Summer sure is bossy … it keeps kicking Fall to the curb.
The weather has been wacky, yet I have managed to get a walk in every day, despite all the rain and fog. Saturday we had five torrential rain storms. Sunday morning it poured, but, like Saturday, I went out mid-day. Yesterday morning it was foggy. When I went out this morning, it was 70 degrees and really humid. I wore shorts and a tee-shirt on the 9th of October! The madness continues because we ended up at 86 degrees today, which tied the 1949 record. Tomorrow is our last Summer-like day, as Fall returns with a vengeance on Thursday, and we are told this time it is here to stay.
I have been walking in the neighborhood lately due to the unsettled weather, but I’m going back to my old stomping grounds tomorrow.
A friend of mine posted a picture of this Woolly Bear caterpillar on Facebook a few days ago.
I saved Leslie’s picture, knowing I’d eventually do a post on this little critter. If you’re up on your folklore, you know that the caterpillar of the Isabella Tiger Moth, a/k/a the Woolly Bear Caterpillar, is a good means of gauging the upcoming Winter. When examining this caterpillar’s fuzzy body, if you see more brown segments than black segments, it is a bellwether for a mild Winter. Here is an article from The Old Farmer’s Almanac to read more fun facts:
So, I analyzed this photo of the Woolly Bear caterpillar … hmm, its segments look about equal to me. Our local meteorologists are predicting an El Nino Winter, or mild Winter for us for 2018-2019. I’m ecstatic if that is correct, as last year’s Winter season was horrible.
I never saw a Woolly Bear caterpillar in 2017. The last glimpse of one was four years ago at Council Point Park. I watched it inching across the perimeter path, and, since I was familiar with the legend of the Woolly Bear Caterpillar, I bent down to take a picture of it and to count its rings. Another walker happened by and asked me what I was doing, so I explained. This would be my friend Ann Marie whom I met for the first time at the Park that day. I looked back at that blog post photo and the caterpillar’s rings look similar to this one, and unfortunately that Winter season we had the second of the back-to-back Polar Vortexes.
So, do we give this caterpillar a quick glance, willing ourselves to see an abundance of brown bands circling its body just to make us happy? Maybe we ought to only rely on the scientific data by the meteorologists? Sadly, whatever Winter weather is in store for us, ultimately we will just have to grin and bear it. After a year of abnormal weather, where all four seasons in 2018 were not only a disappointment to me, but to most others around the world, I’ll keep my fingers crossed for the best. As of today, I’ve walked 876 miles and have 175 more miles to go to meet my goal.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Accuweather is predicting a horrible winter for us here in eastern PA. Our local meteorologist, says that all the dire predictions are just click-bait, that it is too early to really make a scientific prediction. I hope he is right. I am hoping for a mild winter.
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Me too Laurie – we had 62 inches of snow last Winter and you likely had around the same as us. I know Accuweather is based in PA. My news radio station (WWJ) has Accuweather meteorologists – sometimes they slip up and say they are in PA, but most of the time they forecast like they are right here in Michigan. I also follow another meteorologist and he predicted the El Nino about three months ago – he is usually very accurate – many degrees and accolades. I wouldn’t be surprised with the weather turning bad, given the fact that this has been a horrid year so far – every season was worse than the last, and the weather has been unstable all over the world. I never remember so many natural disasters as this year. We even had an earthquake, a mild one, but an oddity for SE Michigan.
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An earthquake in Michigan…..oh my!
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I was sitting here getting ready to write a post and it was like Carole King’s “I feel the Earth move under my feet” … oh yes, you could feel the rumble. I thought I was imagining it at first, or it was a natural gas explosion nearby (we get those from time to time). Went to the front door, even though it was still cold and at night and not like people were outside … neighbors were all out on their porch saying “did you feel that?” Turned on the radio and listeners were calling into the station to report what they thought was an earthquake. And that was not too long after a meteorite hit SE Michigan … I heard a big thump outside and thought it was someone at the door. It was large and broke into pieces. People reported seeing a ball of fire in the sky. Mother Nature has been full of surprises this year.
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I would say go with your local meteorologist. They are usually more accurate.
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That’s true Martha – one day I’m going to tell myself to just go with the flow and there will be less angst on my part.
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Thank you! Our local guy is amazing!
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Our Paul Gross is amazing as well – he is real geeky and likes to share all kinds of facts with us. He has a lot of awards as well and been at the same station for about 35 years. He gives the official forecast for the Detroit Tigers on whether they cancel games as well as local college football teams. If you ask him a question about weather he’ll respond as well.
