Check septic tanks before colder weather arrives

Seasons pursuing each other,

the plougher ploughs, the mower mows,

and the winter grain falls in the ground.

— Walt Whitman

The moon, the stars and the meteors

The Travelling Toad and Frog Moon waxed through its second quarter at 10:25 p.m. on Oct. 12, then grows gibbous as it approaches full moon on Oct. 20.

Fishing or hunting might temper the strong emotional effect of the moon this week. Be on the water or in the woods as the barometer falls prior to the Oct. 17 cool front. The moon will be overhead (its most favorable time for those activities) in the dark, so try the second-best lunar time for fish and game activity at full moon: right in the middle of the day.

The Pleiades, and the Hyades of Taurus lie on the eastern horizon early in the night, announcing Middle Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. Nonetheless, summer’s Milky Way is still directly overhead, June’s Corona Borealis has still not set by 10 p.m. Cygnus, the swan, is still high above you, along with August’s Aquila and Lyra. The pointers of the Big Dipper point north-south at 10 p.m. Find them deep in the northern sky, right along the horizon. Orion is fully visible at midnight and is centered in the south by 5 a.m.

If you find Orion before dawn, you may see some of the Orionid meteors that are active much of the month, peaking on Oct. 21 and 22 at the rate of about two dozen in an hour.

Weather Trends

The first part of October’s second week is generally dry, but chances of precipitation often increases quickly. The 12th was the first day that snow had a five to 10 percent chance of falling. Highs only in the 40s and 50s were more common this week than last, with Oct. 11, 12, 13 and 17 being the days most likely to see cold (a 40 percent chance).

Zeitgebers (Events in nature that tell the time of year)

Beech leaves are usually rusting now. Dogwood is turning red and thinning. Squirrels are eating the fallen Osage fruits. Water willow is yellowing along the rivers.

Long flocks of blackbirds continue their flights across the fields. Robin migration intensifies. Mating time begins for deer.

Along the fencerows, brown beggarticks stick to your stockings, and the winged seeds of Japanese knotweed fall.

In the alleys, only the pink smartweed blossoms seem impervious to the shortening days.

Through the central states, along a line between New York City and Denver, the best leaf color usually occurs in the third week of October. Below the Mason-Dixon line, expect best coloration between the end of October and the middle of November.

Mind and body

Full moon should strengthen the traditional Oct. 17 cold front, increasing the chances of frost, and causing more problems than usual for health care workers, police officers and firefighters. Watch for tempers to flare at football games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and for family disputes to erupt as Monday nears. The full autumn moon is especially conducive to quitting work, elopement, proposals of marriage — and sudden divorce, so think before you act.

In the field and garden

Half of the winter wheat is normally in the ground now, and about a fifth of the crop has sprouted.

Check sludge depth in septic tanks this week, and resolve potential problems before colder weather arrives.

Grapes ordinarily picked by this date: 75 percent. Fall apples: 70 percent.

Soybeans are mature in three out of four fields.

Almost all weeds have gone to seed, and cold weather often delays their sprouting until March or April.

The heaviest time of Halloween

market sales begins no later than today.

Some notes on peak leaf color for the Miami Valley

Even though “peak color” occurs in the eye of the beholder and depends on which kinds of trees are observed where, the following list represents an attempt to place October’s best coloration in perspective.

Oct. 3, 1987 and 2013: First phase of early peak leaf color began today.

Oct. 4, 1991: Peak leaf color began yesterday, coinciding with a number of opossums killed on the highway overnight. Is there a connection between the opossums and the leaves? Why wouldn’t there be a connection?

Oct. 5, 2012: Peak leaf color spreading so quickly.

Oct. 9, 1994: Peak leaf color from Dayton to Columbus, the late ashes blending with the best of the maples.

Oct. 12, 1989: Now it seems to be early peak leaf color just before the real decadence of full middle fall.

Oct. 13, 1999: Peak leaf color throughout the area now, many of the first and second foliage tiers holding as the maples turn.

Oct. 15, 1984: Peak leaf color ended today, the maples shedding quickly.

Oct.r 16, 1983: Peak leaf color is starting.

Oct. 18, 1987, 1988 and 1992: Peak leaf color throughout the valley

Oct. 20. 1995: Peak leaf color in the maples now.

Oct. 19, 1998: Peak leaf color all the way west through Indiana.

Oct. 22, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019 2020: Peak leaf color time.

Oct. 28, 2018: Peak leaf color in the rain.

Oct. 29, 1983: Where maples dominate, peak color holds.

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, P.O. Box 431, Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387, or order from either Amazon or www.poorwillsalmanack. com.