July 1st
The 182nd Day of the Year

I hear the wild bee wind his horn,
The bird swings on the ripened wheat
The long green lances of the corn
Are tilting in the winds of morn,
The locust shrills his song of heat.

John Greenleaf Whittier

Sunrise/set: 6:10/9:08 Day's Length: 14 hours 58 minutes
Average High/Low: 84/63 Average Temperature: 74
Record High: 98 - 1970 Record Low: 48 - 1899

Weather
Today brings highs in the 90s twenty-five percent of the time, 80s fifty percent, 70s the rest. Rain falls 40 percent of the days, and skies are completely overcast one third of all the years.

The Week Ahead
Although clouds are relatively rare through the end of June, they suddenly become more frequent on the 1st and 2nd of July. Then, starting on the 3rd, the sun returns (between showers), and remains through the 11th. Temperatures are generally cooler than those of the previous week: the chance for 80s or 90s falls from 80 percent down to about 60 percent.

Natural Calendar
Timothy is bearded with seeds, and rose of Sharon comes into bloom. Autumn’s bird migrations begin as the rough-winged swallow flies south. The Corn Tassel Rains are gathering to the west, and days suitable for field and garden work often drop to two and a half or three out of seven. Sirius, the Dog Star lies centered in the southern sky at noon.

Daybook
1982: South Glen: White snakeroot with sizable buds, wood nettle with its first curled flowers, wingstem ready to open. White Queen Anne's lace, blue chicory, red trumpet creeper, pink milkweed, yellow St. John's wort, lavender wild petunia, golden black-eyed Susan, and green prickly teasel dominate the roadsides. Canadian thistles are gray, some thistle down starting to break loose and drift in the afternoon wind. Parsnips are brown, gone to seed, black raspberries declining now in the yard. I saw the first galls on the goldenrod. Day lilies are still strong. Mourning doves still heard. On the way to Wilberforce, the fields of grain and hay are brown. It’s really middle summer.

1983: End of the strawberries in the north garden. Catnip, motherwort, and great mullein bloom along the railroad tracks. Black raspberries in the yard are near their peak as the hemlock bows to set its seeds. Wheat fields golden brown, black-eyed Susans open along the freeway.

1985: South Glen: White snakeroot with huge buds, wood nettle with first flowers, wingstem ready, parsnips half to seed, but still flowering enough to make part of the field yellow, the other part white with daisy fleabane. Wild onions flowering. Virginia roses still in bloom. Only a few honewort left. Pale bouncing bets, pink wild petunias along the path. Prickly buckeye fruit an inch in diameter hanging from the trees. Past the covered bridge, bottle grass is at its peak and toughening. Tonight: fireflies thick under the almost full moon.

1989: Blue jays restless, probably protecting their young. Now the coneflowers and violet mallow and great mullein in the south garden are tall and in full bloom. Grapes a half an inch in diameter, rose of Sharon budding, pie cherries old. Past the covered bridge, the soft shade grasses are going to seed, still tender and delicate. Fireflies were thick tonight in the dark of the moon.

1990: Blue jays stealing the last of the cherries all day in the back yard. Red, yellow, orange, pink lilies keep opening. Astilbe gone now, Rugosa roses still full.

1996: The first purple coneflower opened in the sun today, and the first of the new golden heliopsis. Orange lychnis holds in the south garden, but the yellow primroses have gone. Now it's tall mallow season, and the purple loosestrife has opened along the north garden. Queen Anne’s lace also bloomed, and the first yarrow has turned almost completely yellow. Maybe half the Asiatic lilies are in bloom, only a few past their prime. Our day lilies are just starting, but the wild varieties in the Glen and in the Village have been at full bloom for a week or more. The first zinnias have blossomed here, but the cosmos were a week to ten days ahead and now are coming on fairly well. Japanese beetles arrived on schedule on June 30th. Cottony alder psyllids appearing on the lilies. At one house along Xenia Avenue in Fairborn, the entire front yard is full of Shasta daisies and yellow coneflowers. Along Dayton-Yellow Springs Road, Canadian thistles going to seed, and a few nodding thistles; elderberry bushes full bloom.

1998: Blue darners have been at the pond for the past few days, and now a pale almost transparent damselfly.

1999: The birds are quiet today, but the frog speaks out in the rain under the dark sky, exults with a complex, descending call.

2001: Water willow season closes in the pond.

2002: Tillamook, Oregon: The last rhododendron flowers combine with the blackberry flowers to accentuate a floral time zone similar to late May or early June in Yellow Springs. In coastal gardens, a few iris blossoms are holding. Along the roads, wild cucumber, cow parsnip, and bright fireweed found in lush full bloom.

2003: In the muggy morning, the robins got up late, didn’t start their chirping until about 5:10. One cardinal sang briefly at 5:20 a.m., a clear strong call, but then he was silent. Doves and distant cardinals joined the chorus about 5:40, the same time they’ve been coming in since early June.

