Periodical Ramblings (17)

    I write periodically about periodicals and this is a post about an annual publication, which is also considered to be a periodical. Even publications published once a year are having trouble and I am sorry to report that another one is disappearing.

The Farmers' Almanac
   That is the periodical that is ceasing publication. It was the newer almanac for farmers, which has only been around since 1818. It was a family-owned publication, issuing out of Lewiston, Maine.

The Old Farmer's Almanac
   This almanac is indeed older, having been around since 1792 and it is still being produced by Yankee Publishing in Dublin, New Hampshire. The publisher's of it, want you to know that, "The OLD Farmer's Almanac isn't going anywhere." 

   

The Old Farmer's Almanac: Canadian Edition
   Like many, I suppose, I didn't realize there were two almanacs for farmers and am glad that one has survived. There is even a Canadian edition of it and I recently purchased a copy from the Home Hardware close by. The black circle in the upper left corner is actually a hole, so the book can be hung from a nail for handy reading.
  The 2026 edition "Being the 2nd after Leap Year and (until July 1) 158th year of Canadian Confederation --- Fitted for Ottawa, With Special Corrections and Calculations to Answer For All the Canadian Provinces. Containing, besides the large number of Astronomical Calculations and the Farmer's Calendar for every month in the year, a variety of New, Useful, & Entertaining Matter."

   Beneath that description there is a picture of a wood engraving and then this bit of verse by the Canadian writer, Marjorie Pickthall, "Look up to outer vastness unafraid And see the stars which sang when Earth was made."

   

  The Old Farmer's Almanac will again be a stocking stuffer for a grandson who says he enjoys it, or is at least polite enough to say so. Like you, he is not a farmer, but there is a lot in it that is not agricultural. Along with the "astronomical calculations", there are also many astrological ones, which I hope he is not interested in, and there are many pages devoted to weather matters, a subject which is of interest to everyone. The OFA people say that "the bedrock of this humble publication is our long-range weather predictions -- correct, or close to it, much of the time." 
   I am writing this on the last day of November, on a cold and snowy one and we have already had others. So far, the OFA is correct. Under the "Regional Forecast" for Southern Ontario, there is this summary:
"Winter will be colder and drier than normal in the east with below-normal snowfall, while it will be warmer than normal in the west with above-normal precipitation and snowfall. The coldest periods will be in mid- and late December, early and late January, and early February, with the snowiest periods in late November and early and mid February." 
   As the above indicates, there is Canadian content, appropriately enough, in a "Canadian" edition, but there may not be enough French for some. It should be mentioned, however, that "Secrets of the Sugar Bush" does include the Indigenous.
   The invention of the Internet may be one of the reasons why the other almanac is ceasing to publish, and the arrival of AI may cause problems for this one. The answers to some things are easily provided by the Internet, and AI questions appropriately framed will likely yield reasonable answers to such queries as "When is the proper age for the first mating of my cat?" (See the "Gestation and Mating Tables,"- 12 months, p.229).
  Still there is something to be said for "serendipity" and stumbling across articles about "Pingos" and "Skirrets", two new things you will now google. 
  Plus, the OFA does include ads., such as this one for, "The Amish 'Secret' to Prostate Woes?" and another ---"STOP EVIL: Sprinkling Salts & Yard Dressing to move out all evil enemies and jinx [sic] on you and your home..." But, I am happy to note that there are often disclaimers at the bottom, such as the one below these ads."  "We make no supernatural claims. All items sold as curios only."

   We hope our grandson reads the small print and pays attention to such suggestions as: "Plant peas when forsythias bloom."

Sources:
   Perhaps it is worth documenting the disappearance of things such as these. There are articles noting the demise of The Farmers' Almanac found in early November of this year. For example:

"Farmers' Almanac Editor-in-chief Explains Why it's Ending After 200 Years:

An Announcement by the Farmers' Almanac that it will cease publication has sparked an outpouring from readers and confusion with another almanac," NBC News, NOV.7, 2025.

