September 9th
The 252nd Day of the Year

The body sheds summer like the trees do, and whether we are prepared for the change or not, our adapting flesh propels the psyche into new winds and colors and scents which totally alter the cognitive and emotional process.

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Sunrise/set: 7:10/7:54 Day's Length: 12 hours 44 minutes
Average High/Low: 79/58 Average Temperature: 69
Record High: 99 - 1900 Record Low: 39 - 1883

Weather
Odds for rain are higher today (40 percent chance) than at any time in the first third of September. Still, the sun comes out 90 percent of the days; and highs reach 90 ten percent of the afternoons, reach 80 on 35 percent, and 70 on 55 percent. Frost is quite unlikely through the 12th, but nighttime lows drop below 60 one night in two.

Natural Calendar
The landmarks of July and August continue to disappear. The late trefoils and wild cucumbers are already gone. Burdock and ragweed are decaying. Joe Pye weed has lost its color. Boneset is past its prime. Japanese knotweed blossoms darken and fall. Field thistle goes to seed. The blooms of the giant yellow hyssop have wilted. The great flowers of the American lotus disappear. Resurrection lilies have collapsed, and the coneflowers are in retreat. The domestic plants of local ponds are shriveling: the water lettuce, hyacinth and pickerel.

Daybook
1983: South Glen. Touch-me-not pods explode now when I tap them with my fingernail, the plants and flowers old. Beggarticks, white snakeroot, yellow hyssop, goosefoot, horseweed, clearweed, smartweed, and goldenrod full bloom. Solidago tenuifolia identified, the slender-leaved goldenrod. The trefoils are completely done. Great ragweed has lost its pollen, and many of the wingstem and ironweed plants have passed their prime. A few bouncing bets, a few great mullein flowers, one moth mullein, some daisy fleabane, lobelias, a little catnip left. Slippery elms tuning yellow brown, poplars fading, some Virginia creeper is red. Hops clusters heavy. Most berries gone from the wild cherry. Migrating cedar waxwings seen along the river. Damselflies still here, butterflies everywhere: swallowtails, monarchs, blues, coppers. Geese flew over about 3:00 this afternoon.

1986: Robins calling, short peeps; they’re sending signals back and forth. Cicadas quiet.

1988: When the woolly-bear caterpillars finally showed up this year, they were dark, some reddish, others black or brown. Last year's winter a mild, dry one after a September of lightly colored caterpillars. At South Glen, only a few tall bellflowers left. All the flora of mid and late August are tattered except the coneflowers, ironweed, wingstem, and oxeye.

1989: Light morning rain, robins clucking, crickets strong. A squirrel that lives in the back trees started its autumn calls at 9:00. Along the shore of Caesar Creek, the trees still not turning. Locusts have browned, but the shoreline is green. Arrowhead has gone to seed, big heads the size of acorns. Lotus mostly gone. Beggarticks, large and small, are in full bloom along the beaches and on log habitats. On the way south to the lake, fields and waysides full of bright helianthus. Peaches have all fallen in the yard. The blue Asiatic dayflowers are growing weaker.

1991: Geese fly over the house honking at 9:05 this morning. At the Covered Bridge, a whole field of wingstem is done flowering. Asters and goldenrod full. Heavy odor of September, spice of seeds and decaying foliage. Gray stalks of garlic mustard and summer brome scattered, tipped like straw from the wind. River down lower than even in the drought of 1988, bottom visible all along the path. Swamp beggarticks and orange jewelweed full. Three-seeded mercury is reddening. Sedum reappears in the undergrowth, stalky from the canopied summer. Empty buckeye hulls along the trail. Locust pods common. Some ash and cottonwoods have lost nearly all their leaves. Elm and sycamore leaves on the low pebble shoreline at Far Hole. Dozens of fruits down under one Osage. Purple deadnettle sprouting, new sweet Cicely. Crickets loud. I walk through showers of ash leaves. Blue jays restless, noisy all the way from the bridge to Jacoby, apparently migrating. Caught in the rain, I crossed the river at the shallows north of the canoe launch, holed up at the Jacoby outhouse, and then set out again back through the showers of rain and acorns and buckeye hulls and leaves.

1993: Geese fly over at 7:30 a.m. Tall coneflowers noticed almost done at the corner of High and Limestone.

