Ken Lassman has been keeping this almanac for over a decade, He invites you to share your observations and photos in the comments section. You can find his book Wild Douglas County at The Raven Bookstore and The Community Mercantile in Lawrence.
Frost on inside of Lodge Moon: January
January is a Roman reference to the god Janus, the god of gates. This god has two faces, one looking forward and the other looking back, as we do at the beginning of a new year. While this sets the tone for this season, the vivid image of frost on the inside of the lodge is equally appropriate, particularly if you notice frost on the inside of your car or house windows on a cold morning. The Osage also called this month Moon that Stands Alone, which speaks for itself if you decide to take a brisk walk in the countryside this time of year.
This is the month when you can see bald eagles flying in the Kaw Valley as well as deer and other wildlife more easily due to the lack of leaves. Listen to the rustle of wind through the tallgrass prairie grasses, and look for rodent trails in the thatch, which become tunnels when it snows. A dry year means that water becomes a wildlife concentrator, with more species taking visibility risks to grab a drink in drought-lowered ponds, creeks and rivers that are made even more inaccessible by the presence of ice. Putting out water next to the bird feeders is more important this winter than most for this reason.
Enjoy the deep blues of the sky this time of year, whether it is duplicated in the subtle blues found in freshly fallen snow or not. While admiring the sky and looking for eagles and migratory waterfowl, keep an eye out for sun dogs and other daytime optical treats caused by the presence of ice crystals in the sky that refract and reflect the sun (and moon) light into circles, spots and other geometric forms. After dark, bundle up and enjoy the striking winter star constellations that can take your breath away especially if you know where to look with a pair of binoculars or a telescope.
We skated on less than 6 inches. Lighter then. Some of the best times I can remember. Hardly felt cold until it came time to unlace the skates, then the fingers didn’t work properly.
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My folks would always have us cut a hole in the ice to make sure it was that thick before they turned us loose and I believe that there were times 6 inches were not measured with a ruler. When it snowed on the ice, we would shovel a spoked circle and play goose and fox, a kind of game of tag where the fox would tag the geese and send them to the middle space where they could be freed by other geese–unless the fox tagged them first. Great fun until you could no longer feel the toes on your feet!
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Hi Ken, I can hardly believe the healthy stand of bittersweet in your photo. Our stand (a well-guarded secret) was just a smidgeon of what it was last year. The entire vine that usually trails up into a tall tree was completely dead. We had to satisfy ourselves with a sparse gangly showing along the side of the road. Thanks for nourishing my connection to Kansas on a weekly basis with your observations for the Kaw Valley Almanac!
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Someone else said that their bittersweet was scragglier this year, too. I don’t know what to account for it being so healthy here, other than around here, almost all plants look so much better than they were doing the last couple of years. The drought might have knocked back some bittersweet and killed others outright, just as it did with some trees which survived the dry spells only to die this year. As an aside, my stands are American bittersweet; there is a chinese variety that has been introduced and is much more aggressive than the native version.
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