"The Cute Yellow Old Farmer’s Almanac Isn’t the One Shutting Down

“There are TWO. This is not The OLD Farmer’s Almanac that has been around since 1792. Everything is fine. Just chill guys”

By Laura Hazard Owen, Nieman Lab,  Nov. 7, 2025
   The publishers of the Farmers' Almanac indicate that their website will be gone soon, so we will have to rely on the Internet Archive for that.
   The Old Farmer's Almanac is found here: 

By the way, The Old Farmer's Almanac is more popular than you might think. On the Toronto Star's bestseller list for Nov. 15, it is ranked Number 5, one spot ahead of Guinness World Records in the "Non-Fiction" category.  At the end of November, it is the Number 1 "Nonfiction" title listed in the Washington Post. 

Bonus:
   Many years ago when Montgomery Ward disappeared, I was the Director of a Business Library and thought it would be a good idea to grab their website, since I assumed it would also go. We did, and for a while some perplexed reference librarians were wondering why the University was getting queries about Montgomery Ward. I just looked and was pleased to find that the material grabbed from the now defunct Montgomery Ward website and our commentary, can still be viewed on the Wayback Machine/Internet Archive - Montgomery Ward: 1872-2000.

WEATHER Feelings

"BUT, IT FEELS LIKE...." 
   The screen shot above was taken on the 24th of April when we returned from the south where we had ventured in search of warm breezes and some colour -- other than grey. If you are familiar with Fahrenheit you may recognize that the predicted temperature that day was below 50, although you should notice that it was going to feel even cooler, before things begin to feel much hotter. Apparently the weather in any season is now intolerable for many who feel it is too hot or cold. My complaint is not with the weather and it is a complaint with which you are familiar.
   Since I am not yet in blogging mode and far more important things should be undertaken, I will present here past pronouncements related to this subject. Out of fear of repeating myself, I went looking for them and you might as well benefit from my research since Mulcahy's Miscellany has no index. Besides, some of the posts contain better writing by other people. This list is not exhaustive and more weather-related items are found in, for example, the very popular feature "Beyond the Palewall." I need to remember this if I am low on subject matter and tempted to bring up the weather again.

"The Human Suffering Index" 
   The HSI sums things up pretty well as does the illustration by Edward Munch which you will recognize. Also included is, "The Dead of Winter" which helpfully includes a typically contrarian argument about the virtues of Fahrenheit over Celsius" for reporting the temperatures we feel. 

"The Wind Chill" is about it and also the "HUMIDEX," both of which are typically exaggerated as these quotations indicate:
"But why does every winter day have to be described as colder than it really is? Listen to the radio and count how often the announcer says: “ … but it’s going to feel like …” Increasingly I’m even hearing wind chill given more prominence than the actual temperature."
and:
"Here’s an example. On one day in a recent summer, I found Detroit and next-door Windsor with temperatures near 28 C. The Weather Network gave Detroit a “feels like” reading of 30.5. But in Windsor, Environment Canada had a humidex of 38."

"Weather Statement" includes an illustration which indicates that the "Summer" in Canada occupies only a tiny bit of our calendar and that soon we will be saying, "So Long Summer." 

The Bonus: The Answer to the Question, "What is a "Nice Day?"
"Have A Nice Day."

Post Script: Things Could Be Worse

All that is needed is another man and a horse.

 

  To make you feel better, I will suggest that you would feel worse if you were to wake up in Lahore, Pakistan, which is illustrated above and described below (from, the Washington Post, April 22, 2024, "As the Concrete World Comes Apart, I Hope For More Flowers in the Cracks," Mohsin, Hamid:)

"The first thing that strikes me about the world is that it is has become poisonous. We cannot breathe. From November until February, the blue sky is hidden behind a low ceiling of gray. This is not from clouds but from smoke. It is uncanny to take a flight in these months, to burst only seconds after takeoff into the blindingly bright light and see not a city but a gray blanket below. The cooler months used to be months of outdoor sports and running around with my cousins and shielding eyes with the blades of our hands from the sun. Now they are months when the land receives too little heat to push the smoke into the heavens, and so it settles all over the riverine plains, prevented from proceeding north by the mass of the Himalayas, choking us.
My children are not permitted to do outdoor sports in these months. Indoors, they sleep to the whirring sound of air purifiers, machines I had not imagined until recently. When we played in the winter as children, we would quench our thirst by working the shaft of the hand-pump in my grandparents’ house. Now, our children do not go out to play. The hand-pumps are all dry. We have depleted the aquifer. A machine bore is required to obtain water from hundreds of meters down, and that water too has been contaminated. Our world has become poisonous: The fireflies are gone, the children cough like smokers, the water is full of heavy metals. The economic miracle we have been promised has arrived, and it is a miracle of despoliation."