1995: Walking Buttercup down Limestone Street at dusk, Jean and I saw two or three dozen robins feeding, calling, flying back and forth in the long yard next to McKee’s. The full autumn flocking has begun.

1996: The asters planted from seed in the spring have passed their best now, but they've brought pinks, whites and violets to the south garden since August.

1997: Cloudy rainy morning, temperature in the low 60s. No bird song, only crickets.

1998: Sparrows chattering this morning early in the pear trees downtown. The mother-in-law’s tongue is full bloom in the greenhouse.

1999: Along the bike path, the jewelweed is wilting from drought. Ragweed is dry and empty, leaves crackle underneath my wheels. The canopy is thinning overhead. Ironweed is finished in the yard. In the Caribbean, Hurricane Floyd moves towards the East Coast as the hurricane season reaches its center.

2000: Half the leaves gone from our front maple, the most precocious of the High Street trees.

2001: At 6:35 this morning, a single repeated call, probably from a blue jay. Then at 6:40, full jay vocalizations. No other birds until a cardinal sang close to 7:00, then more jays. Then silence, then clucking and chattering from a squirrel and maybe starlings. No doves heard today.

2002: A long, bright day for butterflies: sulphurs, monarchs, skippers, swallowtails. One golden finch: still summer.

2003: Morning fog, the smell of autumn, fallen leaves. A cardinal sang at 6:50 a.m., then wrens took over.

2005: To South Glen with Mike: The woods is wearing out. More than half of the wingstem has completed its cycle, ironweed far less common. Under the canopy, the rich green glades of wood nettle are losing their color. Zigzag goldenrod is now open, tall goldenrod reaching early full bloom. Wild cucumber has large fruits. One pileated woodpecker heard, small flock of gold finches seen.

2006: Bittersweet berries are definitely orange (very pale orange) today. One of Mateo’s Jerusalem artichokes has finally budded. A few tall coneflowers continue to bloom in the alley. Lilac pods are dark, redbud seeds drying, browning. A quiet morning at the back porch, fewer butterflies. One cardinal at 6:00 a.m. (EST).

2007: After last night’s rain, the garden looks especially tattered, some of the hosta leaves yellowing, complementing the mottled coleus. The buds are bigger on the Jerusalem artichokes; they should bloom any day. The last of the phlox are gone, but the clump of white boneset that I cut back in July is reaching full flower and provides a solid, fresh accent to the fading plants of middle summer. My winter greenhouse tomatoes (the Cobra variety) I seeded at the end of July are about three feet tall now, and one plant is blossoming.

Since the past of natural history tells the present, it is easy to confuse the years or simply combine them, making all Septembers the same one September, in a basic Platonic abstraction. That blend of days and events is a kind of existential quantum travel which defies linear boundaries, lets us go backwards or forwards in time, suspended on the color of a leaf or the blooming of a flower.

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September 10th
The 253rd Day of the Year

How rich in color, before the big show of the tree foliage has commenced, our roadsides are in places in early autumn, -- rich to the eye that goes hurriedly by and does not look too closely, -- with the profusion of goldenrod and blue and purple asters dashed in upon here and there with the crimson leaves of the dwarf sumac.

John Burroughs

Sunrise/set: 7:11/7:52 Day's Length: 12 hours 41 minutes
Average High/Low: 79/57 Average Temperature: 68
Record High: 98-1897 Record Low: 39 - 1883

Weather
This is the second of the three driest days in September. The sun almost always shines, and temperatures are typically slightly warmer than yesterday's: 55 percent chance for 80s, and 35 for 70s, ten percent again for 90s. Half the nights fall below 60, but frost almost never occurs.

Natural Calendar
Corn is often a fourth percent mature by today, corn silage a fourth cut all across the lower Midwest. Yellowing soybeans brighten the patchwork landscape. In northern counties, the planting of winter wheat is starting to get underway. Throughout the South, cotton growers are defoliating their cotton plants, a process that increases fiber quality.
This is the last week of the Yellow Springs year that normal averages drop only two degrees in seven days. Next week, the rate will increase to three degrees per week. A few days ago, at the end of August, averages were only going down at the rate of one degree every seven days.

Daybook
1984: Tulip poplars and cottonwoods have large gold patches of leaves now. Crab apples have lost much of their foliage.

