Spiderwebs, Frogs, and Raccoons

Well, fall is here, and much too soon might I say. It seems only yesterday we were experiencing spring. I’ll have to say, we certainly have had an unbelievably hot summer. But, what will our winter bring? I recently noticed spiders had built numerous webs at the highest peak of my cathedral windows, making it really hard to remove them. Other than annoying me, are they trying to tell me something about the winter ahead? I don’t remember seeing them that high before, but maybe it’s my memory, not that they have never built that high. Whatever, I will be waiting to see if they are expecting snow or not.

And since it is fall, you can start counting the fogs, as each fog predicts a snowfall. Now, because fogs usually occur at first dawn, that means I will have to arise earlier than usual. And since I have been told that we actually have several fogs on fall mornings, and have had only a few snowfalls, it may not be worth the effort.

Oh yes, and the larvae of Isabella tiger moths (more commonly known as woolly worms), should be letting us know something soon. Keep your eyes on that middle brown band to determine its width (narrow/cold and long and wide/mild and short). I’ve never understood how that makes a difference in the wooly worm’s ability to withstand winter.

And how about corn husks? I shucked some corn for lunch today and they were not thick at all. So does that mean a mild winter? I don’t know, but I do know the corn tasted good, something I do understand. And, do raccoons have thick tails and bright bands? You will have to let me know about that one, as I’m not going to get close enough to find out. How about pigs gathering sticks? I have never seen a pig gather a stick, have you? I’ve read about the three little pigs where one built a house of sticks, but I don’t think that counts.

I must admit that I’m pretty bad at predicting winter weather through nature, so I’ll just wait until October when the meteorologists reveal their predictions.

Source: K. P. Guessen