Deer rutting can make driving in November trickier

Another morning dawns clear and mild. This little time of tranquil skies, these days of Indian summer — here is the annual opiate that blunts our senses, that dulls our minds to the inevitability of the coming cold. Winter seems immeasurably far away. Yet, before evening falls today, there is a change, a chill in the air. So soon, these warm and drifting days are over!

— Edwin Way Teale

Moon, meteors and sun

The Deer Rutting Moon, new on Nov. 4, enters its second quarter at 7:46 a.m. on Nov. 11. Rising in the morning and setting in the evening, this Moon passes overhead in afternoon, encouraging animals to be more active around that time, especially as the cold front of November 11-12 approaches.

Late Fall is the time for deer to come into estrus, and mating takes place throughout the last months of the year. Combined with the early darkness at the end of Daylight Saving Time, deer rutting makes this period one of the most dangerous of the year for driving.

The workday begins to shrink more quickly now, losing about two minutes every 24 hours: November takes almost an hour from the day’s length along the 40th Parallel. Everywhere in North America, the day’s length approaches its shortest span.

The South Taurid meteor shower brought shooting stars after midnight between the 4th and 5th in Taurus in the southeastern sky.

Daylight-saving time ends at 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 7.

Weather trends

The aftermath of new moon on Nov. 4 and lunar perigee on Nov. 5 will create a definite pattern for freezing temperatures deep into the border states and at higher elevations throughout the country. And look for a killing frost at full moon time, Nov. 19, well into the South.

With the arrival of late fall this week, an increase in the likelihood of cloud cover begins, and the percentage of sunny days and partly sunny days drops from October’s peak of about 60 percent down to winter’s average — about 35 percent. Also after the 5th, chances of highs in the 70s drop to only five percent, and the majority of highs just reach the 40s or 50s.

Zeitgebers (events that tell time of year)

The last raspberries of the year redden in the low November sun. An occasional autumn violet is still open in yards and pastures. Mums are past their best, but the witch hazels are often still flowering.

Although many of the Osage orange, maples, oaks, beech, pears and sweet gum continue to hold on, the last ginkgoes lose their leaves, magnolias weaken and cherry foliage turns brown at the edges.

Mind and body

The S.A.D. Index, which measures seasonal stress on a scale from 1 to 100, rises deep into the troublesome 70s this week. The average length of November’s night is almost as great as the night’s length in December and January; the weather becomes more severe and clouds thicken. S.A.D. increases to winter levels and the effects of lunar phase and position become even more significant. This is the time to be aware of the most minor shifts in mood and attitude. Depression often arrives incrementally, beginning with a dull ache or feeling of emptiness and then progressing to a full change of philosophy and outlook. Mindfulness and activity (especially outdoors) are often able to alter the S.A.D. physiology or provide respite from the seasonal blues.

Field and garden

The final winter wheat should be planted and the harvest of corn and soybeans completed. Test the soil of the yard, the pasture, the field and the garden. Mow the lawn for the last time after all the leaves are down.

Under the dark moon, plant garlic cloves for harvest at the end of next June. Remove tops from everbearing raspberries.

Although tomato and pepper time is over, collards and kale still hold out in the garden. Your mulched beets and carrots are doing fine. Lettuce planted in August may still be producing.

Journal

An ancient Christian hymn near Halloween creates a theme for the season:

O angels, blessed in numbers vast,

Protect and guard us on life’s way

Against all evils of the past,

Those yet to come, those of this day.

I grew up surrounded by icons and rosaries and holy practices. Now at the turning of the season, when all the leaves come down and I lose the security and warmth of summer, I am especially aware of my vulnerability and of the mystery, both for better and for worse, of my belief in spirits.

In times of personal or social stress, I do not forget the guardian angel to whom I always prayed. I used to imagine him on my right side, balancing the bad angel on my left side. What effect could he have now? Is he superstition purely? Is he a seasonal ghost of the thin time between fall and winter, between my childhood and my old age? Or is he a real power, a relentless energy, to be conjured through my fear by my will? What could he possibly do for me? What cultural-religious baggage does he slyly carry for me? Do I dismiss him at my peril?

The hymn for the Christian feast of All Saints Day (Nov. 1) invokes all spirit creatures, angels and souls of those who have gone before us, to come to our assistance, asserting that we are not alone, that there is continuity between the living and the dead, strength in their coexistence. This is a time of chill and danger, the tradition says, time to invoke and hold close the allies.

Bill Felker’s “Poor Will’s Almanack for 2022,” is now available. In addition to weather, farming and gardening information, reader stories and astronomical data, this edition contains 50 essays from Bill’s weekly NPR radio segment on WYSO. For your autographed copy, send $22 to: Poor Will, Box 431, Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387, or order from either Amazon or www. poorwillsalmanack.com.