Chapter 230205: Flambé’s latest Misadventure ………………. February’s Full “Snow” Moon

“Light snow falls to Earth, Sparkling flakes catch Full Moon glow, Kat lies well hidden?” …… or is she?

February 5, 2023.  February’s Full “Snow” Moon

Is that the sun rising earlier in the morning? As we slide into February, Flambé notices the nights are getting shorter and she must begin to think of ways to shorten her midnight prowling. But luckily she’s got a full night of Full Moon on the 6th of this still cold month. And the Full Moon, appropriately named “Snow” Moon, must mean more brisk nights and days of freezing temps lie ahead, especially since that darn groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, spotted his shadow on the 2nd.  

But Phil is another story.  Right now, Kat must be vigil about guarding her garden full of early-sprouting Snow peas.  The ubiquitous Snow bird, the sprightly dark eyed juncos, are everywhere during the day gobbling seeds flung to the ground by those messy scrub jays. After the juncos pick up all the leavings, and as dark nights set in, they retreat to their cozy roosts until morning when they can spot those fallen seeds again, resuming their feasting.  But on this night of the Full “Snow” Moon, after the jays have gone to bed, and the seeds under feeders have been picked clean, the little Snow birds remain wide awake and hungry, searching for any and all tasty morsels. Look out Snow peas! 

So as the moon rises in the east, Flambé hides out in the tangle of roots among seeds yet to sprout, below the peas just peeking their heads above the fertile soil.  And she waits, knowing the little Snow birds are quickly on their way.  Will the bowl of frozen blueberries she gathered from the snow covered forest lure the juncos away from the early crop of peas? Hopefully so, as Flambé loves watching the daytime antics of these lively birds; she really doesn’t wish to chase them away. But Kat has responsibilities, and she will do what she must to scare away these birds that are quickly gathering in the trees above the garden.

Do the Snow peas survive the night?  Do the Snow birds find the blueberries a tempting meal? Do Flambé’s green eyes blink once too many times, exposing her hiding place and luring the hungry birds to ripe seeds underground? Do birds (and Kat, for that matter) see color? Do they know the difference between green and blue? 

What do you think?

While you ponder Flambé’s predicament, here’s a bit about February’s Full “Snow” Moon, that rises at dusk, the early evening of the 5th.  

The Full Moon this month is called the “Snow” moon because of the usually heavy snowfall that occurs in February. On average, February is the United States’ snowiest month, according to data from the National Weather Service. But it wasn’t the weather service who named this moon.  Captain Jonathan Carver*, who visited the Naudowessie (Dakota) back in the 1760s, recorded that these Native Americans called the moon this month as the Snow Moon, “because more snow commonly falls during this month than any other in the winter.”

*In case you were wondering …. I know I was ….. Jonathan Carver was a captain in the Massachusetts Militia in the 1750s during the French and Indian War. When he retired from active service, he was determined to explore the new territories acquired by the British.  After exploring the northern Mississippi valley and western Great Lakes, he published an account of his expedition 1778 in a book titled “Travels through America in the years 1766, 1767, and 1768. Apparently this book which was widely read and very popular back in the day, raise quite a lot of interest in the territory.  That was his only compensation for writing the book, as the British wanted nothing to do with it and refused to pay Captain Clark for his effort.

Other Names for February’s Full Moon

Historical names for this month’s Full Moon referenced animals.  The Cree traditionally called this the Bald Eagle Moon or Eagle Moon.  The Ojibwa Bear Moon and the Tlingit Black Bear Moon refer to the time of year bear cubs are born.  In addition to Snow Moon, the Dakota also called it the Raccoon Moon. Algonquin people’s named it the Groundhog Moon, and the Haida named it the Goose Moon.

Other historical names have a scarcity theme. The Cherokee called the February moon the Bony Moon and the Hungry Moon, most likely because food was hard to come by this time of year. 

After digging deep beneath our snow drifts, that was all I uncovered about the Full “Snow” Moon.  So here’s a bit of Moon trivia that has nothing to do with February. 

Astrologically speaking, the phases of the moon begin with the New Moon (the one that doesn’t seem to appear) and ends with the Full Moon (the fully illuminated one). 

There’s no such thing as the “dark side of the moon.” That’s a myth.  In reality, both sides of the Moon get the same amount of sunlight, but only one face can be seen from Earth.  Why? Because the Moon rotates on its axis in exactly the same time it takes to orbit Earth.

The Moon is slowly moving away from Earth. This annual drift amounts to roughly 3.8 cm (1.5 inches). Astronomers have estimated that the Moon will continue drifting for around 50 billion years. By that time, the Moon will need 47 days to orbit Earth, instead of the current 27.3 days.  Does that mean a Full Moon will be a rare event? 

Moon walks ….. there have been only 12 people, all American men, that have walked on the Moon.  The first was Neil Armstrong (Apollo 11 in 1969).  On February 6, 1971, Alan Shepard became the first man to hit a gold ball on the moon. Then the last man to walk on the moon was Gene Cernan (Apollo 17 in 1972).   Wow! That was more than 50 years ago. Should we go back, guys and gals?

Moonquakes! Yes, the Moon shakes on a regular basis due to the gravitational pull of the Earth. These small moonquakes have been recorded by seismographs and cause ruptures and cracks several kilometers beneath the surface.

And last but not least, did you know that during the 1950s, the US considered detonating a nuclear bomb on the Moon?!! Yikes! This was a very top secret project proposed during the height of the Cold War and was known as “A Study of Lunar Research Flights” or “Project A119” for short. It was meant as a show of strength when the US was lagging behind in the space race. 

Until next month and our Next Full Moon, don’t forget to look up!

As always, Flambé invites you to follow her Zentangle-inspired antics (ZIAs) by visiting her page called Tangled Up, to see what trouble she always seems to find, past and present.