Well, my pears were weeks early this year. Up nort’, here, hey, looks like a hard winter… yet other signals point to mild…hmmm. My pets are strange this year. A worthless beagle, almost 11 years old, caught her first rabbit tonight with the help of one of my cats. Seems like old dog flushed it, cat caught it, cat gave it to the dog. I was tusslin’ to keep it out of the house as they tried to bring it in (squealing like nothing you’ve ever heard!) It came to me a bit later - you may be sending ‘em out to bring those rabbits IN in before long. They’re hunting cooperatively - dog & cat - never saw that before.
Wolf, that’s as weirf as the pics of the tiger mom, nursing the piglers!
Honestly - I’ve never seen such (the cats are true hunters) - and I’ve seen my darlings do some (wonderful) strange things! <a bit spooked here!
Wolf - LOL!!! Would like to have see that!
weird and piglets up above
Was at the vets last week with my Mother’s pomerarnian for his annual shots and what not. He’s been blowing his undercoat like mad. The Vet mentioned — “all the dogs are blowing right now — looks like it is going to be a really cold winter” — this on the West Coast U.S
OKbirdwatcher – at 23:05 Called my son over from next door to help - “What the hell…??” I’m-workin’-on-it – at 23:050 Yep.
heddiecalifornia – at 23:06 All the signs point to hard winter. But science tells us El Nino will mitigate the season. I dunno - for now I’m going with the animals and plants. Might be a rough go.
Kennelled the dog and going to bed. (she wants da bunny- inconsolable:) Please add to thread if you happen to notice anything…odd. I tend to trust our animal buddies (Remember-in the great tsunami they DID NOT find animal bodies-they survived)
We finally got rain and it’s messed everything up in our part of the Hill Country. The butterflies came back. Hordes of butterflies. Masses of butterflies. The grill and windshield on the car look like butterfly slaughterhouses. Our crape myrtles, which didn’t bloom all summer, bloomed finally, too. The garden place guy said the trees were “confused”. They aren’t the only things that are confused. Everything around here is acting like it’s early summer now.
Don’t know what that bodes but I’ve been hearing people talking that it’s going to be cold around here this winter.
I am hearing the same thing in VA. Time to look into a snow blower? Nahhhh, saving my money for a generator. I’ll buy another shovel for the kids.
Has anyone opened any persimmons yet ?
( making a mental note to hunt some up tomorrow…)
Madamspinner-This year my persimmon crop failed. As did virtually all of my apple crop. All failed to bloom and set properly because of the ongoing drought here in The Plains.
But I had my first bumper crop of jujubes, (a thorny bush indigenous to arid areas of China with thumb-size, reddish fruits that taste like apples before totally ripening, and then the fruits wrinkle and taste like raisins). Loved picking them and eating them off of the bushes all of September with my dog stripping the lower branches for her share. I thought the jujubes would adapt well here, they did.
But as good as those were, I would have rather have been eating my persimmons picked off of the ground right after they have fallen. A persimmon ripened so is the food of the gods.
My oddity is ominous. The wild pheasants had previously this Spring been numerous. The drought here was not severe enough from my experience to have impacted this year’s chicks. In fact, I had seen this year’s hatch in the ditches earlier. They have disappeared. No road kills are seen. None seen flying. I have heard none in the evening or morning. I would not be surprised to get out there on opening day of hunting season and “get skunked”. I have never seen anything like it. Hope I am wrong.
For the second day in a row I have seen large V’s of geese flying north.Seems to be the wrong way for this time of year.
Loads of Monarch butterflies. Remarkably splendid en masse. I read it takes three generations of these to make their round trips. I hope they get a lift from the wind currents. Last time I saw as many was in the seventies when I had lots of milkweed nearby.
diana – at 12:17 - Many monarchs passed through here in upper midwest also - even in the city! No milkweed that I noticed. This was late last month and went on for a week or more.
Coyotes running my creek bed. Dog is weird. He is very nervous, barking and growling day and night. Sometimes he won’t even go outside. We live in western WA. Building going up all around. Could be why all the wild stock. My sis lives ten miles away and there have been cougar sightings at her place. Sure keeps the walking for exercise down. Cats and dogs disappearing, hardly any birds singing. Can’t even hear the neighbors chickens and peacocks making noise.
My 15 year old Maine Coon cat has decided to “stand up” to the family of 5 raccoons that have been visiting her patio nightly for years. Howling and hissing and even some batting for the last 2 months. Doesn’t seem to want them around all of a sudden. For years it never seemed to bother her…….hmmmm
MAV:
I have a 13 year old Maine coon, also feisty, who backs my 2 large dogs into corners anytime he pleases.