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Yes, our local guy is on Twitter. You can tweet at him to ask a question. He is obsessed with the weather and loves to talk about it with anyone!
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Sounds just like Paul Gross – he goes to many conferences where they have meteorologists from around the world and is very big about talking about global warming and its effects.
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Both caterpillars and scientists can get things wrong. And, just like your half-and-half wholly friend, there are differing opinions. I’ve read that we (on the west coast) are going to have a wet winter (yay!) and that we are going to have a dry winter (boo!). I guess what will be, will be. I just hope that we will start to take climate change seriously and maybe even try to do something to mitigate the impact. I sure hope that you have a milder winter this year!
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Laurie, a follower from Pennsylvania, commented that the predictions are likely clickbait and I do know that The Weather Channel tends to elaborate a little more about the weather – for example, look at the video recently during Hurricane Florence. The Weather Channel guy was pretending he couldn’t stand up in the wind and two guys walked by him, walking normally and without issue. Yesterday I heard that worldwide we had increased 1 degree this year due to global warming – I think it seems like more than 1 stinkin’ degree. We had days and days of hot and humid weather and right now, it is 10:00 p.m., and is 75 degrees – that is not right for October 9th. I hope we have a better Winter too Janis. A wet Winter for you, means less chance of wildfires, no watering, green grass, no water rationing, but are you in an area that you worry about landslides like the mud issues that happened a few years ago? I remember seeing photos of Oprah’s house, her backyard was nothing but mud.
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“The Weather Channel guy was pretending he couldn’t stand up in the wind and two guys walked by him, walking normally and without issue.”—- hahaha true, I saw that!
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Yes. I bet he felt pretty silly when he saw that video later on.
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I sure hope that we have a mild winter! I’m getting up in age wherein i don’t care to shovel as much any longer. Slipping on ice is another possibility! I don’t know if your squirrels will hibernate for the winter. More south (here) they don’t. Further up north, they do (at least part of the time). 100% rain forecast here for tomorrow. 🙂
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I hope it’s a mild Winter too Tom. No, our squirrels don’t hibernate. I’ve gone down to the Park in the middle of Winter, when there is no ice or snow on the path (or I walk alongside the pathway just for a visit and to feed my pals) and they are definitely out and about. But that is in the morning, and if I go mid-day they are done foraging or digging up their peanuts and are up high in their nests and not around. We have rain tonight and tomorrow afternoon, then the bottom drops out and a freeze warning for the northern suburbs for this weekend … that’s crazy. Right now at nearly 10:00 p.m., it is still 75 degrees.
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Miss Linda………………………..has it been 4 years since I first met you at the park taking a picture of that woolly caterpillar??……………………guess what believe it or not I was walking this morning about 8:00 and saw a rainbow………it wasn’t raining!!………………the sun just rose…………………..it still amazes me……………………..I’ll send you the picture ………………….I didn’t see any pot of gold
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I just read this comment Ann Marie and hurried over to my e-mail to see your rainbow – just incredible and so beautiful. Yes, four years since we met, and I thought it was five years, but I went back and checked the post to be sure. Yes, the year before you moved so 2014. You saw a rainbow earlier this year, or was it last Summer? You sent me a picture – you were taking out the garbage at the apartment and looked up and saw it … it had just finished raining, a torrential rain.
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I just don’t know who to believe about the weather anymore! I’ve taken to just looking out the window in the morning. We have sunshine this week, but Fall temperatures of only 15-17 degrees.
You’re doing great on your mileage goal! I think you’re going to make that goal easily!
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That’s probably the best way to tell the weather AJ … I just started looking at Accuweather online about a month ago and find them to be more accurate than The Weather Channel. I just wrote a comment to reply to you on your site, that I was surprised how many leaves were around your feet in that picture but I recall you said it was chilly there last week or so. I was pleased that I got that mileage racked up since I last “reported” on September 30th because the weatherman had called for rain for an entire week or more. But it worked out for me and luckily the rain from last weekend, I could go mid-day, otherwise I would have lost two walks. I feel a little more confident, but if we have a freeze advisory in the northern suburbs this Saturday, then I think about cold weather hitting here and worries about black ice so, must keeping racking up miles in the short term in case the long term is iffy.
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Maybe you’ll be able to move your walks to mid-day on a more consistent basis so you can miss the black ice.
