Old Farmer's Almanac Agrees -- FROST WARNING!

Backcountry Notes ^ | September 12, 2009 | Jay Henderson

[jay1949]

The Old Farmer's Almanac has joined its competitor, the Farmer's Almanac, in predicting a cold 2009-2010 winter. For sunspot theory mavens and and global warming doubters, its on - - time to unpack the sweaters and toboggans.

[goat granny]

Farmer almanac is quite good...I predicted an early winter here in MIchigan because the moles started digging deep in August. I have a few huge mole mounds on my 4 acres...They don’t ususally go deep in August...But I could be wrong :O)

[hsmomx3]

Gosh, I wish we would have something close to a cold winter here in Phoenix. The heat never ends............or so it seems.

[jay1949]

Moles are good. They don’t survive hard winters in shallow digs.

My mother’s father grew up on a red-clay farm in the middle of North Carolina. He could read weather signs with the best of them. When he said the pond would be frozen over by Christmas, by gosh, it was frozen over by Christmas. People now spend their entire lives in urban heat islands and have no idea what the weather is. Why else would they listen to a hypocrite like Al Gore?

[jay1949]

But its a dry heat . . . right? Personally, I love having four seasons.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Algore’s retirement nest egg is starting to look a little wobbley.

[bmwcyle]

ping

[max americana]

Are you sure about this because alBore lectured me today that we are supposed to die due to global warming.

[ErnBatavia]

time to unpack the sweaters and toboggans

I'll get right on that...but not gonna rush it too much; it's only 11:30 and it's already 103 here in our little desert.

[jay1949]

Al Gore doesn’t believe in global warming. If he did, he wouldn’t be living in an energy-wasting mansion and be flying in private jets to meetings of similarly-disposed global warming fans. I refuse to listen to Al for many reasons, one of them being, you wanna talk the talk, you gotta walk the walk, and Al is nothing but talk.

[jay1949]

Oh, I think you desert-dwellers can probably get away with a light cardigan. ;>)

[goat granny]

smiles to you...Farmers are good at reading signs...They are in tune with the change of seasons because they spend so much time outside..You can actually smell rain coming if your tuned to climate...Your right on city folk. They don’t pay attention because they don’t have to...

[goat granny]

Ouchy on your weather....but zero and 2 foot of snow and ice is a bitceh also..MIchigan has 4 seasons, June, July, August and winter...some would say 2 seasons, winter and road construction...

[mountainfolk]

Lucky me! I have been looking for information on moles and your post tells me that others are having problems with them also. We have had a few every year but this summer our front acreage looks like a mine field. Another person I met while reading labels on mole treatments told me she was experiencing the same thing. Do you know of a good treatment to get rid of them? She also said, as well as us, that she had no ticks but fleas are worse than usual because of deer and squirrels and other wildlife. I think the ice storm might have taken out the ticks but why not the fleas? At least the moles stay outside. For now anyway. They are getting closer and closer to the front door.

[Jacquerie]

For those unfamiliar with the term, “toboggan,” it is a flat bottomed wooden contraption designed to hold six or more people down a snowy slope. Each passenger behind the lead passenger crosses his/her legs around the passenger in front of him/her, thus making individual escape as the toboggan careens toward a tree nearly impossible.

Very popular with teenagers and drunk adults.

[jay1949]

Michigan and Maine share some common traits. I love Maine, but I go in May or June - - between “ice-out” and road reconstruction.

[jay1949]

Be careful - - there’s nothing worse than a mole stampede.

A friend once decided that the best way to deal with moles was a boxer dog. He was right. That dog dug out every mole, groundhog, and rabbit he could scent. Jimmy’s yard looked like 3 acres of an artillery-practice range - - but it was mole-free.

[cmsgop]

What’s it say for the Northwest this Winter?

[jay1949]

If I recall correctly, both almanacs agree on mild to normal on the coast, chilly once you get to Idaho. You can check local short-range forecasts here: http://www.almanac.com/weather/

[goat granny]

Yep, but don't laugh...I keep them out of my front yard but let them have the side yard and some area's of the back...First you need a dog...(I told you not to laugh). The you need to find an active run, you do this by stepping on some of the raised area's and if its raised again in a couple of days, that is an active run...they make blind areas and this will not work in a blind area....

Put on a pair of gloves, pick up some good smelling dog poo and make a hole in an active run (I use a large screw driver and open it enought to put in a piece of poo) I TOLD YOU NOT TO LAUGH. Put a stone over the hole and do it again in several area's of the run...

Moles live by smell and they don't like the smell of poo..They haven't been in my front yard for several years..

I tried everything from Juicy fruit gum, to smoke bombs and spearing traps...all to no avail...Dog poo works... Good luck