Ever had one of those moments, where you are standing still, while in your mind, you are flying off in ten different directions, o admit it.. you know just what I am talking about..
I am feeling it.. I am living in the moment, with all that comes with it, fall has arrived with a thud and while typically it last for a good long while in our neck of the woods, I just have the urge to get things settled a bit more, almost like I am expecting a early snow fall or something..
Its like cold man winter is breathing down my neck.. despite the fact that the tree’s are barely turning, this morning, I watched the breath of the horse and cows steam up the air, and it yet again sent a shiver of unease in regards to the coming winter..
Am I the only one that thinks we might have a hard winter coming on? Are you expecting a easy winter with a earlier spring? or do you think we might have a long hard winter?
Just another Day on the Farm 
I’m definitely with you on this. D’you think it’s because the year turned “Fallish” so suddenly? Or maybe because everything’s been just SO extreme already (and the fact that what crops came well did so with such abandon?)
I’ve always heard that when there’s abundance to harvest it’s because it’ll be needed for the oncoming winter. “Gather Ye rosebuds while Ye may…”
Maybe, its just that half my critter/land/plant tells are saying it will be easy and half are saying to going to be hard, its like nature itself is unsure of what to be preparing for and that is enough to set me a bit on edge on what could be coming..
So, do tell…
Can you tell..
Oh heck! What are the signs you’ve been taught to look for?
Well, alot of them, I look at and am not even sure that I register so much I just “see” it but I will try and share a few of main ones.
the local beavers, I look to see how much they are preparing, have their built up their dams, or not, if you see them suddenly add an extra X amount of feet, you had better be planning on for a heavy winter, but this year is so odd, because the water levels are down, so I don’t know how to read what they are doing as easily..
The wasps are another one, typically for a mild winter, they build high, if its a really bad winter, they typically go to ground, but they don’t know what they are doing this year, some are only 12 to 20 feet off the ground.
The timing of heats, and growing of winter coats on the animals, tends to be telling to a point, (that is provided of course that your critters have outside access all day long and are not in a heated barn etc.
I tend to watch the fuzzies, even though I know they swear that they have disproved it, it still seems to work for me, and it says bad winter coming..
Fuzzies? As in Fuzzy Wuzzies? Wooly Bears? A wider stripe means worse weather? The one about wasp nests being higher? We have basically the same thing for cone height on the evergreens. Also heavier fruit load indicates heavier/longer winter weather. Guessing animal coats should be the same, at least that’s the way it’s supposed to work, but last year all of our animals had extraordinary coat and the winter was a complete wimp out. I have noticed (from the drifts of dog-bunnies or gossamer strands of kitty hair left clinging to your fingers if you so much as touch the cat): that they’ve all started dumping their coats big time over the last few weeks.
So, how much lower than normal are the creeks and streams this year?
Yup, woolie bears, and the wider stripe means worse weather.. I hear about about the dogs/cats blowing coat, the sheep/cow are both starting to get winter coats in already and I’m sure that the horse will start soon as well.
Around here, the ponds I keep an eye on are a good ten feet down from their regular shore line, the creeks are down by at least 50%, the big river is down like its still the height of the aug heat, and we even had green blooms on the one big creek, now the big rains that came twice in the past two weeks have flushed that out and away but its the first time since we moved here that the river went slow enough and the temps went hot enough to turn that area of the river to a green shimmer..
Even with good steady rains coming at least once a week for the past three weeks, we are doing better in gardens, and pasture, but we are not touching the water level’s or just how dry the ground is as soon as you dig down even a tiny bit..
Holy smoke! An algae bloom in a creek?! That’s weird – well in a “normal” year anyway – don’t even want to contemplate what’ll happen to the beavers if they don’t have enough depth to compensate for a hard ice year.
No frost here – still in double digits overnight (mostly), but down to 2*C Wednesday night for Maniwaki QC… Sure is getting nippy up there (where you are?) Grandmom’s Blog.
I’ve been hearing from everyone (and okay, by everyone, I mean all the Mennonites that I know) that we’re going to have a hard winter. My mom’s an hour north of me, still firmly in “southern Ontario”, and they’ve already had hard frost several times. Old Farmer’s Almanac is predicting that some areas will get hit hard, but not all. They say “It’s like Old Man Winter is cutting the country in half. The eastern half of Canada will see plenty of cold and snow. The western half will experience relatively warm and dry conditions.” By east, they mean everywhere east of Alberta. Now, they also warn that they may *predict* the weather, but another Maker makes the weather! Still, I think they’re going to be accurate this year.
Tomorrow I’m going to take the car in and get it ready for winter, some minor repairs dealt with, tires rotated, etc. I picked up an infant car seat cover for the baby, since I don’t think a baby blanket will be enough this year, and I think I’ll put together a bag with a blanket, extra mittens and such to put in the car trunk.
Hi C.D. I think that sounds about right, and very interesting about what the farmers almanac says, I think that you have a great idea about getting the car ready, I know that other folks in our area have got their first hard frosts, but we have the river effect, and so far, no frosts for us to date..
Well, everyone covered most things regarding signs. I will chip in and say I have seen flocks of geese already flying over my house in north/central Alberta, going south for the winter. I always feel saddened by this but in the spring I love to hear them honking and flying over my house. Watching how they do their V formations is always fascinating!
Right now on The Weather Network (Monday afternoon):
Weather Warnings
Frost Warning for Atikokan – Upsala – Quetico
Frost Warning for Upsala – Raith
Frost Warning for Atikokan – Shebandowan – Quetico Park
Frost Warning for Dryden – Ignace
Frost Warning for Dryden – Vermilion Bay
Frost Warning for Ignace – English River
Frost Warning for Fort Frances – Rainy Lake
Frost Warning for Fort Frances – Emo – Rainy River
Frost Warning for Seine River Village – Mine Centre
Frost Warning for Geraldton – Manitouwadge – Hornepayne
Frost Warning for Nakina – Aroland – Pagwa
Frost Warning for Geraldton – Longlac – Caramat
Frost Warning for Manitouwadge – Hornepayne
Frost Warning for Kenora – Nestor Falls
Frost Warning for Kenora – Grassy Narrows – Whitedog
Frost Warning for Sioux Narrows – Nestor Falls – Morson
Frost Warning for Lake Nipigon – Wabakimi
Frost Warning for Armstrong – Auden – Wabakimi Park
Frost Warning for Beardmore – Jellicoe – Macdiarmid
Frost Warning for Gull Bay – Black Sturgeon Lake
Frost Warning for Red Lake – Ear Falls
Frost Warning for Red Lake – Woodland Caribou Park
Frost Warning for Ear Falls – Perrault Falls – Western Lac Seul
Frost Warning for Sioux Lookout – Savant Lake
Frost Warning for Savant Lake – Sturgeon Lake
Frost Warning for Sioux Lookout – Eastern Lac Seul
It is close to 80 here today, but we have a cold front coming in tomorrow–so maybe we will see some “air breath”– our last winter was so mild we almost hardly knew we had one — I imagine this year will be different
All I know is that it will be interesting. I read that this year, the ice in the arctic region is lower than have ever been recorded. That means there is less sun rays refracted back into space and more that hit the planet. As to what that means in terms of a winter… the scientists just don’t have a clue.