2004: Two bats seen at 5:50 this morning. Jeanie reports hearing the first of the annual cicadas this morning.

2005: From Key West, Florida north to Georgia: Wedelia, Spanish needles, and coatbuttons identified in Key West. At Sanabel Island, inkberry shrub (with its half-flowers), railroad vine (ipomoea pescaprae), salt marsh fleabane and tickseed photographed. One elderberry bush had soft, ripe berries as well as new white flowers. Crepe myrtles in full bloom from Florida north through Georgia.

2006: I went to the back door this morning at 4:00 (EST) and no birds were singing. About five minutes later, a cardinal sang but then was silent. By about 4:20, the robins finally woke up and began their chorus.
Riding downtown this afternoon, I saw rose of Sharon open near the post office. Trumpet creepers have been blooming about a week. One black walnut, about half size, picked by the church this evening.

2007: Three more Japanese beetles found. Birds quiet during the day. Only sparrows, cardinals, finches and doves at the feeders.

2008: Japanese beetles increasing on the ferns, half a dozen killed this morning. Green-bottle flies have been more common in the garden this year; sometimes I mistake them for the beetles. Red-bellied woodpecker called this morning around 9:00. The water plantain opened by the pond this afternoon.

July 2nd
The 183rd Day of the Year

It will not always be summer; build barns.

Hesiod

Do not let a flaunting woman coax and cozen and deceive you: She is after your barn.

Hesiod

Sunrise/set: 6:10/9:07 Day's Length: 14 hours 57 minutes
Average High/Low: 84/64 Average Temperature:74
Record High:100 - 1911 Record Low: 48 - 1904

Weather
The likelihood of rain increases from 40 percent to 55 percent today as the Corn Tassel Rains get underway. The sky becomes overcast almost half the years. Highs reach to the 90s once or twice in a decade; the rest of the years are pretty evenly divided between 70s and 80s.

Natural Calendar
The second cut of alfalfa has started, as well as the summer apple harvest, wheat harvest and the summer potato harvest. Almost all the tiger lilies are blossoming. The bright yellow primroses and spring daisies are gone. The shade loving cohosh has its berries.

Daybook
1983: One quart of black raspberries picked along the railroad tracks. First chigger bite of the year. This afternoon, woodpeckers in the back yard seemed to be talking back and forth with their hammering, bursts of two to three taps. Catalpa flowers falling on the way to Wilberforce.

1987: Hosta with large blue buds, ready to bloom. Boneset in the garden is almost five feet tall, getting ready to bloom.
1989: Cecropia moths, orange and tan, six-inch wingspan, emerged at Jeff and Kit's porch (one came to our back door June 22nd this hot year).

1990: Deep in the woods past the Mill, I found a lilium superbum, turk's cap lily, a nodding orange inflorescence, petals curled back, the setting sun shining through them. Pale wild leeks below in the undergrowth, hobblebush side flowers open, and a few of its centers. Thimble anemone: some budding, some making thimbles. Lopseed is full now, also wood mint and avens, which seemed to open all at once last week. Solomon’s plume fruit turning rusty red, some of its foliage dying, beige like the May apple leaves. Sweet Cicely seed heads darkening, angelica turning deep gray. A flock of cedar waxwings seen feeding along the river, and a dozen or so buzzards in the highest sycamores at the first bend beyond the dam. A wood duck, possibly hurt, followed me for about a hundred yards, maybe a stone's throw from shore, giving out a shrill cry every once in a while. Tonight, Jeff called. The cecropia moths came out today, the second year in a row on this date.

1993: First large-flowered aster is open in the south garden.

1996: In the back yard with Jean this afternoon, I looked up into the big locust at the edge of the property and saw a small butterfly attacking a bird, which was sitting on a limb of the tree. Whether really aware of the bird's presence or not, the butterfly would rest on the wood for a few seconds then fly rapidly at the bird, then away, and return to the tree. In a few seconds, it repeated the behavior. After three assaults by the butterfly, the bird left.

1997: The very first powder-blue campanula opened in the east garden today. First bright pink Asiatic lily bloomed in the north garden. Around town, hollyhocks are full, and purple coneflowers are out. Milkweed, sweet peas, yucca, and cattails are in full bloom out in the countryside. Processing tomatoes full bloom in Tipp City.

1998: At 4:00 a.m. (Standard Time), the dark morning is quiet. By 4:30 a.m., the chorus has begun, albeit considerably softer than a month ago. The birds start singing later, and they seem to sing with less enthusiasm. The blackbirds and starlings have moved on now. Mid-season hosta are in full bloom, and the first Frances Thompsons are about done. Purple coneflowers and monarda are peaking along the east gate. Hollyhocks at their best along the south fence. In the south garden, mallow seems to have slowed way down. Feverfew is worn, as are the spiderworts. Small purple asters by the gaura bloomed yesterday. Some yucca are still full bloom, others are done.

1999: The morning so quiet. Just a titmouse and the frog.