"Gorilla Hail"

  It has been almost three weeks since I last posted and while no one has noticed, I will get back to work since the weather is about ready to return to normal. Around here that means cold, cloudy and dreary. Unfortunately, I don't have a topic at hand, so I will write about the weather, which is what we all talk about most of the time. 
   The 'hook' for another hail piece is the word "gorilla", which, when applied to 'hail', apparently means very large. It was found in this headline: "Gorilla Hail Pelts Kansas, Missouri With Ice Chunks as Big as Baseballs," Naomi Schanen, Washington Post, March 14, 2024. Apparently the hail brought traffic to a halt on Interstate 70. Years from now, when you are wondering when the word 'gorilla' got applied to hail, as opposed to say 'hippopotamus,' you will be thankful for MM. 

“This storm IS PRODUCING BASEBALL SIZE HAIL. Get away from windows and shelter inside now!!!” the National Weather Service in Kansas City said, as a thunderstorm warning was issued to 38 counties from eastern Kansas to central Missouri, where large hail and wind damage were cited as the primary threats.
   Residents took to social media to post photos of the “gorilla hail” — a term coined by storm chaser Reed Timmer for hailstones of that size — placing them next to rulers, apples and tennis balls for comparison…"
   Above, I wrote, "another hail piece" since I have used this topic before to avoid having to produce anything of substance. In the piece, "Hail Storms" I indicated we were in for more of them and that they were likely to get worse. In that article, the better word 'Gargantuan' was used. In "Hail Again", you saw a picture of a car with a pelted windshield. And in "W. H. Hudson and the Hail Storm", you read about one that killed many birds and even sheep. By the way, we just had a hail storm here in late February and now that the barometer is falling again, perhaps this blogger will get back to work

The Bonus:
  If you are interested in weather history, see this post about Weatherwise.

"Under the Weather"

 

Documenting the Dreariness
   I have been feeling unwell and also assisting someone who is really unwell. For those reasons I have not posted anything for over two weeks and don't feel much like doing so even now. But, I will, since I happened upon an article which lessens the effort required to think about a subject about which to write. As well, I will likely quote from it to reduce the amount of writing I actually have to do.
   I thought that not feeling very good probably led me to think that the weather also has not been very good. That the sky was as cloudy and congested as my sinuses and lungs. An X-ray revealed that my lungs were as full of moisture as the clouds, which seem to have been hanging around for weeks. They have been.
   That my physical state was in sync with the meteorological one is proved by this article for which this is the headline: "It Was the Darkest Winter in 80 Years: Ontario Endured 'Exceptionally Low' Sunlight in January." Here is more about the gloomy picture outside our windows:

"Though Ontario had "unremarkable" levels of sunlight in December, it was in January when the province experienced "exceptionally low" amounts of solar energy, Brettschneider said. It was followed by a February season which also had lower-than-normal levels of sunlight.

Looking back at the weather in Toronto this season, the city experienced 14 consecutive days in late January without the sun appearing, according to David Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment Canada. Earlier in the season, between Dec. 30 and Jan. 13, there was only one day that was described as mainly clear."

 
   It is typical that here in Ontario it has been just 'dreary' and not as exciting and sensational as it has been elsewhere where there are "Bomb Cyclones", "Atmospheric Rivers and "Polar Vortexes." I can report, however, that we did have one evening of "Thundersnow", which means that we had both thunder and lightning while the snow was falling. It is, by the way, very dreary here again today.

The Bonus:

   There is a "Brettschneider" quoted in the article above and he has been noticed in MM before. Back in 2018 his data were used to define what it means to "Have A Nice Day." If you would like to know what 'nice days' are and where some can be found, have a look at that post.

Sources: 

   "It Was the Darkest Winter in 80 Years... was written by Joshua Chong and found in The Toronto Star, March 18, 2023.

