I'm Not Pulling the Wool Over Your Eyes

Good news today! I'll give you a hint: It's not that I got 10,000 steps today. (Though that's certainly commendable.) It's that when I looked down on my lunchtime walk, I saw this guy. Do you know what makes him so handsome? His wide orange band. Which in Farmer's Almanac-type terms, means a MILD WINTER is on the way!

Finally. Some good news in 2020.

Not that I'll have anywhere to drive in the winter, really. But still.

And if you haven't "read the worm" before to predict winter, here's what you need to know about the woolly bear caterpillar—also called woolly worm—and their reputation of being able to forecast the coming winter weather. 

If their rusty band is wide, then it will be a mild winter. The more black there is, the more severe the winter. This dude was definitely rusty!!

And don't pay attention at all to the orange and black fuzzy wuzzies you saw this summer. According to woolly worm watchers, there are two generations of worms each year. The first appear in June and July, and the second in September. The second generation worms are the “weather prophets.”

And is this all backed by science? Well, yes, experiments were done. Maybe a century ago, true. But that's how folklore gets started. I believe for its size, the wooley bear's prediction still holds more weight than that groundhog. But that's just my wishful thinking.

And we need that in 2020, don't we?

Strawberry Moon Gazing

Another month, another full moon with an interesting name. The full Strawberry Moon is set to appear this evening, and unfortunately, despite its name, it won’t be a pink moon that looks like a strawberry. However, it will be spectacularly clear full moon that you may want to see. 

Personally, I took the picture last night on Strawberry Eve, and it was plenty clear and bright. I'll probably still check it out since it's supposed to look HUGE.

So how did the Strawberry Moon get its name? Thank you for asking!

According to  my friends at The Old Farmer’s Almanac, the Strawberry Moon is usually the last full moon of spring or the first full move of summer. It’s called the Strawberry Moon because Native Americans in the Algonquin tribes used to use the moon as an indication for the start of the strawberry season. T

Other names are Rose Moon, Hot Moon, and Mead Moon. No matter what you call it, this moon is usually categorized as being “large and golden-hued,” according to the Almanac, so that's the part that makes me want to watch it. 

Combined with this is some sort of lunar eclipse we can't see in North America anyway. 

Probably the best viewing the non-strawberry-like Strawberry Moon will be as it rises. I'm guessing in the next hour or so. Happy viewing!

Jack Frost 101

When I hear of temperature records set in May, I think of the first hot day where we spend 12 hours outside and look like a lobster the next day. But in reality, if it's the cluster known as 2020, it means we could set record lows tonight.

Yes, this stinks. And yes, of course I'll be turning on my electric mattress pad. Per usual.

And this isn't any freeze warning. It's a "hard freeze" warning. A "killing freeze" warning. As in, if you have plants outdoors (I do), be sure to bring them indoors or cover them. Otherwise, they're all gonna die!

How scary. I didn't realize there was so many freeze levels. So I had to turn to my trusty resource – The Old Farmer's Almanac. Here's what you nonfarmer types (like me) need to know:

• A freeze can happen when the surface air temperature falls to 32 degrees or below; frost may or may not form. 
• A light freeze (between 32 and 29 degrees) can kill tender plants. 
• A moderate freeze (between 28 and 25 degrees), sometimes called a hard freeze, can cause wide destruction to most plants. 
• A severe freeze (24 degrees and below), sometimes called a killing freeze, causes heavy damage to most plants. Many plants can survive a brief frost, but very few can survive a severe freeze.

If you want another visual... A severe freeze is like opening up the ice cream container and your spoon bends when you try to scoop it out. It's so cold, you can't even eat it until you either nuke it a bit (22-28 seconds) or set it out to "warm up" for 15 minutes.

That's how us nonfarmer types relate.

Stay warm, my friends!

To the moon!

I'm not a scientist or meteorologist and I don't read the Farmer's Almanac. I just need to spend a day with the Up North folks to know when there's been a full moon. Yep, there's definitely been one in the past few days!

The Reader's Digest condensed version is that my dad, who turns 80 next month hasn't been doing well. He especially has aches, pains and minor injuries to his foot and leg that, due to his diabetes, aren't healing well or at all. He's getting around with a cane these days -- when he does get around.

A few days ago, he got a big load of firewood dropped off that needed to get hauled into the basement for winter. Since my weekend with the college girlfriends was called off for a family emergency, Jim and I decided to head Up North early Saturday to haul that wood! And so we did. Jim, Carter and I, along with a future, potential brother-in-law, hauled and got it done.

Then three other sisters show up and, while they were too late for the wood hauling, they were just in time for what I call a "come to Jesus" meeting with our parents. In a nutshell -- Mom and Dad are both getting old and it's hard for them to maintain a house, and we kids have concerns about the safety of them burning wood with a not-so-wonderful chimney. We relayed our concerns but Dad, just like a scene from Grumpy Old Men, stomped his cane and basically accused us of trying to kick him out of his house so we could throw away his stuff (which we view as "junk," but Mom and Dad don't!).

Talk sort of ran in circles between the house and plans for his upcoming birthday party. It was sad that there was actually yelling going on -- you know, you have to yell to get your point across, right? The louder you get, the much clearer it should be. It's not, though.

By the time we left, the hot topics had simmered down and I think things were OK. I know I'm not perfect and just as guilty of contributing to the bicker-fest. I realize, however, that even though we tried to express our concerns to Mom and Dad in at least 4 different ways, they have their perception that we are just telling them what to do. As frustrating as it is, I can't change that. And I can't change them -- any of them.

On the way home last night, I was physically and emotionally drained ... but not so much that I couldn't say the Serenity Prayer.

I was thinking ahead to when I'd see the family again in a few weeks and how things would be. I concluded I wouldn't be surprised if Dad sends us all "to the moon, Alice!" when we show up at his birthday party. Though he wouldn't say Alice actually, since we all start with R ... But I suppose the moon is a bit cooler than that other place ...