Simple attention to the details of nature, as always, helped me keep in sight both my center and my life’s destination and purpose, which was to live skillfully and mindfully each step of the journey.

Stephen Altschuler

LUNAR PHASE
The new Running Maple Sap Moon swells throughout the week, entering its second quarter at 7:42 p.m. on February 21.

DAYBOOK FOR THE FIRST WEEK OF EARLY SPRING
February 15: The front that crosses the Mississippi today is the last front of Late Winter, and it should be followed by milder weather almost everywhere in the nation. Zeitgebers (events in nature that tell the time of year) for this week include the first markers of the six-week season of Early Spring: the sporadic blooming of dandelions in sunnier lawns, the increasing activity of water striders and small moths on warmer days, the running of maple sap (as new moon and early spring arrive together), the nesting of cardinals, the nighttime mating of salamanders in shallow pools, the courtship of raccoons (the young to be born in late April) and skunks (babies usually appearing in May). Bald eagles are incubating their eggs at this time.

February 16: Today is Mardi Gras, the traditional start of Christian Lent. That means Easter is only six weeks away and that it’s time to get ready to sell your lambs and kids to the Easter Market.

February 17: The season of spring birdsong begins most years in late January, but it is the middle of February that consistently turns Late Winter into Early Spring. Sometimes the weather doesn't change for the better in the early days of the year’s second month; sometimes the cold is worse than in the middle of January. But the sound changes and fills the silence of dormancy, songs accumulating like leaves emerging.

February 18: This is winter's Cross-Quarter Day, and maple syrup time has arrived in many locations. Leaves of the grape hyacinth pace the garlic, which is pacing the growing daffodils and the Resurrection lilies.

February 19: Throughout the country, the ground temperature is moving toward or above 35 degrees, the temperature at which earthworms become active again. That will mean the pastures will soon be starting to grow again. If you hear spring peepers (they sound like “peep - peep”) or wood frogs (they sound like a flock of ducks), then you really know it’s almost time to let the livestock out to the driest, greenest piece of ground.

February 20: The February 20th cold front, the first front of Early Spring, is usually mild, and it is often dry, as well.

February 21st: The moon enters its weak second quarter today. Continue planting in flats flowers and vegetables you want to set out in May. Lower growlights close to the new sprouts to keep them from getting too stalky.

February 22: Zeitgebers (events in nature that tell the time of year) for this week of February include migrant crows returning with their young, the earliest cardinals singing around 6:45 a.m., and the first of migrating geese flying north.

MEPHITIDAE (SKUNK) SPRING
The first week of Early Spring is often mild, bringing the most precocious flowers into bloom, but the snow cold waves of this year's first months have delayed or covered many of the obvious signs of change.

For guidance about local weather, the groundhog is a fickle prophet, rarely emerging to prognosticate in my home town. Other creatures, however, take up the slack, most notably the skunk. Our local mephitidae wander the village lawns and streets throughout the year, but their body clocks bring them out most frequently during their mating time of Late Winter and Early Spring. Even the most casual observer cannot miss their announcement that winter is almost over.

My daybook contains a number of notes about skunk odors and sightings, most of them between the first week of January and the beginning of March, many of them containing parallel comments about the other motions of spring.

January 7, 2001: Smelled a skunk along Clifton Road this morning. Saw a flock of cardinals in the honeysuckle bushes.

January 22, 2009: Robins chirping and even giving their singsong calls, cardinals calling, a nuthatch chirring, three starlings chirping in the white mulberry tree this morning between 8:00 and 8:30. Even with snow on the ground and temperatures below freezing for several weeks, it seems to me that spring is rushing into the village. Along the alley, winterberry hulls and leaves have been darkened by the deep cold of last week. After we got home from Columbus, I heard the bell call of a blue jay. On the way back we noticed a small skunk killed on the road near the dairy.

February 2, 2009: The thaw ended last night, and itís crisp this morning, but thereís plenty of sun. A cardinal was singing when I walked Bella in the alley this morning. We smelled a skunk on the way to Cedarville, and a cardinal was singing when we got back at about 11:00. One blue jay bell call heard at 9:00, and robins are peeping and chirping all around.

February 5, 2000: Skunk smell reported last night. And cardinal song this morning.

February 5, 2002: Two long flocks of crows along the freeway just east of Springfield. Skunk killed on the road to Xenia one or two nights ago.

Feb 6, 1998: Along the back roads today, one skunk killed overnight. Three flocks of juncos seen within a mile or so. The great movement is underway.

February 7, 2001: On the way to Clifton this morning, I saw spring road kills: a possum, a groundhog, and a skunk.

February 9, 2008: Doves heard for the first time this year as I walked to the car about 7:50 this morning. On the drive to Cincinnati, I saw several road kills: two skunks, a raccoon, and an opossum.

February 10, 2010: A friend reports that both her dogs were sprayed by a skunk a few nights ago.

February 12, 2010: I heard a cardinal at 7:15 this morning, just a few minutes after the crows. In spite of a foot of snow on the ground, a skunk was out tonight, odor drifting along High Street when I walked Bella about 9:00.

Feb 13, 2010: Two skunks killed on Dayton Street last night, even with the low in the teens and deep snow. One buzzard circling the neighborhood this afternoon.

February 16 2002: First cardinal at 6:57. Skunk killed last night along Dayton-Yellow Springs Road.

February 22, 2004: At 3:30 this morning, a skunk sprayed under the house. Had to run the attic fan for hours to dilute the smell.

February 23, 1995: Road kills have increased significantly this week: opossums and skunks.

February 23, 2008: In spite of continued cold and snow, cardinals were singing near 7:00 this morning. Coming from Beavercreek on the backroad tonight, Jean and I drove through a potent cloud of skunk odor!

March 6, 1993: Peonies up a half inch today. The snow most all melted, rhubarb underneath unhurt, pale green. Male cardinal chasing a female this morning. Tonight, a skunk was out right in the middle of the town's largest commercial development. Scent of spring.

By the middle of March, the mating cycle of the mephitidae comes to a close, its odors ceding to less powerful but equally significant markers of the new season: the robin chorus before dawn, emerging pussy willows, rising daffodil spears, blooming snowdrops and aconites.