. Blue-winged teal and meadowlarks begin migration. Fish follow the Moon, too, increasing activity in the middle of the night (with the Moon overhead next week), especially as the cool fronts that arrive near July 27 and Aug. 3 approach, pushing down the barometer.

In the Field and Garden: Farmers prepare for August and September seeding of alfalfa, smooth brome grass, orchard grass, tall fescue, red clover and timothy. Major damage from insects inhibits or stops growth on pumpkin, squash and melon vines. Some garden tomato plants have become too lanky and need to be cut back to encourage September fruiting. Bee balm (monarda) goes to seed, offering food for finches but sending bees to wildflowers and garden annuals.

Mind and Body: The southwesterly winds of Late Summer carry a different smell than those of June. Now, even those people who spend most of their time indoors may notice a slight difference in the feel and mood of the air. Cricket songs become more intense at night, warning the commuter, the student and the farmer to prepare for changes to come. In addition, pollen from ragweed moves up into the Lower Midwest, and while thunderstorms may temporarily clear the air, the pollen returns, increasing the likelihood of allergic reactions. 

Almanack Classics

The Lone Tree

By Rick Donahoe

Yellow Springs, Ohio

I always tip my hat when I pass a lone tree in the middle of a cultivated field. A silent tribute not just to the tree, but to the farmer, to the generations of farmers that have allowed this tree to be.

If you’ve ever farmed, you know the problems a single lone tree can cause. Not only hard on crop yields, a tree in your field is hard on fieldwork. Just try sometime to plow a straight furrow with a tree in the way. And be ready when a plowshare catches on a root, and when roots and fallen branches get tangled up in your disk and harrow and other machinery.

Many times I’ve wondered why one farmer, year after year, will put up with a tree that is costing him money long after his neighbors have cut their last trees down.

Sentimental reasons? Was the tree planted by grandparents, great-grandparents? Does it mark the spot where the old homestead once stood? Where old Shep is buried? A reminder of our once proud forests, is it a living thing too beautiful to destroy?

I keep telling myself that one of these days I’ll stop by the farmhouse and ask. Farm economics being what they are, however, there’s a better than 50-50 chance that the farmer has an off-the-farm job and no one is home.

In the meantime, to the few magnificent trees that continue to stand tall among the corn and soybeans, and to the magnificent farmers and generations of farmers who have allowed these trees to be, once again I tip my hat.

ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK’S 

SCKRAMBLER

IDTS DUST

SUTL LUST

SUMT MUST

UBTS           BUST

RSTU           RUST

CUSRT CRUST

TSUJ JUST

DAUJTS ADJUST

SIDSUGT DISGUST

SUGT GUST

NUUJTS UNJUST

 

THIS WEEK’S RHYMING SCKRAMBLER

MUBP  

LUCPM  

UDMP  

PUMH  

JPMU  

LUPM  

MUPM  

LUPPM  

RUTMP  

PULSM

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.

Follow the days of August with Bill Felker’s A Daybook for August in Yellow Springs, Ohio, that contains all of his daily almanack notes for that month. Order that and his other daybooks on Amazon.

Copyright 2023 – W. L. Felker