1987: Robins and starlings in the yard this morning, and crows, blue jays in the distance. The ash at my window is three-fourths turned and losing leaves. Some of the maple in front of the house has come down. Woolly bear caterpillars common as I came home from work, all of them light or dark orange, no black stripes. Katydids still strong tonight. Large flock of geese lands on the college green.

1988: When the woolly bear caterpillars finally appeared this year, they were dark, some reddish, some dark brown. Last year’s winter was a mild, dry one. Will this year be different? Vern Hogans says cold.

1989: Crickets and katydids still strong in the warm evenings.

1993: Boneset has rusted in the swamp and white boneset along the highway in just the last few days. In the yard, some white and red phlox hold. The pink spider plant continues to come in. The ironweed planted from seed this spring is still early full bloom. Most cosmos killed by the drought, zinnias holding pretty well. Spiderwort still strong.

1996: The iron plant (mother-in-law’s tongue) has finished blooming after having flowered for about two weeks.

1999: The sun continues relentless, the earth so dry in the drought, everything withering prematurely. I haven’t cut the grass in over a month. Pond koi still active at their summer level, feeding heavily. Two Monarchs seen today.

2000: Screech owl in the back woodlot toward Limestone Street at 8:07 p.m.

2001: Two black swallowtails seen today. Full bloom of New England aster in the south garden. Late purple-flowered hosta full bloom in town as Royal Standard hosta continues late bloom by the apple tree. Queen Anne’s lace is definitely gone. Goldenrod early bloom. Horseweed still prominent. Butterfly bush still all right. Artichokes full. Still long rows of blue chicory. At school, my red maples are stable, mostly green.

2002: A monarch butterfly at 8:00 a.m.

2003: Monarchs seen throughout the day in the zinnias. The flowers of the earlier virgin’s bower have turned gray, but the later plants are still bright and in full bloom.

2005: To Amish country northeast of Columbus: Many patches of orange and gold on maple trees along the highway, several maples completely turned. Most of the soybean fields and the stands of tall goldenrod are turning. At home, a few serviceberry trees have lost all their leaves. Together with the black walnuts, the serviceberries make up the first tier of leaves to fall.

2007: Buds on the Jerusalem artichokes are straining now, will open any day. A cardinal sang at 6:53 a.m. (EDT) – only one call, then silence. Crows heard briefly at 9:20 as we walked Bella through the alley. Mateo’s black walnut tree is about 90 percent down.

September 11th
The 254th Day of the Year

Grape clusters heavy under broad leaves,
powdery bloom on fruit black with sweetness
-- an ancient delight, delighting --

Wendell Berry

Sunrise/set: 7:12/7:51 Day's Length: 12 hours 39 minutes
Average High/Low: 78/57 Average Temperature: 68
Record High: 98 - 1897 Record Low: 40 - 1917

Weather
Chances for completely overcast conditions rise from yesterday’s five percent up to 30 percent, and showers occur one day in three. Highs seldom reach the 90s but make it into the 80s sixty percent of the afternoons, are in the 70s thirty-five percent, and in the 60s five percent. Evening temperatures dip below 60 sixty percent of the time, but frost almost always stays away.

Natural Calendar
In town, the violet September crocus has opened. In the fields, goldenrod is peaking. New England asters are coming in, along with the aster pilosus, aster lateriflorus, Short's aster, and the aster cordofolius. Beggarticks, white snakeroot, goosefoot, horseweed, Jerusalem artichokes, clearweed, and smartweed are still in full bloom.

Daybook
1982: White boneset still strong along the freeway.

1985: Clifton Gorge: zigzag goldenrod is in full bloom now.

1986: South Glen, late morning and windy, an autumn wind: Wingstem holds in the woods, mostly gone in the fields. River full of leaves. Dragonflies still hunting. Ironweed's brilliant purple turned to soft white seed above the goldenrod. Beggarticks now full bloom. Pollen count remains high, near 300, even after ragweed has gone to seed: is it from goldenrod now? Three blues spiraling at South Glen, one cabbage butterfly sitting on the path dying, two Monarchs flying across the field. Many ragweed seeds gone, elderberries deep purple. Tonight a hard wind and rainstorm, at least an inch of water in the tomato flats.

1987: Blue jays, robins, squirrels chatter in the back trees all afternoon.