I use accuweather for my temperature cowl, but never thought of checking it in the morning. Thanks for the idea:)
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I have used Weather Underground before, but they were part of the Weather Channel. Accuweather gives up to the minute which I like and I just learned about online, though I have heard them on the radio for years. I can go mid-day when I’m not working but I start work at 11:00 a.m. and am usually there til 5:30-6:00 p.m. By then it is too dark once the time changes and it starts to get cold and the snow/ice refreeze … but it is an option on the weekends until I retire anyway.
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Do you get a lunch break? You could sneak a short walk in then. When do you plan to retire? My parents make me want to retire!
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I take a break after four hours as I use a laptop and it gets really hot after four hours. So I take about a half hour and grab something to eat and drink, and walk around the house to stretch my legs, then go back to work again. Unfortunately, one-half hour would not really be long enough to go on a walk … just going to the Park is a 20-minute, one-way trip to get there alone. As to retiring, I’m not sure … my boss is 71 years old and still going strong. We were very slow at work two years ago, but that was a transient thing and we have been back to being busy again (that’s a good thing).
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Hmmm but you could do a half hour around the neighborhood:) you can see I’m obsessed with you getting your miles in now🤣
Being busy is good:)
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Well, that’s true, and it might work with warm weather, but by the time you bundle up to go outside, etc. now … it would be time to come back in. I wear my pedometer even when I go grocery shopping because I usually just put my cart in an aisle and run around the store, grab stuff and take it back to the cart, so I get more steps in. When I start loading in stuff for Winter, I do a big shopping and going around the store, park far away in the parking lot, up/down the stairs at home and I bring each bag in separately to rack up miles so I don’t lose any steps/miles from shopping trips. I have strapped on the pedometer when I shoveled snow, especially the last three or four years when I shoveled my neighbor’s snow (three times my size of property which was in exchange for him doing my lawn all Summer; however he reneged on our deal this year after I shoveled 62 inches of snow last year) … anyway, I’ve even racked up miles then. Sometimes my boss calls me while I am shut down for that 1/2 hour … I have to maximize my miles on weekends until the time change and it is lighter in the morning once again. Now it is dark until nearly 8:00 a.m.
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That’s a really good idea to use every step. I’ve been trying to keep my phone on me since I discovered it has a step counter. I’m amazed by how many steps I take.
I wish they would just change the clocks a half hour and then never touch them again. It’s nice to get daylight in the morning but then it’s just dark at 4pm:(
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I don’t have a smartphone AJ and I didn’t know they had a step counter on them. I just use a pedometer. You can rack up a lot of steps in the house and I have a small house, but just running up/down to the basement doing laundry, etc. and doing housework will rack up the miles. Today on the radio they had the people from “The Old Farmer’s Almanac” and gave their predictions for snow/cold … they didn’t mention El Nino but said we would have our first snow in November (last year it didn’t happen til around December 9th) and a bitter cold February. They are not meteorologists though, but still ugh.
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Yes I rack up many miles walking around my classroom! My total is always over the 10,000 they recommend.
We didn’t have snow until late last year, but then it came down:(
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Those steps add up – over here First Lady Michelle Obama made a big push for people, including kids, to get in the 10,000 steps a day and for a while it seemed that everyone was wearing pedometers, then it was the FitBit devices and phones. My pedometer is just a basic model – I got it when I started walking in 2011. I figured the less bells and whistles on the pedometer, it would have less to go wrong with it. It just gives steps and the time and you push a button and it shows your steps per day for the last 7 days.
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That sounds like all you need!😀
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I’m like a dinosaur about some things, but it is sturdy and I bought a “leash” for it in case the clip came off my waistband.
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It took me a very long time to go to a smartphone and I definitely not techy!
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I’m not techy either and I had to learn a lot when my boss and I moved from the Firm on our own – there was no more going to the I.T. guy with problems or just calling him up, so I did learn a lot of computers which is a good thing – I have a flip phone and don’t do anything on it at all. Not even text. I do text from my computer to friend/boss’s cellphone though.
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Oh I didn’t realize you could text computer to phone- that’s handy!
