May 28, Monday — Memorial Day. Shavuot. Sierra Club founded, 1892. Listen for songbirds now.
May 29, Tuesday — Today and tomorrow are good days for dental care. Patrick Henry born, 1736.
May 30, Wednesday — Benny Goodman born, 1909. Lincoln Memorial dedicated, Washington, D.C., 1922.
May 31, Thursday — Visit of Mary. First U.S. copyright law signed, 1790. Tadpoles are hatching.
June 1, Friday — First recorded U.S. earthquake, Plymouth, Mass., 1638. Moon on the equator.
June 2, Saturday — Cut hair to encourage growth today. Grover Cleveland, first U.S. President to get married in the White House, 1886.
June 3, Sunday — White Sunday. Pentecost. Orthodox Pentecost. Jefferson Davis born, 1808.
Ask The Old Farmer's Almanac: With summer coming, can you suggest some flea and tick repellents for pets? — E.E., Gratz, Pa.
Answer: The addition of vinegar, brewer's yeast or garlic to your pet's food or drinking water have all been touted as excellent flea repellents. A teaspoon of vinegar added to a quart of drinking water is sufficient, or you can sprinkle brewer's yeast over their moist food. (Figure about a tablespoon of brewer's yeast per 50 pounds of pet.)
Garlic tablets, fresh minced garlic or garlic powder can be used, depending on what your pets will tolerate. You can figure the equivalent of one to three cloves of garlic, depending on the size of your pet. One clove is enough for most cats.
A drop of lemon oil or rosemary oil on the pet's collar can also be helpful. Fleas don't like the smell of lemon, garlic, cedar, pine needles, rosemary or vinegar, so use them to your advantage on the pet's coat, bedding or collar. There are also herbal equivalents of the chemical flea collars.
Ticks, including the deer tick (Ixodes dammini) that can carry Lyme disease, are another matter. What works to repel fleas — including the "flea and tick collars" — often do not work for ticks.
The common dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis) and woodchuck tick (Ixodes cookei) are relatively harmless in most parts of the United States, but unfortunately the woodchuck tick looks very much like the deer tick. The dog tick is noticeably larger and has white markings, but in mid-Atlantic and southeastern states, even the dog tick may carry Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF).
If ticks are numerous in your area, and either Lyme disease or RMSF has reached your neck of the woods, it might be worth asking your vet about the recent vaccines available to protect your animals.
In any case, prompt removal of the ticks is advisable. It takes several hours of feeding by the tick before the disease-carrying spirochete bacteria is transmitted.
Please don't handle the tick with your bare hands, use a tissue or tweezers and gently but firmly pull the tick until it releases its grip. Do not squeeze or use heat on the tick. This may cause infection to be expelled into the skin of the pet. Apply an antiseptic to the area. In pets, lameness, fever, loss of appetite or lethargy may be signs of tick infection.
Human contact with ticks is also cause for alarm, of course, as these tick-born diseases can also be contracted by people and can be quite serious if not treated early. Off, DEET or similar products claim some protection against ticks, but for safety, always wear protective clothing in tick-infested areas. Check for ticks every two or three hours when you've been in wooded or grassy areas. Contact your doctor with any concerns.
Ask The Old Farmer's Almanac: Besides "Make hay while the sun shines," are there any other hay sayings? — G.W., Williamsfield, Ohio
Answer: You don't have to be a hayseed to know the hay sayings. Surely you've heard about looking for a needle in a haystack?
In France, they say in a botte de foin, or in a bundle of hay, which has sometimes been mistranslated as "in a bottle of hay." That would certainly be an easier proposition, though we've never understood how the needle got in the haystack to begin with.
We suspect the needle was a ruse used by someone caught napping and needing an excuse.
Of course, young women should never sleep in haystacks unless they wish to become pregnant, or so the old saying goes. If the sun isn't shining when you want to make hay, then maybe you're "between hay and grass," meaning it's neither one nor the other.
A young man might also be considered between hay and grass, which means he's not quite a man, nor still a young boy.
Once symbolic of a good harvest, hay still has many superstitions attached to it. It is good luck to see a hay wagon traveling toward you, for example, but it's unlucky if the wagon is traveling away from you.
You can wish on a wagonload of hay for luck, but if the hay is baled, you'll have to wait until the bales are opened for the wish to come true. Failing to make a wish would be bad luck. Some count to 13 first, and then avoid seeing the same wagonload again, which would break the wish. Stolen hay, given to the cattle at Christmas, will make them prosper, however. Hay-related weather lore includes the idea that pigs will pick up hay in their mouths before a rainstorm. Also, "A swarm of bees in May is worth a load of hay; But a swarm in July ain't worth a fly."
Ask The Old Farmer's Almanac: What are the best times to fish? — S.G., Little Rock, Ark.
Answer: We say the best time to go fishing is anytime you can go fishing, but we'll try to be a little more specific.
The timing of your question couldn't have been better. Superior fishing is to be had when the moon is between new and full — which is the case all this week and up to June 5.
You can also find good fishing when the ocean tides are restless before their turn and in the first hour of ebbing. All fish in all waters — salt and fresh — feed most heavily at these times. One hour before and one hour after high or low tides are particularly good times. During "the morning rise" (after sunup for a spell) and "the evening rise" (just before sundown and the hour or so after) are also good.
Another good time is when the barometer is steady or on the rise. (But even in a storm, the fish aren't going to give up feeding. Their hunger clock keeps right on working, and the smart fisherman will find something they want.) The very best day of fishing, of course, is when you can most enjoy yourself — even if you don't catch anything but a nap.
Send your questions to: Ask the Almanac, The Old Farmer's Almanac, Main St., Dublin, NH 03444 Yankee Publishing Inc.