1988: At Jacoby: A great blue heron rises out of Jacoby Branch, feeding 9:30 a.m. Geese fly over south as I walk. White snakeroot is still early, delayed weeks by the drought; wingstem is very late too. But ironweed stayed on schedule, held up far better to the lack of water. Goldenrod still just starting. Tall coneflowers mostly gone. Huge patches of catchweed, in full bloom, second cycle. Helianthus tuberosus still full bloom. Pennsylvania leatherwing bugs still mating. Patches of poison ivy red and gold, but otherwise very little leafturn so far. At home, knotweed has faded. Last of the peaches picked and frozen. No cardinals heard this weekend. Light earthquake about nine o'clock in the evening. The 6th hurricane of the season caused quite a bit of cloudiness this afternoon.

1989: The ash at my window is maybe a fourth yellow, starting to drop its leaves.

1990: Roadsides of Grinnell are pink with smartweed. Pussy willow foliage fell in August; now it's growing back.

1991: Listing the changes, adding, subtracting notes, rearranging sequence, qualifying each day, adjusting the weather graphs, updating charts, reworking percentages, assessing the leaves, comparing years, taking stock, measuring asters, cutting back the hollyhocks, mallow, yarrow, queen Anne's lace, coneflowers, loosestrife, listening for geese, for blue jays migrating along the Little Miami, for the autumn robin staccato.

1992: At Wilberforce, my ash tree is almost completely gone.

1996: Instead of being invigorated by this September, I'm feeling lethargic. Instead of my typical excitement and anticipation about fall, in place of an urge to take stock and get ready for the cold, I'm experiencing a resignation and acceptance, a letting go of power instead of its collection, as though this winter were going to do something different to me than it usually does, as though I didn't need to fight it or resist it but let it blow over me and cover me up. There doesn't seem to be anything ominous or morbid in my nonresistance. It feels simply like abandon, without the thought or the hope of spring or any repetition or rebirth, into an unforeseeable end of this cycle, allowing whatever outcome has been chosen, obeying, obliging with curiosity and peace.

1998: A dozen cabbage moths in the garden this afternoon. Then in front, in the east garden, a skipper, a Monarch and more cabbage moths. High tide of lepidoptera.

1999: Crows boisterous at 6:45 this morning. Again at 7:45 this evening through 8:00.

2000: Small herd of deer grazing on the Antioch School lawn at lunch time. Butterfly bush and Russian sage still strong in town.

2002: Powdery mildew has overtaken the zinnias just in the past ten days.

2003: A soft blush to many of the red maples in the area. Some of serviceberry trees are turning quickly.

2004: One monarch seen today heading south across Dayton-Yellow Springs Road.

2007: Monarchs off and on this afternoon, birds feeding at the feeders. One cardinal sang at 7:15 a.m. (EDT). The first real cold wave of the year moves in throughout the day. Expected lows in the 40s tonight and the next two nights.

September 12
The 255th Day of the Year

Crows coming home to roost
at eight o’clock tonight,
comforting September
with constancy and clarity.

Sunrise/set: 7:13/7:49 Day's Length: 12 hours 36 minutes
Average High/Low: 78/57 Average Temperature: 68
Record High: 99 - 1897 Record Low: 38 - 1898

Weather
This is typically one of the two cloudiest days in September; a full 40 percent of September 12ths are completely overcast, and rain falls four days in a decade. Today also marks the beginning of a decline in percentage of daily sunshine, a decline that continues through December (the year's darkest month). There is a 40 percent chance for highs in the 80s, 45 percent for highs in the 70s, fifteen percent for 60s. Nighttime temperatures are typically mild for the next two days, with 60s occurring more than half the time.

Natural Calendar
Sandhill cranes start to arrive in Midwestern wetlands on their way to the Gulf coast. Doves usually stop calling in the morning until February. Young toads appear in cooler evenings. As lake and reservoir water temperatures drop into the lower 70s and 60s, bass and walleye become more active.

Daybook
1982: Ragweed gone, soybean fields mostly yellow, cornfields motley brown, yellow, and green.

1983: Buckeyes falling to the ground near the market downtown. They were probably ready to be picked a week or so ago. Cabbage butterflies still mating on the zucchini. Leaves blowing down from the black walnut tree in the back yard. First small white asters bloom in front of the house.