2004: Middle summer stability of lilies, monarda, purple coneflowers, hostas, zinnias, Queen Anne’s lace. Butterfly bush has bloomed in town. At South Glen, Bella runs through the tall grasses, loosening clouds of gold timothy pollen in her wake. At dusk, fireflies have been thick for almost a week now.

2005: North from Cleveland, Tennessee to Yellow Springs: Bright orange butterfly weed and pink milkweed common along the freeway in Kentucky.

2006: The birds were quiet again at 4:00 (EST) this morning. A cardinal sang at about 4:15, and then the robins came in softly at 4:20.

2007: Several fritillaries, two hummingbird moths (at the violet and red monarda) and a red admiral in the back yard today. No pods seen on the milkweed near Limestone Street. Joe Pye weed getting larger buds. Pickerel plant stalks about three feet high and budded. Some lizard’s tail still white and soft. Very small fingerling koi, maybe half an inch long, seen in the pond for the first time since the two fish were placed there in 1997. They must have just emerged from their eggs. A total of five: some dark, some light. Rick told me about a month ago that he had babies in his pond.

July 3rd
The 184th Day of the Year

Look at this beautiful world, and read the truth
In her fair page; see every season brings
New change to her of everlasting youth--
Still the green soil, with joyous living things
Swarms -- the wide air is full of joyous wings.

William Cullen Bryant

Sunrise/set: 6:11/9:07 Day's Length: 14 hours 56 minutes
Average High/Low: 84/64 Average Temperature: 74
Record High:102 - 1897 Record Low: 50 - 1924

Weather
Today’s high temperature distribution: 90s thirty percent, 80s fifty percent, 70s twenty percent. The sun shines eight years in a decade on this date, but showers pass through 60 percent of the time. Thunderstorms push the nighttime lows into the milder 50s thirty-five percent of the years.

Natural Calendar
The first buckeye, apple and cherry leaves become yellow and drift to the ground. Water striders hatch in the ponds just as alewives head back to the Atlantic from their estuaries along the Atlantic. The behavior of raccoons, opossums and groundhogs becomes erratic in the Dog Day heat. Young robins, blackbirds and blue jays are in the honeysuckle bushes eating red and orange berries. The young of the great blue heron leave their rookeries.

Daybook
1983: Young blue jay dead on the sidewalk, osage fruit about three-fourths developed beside it, both fallen in last night’s storm.

1986: Blackbirds filled the trees a week ago; now they're gone (mulberries and cherries gone with them). Cardinals are quiet throughout the day: major decline in their song.

1987: An occasional cicada heard. Giant stag beetle on the porch screen. First black walnut seen on the path. Last of the black raspberries in the yard.

1990: Making a list of the changes in the seasons is like making a list of the changes in myself. The more closely I watch the external events, the more clearly I see myself. Each new detail I learn about the year becomes a new piece of what I feel and am.

1993: Sundrops have been gone for a few days now.

1996: Fishing at Caesar Creek with John: Three large catfish caught in the afternoon, an hour or so between each strike. A cool front had come through in the night; the wind was strong from the northwest, scattered clouds rolling across the sky all day, the high temperature in the middle 70s, sun keeping us warm enough.

1998: One rose of Sharon bush has maybe half a dozen blossoms today. Jeni and Tim, visiting from Oregon, found a sphinx moth on the front of their car, killed last night as they drove home. My moth book by Holland, 1920, gives a sketch of this species, Ceratomia amyntor. This one a female. Phlox opening around town now.

1999: Obedient plant beginning to bloom. Lilies and red bergamot. now full bloom, and several varieties of hostas reaching early midseason. Queen Anne’s lace comes in. Shasta daisies are blossoming around town.

2001: Susi’s violet phlox are opening this morning.

2005: As Jeanie and I sat on the back porch, a family of wrens fluttered around us, moving back and forth along the branches of the old apple tree, seven birds in all, and it seemed some were babies still being fed by the parents.

July 4th
The 185th Day of the Year

How suggestive this thistle down...which, as I sit by the open window, comes in and softly brushes my hand! The first snowflake tells of winter not more plainly than this driving down heralds the approach of fall.

John Burroughs

Sunrise/set: 6:11/9:07 Day's Length: 14 hours 56 minutes
Average High/Low: 85/64 Average Temperature: 74
Record High: 107 - 1911 Record Low: 49 - 1968

Weather
The Dog Star brings an afternoon in the 90s forty-five percent of the time on this date – the highest percentage of 90s so far in the year. Eighties occur forty percent of the days, 70s fifteen percent. Skies are clear to partly cloudy eight to nine days in ten, but showers pass through four years in a decade. Nighttime temperatures are generally in the 60s, with 50s occurring only 15 to 20 percent of the time.

Natural Calendar
The Corona Borealis and red Arcturus are overhead by 10:00 p.m. To the west, Cygnus, the Northern Cross, is poised to take their place in late summer. Scorpius moves deep in the southern sky after dark; its great star, Antares, is the brightest light close to the horizon. Near this date, the earth reaches aphelion, its point most distant from the sun.

