Posted by
Scribbler on Sunday, December 17, 2006 9:15:48 AM
"An open winter means a full cemetery," the old-timers used to say. This meant, of course, that an open winter with little snow and cold brought lots of sickness. Last winter was mild and this coming winter seems to be headed the same way. Should I subscribe to the Gore gospel. I don't think so. To me, weather goes in cycles. Two mild winters give way to a few hard winters. Those ancient winter weather predictors probably don't mean much. Remember the tale of the wooly worm and its brown stripe? The wider the brown band, the milder the winter and it's a cold winter if the worm moves slowly. What if it's just a lazy worm? If the new moon comes close to Christmas, that means a cold winter. This year it's December 20, so, look out! Hornets, supposedly, build their nests low before a cold winter and high before a mild winter. I've heard that one reversed. At the vets, the other day, I noticed six wasp nests built in one corner of the second story. Do they know something hornets don't? Wasps are very smart. One spring, wasps built a nest very low near the foundation of my house. I noticed two blades of grass growing taller, soon to block the entrance to the nest. How would they solve this problem? A few weeks later, they had put a "turn" on the entrance, making it face away from the troublesome grass. I decided not to cut the offending grass because they had solved a problem and to the young wasps, it was a learning experience. Besides, wasps have self-esteem too.
When I was a kid, I heard an old guy say that the snowbanks were so high, the snow fleas were wearing parachutes. Then there was the story about the old Indian who accurately predicted Maine winters for over fifty years. No one knew how he did it. Finally, on his deathbed, his relatives gathered around hoping he would leave them his great secret. "How do you predict winter weather?" a brave brave asked. The ancient man raised himself to his elbows and, in a soft voice, said, " I go by the size of the white man's woodpile." I guess that's as good an indicator as any.