Can trouble live with days

Or sadness with the summer moons? – Tennyson

The Stars: Orion has disappeared from the night sky, a sign that Middle Spring is turning to Late Spring. Without Orion, one way to follow the warmer months of the year is to keep track of the boxy formation of Libra in the southwest, followed by the scorpion-like constellation of Scorpius. Watch them move across the southern sky all summer.

The Shooting Stars: The Eta Aquarids are active from April 18 through May 28, with the most meteors expected on May 7 and 8. The moon will not interfere with meteor watching.

Weather Trends: A number of landmarks in the progress of spring occur this week: The 26th and the 30th produce freezing temperatures less than five percent of the time – the first time that has happened since late September. Chances for a cold day in the 30s or 40s fall to only 10 percent on the 22nd, then plummet another eight percent on the 26th. Beginning on April 27th, highs in the 90s become possible, and the chances for a high in the 80s pass the 20 percent mark. The chances for a high above 70 degrees are now 50/50 or better for the first time this year. On the other hand, full moon on April 29 increases the chances for storms and a late frost.

The cold fronts of Late Spring usually cross the Mississippi on or about May 2, 7, 12, 15, 21, 24 and 29. The last days of May and the first week of June are often soaked by the Strawberry Rains.

The Natural Calendar: The season of Late Spring begins this week and usually has five gentle cool fronts that occur from the end of April until the end of May. Most spring woodland flowers complete their bloom during this time, and almost all the trees leaf out. Frost season ends, and gardeners sow tender garden flowers and vegetables. Farmers put in all the corn and soybeans and prepare for the first cut of hay. The day’s length grows until it surpasses 14 hours throughout the Miami Valley.

In Late Spring, the time of flowering fruit trees slowly ends, and the great dandelion bloom of Middle Spring turns to gray and fragile seeds just as dogwoods open. Local bamboo stalks have reached at least three feet tall, and peony buds are as big around as pennies.

All the gold has disappeared from Middle Spring’s forsythia and daisies bud and ferns unravel. The six-petalled white star of Bethlehem says it’s May in the city, and the four-petaled pink and purple sweet rockets tell the time of year throughout the pastures.

Lilies of the valley have their bells, and the first bright yellow cressleaf groundsel is opening in wetlands. Rhubarb pies are growing everywhere as the first strawberry flowers, as Virginia creepers get their new shiny leaves, as azaleas brighten and as honeysuckle leaves turn the undergrowth deep May green.

Fish, Game, Livestock and Birds: Baltimore Orioles begin to appear when Osage trees come into bloom and lily-of-the-valley flowers. Scarlet tanagers arrive in the woods when meadow parsnip, wood betony, honeysuckle, buckeye and red horse-chestnut flower. The garlic mustard of May blooms when the first indigo bunting arrives and early season iris plants blossom. Late spring arrives as admiral butterflies hatch and field grasses are long enough to ripple in the wind. This is the time the antlers of white-tailed deer begin to grow and all major garden weeds are sprouting. Ducklings and goslings are born, and warblers swarm north.

In the Field and Garden: The first cool front of May coincides with the darkening moon, and it is a good marker for spring worming, weaning lambs and kids, clipping feet and dipping for external parasites. In the fields, fight army worms and corn borers. Attack carpenter bees around the barn. The dark moon also favors traditional worm control methods such as liming the pasture, planting garlic and plowing in mustard.

The high leaf canopy is beginning to fill in, casting shade on the flower and vegetable garden. Average high temperatures reach 70 degrees along the Ohio River while cutworms and sod webworms work the cornfields. Aphids spread through the field and garden; ladybugs are hunting them.

Marketing Notes: Plan to make pastries and pies to fatten up fathers on Father’s Day. Then plan to tap the July 4th market as people shop for sweet corn and meat for cookouts.

The Almanac Horoscope: Now is the time to start your most serious diet. Studies show that the body is most likely to lose weight between May and September. Other research, which may or may not be related to weight loss, has shown that miraculous appearances peak between May and July. If you can’t actually lose weight, you might look in the mirror one fine summer day and find, miraculously, that you appear thin!

Almanac Classics

Dozens of Cats

By Becky Corwin-Adams

Englewood, Ohio

When I was growing up in Defiance, Ohio, in the 1960s, we had a variety of pets: a Cocker Spaniel, chickens, fish, a guinea pig, hamster, white mouse and gerbil. Our favorite family pets were cats – dozens of cats. I don’t think we ever had fewer than half a dozen cats when I was growing up.

At one time, we had two pregnant cats. One had five kittens in the neighbor’s barn. The other had five kittens under another neighbor’s front porch the following day. Mom was not going to bring the kittens home, but she changed her mind a few hours later. So, we had 14 cats! Every time mom went outside to take the trash out, all 14 cats followed her. We found homes for most of the kittens.

We did end up keeping a couple of the kittens. Some of our cats were the third generation of Corwin cats. We used to dress our cats up in doll clothes and play house with them. The cats were more fun than our dolls.

We had our own pet cemetery in the back yard. It was getting quite crowded by the time we were grown up. One cold winter, mom buried a black and white cat that had been hit by a car. She was sure it was our cat, so she dug a hole in the frozen ground and buried it. A few days later, we looked out the window and there sat our cat! We never found out who owned the cat mom had buried. Since we had recently visited Washington D.C., we always called it “The Tomb of the Unknown Cat.”

Almanac Literature

The Surprised Chick

A True Story 

By Henry E. Weaver (age 10, Grade 5), Greenwich, Ohio

Last summer, our banty hen hatched an egg. I liked to watch the chick and its mother wander around the barnyard.

Then one day, the hen and chick went into an old shack at the edge of the barnyard, and I was watching them. All at once, the chick flew up on a little pail. Then as he flew down again, the pail flipped and the chick was pinned underneath the pail, and the old hen got really mad and started running around the pail.

Finally, I got near enough to turn the pail over, and then the peeping chick ran to his mother!

Do you think he learned a lesson?