1984: At the mill: the field along the river is filled with goldenrod, but a few have brown tips going to seed. Up river, the jumpseed is not quite ready to jump. Most asters haven't flowered yet. Thin-leafed coneflower is still full bloom, and some scattered agrimony. Dark orange touch-me-nots continue in late full bloom. Wood nettle is graying. Cobwebs and spiders everywhere. In the deeper woods, henbit and violets grow stronger. Canopy stable. Sweet Cicely coming back, and new mint. First zigzag goldenrod open. Helianthus flowers hold on along the road. Buzzards circling.

1986: Loneliness today. I feel lost, retreat again to Thoreau: “If a person lost would conclude that after all he is not lost...but standing in his own old shoes on the very spot where he is, and that for the time being he will live there; but the places that have known him, they are lost.... I am not alone if I stand by myself. Who knows where in space this globe is rolling? Yet we will not give ourselves up for lost, let it go where it will.”

1987: Blue jays restless, and squirrels chattering off and on. Some ragweed stems bare. Patches of yellow on the Osage trees.

1988: Heavy rains from the hurricane today.

1989: A number of monarch butterflies seen heading south over Wilberforce-Clifton Road.

1990: Grinnell roadsides pink with smartweed.

1991: At Wilberforce, my ginkgo is fringed with gold. Aster novi belgii and prickly mallow full bloom today,

1998: Cardinals and crows come through about 6:50 a.m., then the cardinals stay and sing on and off through the morning. The drought continues to deepen, all the highway grasses are as brown as in February. Squirrels have been chucking and whining a week or so now in the afternoons. A toad came to the sprinkler this evening as I watered the lawn.

2002: Full bloom of the new virgin’s bower on the trellis for the past three days. Stella d’oro lilies still strong, and the New England asters are coming in steadily. Only a few blossoms left on the Royal Standard hosta, bud the purple-flowered hosta is still in full bloom along the alley off Winter Street. Lots of skippers in the garden today, one black swallowtail, no Monarchs.

2003: Mild and sunny: Monarchs were in the garden all day, four seen at one time. Cabbage moths were even more numerous. Skippers and tiger swallowtails came by too.

2006: Camel cricket in the dog’s water this morning; it was still alive and hopped away when I scooped it out. The Royal Stand hostas have lost most of their petals in today’s hard rain, a sudden end to their long late-summer season. But in the front yard, the honeysuckle berries have become bright orange.

2007: Royal Standard hostas and Moya’s August hosta are gone in our yard and in hers. They declined as the New England asters came into bloom. One cardinal sang at 6:57 this morning (EDT). White boneset providing a solid bank of foliage and color under the peach tree. I will spread the seeds around this fall, could use a full wall of their white and green. Like last year, the red and orange of the honeysuckle berries begins to stand out. Dozens of cabbage butterflies swarmed around the white boneset this afternoon in the intense sun. Jean reported seeing a small flock of crows on the way to Beavercreek. This afternoon, I saw a new white autumn crocus by the wisteria vine.

September 13th
The 256th Day of the Year

For nothing exists nor happens in the visible sky that is not sensed in some hidden manner by the faculties of Earth and Nature….

Johannes Kepler

Sunrise/set: 7:14/7:48 Day's Length: 12 hours 34 minutes
Average High/Low: 78/57 Average Temperature: 67
Record High:100 - 1897 Record Low: 38 - 1964

Weather
The 13th and the 14th are the last two days in the year on which there is a 15 percent chance for a high above 90 degrees. Eighties occur 40 percent of the time, 70s another 40 percent, with a cool high in the 60s coming the remaining five percent. Lows are usually close to 60; the third cool wave of the month brings frost, however, almost ten percent of the mornings.

Natural Calendar
Now the Big Dipper is low in the north an hour or so after dark. The Milky Way dominates the night, Cygnus, Lyra, and Aquila, the constellations of the Summer Triangle, forming its brightest stars. In the east, the Great Square follows Delphinus. At dawn, Orion stands almost in the middle of the southern sky; bright Capella shines high above him. Regulus, the spring planting star, approaches from the east in Leo.