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It is great because you can send/receive texts … I text our IT guy when our system is acting up at work and it is faster than calling him and if he is in a meeting or at another client, he checks texts before cellphone calls. Likewise I text my boss when he is out of town (especially international venues) as less roaming charges. I have three friends I text as well and they can send messages or pics and text me back. Here is the link. You just determine your person’s phone carrier and add the suffix onto it as they suggest. Our biggest carriers here in the U.S. are Sprint and Verizon. My friend Evelyn got Sprint a few months ago and we now can just send shorter texts – she can send a long text to me as an attachment, but I am limited to less characters then before when she had Verizon, but she switched to get a better deal. Here is the how-to link:
https://computer.howstuffworks.com/e-mail-messaging/how-to-send-text-messages-computer.htm
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That is really cool. I’ll have to look into it for when my parents are in Arizona
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Yes it is really handy and they can reply just like it was to a cellphone. I use it often with my friend Evelyn – she sent the pictures of the robins in the nest on her porch every day and she has a new grandchild so always sending pics and texts as well. And, like I said I use it with my boss all the time – saves high roaming charges.
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I feel like we got robbed of summer, so much rain and humidity do not make it pleasant to be outdoors. The sun shone today for the first time in a week. I know I shouldn’t complain that it is too hot when parts of Canada out west have already had two or three snowstorms but it does seem like wacky weather all over. Where are all the nice sunny crisp fall days? It seems like the seasons are shifting, late falls, late winters, no spring. Whatever happened to normal seasons at normal times?
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I know, I feel cheated too and other people have said that as well. Our Fall has been rainy and gloomy – like you said, those beautiful sunny and crisp days have not been around. Dreary and dismal is all we have these days. Fall has always been my favorite season – not this one though.
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We see wooly bears almost every day, crawling on the road. Ours have more dark than red.
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Oh-oh … I hope you don’t have a bad Winter. You had snow and ice or black ice as well several times since I started following you.
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I can’t remember weather from a year ago. How bad could it have been if I can’t remember it?
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I’m remembering you with the red hat your friend knit and snow all over it – that sticks out in my mind. The first post I read which caused me to follow you was one that spoke of ice on the road and it showed snow. Maybe because I don’t like snow all mention of it sticks with my brain?
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You have a great memory, Linda.
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We’ll have to agree to disagree. I love snow. We didn’t have much last year, I’m sure.
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I’ll send you mine if you’d like.
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lol, that was funny! 😁
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I think that woolley caterpillar will be the best thing I’ve seen all week! It’s gorgeous!! xxx
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I thought so too and I was trying to see as many light brown rings as possible to persuade myself it was going to be a good and kind Winter to us.
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Cooler weather is headed our way this weekend, and I am so ready! It sure has been a hot summer. And the mosquitoes are horrible! You can’t even enjoy being outside. I’m hoping for a cold snap to send them into hibernation. 🙂
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Our cold front comes in tonight and blessed cooler weather will be evident Thursday morning. We’ve had a mosquito problem as well and when I look at the weather online they’ve said “high mosquito activity” for weeks. Hopefully the cold snap will send them into hibernation. A friend of mine lives in Cary, NC and posted this on Facebook earlier this week. Now I don’t mind frogs and sure prefer them to creepy crawlies, but this is downright strange and creepy. https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article219663830.html
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Interesting video! I think frogs are fascinating! The tree frog that I posted recently came flying in from seemingly nowhere. At first I thought it was a tiny bird. It’s amazing how much power that they have to push themselves so far. Thanks for sharing!
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Glad you liked it Rebecca. I was fascinated as well. The friend who posted about the caterpillars used to get tree frogs that hid in her house siding. She was always posting pics of them … very tiny and cute. So, I noticed she had no posts all Summer and asked her why. They got new siding last year on the house and the tree frogs can’t get in between the “layers” (for lack of a better word). Different type of siding, so no more frogs.
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Wow you taught me something new! Thanks!
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Now see if you can find one Diane and tell that tale to your grandchildren – they’ll get a kick out of it.
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Maybe the tumultuous weather is getting it all out of its system now so that the winter is nice, calm, and steady 🙂 That is such a fun little furry friend. I haven’t seen a caterpillar like that since living in OH. Thanks for sharing your friend’s pic of it!
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I hope that is true Mackenzie so I can get a lot of walking in and not shoveling time instead. I was glad she posted that caterpillar as it gave me a perfect excuse to use it in a post like I did four years ago. Glad it brought you nice memories of your your home state. 🙂
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I never knew that about caterpillars. Isn’t nature amazing at telling us of things to come. Hope the weather for you won’t be too extreme
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I found it really interesting too Zena. Tonight we have a freeze advisory – Tuesday we tied a record at 86F (30C) … weather is very wacky these days. I’m hoping the Winter season makes up for this year’s abysmal weather … I should not complain when others have suffered the devastating losses from hurricanes. But the weather has not been normal at all in 2018. Likewise, I hope your Winter is kinder to you this year – you had a very snowy Winter last year.
