Wooly bears

Ron Wenrich · September 30, 2003, 04:11:02 PM

In this part of the world, we use wooly bears as winter prognasticators. Wooly bears are caterpillers that are hairy, and are brown and black. The black indicates how cold the winter will be, and when.

I've seen a few that were all brown. That would indicate a mild winter. But, I've also seen one that was brown in the middle and black on the ends. That means a mild winter, but starting and ending cold. So, someone's kissing the blarney stone. :D

SawInIt CA · September 30, 2003, 04:28:29 PM

So what kind of winter is in store ???

Tom · September 30, 2003, 05:25:18 PM

It sounds like it won't be too bad of a winter, eh?

Ron, your're going to have to keep us informed. I don't think I've seen any Wooly Bears down here.

Jeff · September 30, 2003, 05:27:00 PM

Wooley bears are always acurrate. When I see one I say, "winter is coming" DanGed if it aint always right.

shopteacher · September 30, 2003, 05:46:00 PM

I heard that mother nature takes care of her own by providing enough food for the animals to get through winter. I have two black walnuts in my yard and their loaded with nuts. So either were going to have a bad winter or I'm going to be invaded with squirrels. :D

Tom · September 30, 2003, 05:50:23 PM

Sounds like she is preparing you a squirrel stew.

shopteacher · September 30, 2003, 06:08:20 PM

Never thought about in that way, but you know, shop teachers have to eat too. 8)

Bro. Noble · September 30, 2003, 06:25:07 PM

You can split a persimmon seed and there will be an image of a knife, fork, or spoon there. Which one appears is a forcast of the winter, but I can't remember what they mean :-/

You can eat the persimmon and if it turns your mouth inside out, you know there hasn't been a hard freeze yet :D :D That one is accurate and works every time

Tom · September 30, 2003, 06:30:37 PM

Split a persimmon seed? That would take a pretty sharp knife. My seeds are so tiny-e-e-e-e-e :-/

Bro. Noble · September 30, 2003, 06:41:45 PM

Tom,

Ours are about like a big watermellon seed.

Do your persimmons eventually lose their astringency (stick that one in your pipe and smoke it :D) without being frozen?

Tom · September 30, 2003, 06:47:24 PM

Yep, the wild ones will retain it in the peels but not in the good stuff. When they get so soft that you can hardly hold them without their breaking open, they are right. I liken them to the consistency of a water balloon. :D

The big ole Japanese persimmons get sweet when they are still firm. You have to fight for them though. Every animal in the neighborhood is hiding behind a tree waiting for them.

Here is a good note. Did you know that persimmon is nature's jelly/jam? Get a ripe one, break it open and dip all the soft stuff onto your toast in the morning. MMMMM jelly..

Put one of the firmer "sections" on there and you have a Jam. ;D

Don P · September 30, 2003, 07:40:41 PM

My sweet wife came home yesterday with a sheet of new stamps, the pretty ones. These had an artic tundra scene with muskox, wolves, grayling, ptarmigan, lichen, moss...and a wooley bear. Now it seems to me any good wooley bear in the tundra by all rights should be all black. All I guess I know for certain is he wasn't a Virginia wooley bear :-/.
I remember the knife fork and spoon but had never heard of it for forcasting. We had the first frost today, there was a healthy coat on the tractor seat at work this morning.

I just read the big burr thread and figured life was pretty good today, that tractor seat got up to a balmy 65 before I was done ;D.

ohsoloco · September 30, 2003, 07:47:30 PM

Ron, I only recall seeing one wooly bear this year, and it was brown in the middle with black ends. We may get our first frost this week...they're calling for snow one of these nights, too ;D 8)

Jason_WI · September 30, 2003, 08:19:27 PM

Wooooo hoooooo. Time to fire up the snowmobiles....... errr I mean fix them..... :( :(

My 77 Cheetah 5000 needs a new piston since I burned a hole in the old one :-/

The 86 Indy 400 need to have the new track installed......

The 69 Panther, well, that one needs a lot a prayers for that one to run again...... Its in 5 pieces. With the biggest piece being the 20 Hp Wankle engine :D :D

There ain't nothing like cruzing at 70 when it 20 degrees outside with no helmet and just a warm jacket, hat, gloves, La Crosse ice kings, and jeans..............

Jason

Jeff · September 30, 2003, 08:38:57 PM

It was nice knowing you jason...

biziedizie · September 30, 2003, 08:47:25 PM

Jason.....A helmet.....warm clothes, atleast some matches just in case

It's one thing to go out when it's warm but it does get cold at night.
I have a backpack that's with me everywhere that I go and I got friends that laff at me but it's come in handy at times

Them foil blankets can keep ya real warm, trust me I know.

Steve

Tom · September 30, 2003, 08:48:39 PM

Barbed-wire fence...... Zip....... splat...... :-/

Jeff · September 30, 2003, 08:51:43 PM

http://www.snowtracks.com/snowtalk/issues/75.html

Jason_WI · September 30, 2003, 08:59:45 PM

The government said three-wheelers were dangerous and outlawed them. I've had my Yamaha Trimoto since I was 9 and I'm still alive.

Before I was 9 I had worn out a mini bike and a gokart with a 7Hp briggs & scrapiron that went 45 mph.

My sleds are for putting around the fields on my dad's farm. None of my sleds are even registered as I am never on the trails or would trust them beyond 40 acers from the farm.

If I had a Thundercat with a 900 cc all tricked out then that is a different story.

Jason

ohsoloco · September 30, 2003, 09:18:34 PM

I don't have any toys for playing in the snow, unless you consider using a snow blower playing :-/ Oh wait, I have a couple truck tubes :D Don't even ski or snowboard, but I just love snow for some reason. Heck, don't even want snow just yet, but I'm really looking forward to the cooler weather. Wanna get out in the mountains when the leaves turn

Just the smell in the air the past couple days when it's a little chilly...can't describe it...and that passing whiff of wood smoke.

Love milling in the cold weather so much more...running a manual mill in the hot (or even warm weather for that matter) is DanG tough. Even with the hydraulics, Tom, I don't know how you do it ???

L. Wakefield · October 01, 2003, 03:05:33 AM

Most all the wooly bears I've seen this fall had the 2 black ends with the brown in the middle. No all black ones yet. The only time I've seen them previously was early in the fall. I think it's an early variation while they are getting tuned up :

-
persimmons in WV would be chalky/astringent til all the ;eaves were gone and they were wrinkled. Then they would be very sweet. About the time they are ready to splat on your car or your head. Anybody got any pictures of persimmon wood? Seems either we had pix earlier or I sae them somewhere else. lw

woodmills1 · October 01, 2003, 05:13:59 AM

What do you think this means for winter? We have a whooly bear that crawled into the entry way and was waiting to get into the house, untill the white kitty got out there and batted it around. Now it is brown and black and red.

Don P · October 01, 2003, 05:16:53 AM

I was reading the back of those artic tundra stamps at breakfast. The artic wooley bear can live for 14 years before becoming a moth, it freezes in the winter and thaws in the summer

.
I don't think I have any persimmon wood left, its also called the white ebony. They're both in the same family I think.

OneWithWood · October 01, 2003, 10:06:08 AM

Fired up the Central Boiler unit last night. I sure hope those woolies are right and we are having an early cold spell to be followed by a long Indiana Summer and a mild winter. I might be able to get something accomplished around here.

Kevin_H. · October 01, 2003, 03:36:00 PM

I seen all kinds of wooly's last week, Driving home the road was covered with'em, moving along as fast as they could.
I tried missing them the first couple of miles, but with the trailer on I could only do so much. I was moving a little to fast to see what color they were.