Daybook
1982: South Glen: Wingstem still holding in the woods, gone in the fields. Touch-me-nots and jumpseed fading. Some white snakeroot has gray seeds, even green berries. More and more Queen Anne's lace turned to dark brown seeds. Wood nettle with big green seeds. Hog peanuts past their prime. Most burdock dying back, yellow and brown, only a few still flowering. One lone daisy, and a few daisy fleabane. Acorns common on the path. Some wild lettuce, much chicory holds. Some rose hips red. New England aster near full bloom, and heath aster, aster lateriflorus, Short's aster, aster cordofolius. Field thistles hanging on, and tall coneflowers. Leaves on the trails, the cover overhead spotted with new color. Sycamores a golden green. Dogwood yellowing. American mountain ash, fruit dominant, deep orange. Berries red on the silver olives. Purple berries on all the pokeweed. Scarlet Virginia creeper outlines the tree trunks at the east ridge. Spider webs across all the trails.

1984: The ash tree by my window at Wilberforce has begun to turn. Huge flock of starlings settles in the locusts at home, 5:30 p.m.

1986: Geese fly over at 8:54 a.m.

1988: Sharp leaf color change during the last three days. The trees, which faded in the drought are suddenly turning, cottonwoods most of all. Knotweed: quick loss of all its petals. No cardinals noticed singing for the last five days. Jerusalem artichokes still full bloom along the roadsides. Tonight: two cold, slow lightening bugs in the raspberries.

1989: Cardinal sings at 6:13 p.m.

1991: Cardinal waits until 9:37 a.m. to sing. Then quiet. The blue jay is loud at about ten, then everything's quiet again at eleven.

1992: Almost complete decline of the showy coneflowers, cosmos and zinnias thinning even more. Cardinals sing off and on today. Cicadas strong by noon, temperature warming into the 70s. Squirrel sitting high up in the osage eating black walnuts, singing its screeching song, peeling off the soft green hulls, fragments falling a few yards from me.

1996: Jumpseeds are continuing to jump.

1998: Long-bodied spiders have disappeared from the pond. No more nightly web weaving. Robins chirp at 6:37 a.m. Cardinal and crows eleven minutes later. Wrens and starlings at 7:30. Baby wrens heard in the lilac yesterday.

2000: Cut back Queen Anne’s lace and scattered seeds in the south and north gardens. All but two or three showy coneflowers gone. New England asters starting. Heliopsis cut back, long past its prime. Ironweed seeds are soft, ready to plant. Pond weeded; water lilies are still very strong, producing five or six flowers a day from the single planting. Shasta daisy and veronica continue to flower, along with occasional achillea, butterfly bush, and Russian sage. The morning silent until 7:45 when one cardinal sang. Doves heard at 8:20. Flocks of starlings line the wires on the way to Springfield. Along the airport road, the tall small-flowered helianthus are in full bloom. In town, the virgin’s bower weakens in places. At 8:07 this evening, the screech owl in the back trees started to call, about ten minutes after sundown.

2001: Silver olive bushes starting to turn.

2002: Grass-leaved goldenrod (solidago graminifolia) is open in South Glen, also fields of tall goldenrod (solidago altissima or gigantea). Wingstem and blue monkey flower still full. Red-shouldered damselflies seen by the river.

2003: A cardinal sang at 6:52 (EDT) this morning, continued off an on through the morning. The wrens began at 6:55. Dark woolly-bear caterpillars reported on the roads.

2005: A dozen cabbage butterflies in the butterfly bush this afternoon, a giant swallowtail in the impatiens, a monarch passing through. The virgin’s bower on the trellis is about a third in bloom, and the New England asters have been opening for several days. The yellow coneflowers have disappeared throughout town, and the purple ironweed in the yard is almost gone. A few of the cut-back Heliopsis are still flowering. A few chiggers continue to bite.

2006: Screech owl called at a little after 6:00 (EDT) this morning.

2007: A cardinal sang at 6:58 (EDT) this morning, otherwise quiet. Early purple crocus seen in the alley, the house next to Mateo’s.

September 14th
The 257th Day of the Year

The full-juiced apple, waxing over-mellow,
Drops in a silent autumn night.
All its allotted length of days,
The flower ripens in its place,
Ripens and fades, and falls, and hath no toil,
Fast rooted in the fruitful soil.

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Sunrise/set: 7:15/7:46 Day's Length: 12 hours 31 minutes
Average High/Low: 78/56 Average Temperature: 67
Record High:101 - 1897 Record Low: 34-1902

Weather
As the sun moves to within a few degrees of equinox, late summer's grip grows measurably weaker. From now on, it is more likely that highs will occur in the 70s than in the 80s, and an afternoon in the 60s is four times as likely to be recorded as during the first week of the month. Although highs in the 90s occur 15 percent of September 14ths, the same percentage applies to 80s, odds not seen since May 24th. Rain falls 40 percent of the time, and the sun does not appear four years in ten. Odds for frost: one in ten.