   Only the truth is found in MM and no hyperbole encountered. Weather reporting these days does often contain a lot of hot air and that is noted in this piece:

"Bomb Cyclone? Or Just Windy With a Chance of Hyperbole?: When the Barometer Drops, the Volume of 'Hyped Words' Rises, and Many Meteorologists Are Not Happy About It," Matt Richtel, New York Times, Jan. 18, 2023. 

  Also noted on the U.S. major TV networks are the now nightly 'breaking news' meteorological horror stories involving millions of people directly in the path of something awful. That some of these stories may be more ratings-driven than weather-related is touched upon in this post: "The Human Suffering Index.

  

W. H. Hudson and the Hail Storm

   We have just had a slight ice storm so I have been inside reading Far Away and Long Ago. In it, there is a description of a devastating hail storm. Hundreds of birds were killed, as were many sheep and even large animals, as well as a child. 

  The passage (provided below) reminded me of a post I did back in May, 2021 (see: Hail Storms.)  From it you will learn that it is predicted that we may begin to experience more, and more damaging, hail storms as a result of climate change. The storm below was witnessed by Hudson as a child, while living on the pampas in Argentina.

It was in sultry summer weather, and towards evening all of us boys

and girls went out for a ramble on the plain, and were about a quarter

of a mile from home when a blackness appeared in the south-west, and

began to cover the sky in that quarter so rapidly that, taking alarm,

we started homewards as fast as we could run. But the stupendous

slaty-black darkness, mixed with yellow clouds of dust, gained on us,

and before we got to the gate the terrified screams of wild birds

reached our ears, and glancing back we saw multitudes of gulls and

plover flying madly before the storm, trying to keep ahead of it. Then

a swarm of big dragon-flies came like a cloud over us, and was gone in

an instant, and just as we reached the gate the first big drops

splashed down in the form of liquid mud. We had hardly got indoors

before the tempest broke in its full fury, a blackness as of night, a

blended uproar of thunder and wind, blinding flashes of lightning, and

torrents of rain. Then as the first thick darkness began to pass away,

we saw that the air was white with falling hailstones of an

extraordinary size and appearance. They were big as fowls' eggs, but

not egg-shaped: they were flat, and about half-an-inch thick, and

being white, looked like little blocks or bricklets made of compressed

snow. The hail continued falling until the earth was white with them,

and in spite of their great size they were driven by the furious wind

into drifts two or three feet deep against the walls of the buildings.

It was evening and growing dark when the storm ended, but the light

next morning revealed the damage we had suffered. Pumpkins, gourds,

and water-melons were cut to pieces, and most of the vegetables,

including the Indian corn, were destroyed. The fruit trees, too, had

suffered greatly. Forty or fifty sheep had been killed outright, and

hundreds more were so much hurt that for days they went limping about

or appeared stupefied from blows on the head. Three of our heifers

were dead, and one horse--an old loved riding-horse with a history,

old Zango--the whole house was in grief at his death! ...

To return to the hailstones. The greatest destruction had fallen on

the wild birds. Before the storm immense numbers of golden plover had

appeared and were in large flocks on the plain. One of our native boys

rode in and offered to get a sackful of plover for the table, and

getting the sack he took me up on his horse behind him. A mile or so

from home we came upon scores of dead plover lying together where they

had been in close flocks, but my companion would not pick up a dead

bird. There were others running about with one wing broken, and these

he went after, leaving me to hold his horse, and catching them would

wring their necks and drop them in the sack. When he had collected two

or three dozen he remounted and we rode back.

Later that morning we heard of one human being, a boy of six, in one

of our poor neighbours' houses, who had lost his life in a curious

way. He was standing in the middle of the room, gazing out at the

falling hail, when a hailstone, cutting through the thatched roof, struck him on the head and killed him instantly.

(From: Far Away and Long Ago, (Eland Books), pp.73-76)

W.H. Hudson & The Western Libraries

The copy of Long Ago and Far Away I am reading is borrowed from the collections in the Western Libraries. Listed below are the books by Hudson found in those libraries in early 2023. There are almost fifty of them and there are some multiple copies of different editions held in various locations and the affiliated libraries. Given that the Western Libraries is getting rid of many books, I thought it worth providing a snapshot of what was a rather rich collection of printed books. I doubt if Hudson was taught about in many courses, but it is fitting that a university library has a surplus of them. Soon, these printed volumes are likely to be scarce on campus, but admittedly the students can read them in electronic form. As well, many of the copies were already in storage so it was unlikely that a curious student would ever have discovered them by browsing.