Daybook
1982: Henbit still blooming in the yard. Local sweet corn is ready now. Peak of the wild raspberry season in the woods.

1983: Baby robin in the yard hops away into the honeysuckles as I approach.

1984: To Ellis Pond: Day flowers blooming, the milkweed beetles mating, black walnuts almost full size, chicory, sweet clover and Queen Anne's lace marking the roadsides. Lesser stitchwort identified. The parsnips are going to seed, the oldest apple tree branches are losing their leaves.

1986: First cicada heard. Hummingbird moths drink the impatiens. Delicate lopseed is in full bloom, and bergamot, and spurge at the Cascades, first touch-me-not, blackbirds feeding their young all afternoon. Cardinals wake me up before dawn, strong all early morning. Then quiet in the afternoon.

1987: Cicadas becoming more common now. First hosta blooms.

1988: On the road from Miami, Florida. Early rainy season there, horseweed and wild lettuce common along the road, ragweed in full bloom near Jacksonville, elderberries still flowering there and all the way up the eastern coast.

1989: Cardinals sing at 5:35 a.m. Birds and squirrels loud all morning.

l990: Robins continuous clucking. Purple finches feeding, preening in the apple tree. Blue jays gone now; late June brought the loudest activity. No cardinals heard today. Maybe the first cicada yesterday evening, one call only.

1991: Osage and black walnuts maybe two thirds developed. First white phlox opens. First katydid heard, loud at 9:40 p.m.

1993: Day lilies and Asiatic lilies close to early full bloom now in the yard and throughout the village. One purple coneflower fully open in the east garden, two more coming on. Lychnis is about over for the summer, needs to be cut back. First gay feathers are coming out.

1996: A small flock of robins noticed in the back trees today. Have they congregated early for migration or for mulberry picking, nesting done?

1997: First domestic day lilies open in the north garden: deep orange red.

1998: Day lilies full bloom along the north garden. First town cicadas heard in the yard today. In the Glen, they sang the last week of June.

1999: Cicadas heard today, just a few.

2000: Full mallows, day lilies, Asiatic and Oriental lilies, heliopsis, gay feather, yarrow, gooseneck, early obedient plant, Shasta daisies, mid-season hosta, red bergamots, some roses, middle hollyhocks.

2001: To West Virginia: Butterfly weed and milkweed common throughout.

2005: Returned yesterday after ten days in the South. Robins sang at 4:17 a.m. (EST), cardinals at 4:27, doves waiting until almost 6:00. In the gardens: full bloom of ramps, monarda, day lilies (22 varieties counted), 5 varieties of Asiatic/Oriental lilies, mallow, gooseneck, Heliopsis, astilbe, oak leaf hydrangea, yellow yarrow, moonbeam coreopsis, achillea. Early full bloom of Queen Anne’s lace, purple coneflowers, hollyhocks, bicolor hosta, Shasta daisy. Pink spirea fading quickly. Late full lizard’s tail, blue hosta, larkspur, water willow, daisy fleabane. Very last lamb’s ear, foxglove and sweet Williams. Yucca gone here but seen full bloom in the South. Japanese beetles in the primroses. No cicadas yet. Greg called in the afternoon, having seen his first monarch, one that had just emerged. Powdery mildew taking over phlox by the peach tree.

2006: Jerusalem artichokes tall, black raspberries almost gone in the alley, chicory bright blue at the back of Mateo’s yard this morning in the rain. The yucca, full bloom for days, lost its flowers overnight.

2007: Yuccas have been bare for over a week now. A few fingerling koi still swim at the shallow end of the pond, have survived three days at least. Japanese beetles getting thick now; today was the worst day so far. Tiger swallowtail on the purple coneflowers. Don’s Shasta daisies are in full bloom; ours are fully budded but not out yet. His rudbeckia speciosa are getting ready to flower. At the feeder, the red-bellied woodpecker and the nuthatch fed constantly throughout the late morning. Huge flurry of yellow leaves from the locust tree in a gust of wind before lunch.

July 5th
The 186th Day of the Year

All-conquering heat, oh, intermit thy wrath!
And on my throbbing temples potent thus
Beam not so fierce.

James Thomson

Sunrise/set: 6:12/9:07 Day's Length: 14 hours 55 minutes
Average High/Low: 85/64 Average Temperature: 74
Record High: 100 - 1911 Record Low: 50 - 1972

Weather
There is a 30 percent chance for highs in the 90s today, 55 percent for 80s, fifteen percent for 70s. The skies are partly sunny nine years out of ten, but showers pass through one day in three. Nighttime lows are in the 60s or 70s ninety percent of the time.

Natural Calendar
Mimosa webworms appear on locust trees. Potato leafhoppers reach economic levels in some alfalfa. Bagworms attack arborvitae, euonymus, juniper, linden, maple, and fir. Root diseases stalk the soybeans. The wheat still standing in the fields suffers from rust, powdery mildew, head scab, and glume blotch. Farmers feel the pressure from Canadian thistle, ragweed, foxtail, lambsquarter, dogbane, velvet leaf, nut grass, and johnsongrass.

