Woollybear

[Rammy]

Im in middle Tn and am seeing alot of all black woolyworms ( thats what we called them growing up). Tn isnt known for having bad winters but Ive noticed it seems to indicate the winter weather pretty good.
Other folklore indicators seem to be the amount of foggy mornings in August are suppose to tell how many snow storms the area will have.
If wasp nests are low or high is another. Same with squirrel nests I think. Walnut trees losing thier leaves at certain times are suppose to indicate how bad the winter may be also. Spider webs are suppose to tell, too.
Interesting.

 

[Britesea]

Without TV and such, people used to spend a lot more time observing the world around them. We owe them a huge debt for much of what we know today about the world we live in.

 

[baymule]

A hard winter here is snow. That usually hangs around 3 days and is gone. Ice makes it worse. Since we seldom have to fool with freezing temperatures for longer than a day or two at a time, we don’t have the heated water buckets and so on. So I haul boiling water to melt ice and water all the animals. For the horses and the steer, I’ll clean and fill the water tanks and then can just bust ice for them. A week of that and that’s usually all, but’s it’s enough!

We haven’t had snow for the past couple of winters, so we are due a cold winter. Sure makes me wish for a fireplace.

 

[TexasLisa]

A hard winter here is snow. That usually hangs around 3 days and is gone. Ice makes it worse. Since we seldom have to fool with freezing temperatures for longer than a day or two at a time, we don’t have the heated water buckets and so on. So I haul boiling water to melt ice and water all the animals. For the horses and the steer, I’ll clean and fill the water tanks and then can just bust ice for them. A week of that and that’s usually all, but’s it’s enough!

We haven’t had snow for the past couple of winters, so we are due a cold winter. Sure makes me wish for a fireplace.

Baymule, you can come use our wood burning stove. Occasionally the temps will drop below freezing. We like to use our stove to bake potatoes. hahaha

 

[baymule]

I would love that! All this firewood here and no wood burning stove or fireplace! We have a big lightening killed oak tree to take down this winter. I hate waste.

 

[Mini Horses]

Well, it's what they had for predicting -- and it's pretty accurate, too. Nature follows a course and animals can sense their needs way better than we may think. In some areas we don't have the animals to watch in the wild. Our domestics will do things such as time the coats thicken, etc. They depend on us for feed unlike those that self store food stashes.

I have several heated tubs. They are expensive to use BUT-- several days or a couple weeks of freeze, add snow, and I pay the bill! Sometimes, I don't use them for all but, fill one and only run at night, then use to dip water from. to add to broken ice on top of others. That's in a cold but doable. A foot of snow? Yeah, they get plugged in to run.

You can imagine what it costs to heat 100 gallons. So I have learned to run in rotation, or, as above to add to. If only a 5 gallon for in inside stall, then the temp control cubes help turn power off/on to them. One year it cost almost $300 for a month of it. It's a juggling act. I also use one of those expandable hoses....they are light weight, can be emptied and taken inside....flex to fit into the boxes I have to protect inground faucets.

If I have to carry hot water, I use a sled and put 5 gal water tanks on, with lids....I also keep gal jugs to carry just a "heat up" amount to buckets. Chickens love warm water!

What we DO FOR our animals! I hate even thinking about the ice/snow

 

[CrealCritter]

Well it's pretty darn conclusive now.

 

[Rammy]

Thats what Im seeing here.

 

[Finnie]

I have not seen a wooly bear here yet this year. I need to be on the lookout. I got spoiled with the last two mild winters we’ve had here. This time of year with Indian summer, I go into denial.

 

[CrealCritter]

I have not seen a wooly bear here yet this year. I need to be on the lookout. I got spoiled with the last two mild winters we’ve had here. This time of year with Indian summer, I go into denial.

Denial, is just not a river in Egypt - you know?