Mother Nature’s Creatures Predict Winter Weather

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

MOTHER NATURE’S CREATURES

PREDICT WINTER WEATHER

     A couple of weeks ago I spent a Sunday doing laundry. As I explained to my husband, if we are functioning according to Mother Nature’s dryer (the sun), and Mother Nature only provides that dryer on a Sunday, then, unfortunately, we end up doing laundry on the Lord’s Day.

     In today’s world meteorologists make use of complicated equipment, such as satellites, to forecast the weather.

     Even before this equipment was developed people had an interest in the weather. This included (and is) farmers, sailors and others, whose livelihood depended on it.

     Mother Nature provides signals used by many persons to predict upcoming weather. Today we celebrate some of these signals. Most notably, here in Pennsylvania, is Punxsutawney Phil, a groundhog who predicts the weather for the final six weeks of the winter season.

     On the opposite end of the spectrum is the

Wooly Worms Predict the 2011 PA. Winter Weather

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

PREDICTING THE 2011 PENNSYLVANIA WINTER:

Wooly Worms

     I have yet to see one. Perhaps it’s because of the rainy, wet, beginning of the autumn season. Whatever, I’ve been looking for them. After all, it will be nice to know what snows and storms Mother Nature will deliver between December and April.

     What I’m looking for is the wooly worm, an autumnal predictor of the next season’s severity. The woolly bear is a fuzzy larva of the tiger moth found in the Midwest and Northeast.* It is the antithesis of Punxsutawney Phil, who predicts the final six weeks of winter. The wooly worm predicts the severity of the winter season:

•  The way to “read a caterpillar” is: the smaller the brownish-red bands are the harsher the winter will be. The black stripes indicate

Mayflies & Blisterflies: Summer Pests

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

MAYFLIES & BLISTERFLIES: SUMMER PESTS

     In mid-June my husband Monte and I spent a week in Lakeside, Ohio, at what is known as The Chautauqua on Lake Erie. My son was a delegate at an Ohio  United Methodist Church conference, and was staying in accommodations that would allow us to visit him while he was there.

      Just about the time we were leaving Lakeside, the mayflies were arriving.

     While traveling and during our visit, I was reviewing the chapters I have written in my historic romance novel, Intertwined Love, which included information on a summer pest in Philadelphia, the blisterfly.

     I cannot help but write about the similarities and the differences between the summer infestations of insects in 2010 Lakeside and 1791 Philadelphia.

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Mayflies usually live for 24-72 hours. Don’t forget that they’ve already spent 1-2 years on the bottom of the lake as a

Ladybug, Ladybug, From Whence Did You Come?

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

LADYBUG, LADYBUG, FROM WHENCE DID YOU COME?

     The first spring of our new home I went to an upstairs room. There, the floor was covered with ladybug carcasses. Where did they come from? Had they wintered in the woodwork? I’d never seen so many of the red creatures with black dots on their backs.

        When my granddaughter Jordan was younger, that is, toddler age, she loved ladybugs. I can’t say the same about me during this invasion of their ilk, although in other settings I find them intriguing.

     Although many parts of the world consider the ladybug a good-luck symbol, I don’t recall having that much extra good luck during or after the invasions. In China the ladybug is known as