Daybook
1983: Baby robin in the yard hopped away into the bushes.

1984: Leafcup just starting to bloom, enchanter's nightshade late bloom, asters tall and branching, zigzag goldenrod foliage lush, avens still flowering. First sweet corn tassels in the village.

1986: Cardinals woke me up before dawn, were strong all morning. Elderberry flowers along the railroad tracks gone to green berries. Bull and field thistles budding, downy wood mint seen, soapwort, catmint, mullein. Timothy to seed, early tall bell flowers out maybe two to three days. Wild lettuce has been blooming for a while. Early figwort discovered. Leatherflower just starting. The last days of the large, pink wild roses. Teasel tall but not blooming. A couple of white snakeroot budding. Grapes almost full size. Meadow goatsbeard seeds in the wind. Burdock five feet tall but not budding yet. Goldenrod plants six feet in places. Big, fresh, red, long seed pods on the locusts. Late this afternoon, first big cricket seen in the yard.

1987: Touch-me-nots and leafcup well into bloom. More hummingbird moths and even another hummingbird at the south garden, and still cardinals singing. First yellow jacket seen, fields are full of Queen Anne's lace and daisy fleabane.

1989: Last year, there was deep drought. This year, the dam at the pond broke in a heavy rain.

1990: Full bloom of summer hydrangeas, including the hydrangea paniculata, the long stalked flowers on Dayton Street. At South Glen, hundreds of yards of thistledown, hands full, clumps, soft, translucent. A flock of gold finches flew up from one patch. Some black-eyed-Susans, one moneywort left, galls on the goldenrod, some loosestrife, dogbane, and wood mint blooming, Rugosa roses still full bloom. Germander early, yarrow full and rich. Angelica with red stems and black seeds. Paths covered with white clover. In the deep woods, strong wood nettle and touch-me-not emerald green.

1991: To Breezewood, Pennsylvania: Tree of heaven still blooming in the mountains. First sundrops past the West Virginia border. Common knapweed suddenly everywhere 230 miles east of Yellow Springs.

1993: First cicada of the summer found resting on a lily bud along the north hedge, no cicada song yet. First teasel spotted blooming this afternoon. Black walnut fruits are close to full size now. Fireflies were thick over the soybean fields tonight, thousands of them glittering above the dark plants all the way to the horizon.

1996: Fishing with John again at Caesar Creek. One catfish caught at a new spot across from far hole. The water is deeper there, with logs and trees. At far hole, a large fish broke John's line in the early afternoon and then again in the late afternoon. Two bluegills also caught at the new location. The weather had warmed up since we were last here on the 3rd, the sun intense, the wind down.

1997: Damselfly found in the garden today, first one attracted by the new pond. First Japanese beetle found on the roses.

1998: The Frances Thompson and the Giant blue hosta are ending their flowering cycle now.

2000: Lamb’s ear all cut back, seems attacked by some fungus; many plants appear dead.

2001: Dolly Sods, West Virginia, about 4,000 feet elevation: A high plain habitat of laurel, silver beech, red maple, aspen and red spruce. Bluettes still in bloom here, heal all, orange hawkweed, yellow pussy toes, wild daisies, yarrow, elderberries, Deptford pink, some goose grass, timothy, bottle grass and deer grass, new lichens with red bloom, new growth on the sporangiem moss, dogbane beginning, blueberry shrubs hugging the ground, their berries starting to come in, mountain laurel in late bloom, small creeping blackberries found, similar to the variety thad flowerc along the coast of Georgia in March. Deer plentiful throughout the fields.

2004: Showy coneflowers are just starting to open in the yard; in Miri’s garden at the corner of Dayton Street, they have been in full bloom at least a week. Throughout our north garden, more and more lilies are coming in, filling in the entire span with assorted shades of yellow and orange and white and pink. Tiny black gnats seen swarming on a bright yellow zinnia and yellow day lily. A black swallowtail and a yellow one seen yesterday.

2005: Midseason violet aster opens by the trellis.

2006: Cardinals and robins loud at 4:30 (EST) a.m. Goldenrod has grown past six feet. Panicled dogwood has berries about 1/8th of an inch in diameter. Euonymus berries are tiny, maybe 1/32nd of an inch. A spider in the sink this morning. Black hunting spiders seem to be getting more numerous – one seen on my office wall yesterday, two on the porch. Thirty different day lily plants in bloom, four Oriental lilies flowering. Black walnut leaves scattered under the tree by the church, leafdrop underway.

July 6th
The 187th Day of the Year

Hot weather? Yes; but really not
Compared with weather twice as hot.

