how high the snow?
Last week, we had our first substantial snow. My husband is happy because he plows driveways with his tractor. I am happy too because the snow makes everything clean and white.
Both of us wish we knew how much snow will fall this winter. Even the weather station does not make any attempts to guess the snowfall in the coming months.
However, I enjoy the old ways of prediction … my Dad used to say the snow would be as high as the wasps built their nests. Last week, while walking one of our trails, my husband found a wasp nest at chest height. Last year, in 2011, there was a wasp nest in our arbour, at a point just above our heads. Therefore, we have concluded… this year we will have less snow than last.
By April, I should know if this method works!!!!
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~
prediction
~
had a lengthy meeting
before the Queen OK’d the plan
and started the nest – concise, globular,
paper contract with winter
~
she ordered us to work,
to strip wood from
the human house next door,
chew the pulp, publish the bulletin
~
takes stacks and layers of paperwork
to predict with certainty
where home will be safe and above
the snows of December
~
the secret in fine print,
on paper walls –
light grey from the patio fence
dark grey from the shingles
~
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2012
nichepoetryandprose 
My mother used to always say that you could tell if the upcoming winter was going to be mild or harsh based on the width of the band in the middle of a wooly caterpillar. I think if the band was wide the upcoming winter was supposed to be mild and if it was narrow it was supposed to be harsh (or maybe it was vice versa).
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Sheryl
November 16, 2012 at 12:11 am
Hi Sheryl. I’ve never heard of that one! I’ll have to start checking the wooly caterpillars! Jane
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jane tims
November 16, 2012 at 9:15 am