Slayer of winter, art thou here again?
O welcome, thou that bring'st the summer night!

From “March” by William Morris

EPHEMERIS

FOR THE SECOND WEEK OF EARLY SPRING

The Fourteenth Week Of The Natural Year

When Pussy Willows Emerge

    The Running Maple Sap Moon is full at 11:38 a.m. on February 28, pulling as much sap as it can against the cold. Rising in the late afternoon and evening and setting before dawn during most of the period, this moon is overhead in the middle of the night.

    On February 26, the average temperature in the Lower Midwest rises above 32 for the first time since December 8. And from now on, average temperatures rise at their spring and early summer rate, one degree every three days, until the second week of June.

    On February 28, the days start to lengthen at the rate of 60 seconds every 160 minutes. On March 2, the night’s length in Yellow Springs is a full two hours shorter than it was in the middle of December. On that day, the span between sunrise and sunset is 11 hours 20 minutes instead of 9 hours 20 minutes. And on March 3, the sun reaches a full 70 percent of the way to equinox, lying at almost the same position in the sky that it held on October 11.

DAYBOOK

February 23: Road kills increase as the days lengthen, inviting turkey vultures to return. Wild multiflora roses sprout their first leaves.
February 24: The sun reaches 60 percent of the way to equinox today. The cold front due to arrive in the nation’s midsection within a few days of the 24th brings “Snowdrop Winter” to the land; but this weather system is usually the last really bad one of the first half of the year – except for the March 7th cold front.
February 25: When sugaring time comes to a close, then finches gradually turn their spring and summer color, their gold appearing when daffodils are blooming and pussy willows emerge all the way.
February 26: Mountain bluebirds are coming back to Yellowstone.  Bald eagles are laying eggs there, and ravens pair up for spring, frolicking as they court. In the desert of the Southwest, wildflower season has begun as far south as the Big Bend National Park along the Rio Grande.
February 27: Many tulips, hyacinths and lilies of the valley are emerging from the ground in the East. Red and silver maples flower in Cincinnati . Red quince buds are flushed in Virginia. Woodcocks and brown-headed cowbirds are arriving in the mountains of North Carolina. Bobwhites are calling. Today is Independence Day for people from the Dominican Republic. Do you have new kids or lambs (20 to 35 pounds) to sell for this holiday?
 February 28: The moon is full today, its most troublesome position; avoid work and arguments. Eat dark chocolate. Spend an inordinate amount of time with your best people and pets. Take special care of your livestock and your car. Sit by the fire and dream

A SPRING WREATH
    We often have an Advent Wreath at our house during December, and this year I decided to extend its vigil past solstice and Christmas to the average date of the arrival of Early Spring, February 18, a total of twelve weeks marked by twelve candles.

   At the very beginning of December, the Yellow Springs sun goes down at its earliest time, 5:10 p.m., and so it was always dark when the first candle was lit before supper at half past five. By the time the fifth candle was lit on New Year’s Eve, sunset had moved to 5:20, and by January 11 to 5:30, and by the 20th to 5:40, by the 31st close to 6:00.

   The sixth and seventh candles watched through the coldest part of the season, the eight and ninth saw the January Thaw, the tenth the Groundhog Day Thaw, the eleventh and twelfth the last snows of middle February.

    And as the number of lit candles increased, the brightness of the wreath and the brightness of the sky started to balance one another at supper time until, even when the sky was overcast on the very last day of Late Winter (Ash Wednesday in 2010), the light of the twelve candles was almost superfluous, the sun setting at 6:15.

    Now, even though the weather may be cold, a new vigil and new measurements can begin, this time with a gauge of cut pussy willow and forsythia branches, forced crocus, tulips and daffodils.