Natural Calendar
In the final two weeks of September, a rapid deterioration of all the wildflowers except the goldenrod and asters occurs. And after these last flowers go to seed in early October, there is no new generation of blooming plants to replace them. Except for the few varieties that open during second spring, the final species that grow to maturity within the temporal limits of this place are in the process of bearing fruit.

Daybook
1985: Geese fly over 7:02 a.m.

1987: The land is dry, very few asters or zigzag goldenrod. They were aborted or delayed, I think, by the lack of rain.

1988: Cardinal sings 8:30 a.m. Birdsong is rare now, morning or afternoon, doves quiet too.

1989: Telephone lines filling with birds.

1990: In the damp mornings and evenings, toadstools in the lawn. Starlings in the back trees this afternoon, birds on the wires in the countryside.

1992: At dusk, bats still flying. When I walked the dog, the moon was rising, and crickets were still as loud as in late summer, katydids still strong.

1993: Warm, hard wind all day, barometer falling. I noticed that a large patch of leaves on the north side of the big maple in the yard had turned in the past few days. Most trees holding well; my ash at school is keeping its color better than I ever remember, not even a streak of yellow.

1996: Across the street, the patch of violet autumn crocus has come into bloom. In the east garden, the sedum, dead nettle, and a few spiderwort are still in full bloom, keeping color in the perennial bed. Other parts of the garden going down, the purple coneflowers turning black.

1997: Virgin’s bower is still in full bloom. Ironweed is half done, but it still shines in many fields. Sundrops full bloom and seven feet tall in the south garden. Cicadas quiet this afternoon, but katydids strong tonight.

1998: Cardinal 6:50 a.m. and 8:30. Eight cabbage moths in the north and south yards this morning.

2002: Cardinal at 7:00 a.m. One Milbert’s tortoiseshell butterfly seen in the butterfly bush.

2003: Four monarchs counted again in the zinnias today. And several Painted Ladies (vanessa cardui) – which have been common throughout the past several weeks. Along the road south to Lebanon, scattered maples and ashes are turning. Tall goldenrod, white boneset, white snakeroot, and Jerusalem artichokes are prominent.

2005: Albert, the green frog in the pond, was croaking this morning around 8:20.

2007: One painted lady seen this afternoon as Jean was leaving for Indiana.

September 15th
The 258th Day of the Year

And in fine, the ancient precept, "Know thyself," and the modern precept, "Study nature," become at last one maxim.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sunrise/set: 7:16/7:44 Day's Length: 12 hours 28 minutes
Average High/Low: 77/56 Average Temperature: 67
Record High: 99 - 1897 Record Low: 35 - 1902

Weather
Today is one of the more decisive times in the movement toward autumn, a dramatic shift in low temperatures occurring on this date. Overnight between September 14th and 15th, the chances for a cold dawn in the 40s or 50s leaps from the early September average of 40 percent up to 80 percent. Although frost rarely strikes on this date, the stage is set. The 15th is one of the dryer September days, carrying only a 20 percent chance for rain. There is a 35 percent chance for completely overcast conditions; highs in the 70s come 60 percent of the time; temperatures rise only into the 60s twenty-five percent of the time. One afternoon in four warms above 80 degrees.

The Week Ahead
This third week of September brings one of the most radical autumnal swings so far in the season. Not only do the chances for highs only in the 60s move from ten percent to 30 percent, but cold afternoons in the 50s become possible for the first time since June 4th. The likelihood for warm 90s or 80s falls sharply throughout the period, with September 18th bringing only a 20 percent chance for highs above the 70s, the first time that has happened since May 6th. Each day this week brings at least a 30 percent chance for showers, with the 18th having the highest chance: almost 50 percent. The mornings are chilly, and the possibility of a light freeze grows steadily. Two weeks ago, the odds were high against frost. Now the chance for freezing temperatures to occur in a seven-day period is up to 40 percent. Next week it will be 50 percent. In two more weeks, it will be 80 percent, and in three weeks almost 100 percent.

Natural Calendar
To the south along the Ohio River, tobacco plots are almost bare. Near Yellow Springs and along most of the 40th Parallel, cornfields are brown. Soybean fields are yellow. Grapes and fall apples are about a third picked. Tomatoes and potatoes are just about harvested.

