The physical domain of the country had its counterpart in me. The trails I made led outward into the hills and swamps, but they led inward also. And from the study of things underfoot, and from reading and thinking, came a kind of exploration of myself and the land. In time the two became one in my mind. – John Haines

The Moon: The Apple Cider Moon wanes throughout the period, entering its final quarter on Oct. 6. Rising in the middle of the night and setting in the middle of the day, this moon passes overhead in the morning.

The Stars: At 11 p.m., Cygnus is still high above you in the west, along with late summer’s Aquila and Lyra. But the Pleiades and the Hyades of Taurus lie on the eastern horizon, announcing Middle Autumn. A few hours after midnight, Orion appears in the far east, and it moves to the center of the sky before sunrise.

The Sun: By the end of October’s second week, the sun has reached the same declension it holds at the end of February.

The Planets: In Leo this month, Venus rises after midnight, and is the bright Morning Star. Mars in Virgo is swallowed up by the sunset. Saturn rises in the afternoon in Aquarius and precedes Jupiter in the night sky. Coming up from the east near sundown in Aires, Jupiter is visible throughout the night.

The Shooting Stars: The Draconid Meteor Shower is a minor shower producing only about 10 meteors per hour. Look for them before dawn on Oct. 7-8. The Orionid meteors appear in Orion during the early morning hours of Oct. 21-22 at the rate of 15 to 30 per hour.

Weather Trends: Weather history suggests that the cold waves of Middle Fall are likely to cross the Mississippi River on or about Oct. 7, 13, 17, 23 and 30.

New moon on Oct. 14 will combine with the Oct. 13 cold front to produce the first major chance of frost across the region. Lunar perigee on Oct. 26, and full moon on Oct. 28 are likely to intensify weather systems near those dates and should bring light frost throughout the northern states.

The likelihood of colder weather almost always increases after Oct. 4, when the chances of highs only in the 50s swell from 15 percent to 30 percent.

The Natural Calendar: During the first week of October, almost all trees develop some color change, a sizeable number of maples suddenly becoming bright red and orange. Patches of ash and hickory reach their peak, then thin quickly.

Some sycamores and tulip trees are completely golden. Redbuds, fading in the autumn sun, begin to lose their foliage. Sumacs are either scarlet or else totally gone by now. Sassafras is old and rusty. Blackberry leaves are darkening to dusky purple.

In two weeks, leaves of the red mulberry can be gone, along with flowering crabs. The black walnut crop is almost always on the ground. Peak leafturn starts to occur in woodlots where maples, ashes, buckeyes, wild cherry and locusts predominate. Many Osage leaves are yellow now, a few ginkgoes starting to fade. Cottonwoods and the rest of the box elders lose their leaves, and great openings form in the high canopy.

Terns and meadowlarks, yellow-rumped warblers and purple martins migrate south. Chimney swifts, wood thrushes, barn swallows and red-eyed vireos join them as Early Fall moves to a close.

In the Field and Garden: As the moon wanes, harvest grains; the weakening moon is associated with lower moisture levels in crops. The waning moon is also favorable for pruning shrubs or trees to retard growth and for killing weeds. This lunar period also favors the planting of garlic cloves and all spring bulbs.

Mind and Body: The waning moon will become less influential as the week progresses, reducing lunar stress and opening the way for dental appointments, minor surgery, vaccinations of livestock, shearing, clipping nails and hooves, treating for external and internal parasites. Seasonal Affective Disorder becomes more frequent in October as the length of the night increases and chances of mild weather decrease.  Although cloud cover is ordinarily not a major factor in S.A.D. during Middle Fall, the odds for completely overcast conditions rise steadily.

Journal

As frost time comes closer, I bring in the tomato plants I seeded in July, and I set them up in the greenhouse for winter.

I have sprayed the leaves for whiteflies, mites and aphids. Of course, the bugs are not a mortal threat to me. In fact, they keep me on my toes.

They are a gauge of the quality of my greenhouse hibernation. As long as I keep the insects in check, I know the trajectory of winter is on the rise.

However, once the insects get the upper hand, I know I am getting careless with my winter gardening, and I am becoming restless waiting for spring.

And the tomatoes, of course, know that, too. By the first of March, bugs or no bugs, the plants will become tired and pale. The old season falls apart, and I grope to find a new purpose.

But now, everything is fresh and perfect. These are the brightest, healthiest tomatoes I’ve ever brought indoors. They look like they will live forever, sending out endless indeterminate stalks, climbing to the ceiling, covering the walls.

Almanack Classics

The Red Nail Polish

By Kathleen McCrillis

My mother-in-law, Charlotte Nethers McCrillis, was rightfully proud of her farm country roots in rural Licking County, Ohio.  She enjoyed looking back on those simpler days when, as a young child, she fed the chickens, gathered eggs, and caught lightning bugs in the warm summer twilight.

One summer memory that she liked to share with her children and grandchildren was not quite so peaceful and idyllic.

The year was 1943, and her young family was living with Grandma and Grandpa Swick. Four-year-old Charlotte was playing with her 7-year-old sister, Norma, and their Aunt Patty, who was the ripe old age of 6 and a half.

Back in those days, little girls never wore pants – only dresses, and these little girls’ dresses were hand-made out of feed sacks.

Playing with bright red fingernail polish, a universal favorite of little girls, Norma accidentally spilled it on one of her few dresses. When her mother discovered the disaster, she was so upset that she threw the hateful bottle down the outside toilet, thinking that was the end of that. Well, those little girls had their own ideas on the matter, and they soon decided that they would get that fingernail polish back.

Now this outhouse was just a one-seater with a very deep pit. Undaunted, Aunt Patty leaned over through the hole, while skinny little Charlotte and Norma held on to her legs.

Today Charlotte says, “If we’d have dropped her, she probably would’ve drowned or smothered.”

But the two girls successfully pulled Aunt Patty out of the wretched black hole with the prize in hand.

All three scurried to the pump behind the house to wash off their retrieved treasure.  How disappointed they were to discover that they couldn’t get rid of the powerful stench, so they tossed the once precious bottle back down the abyss.

ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK’S 

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THIS WEEK’S RHYMING SCKRAMBLER

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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.

Copyright 2023 – W. L. Felker