James Whitcomb Riley

Sunrise/set: 6:13/9:07 Day's Length: 14 hours 54 minutes
Average High/Low: 85/64 Average Temperature: 74
Record High: 100 - 1911 Record Low: 44 - 1972

Weather
This is typically the driest day in the first two weeks of July. Showers fall only 25 percent of all the years. Cool temperatures in the 70s can be expected 35 percent of the time, but 80s come on 20 percent of the years, and 90s on 45 `ercent. Lows in the 50s occur on a third of the nights, 60s and 70s on the rest.

Natural Calendar
Giant green June beetles have appeared in the garden. Elderberry flowers turn to fruit, like the blossoms of pokeweed, poison ivy, and the trilliums. August’s goldenrod can be four feet tall now. Lupine pods break apart to spread their seeds. White snakeroot, ironweed, boneset, wingsdem, tall coneflowers anD gray-headed coneflowers are budding.

Daybook
1983: Baby blue jay dead on the sidewalk in front of the house this morning. At South Glen, a flock of goldfinches rose from the thistle down as I walked by. Some black-eyed Susans, a moneywort left over, scattered late rockets, galls on the goldenrod, wingstem deep and tall, some loosestrife, dogbane and wood mint blooming. And the large pinkVirginia roses still full bloom. Early germander, yarrow full and rich, some tall cinquefoil. But no tall bell flowers, they’re late this year. Paths full of white clover, but the tall sweet clovers are fading quickly. The angelica’s stems are old and red, seeds black. Flies and mosquitoes pesky but kept somewhat at bay by a cool northwest wind when I was in the open. A rare July day, cool enough for a jacket.

1984: Black raspberry peak is over.

1986: South Glen: large berries on the blue cohosh. Flock of seventeen geese along the river: the young are nearly grown now, but not completely marked. They moved upstream single file along the shore where the water is calmest. One black walnut on the path, sign of deep middle summer. Daddy-longlegs: five of them shared a milkweed flower with the motionless, mating milkweed beetles. First stag beetle seen. Sycamore bark coming down. Very first teasel in flower. Green wild cherries hanging in clusters. Buds on the ironweed and wild lettuce. Long round thimbles on the thimble plant. Tiny water striders are out, maybe an eighth of an inch, born this month. Fringed loosestrife, germander full bloom. Angelica leaves turning a pale pink, flushed with yellow.

1987: Angelica leaves turning white, pink stalks brittle. Ten ducks three-fourths grown. Squirrels chatter all along my path. Green wild cherries hanging in clusters. Buds on the ironweed. Newborn water striders. Pelecinid got into the house tonight.

1988: Back from Belize. The drought worse now, some osage leaves withering, patches of yellow on tulip trees and poplars. Some forsythia wilted. A few blackberries turning at South Glen, wild ginger the most visibly damaged, prostrate, shriveled. Clover dried up, thistles with aborted flowers emerged half way then blackened by the heat, bumblebees digging in the tight, damaged flower clusters, mint drooping without blooming, touch-me-nots stunted in the swamp. Poison ivy blanched, drooping. Ragweed, though, strong and bright green, the best adapted. No crickets heard, no cicadas.

1989: On the road south to Warren County: cattails are in early full bloom, day lilies continue lush, hemlock almost done, parsnips are brown, chicory, sweet clover, and Queen Anne's lace dominate all the roadsides. Virginia roses are still in bloom along the lake. No cicadas yet.

1990: Evening walk. The whole field by the barn was white with daisy fleabane. Then acres of thistledown, hundreds of yards of solid down, soft, translucent. Toward Jacoby, the deep woods dominated by dark green wood nettle and touch-me-not. A flock of goldfinches broke from the thistles as I came by. Wood nymph butterfly spotted close to the butterfly preserve, first hatching from late June.

1993: Flicker the only bird singing from eight until ten this morning, then the yard became quiet for a few hours. Then the flicker started up again.

1997: Small daddy-long legs, maybe half an inch are in the weeds today.

2000: Blue jay calling in the backyard through supper, maybe watching over its young. At eleven tonight when I went to work, the tree frogs were loud in back by the new pond and fountain, the half moon setting in the west. One of the gray green frogs was hanging on the window screen when I walked by.

2001: To Spruce Knob, West Virginia: Juncos seen at 4,800 feet, summering over in the mountains. Thimbleberry common along the road, also blueweed, great Indian plantain, great mullein, milkweed, black-eyed Susan, wild red columbine, red bleeding heart, dock, daisy fleabane, large black medic bush clover, yellow and white sweet clover, cow parsnip, blue-eyed grass. Casey found a lone Hooker’s orchis in a grove of silver beech trees. In all, the vegetation is similar in time to mid or late June along the Oregon coast.

2002: Driving north from Portland, Oregon to Canada: One hundred miles north of Portland, one rhododendron in full bloom. One catalpa seen blooming near Seattle. U-Pick strawberries were doing a brisk business from Seattle north. Mock orange seen 50 miles east of Vancouver, then the clovers appeared by the roadsides, white and yellow sweet clover, birdsfoot trefoil, crown vetch.

2006: Pickerel plant bloomed overnight.

