A Sodden May Upsets

Schedules All Over Town

By Steve Bigham

Judd Baggett has been assigned to track the moon this spring as part of his third grade class assignment. But he has had difficulty in doing so since the moon has hardly been seen at all.

“Last night, he said, ‘I forgot to track the moon,’ but I told him there hasn’t been a moon for the past eight days,” his mother, Sherri, recalled this week. “The last full moon was on May 11 and that was the last time it was showing.”

Both the moon and the sun have been shielded this spring by a thick layer of clouds that has rendered weather conditions in the Northeast downright miserable. April showers are said to bring May flowers. However, this year’s April showers simply gave way to more showers, dampness, ominous clouds and unseasonably cold temperatures.

After 18 days of rain in April, May had already drenched us with 4.51 inches of rain, well above the normal rainfall for this time of year, says Michael Erickson of the Western Connecticut State University weather center.

“There has not been too much sun, with exception of earlier this month when we got above 90 on those three days,” he reported Tuesday. “It has been cloudy even when it hasn’t rained. We’ve gone almost a week since the moon was out.”

This season’s wet weather has wreaked havoc on area sports scheduling, pushing back high school playoff match ups and making a mess out of the local Babe Ruth Baseball slate.

Newtown Babe Ruth President Dennis LaPak is worried some of the age groups may not finish their schedules by the cutoff date of June 17. Games are being postponed due to weather only to have the rain date postponed due to… the weather.

“We’re getting a little nervous. There were a couple of times when we actually got a couple innings in and then it just started pouring. It’s been frustrating. As usual, we’re scrambling for fields to try and make them up,” he said Tuesday.

The 10-year-old division has been hit especially hard, with at least 15 games already being postponed. Scheduling coordinator Debi Modzalewski called the season a nightmare.

“It’s terrible. We have so many make-up games. My kid hasn’t played since May 14. We’re used to having two or three games a week,” she said this week. “We’ve had lots of rainouts. We also had a snow out at the beginning of the season in late April. It was so cold. It actually started to flurry.”

What’s worse, several games had to be called due to premature darkness brought on by overcast skies.

Newtown resident Frank Hufner of Cedar Hill Farm reports being able to do very little planting over the past 2-3 weeks.

“We can’t get out on the fields,” he told The Bee this week. “We’re having delays in the planting of our vegetables and other farm crops. Hay will be ready to cut earlier than normal. Now we’ve got to catch up on planting and start hay harvesting at the same time. It has thrown off the entire schedule off. Our greenhouse plants will sell, but only if weather is favorable.”

Mr Hufner said this dreary spring season reminds him of the one ten years ago when it rained for 13 consecutive weekends.

“It’s just tough for all the garden center folks. We’re usually glad to see rain, but not so much of it,” he said.

Business at The Jungle Garden Center just over the border in Bethel has been slowed due to the rain. As owner Harry Holland points out, people don’t want to come out shopping in the rain. It’s hard to have a green thumb when the weather stinks.