Prepare thy wood. A tough one coming

LOL, the gypsy moths ate the blossoms right off. They ate pine trees and hemlock trees and hemlock trees don't recover from being denuded all that well. I have 5 that have no tops just bare branches and will probably have to get cut down. Some died. The "wave" of heavy population lasted 3 years. We had no mosquitos for three years because they had no shade to hide in during the day. At least none around the house. I'm sure there were some deep into the wetlands and swamps. Normally around here you can't go outside after around 3PM without drenching yourself in DEET. Even then they notice you haven't sprayed inside your ears, nose and mouth. LOL.

 

Morning! I know many of you are in colder places, but getting up at 0600 to a temperature of 52 degrees in an area 20 miles north of Atlanta is really out of character for this time of year. Leaves don't turn til late October and drop in mid November, but I've got cherry and maples turning now. I really think that we may be in for a cold one this winter, which I'm all good with!

 

It's like the old Indian joke. When they went to ask the old chief what the winter was going to be like, he said cold and lots of snow. They asked if it was because of the long fuzz on the caterpillars, he said no it was because the white man next door had lots more wood this year.

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It's still more accurate than the "almanacs" try with how big the wooly caterpillars band is, or how many Robin eggs are blue, or how many acorns fell in a bushel basket, along with a wild guess just because.



I'll be good on wood, regardless of how cold warm, or snowy the winter will be.

 

I am not a lover of winter by any stretch, but let 'er come, I'm ready.

 

I run and when I do, one of things I enjoy about it are all the things people don't see from their cars. The list of things I've seen and found over the years would be an interesting thread somewhere.
One of the things I've seen in the last two weeks are the wooly catapillars and they're telling my the same thing, it's going to be a doozy of a winter, except my catapillars are 100% black, everyone of them.

 

Neither one has much of a track record to brag about.

 

Busy working on your future firewood supplies!
Your fifty year plan

 

The all black caterpillars means we are going to have oranges fall from the clouds and we're going to have 12 feet of oranges to deal with this winter.

 

I saw a tree in full autumn color this morning on my ride to the store this morning.

 

True! They have been planting the Oaks, the birds have been distributing the Mulberry, and the Maples just take care of things themselves...my place had some trees when I bought it in '98...but starting to become what realtors call "wooded" now...

 

Mild winter coming after looking at that.

Here’s the legend: The Woolly Bear caterpillar has 13 distinct segments of either rusty brown or black. The wider the rusty brown sections (or the more brown segments there are), the milder the coming winter will be. The more black there is, the more severe the winter.