 

July 7th
The 188th Day of the Year

Heard today the first cicada, quite faint, as if its first attempt. Frogs every morning. Where are they? Not far. They are the voice of summer.

Harlan Hubbard

Sunrise/set: 6:13/9:06 Day's Length: 14 hours 53 minutes
Average High/Low: 85/64 Average Temperature: 74
Record High: 100 - 1988 Record Low: 48 - 1983

Weather
Today's temperature distribution: 70s on 25 percent of the afternoons, 80s on 30 percent, 90s on 40 percent, and 100s on five percent. Morning lows are the 50s half the time, so the night of July 6th - 7th is one of the more pleasant July nights for sleeping. The sky is clear to partly cloudy 95 percent of the time, making July 7th the brightest day of the month. Thunderstorms, however, are not uncommon; one year in three brings rain today.

Natural Calendar
The harvest of winter wheat is well underway around Yellow Springs (and is sometimes complete), and the canola harvest has begun in the north. The first ears of field corn are silking, and detasseling operations have begun in seed corn fields.

Daybook
l982: Parsnip tops are all brown with seeds.

1984: South Glen: ducks almost full grown, angelica dying, wild cherries just beginning to turn, elderberry setting fruit, coneflowers budding, first pokeweed and wood mint flowering in the deep woods. I touched a small brown butterfly with a red mark on its back wings; it was tame, drugged maybe by the sweetness of the milkweed flower it was sitting on. Crickets: steady song now. Yellow sweet clover fading with the parnsips. Buckeye leaves yellowing, wood nettle in bloom, timothy no longer easy to pull, nectar gone from the stem,

1986: First cicadas heard at 8:30 p.m.

1988: Blackbirds cackle in the back trees. Cardinal still singing through the day. In the drought, some redbuds are dying, sparrows erratic, flying into cars, more animals killed on the highway.

1990: First teasel opened today, and the very first hosta. Still no cicadas.

1991: From New York west across northern Pennsylvania, parsnips and yellow sweet clover are more prominent here. Horseweed is tall, not blooming. Knapweed is the dominant plant here, although sweet clover, daisies and crown vetch are also common. Late rhododendrons seen in the Pocono Mountains west of New York.

1993: Canadian thistles mostly gone to seed now along Dayton Yellow Springs Road. Nodding thistles tattered. Red and yellow clovers are past their best, white sweet clover holding full.

1996: When I was cleaning up the pots and planting flats in the back yard, I found daddy-longlegs with red, oblong egg sacks attached to their legs (found third week of June in cool 1997). Canadian thistles mostly to seed now. Nodding thistles at least half gone.

1997: First day of Japanese beetles.

1999: White cabbage moths, sometime up to a dozen, cluster at the lavender and purple loosestrife in the north garden.

2000: Working at the nursing home: At 1:00 this morning, the frogs are only half as loud as they were at 11:00 last night. Then at 3:00, silence. One cricket heard at 4:00. At 5:30, the cardinal begins by the back kitchen door, and one frog croaks. At 8:30, I heard the first cicadas. At suppertime, a black alypia found. At 11:00 p.m., back at work, a stag beetle on the back wall, a tree frog at the back door, and a young frog, maybe three-fourths of an inch, hopping not far behind it, and tame: it let me pet him.

2001: Rose of Sharon starts blooming.

2002: Driving west from Vancouver, British Columbia: Full blooming salmon berries in the mountains. Yucca in bloom and cottonwood cotton floating in the breeze at Banff. Very last lilac flowers in Calgary.

2004: Lilies, mallow and mid-season hostas continue at their peak. Cut-back sweet rocket continues to bloom.

2005: Rose of Sharon opened today in the north garden and along the street. The old solid green hostas started coming into bloom along the house. No cicadas yet. One small cricket seen in the garden.

2006: Cardinal sang at 4:13 a.m. (EST), then was silent; at 4:22 more consistent singing began. Robins were in chorus at 4:30. Weather clear and cool in the 50s. At South Glen, blackberries starting to redden, black raspberries still not ripe (but almost gone in the alley). Yellow sweet clover almost gone above the Butterfly Preserve. Teasel still not in bloom. Water plantain has started to bloom by the pond as lizard’s tail turns to seeds. Rudbeckia season has begun at Don Beard’s garden; a couple of the new plants started from seed this spring are opening in our yard.

July 8th
The 189th Day of the Year

O God! methinks it were a happy life,
To be no better than a homely swain;
To sit upon a hill, as I do now,
To carve out dials quaintly, point by point,
Thereby to see the minutes how they run,
How many make the hour full complete;
How many hours bring about the day;
How many days will finish up the year;
How many years a mortal man may live.

William Shakespeare

Sunrise/set: 6:14/9:06 Day's Length: 14 hours 52 minutes
Average High/Low: 85/64 Average Temperature: 74
Record High: 104 - 1936 Record Low: 51 - 1908

Weather
Today is a classic Dog Day, with heat, humidity, sun, and an occasional thundershower. Fifty percent of the highs are in the 80s, thirty-five percent in the 90s, and the chance for a high of 100 is five to ten percent – the same chance as for cool 70s. The sky is mostly sunny 75 percent of the time; showers pass through four years in ten. A cool night in the 50s occurs less than twice in a decade.