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Yes 2018 has been such a weird year for weather. I hope it settles down soon for you. Lots of villages and towns around the area with us have had floods this weekend. I really feel for those who have been affected by this horrendous weather.
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I do gripe, but I also remind myself again of the horrors of Hurricane Michael. The pictures of the City of Mexico Beach in Florida are just beyond the imagination. Does your news cover this devastation Zena? A whole City just flattened. I cannot imagine. I had not heard of your floods and devastation, so that is why I am wondering if you heard of this hurricane and recent Hurricane Florence. I get nervous when the weather is overly hot and humid and ripe for tornado weather so I cannot imagine having to always be on guard for the threat of hurricanes and the aftermath. I know it is tough battling with the snow and ice sometimes and I would appreciate not dealing with it, the having year-round warmth does have its pitfalls too.
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I don’t watch the news but have heard on the radio about the devastation that is happening over there with you and it is horrendous. My heart really goes out to all affected by it x We are so blessed over here as the floods were nothing compared to yours and even though they were the worst in 30 year they are nothing compared to your and other parts of the world. ❤
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It seems to me the last few years we’ve had a lot of natural disasters all around the world – terrible events with loss of life, and property. I don’t have TV but I have a favorite news station I listen to throughout the day and do see some news online. Just listening to the sound of the last two hurricanes was very scary.
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It is so bizarre isn’t it how the weather has developed over the last few tmyears. Nature is both beautiful and cruel.
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They say that we have global warming but it has only increased our temperature one degree, but it seems so much more than that. and the natural disasters seem so frequent – my heart goes out to people that lose everything they have in a heartbeat, many even their lives.
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they do have Woolly bear festivals! I’d love to go to one! I wouldn’t put too much stock in the winter prediction,but it is nice to think there is some truth to it.
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They have a festival in Cleveland, Ohio – I had researched a little about Woolly Bear Caterpillars when I did this post. The woman who gave me the information on the turtle nests and eggs, did a post for Crosswinds Marsh yesterday showing two Woolly Bears with more brown than black in their rings … that is three Woolly Bears now. I am hopeful, even though it is not really scientific. At any rate, it has to be a better Winter than last year – 62 inches of snow and I thought it would never stop snowing. I just said that to the dentist yesterday – the last time I went to the dentist (April 17th) we had a sleety mix that morning and I had to walk on the main drag because the sidewalks were so slippery.
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Please look into the winters predictions via Woolly Bear caterpillars! Basically it’ll be a 50/50 proposition.
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The Farmer’s Almanac comes out with their predictions nationwide and they swear they are accurate after “X” number of years. Now we are supposed to get El Nino conditions this Winter, but we had a hard freeze early this a.m. After I left work last night, I went out and put away the hose in the garage … I have never had to do that before late October/early November and never shut the outside water off that early either. They had snow in the Upper Peninsula yesterday, and not just flurries, so a covering. I think El Nino is more scientific but judging from this November-like cold snap, I don’t know what to believe. I walked again last night since I had to take the car out to put the hose away so went back to the Park – the wind was gusting at 17 mph, it was 47 degrees … October, usually a beautiful and moderate temps month here in SE Michigan.
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Prepare for the worst but hope for the best is all I can add Linda.
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It was pretty cold this morning Wayne. We had a hard freeze and there was frost on the grass. It was a beautiful day otherwise and the sun helped burn off most of the frost by the time I walked home. But it was 31F when I left. Tomorrow I take pumpkins for the squirrels. I was going to do it this morning but it was too sunny … the angle of the sun is such that I have to shade my eyes to see once I arrive at the Park. Since I have only two hands, using one hand to deliver mini pumpkins and peanuts, one hand to shade my eyes, plus try to take pictures … it’s overcast tomorrow so I will have an easier time. They usually drag them on the ground and I see them later on munching them.
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Oh that will be just like Christmas for them I bet! You need to put them on small toboggans so they can haul them away easier!
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That would be a cute photo on a mini toboggan. In the past, they would grab them by the stem and they are easy to move than the apples as they can sink their teeth into the stem and drag them. They are just the right size for them!
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with little toques on too!
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Even better!
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