Hudson, W. H. A Hind in Richmond Park. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H. A Hind in Richmond Park. J.M. Dent, 1922. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H. A Shepherd's Life : Impressions of the South Wiltshire Downs. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H. A Shepherd's Life : Impressions of the South Wiltshire Downs. Methuen, 1926. (Archives)

Hudson, W. H. A Traveller in Little Things. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H. A Traveller in Little Things. J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1921. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H. A Traveller in Little Things. J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1923. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H. Adventures among Birds. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H. Adventures among Birds. E. P. Dutton, 1920. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H. Adventures among Birds. J.M. Dent, 1951. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H. Afoot in England. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H. Afoot in England. J. M. Dent & Sons, 1927. (Huron)

Hudson, W. H. Afoot in England. J.M. Dent & Sons, 1939. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H. Afoot in England. J.M. Dent & Sons. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H. Birds and Man. Alfred A. Knopf, 1920. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H. Birds and Man. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H. Birds and Man. Duckworth, 1927. (Archives)

Hudson, W. H. Birds in London. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H. Birds in London. Duckworth, 1928. (Archives)

Hudson, W. H. Birds in Town & Village. AMS Press, 1968.(Storage) 

Hudson, W. H. Birds in Town & Village. J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1919. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H. Far Away and Long Ago : a Childhood in Argentina. Eland Books, 1982. (Weldon)

Hudson, W. H. Far Away and Long Ago : a History of My Early Life. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H. Far Away and Long Ago : a History of My Early Life. E. P. Dutton & Co., 1923. (Huron)

Hudson, W. H. Far Away and Long Ago. 1941. (King’s)

Hudson, W. H., et al. Far Away and Long Ago : a History of My Early Life. Printed by G. Kraft Ltda., 1943. (Archives)

Hudson, W. H. Green Mansions : a Romance of the Tropical Forest. 1945 (Huron)

Hudson, W. H. Green Mansions : a Romance of the Tropical Forest. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H. Green Mansions : a Romance of the Tropical Forest. Modern Library, 1916. (Brescia)

Hudson, W. H. Idle Days in Patagonia. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H. Idle Days in Patagonia. J. M. Dent & Sons, Ltd., 1923. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H. La Tierra purpuréa. Ministerio De Instrucción Pública y Previsión Social, 1965. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H. Nature in Downland. Longmans, Green, 1906. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H. The Book of a Naturalist. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H. The Book of a Naturalist. J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1924. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H. The Land's End : a Naturalist's Impressions in West Cornwall. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H. The Purple Land : Being the Narrative of One Richard Lamb's Adventures

in the Banda Orientál in South America, as Told by Himself. Creative Arts Book Co., 1979. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H. The Purple Land : Being the Narrative of One Richard Lamb's Adventures

in the Banda Orientál in South America, as Told by Himself. J. M. Dent & Sons, 1951. (Huron)

Hudson, W. H., and E. Mcknight Kauffer. Green Mansions : a Romance of the Tropical Forest. Random House, 1944. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H., and E. Mcknight Kauffer. Green Mansions : a Romance of the Tropical Forest. Random House, 1945. (Huron)

Hudson, W. H., Green Mansions : a Romance of the Tropical Forest. 1968 (Storage)

Hudson, W. H., and Edward Grey Grey of Fallodon. Dead Man's Plack, An Old Thorn,

& Miscellanea. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H., and Frank E. Beddard. British Birds. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H., and Morley Roberts. A Hind in Richmond Park. E.P. Dutton, 1923. (Storage)

Hudson, W. H.,  A Hind in Richmond Park.1968 (Storage)

Hudson, W. H.,  A Hind in Richmond Park. 1922 (Storage)

Hudson, W. H., and Morley Roberts. Men, Books and Birds. J. Cape, 1928. (Archives)

Hudson, W. H., and R. B. Cunninghame Graham. Birds of La Plata. AMS Press, 1968. (Storage)

H Spenser, Edmund, and William Henry Hudson. Spenser's Faery Queene. Book I. Dent. (Storage)