The Week Ahead
The Corn Tassel Rains continue through the period, and temperatures, which cooled somewhat during the first days of July, begin to grow warmer. After the 7th, there is a full 90 percent chance that afternoon highs will reach 80 or above. July 7th, 8th and 9th are some of the worst Dog Days of the year: all three bringing a ten percent chance for heat above 100 degrees. The period between July 13th and 15th brings cooler conditions in the 70s twenty-five percent of the years, with the 13th being known to see a high just in the 60s. On the other hand, highs above 100 are more likely to occur on July 15th and 16th than any other days of the lower Midwestern year. Nighttime lows typically remain in the 60s, but chilly 50s occur an average of 15 percent of the time.

Natural Calendar
Squash beetles bore into the squash vines. Lanky ichneumans get into the house and perch on walls like gargantuan mosquitoes. Morning birdsong continues to diminish, making way for the increase of insect volume. Blueweed flowers are at the top of their spikes. Lamb’s ear season closes as the first giant burdock blooms along roadsides. Blackberries are August size this week, but still green. Milkweed pods emerge; they will burst at the approach of middle fall, just 80 days from now.

Daybook
1982: South Glen: First swamp milkweed discovered, oxeye blooming, first mountain mint found in Middle Prairie. Wood nettle and touch-me-nots dominate the darker woods. Large patches of soapwort, wild petunias common. Ironweed has purple bud clusters. Giant Indian plantain discovered, six feet tall, with one white flower cluster. First large, black cricket seen in the house.

1986: At the mill: Wingstem with some centers yellow, no petals yet. White vervain open. Blackbirds cluck and cackle, yucca fades. Cardinals still sing. Ailantus webworm moth on the front porch. Ironweed budding, Indian plantain in bloom. First grasshopper with black and yellow wings.

1990: Mid-season hosta open now along the north wall.

1992: Primrose done, most daisies. Lilies at their peak. South wall coneflower buttons about to unravel. Gay feather and tall yellow yarrow early bloom. Squash peaks, raspberries almost gone. Everbearing strawberries are setting fruit. Carrots small but ready.

1995: Return from vacation to the garden overgrown with weeds, some of the roses choked with bindweed, no blooms at all. The strawberry bed, which I had cleared of sorrel three weeks ago, is full of it again. The impatiens had hardly grown at all, subjected to a heat wave and drought, then deluged by the Corn Tassel Rains.

1996: Robin call heard this afternoon, almost like an autumn migration cluck.

1997: First teasel seen blooming along the roadside.

1998: Garlic dug about a week too late. Soft necks are way past saving, should have been taken up the third week of June.

1999: White cabbage moths, sometimes up to ten at a time, cluster at the lavender and purple loosestrife. Cricket hunter seen by the pond today.

2000: Cool from the July 7th weather system. Tree frogs almost all silent by 12:30 this morning. Faint crickets at 3:00 a.m., loud at 5:00. Full cardinal song by 5:30. Tonight at work: no frog sound at all by 11:30. At Serendipity Gardens this afternoon: the day lily sale, digging, separating, sorting. On the return drive, we saw a very young fawn with clear white spots eating grass by the side of the road near Yellow Springs. This evening, sitting by the pond, I noticed that the very first white arrowhead had opened.

2001: Spruce Knob, West Virginia to Yellow Springs: Crown vetch, wild bee balm, parsnip, touch-me-not, tall meadow rue, sundrops, moth mullein, smoke bush, mimosa tree, goldenrod, Joe Pye, Japanese knotweed, wild lettuce, knapweed blooming. The Ohio Valley is well ahead of the West Virginia and Ohio highlands. Almost all the wheat has been cut between home and the mountains.

2002: Driving across the Great Plains of Alberta and Saskatchewan: Bright yellow canola in bloom, field after field. Salsify and heal-all continue throughout the day, then daisies and sweet clover gradually appear as the land becomes wooded near Winnipeg. At Kenora: tall buttercup, wild Rugosa roses, white yarrow, some milkweed, yellow hawkweed. Mosquitoes encountered at Regina, then thick past Winnipeg. Biting flies appear as we approach the lake country.

2004: I went outside at 4:00 (EST) this morning. No sound of birds at all. One sparrow chirped at about 4:10. Roosters called off and on. The first cardinal sang at 4:25. Doves were not audible until near 5:00. The robin chorus never materialized at all, their morning chorus ending for the year during the first week of July. Throughout the day, starlings fed heavily in the mulberry tree, joined by robins and cedar waxwings. A song sparrow works steadily from one side of the yard to the other. One viceroy butterfly identified. Greg said he found a cecropia moth caterpillar today on a crabapple branch. Annual cicadas heard at dusk. Fireflies still plentiful.