Daybook
1985: Indian Mound and Upper Trail: The first goldenrod is fading in the woods, New England asters, small white asters, showy coneflowers, and white snakeroot still in full bloom. Only a couple of Joe Pye plants left. Helianthus still strong. Sneezeweed discovered in full bloom, and large-flowered bidens. One puffball mushroom found near the river cliffs. Most field thistles deteriorated. Most wingstem have lost their petals. Horse nettle has yellow fruit as big as cherries. Geese flew over 7:30 p.m.

1986: Geese came over 7:30 a.m. More and more leaves turning. The tree line in much of the county is fringed with yellow and brown.

1987: Three fireflies lying in the night grass, blinking, creating a soft glow. Crickets intense. Apples thumping to the ground every few minutes; once in a while, one clatters into the potted plant below the tree.

1988: Cardinal sings near dawn.

1991: One dove calls in the late morning. They must have stopped their early morning songs just this past week. The coming winter's tiny craneflies seen swarming over the picnic table in the back yard this afternoon. They've just emerged. A few katydids heard last night.

1993: Rain this morning, then cool and sun. The late-summer smell is gone now, the rich basil and pollen smell. Instead, the north wind brings in a different, less pungent scent. The trees remain green, but the feel to the air is autumnal. Uncle Bill called tonight from Gentilly, Minnesota. There had been a few other very light frosts that week, he said, but this morning, all the grass was “white as could be.”

1996: Ride down the bike path, temperature in the 50s, clear blue sky. The tree line was green from Yellow Springs down past Jacoby to the Little Miami. White panicled asters, violet Short’s aster and heart leaved asters, dark purple New England asters were all early bloom to full bloom. Goldenrod was coming into full, ragweed about gone, its seedpods forming below its flower clusters. A few violet domestic phlox were still strong. I saw a last lobelia, lots of white snakeroot just on the other side of its peak, scattered dandelions and chicory, great mullein, Jerusalem artichokes, small flowered rudbeckia. Pokeberries are mostly purple now; a few purple elderberries hold on.

1998: Cardinal at 8:49 this morning. Swallowtail butterfly at 8:45. Ten cabbage moths in the garden after lunch. Mid season for the New England asters.

1999: Hurricane Floyd bears down on the Carolinas. Two million people evacuated Florida yesterday, but the storm went north ravaging the Bahamas, missing Jacksonville. In Yellow Springs last night, it was so cold that the katydids wouldn’t sing. First time this fall.

2000: Full silence at 8:00 a.m., not one bird. Very last rudbeckia dies in the yard. About a third of the phlox are left. The New England asters are in early full bloom. Cornfields are browning quickly, the soy fields a bit ahead of them. In the south garden, it’s obvious now that, in the course of just a month or two, the ranunculus have choked out most of the daisies.

2001: Jay, crows, cardinal, and the chatter of a wren at 6:55 a.m., then silence in between scattered calls. No doves calling. Forty-six degrees this morning. First time in the 40s this fall.

2002: Starlings cackling in the back trees this morning before noon.

2003: Driving to Columbus today, I saw few trees with autumn color. Only the cottonwoods were aging. The corn harvest had started, however, and most of the soybean fields were turning gold. Monarch butterflies seen from time to time along the highway. In the Caribbean, Hurricane Isabel threatens to move against the Outer Banks of North Carolina. At school, two people said they saw very dark woolly-bear caterpillars this week. More signs of a cold winter.

2004: Two monarchs seen flying south across the freeway this afternoon. One of them flew right into my truck.

2005: Screech owl repeating whinny before dark this morning.

2007: A cardinal sang once this morning at 6:56 (EDT), the sky clear and temperature in the 40s. An hour later, I drove to Sharonville near Cincinnati. Ashes, cottonwoods, hackberries, catalpas, yellow poplars, sweet gums and box elders were fading and yellowing just enough to define the first phase of the early autumn leafturn. Next week, there should be dramatic changes. Three small flocks of starlings seen along the highway. One yellow swallowtail seen at home in the north garden this afternoon. Large flocks of sparrows seem to be coming to the feeder now. Before dinner, I brought in a little wood for the stove. I will make the first fire of the season tonight, keep the gas furnace off until the cold wave moves east and milder temperatures return.