The almanac of time hangs in the brain: the seasons numbered, by the inward sun…. – Dylan Thomas

 

The First Week of Late Summer

In the Sky

Phases of the Great Ant Migration Moon:

Aug. 12: The moon enters its second quarter.

Aug. 19: The moon is full.

Aug. 26: The moon enters its final quarter.

Weather Trends

This week’s highs: 50 percent of the afternoons are in the 80s, 25 percent in the 90s and another 25 percent in the 70s. Rainfall is typically light, with the 9th, 12th, 13th, and 14th carrying just a 10 to 15 percent chance of a shower. With the arrival of the August 10th cold front, however, the 10th and 11th have a 40 percent chance of precipitation as well as the slight possibility of a high only in the 60s for the first time since July 13th. The 10th through the 14th are likely to bring evening lows below 60 degrees. And within the next seven days, lows reach into the 40s 15 times more often than they do during the first week of August. Full moon on the 19th makes 40s much more likely around that date.

 

The Natural Calendar

 Along the freeways, beds of white boneset have come into bloom beside drifts of blue chicory and silver Queen Anne’s lace.

Average temperatures start to drop between one and two degrees per week until Sept. 10, when they decline about a degree every three days into January.  Although declines are more rapid in the North, almost every region of the country experiences a temperature shift this month.

In perennial gardens, the last red, white, and violet phlox, golden and purple coneflowers, bright helianthus and pale resurrection lilies define late summer.

Crickets, cicadas and katydids become more insistent in the heat. Grackle activity increases while cardinal song becomes fainter. The early morning robins are silent. Long flocks of blackbirds and grackles pursue the harvest. Murmurations (flocks) of starlings often swoop and dive across the sky.

It is the time that catalpas start to wear thin, and showers of black walnut leaves foretell autumn. Saplings are browning under the high canopy. Patches of scarlet have appeared in the sumac and poison ivy. Ash and cottonwood can be yellowing.

This time of year brings the peak of weight-loss season; your chances of losing pounds are the best of the whole year between now and September. Perhaps related to visions of weight loss, some studies have shown that most miraculous appearances occur between late June and Early Fall – just the time that people are shedding the most weight!

 

In the Field and Garden

Heat and moisture stress may contribute to much lower production of cool-weather forage. Rotation of pastures or allowing the grazing of hayfields can help.

The harvest of winter wheat and oats is typically complete throughout the nation. In the northern states, the spring wheat is coming in, and the great cabbage and cauliflower harvests have usually begun.

As breeding time approaches for goats and sheep, remember that aromatic plants such as thyme, mint and clover are said to be conducive to fertility in mammals.

Almanack Literature

Th Facts of Life

By Anonymous

One day, I came home from school and didn’t change my clothes immediately.

Our outhouse had two holes, and I wanted to see how the men could stand up and use them, so I stood over the round hole. And as you might have guessed, I fell in.

Evidently, I caught myself, since my shoes were the only part that were soiled. I tried cleaning them with the Sears, Roebuck catalog as best I could.

My mother had picked her dry shell-out beans and had stomped on them in a sack. And she was picking out the beans from the trash in a washtub in the middle of the floor.

I sat down on the floor on the opposite side of the tub, but I didn’t fool her. She knew something was wrong. I don’t remember the details, but she wasn’t very happy.

This was during the Depression, and there wasn’t much money for shoes. My mother always said she never sent any of us to bed without our supper, but I do remember not eating that night.

Nevertheless, my shoes were clean and ready to wear to school the next morning.

Now, none of this would have happened if it weren’t for the fact that we weren’t very knowledgeable about the facts of life in the old days.

I think I must have been the most naïve of anyone. I was older than my brother, and I remember that I was made to leave the room when he was being diapered.

 

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.

VIDROCE  DIVORCE

ECROFREP PERFORCE

SERCOURE RESOURCE

ENDEROS  ENDORSE

RRCRSOUE RECOURSE

CCNOOURSE CONCOURSE

EEONFCR    ENFORCE

HEAROSESE    SEAHORSE

ODNIERS    INDORSE

ERCOURSID    DISCOURSE

 

THIS WEEK’S RHYMING SCKRAMBLER

LETB     

MSLET   

TLEG     

LETC     

TELK    

EDLAT     

FLETREAH   

MSSPLTIE    

ROOEETLVS    

VLTES

Copyright 2024, W. L. Felker