Various species of pine trees are overloaded with pine cones on top. I have never noticed such an abundance, and I am an avid tree, skyscape and nature watcher,generally I seem to look at everything around me more than anyone else I know. Very observant. not very sensible and focused on things other people are. Mine seems to be more natural phenomenon orientation. Probably a gene from the ancient past.
Not really an oddity- but sort of- I never recall such a late and short summer here on Cape Cod. We had a long cool rainy spring that lasted till the beginning of July and about 6 weeks of what I would call summer weather and now already we’re having frost warnings and temps in the 40s at night. Never ever seen so many chipmunks either I’m worried about this winter. I hear the Almanac says it’ll be bad
Not really an oddity- but sort of- I never recall such a late and short summer here on Cape Cod. We had a long cool rainy spring that lasted till the beginning of July and about 6 weeks of what I would call summer weather and now already we’re having frost warnings and temps in the 40s at night. Never ever seen so many chipmunks either I’m worried about this winter. I hear the Almanac says it’ll be bad
Safety Lady,
Sounds like a earthquake precursor to me. Stay alert.
Spammers. Wonder what’s is up there.A hacker?
diana – at 11:53
More pine cones on my trees than I can ever remember.
around here, it’s so weird cause it’s ladybugs. and they ain’t sweet lil things either. these lil suckers bite. OMG vampire ladybugs. LOL….my deck is covered with them. the front doors and windows. they do this tryin to get in to hybernate. that’s what the man on TV said. I do believe the little suckers took a wrong turn, they need to just move along. thank you
diana – at 11:53 & Hillbilly Bill – at 12:52 A gal at work lives near a bunch of pines and has noticed the same thing. Says she’s NEVER seen so many cones - most all right at the top of the trees. lady biker – at 19:17 I think those are asian ladybugs - we first had them up here a few years ago. Yeah, they bite all right. A little bigger and more orange than the natives - at least around here. It’s my understanding that they can decimate the resident ladybug populations.
Madamspinner… I ate the last of my perssimons off of my tree the other day… What should I have been looking for… All but one has been fine… very sweet… One had some black down through the center… My tree is de-leafing now
I agree about the earthquakes. This has been going on for three or four months though. We do feel the eqs from Mt St Helens at times.
Fun thread to read, not sure if any of it means anything though. My oddities was seeing big fat grubworms crawling on top of the ground yesterday in the middle of the day. It has been unusually warm for October (90 degrees F) and is now quite dry (our rain has abandoned us again). Checked the USGS earthquake website just for hoots. Nothing. Oklahoma does get a few earthquakes in the south central portion of the state.
http://www.almanac.com/weather/index.php This site claims 80% accuracy. See what the almanac says. Colder in my area, a bit, but lots more snow than usual. Area2
http://www.almanac.com/weather/index.php This site claims 80% accuracy. See what the almanac says. Colder in my area, a bit, but lots more snow than usual. Area2
More squirrels than I ever thought my neighborhood could be home to raided my chestnut trees about 3 weeks earlier than other years. All of the nut casings were still green when the squirrels harvested them. It was a very heavy crop this year, and there is not a single one left. This has never happened in my experience here. The 2 neighbor ladies who come over to pick each year are out of luck, for the first time. They’ve been picking the nuts each autumn for 50 years +.
Came home on tues and wed and wildflowers covered with monarchs. Beautiful, took pictures, but odd. We’ve had frost already. They’re usually gone by now.
The rooster behind my yard has his biological clock off. He’s crowing two hours after sunrise now, instead of welcoming the day as he has for a long time.
My dogs, fairly independent creatures, have been glued to my side since last Friday morning. The older one keeps standing in front of the door when I try to go out. She’s barricading, back to the door, as opposed to trying to sneak into the car when I’m not looking. This is new too.
My orange tree bloomed 3 weeks ago for the second time this year. Very odd but I really enjoyed the fragrance.
These signs. These rare occurances. Strange, ominous markers, reading like the dimly lit gauges on the shuddering dashboard. Veering through the blackness, these backroads draw us closer, ever closer. Anticipating, almost bracing we reach another crest and through the misted windshield the signpost up ahead……….. reads, THE TWILIGHT ZONE.
These oddities are a little like the 100 year rainful that is a deluge. We aren’t into the twilight zone, we are noting things that seem out of the ordinary for our areas, most of us having lived in one spot for decades. We all have our odd notions, but noting oddities in nature or in the animals around us is sensible, mainstream stuff. That was how one tribal group had not one fatality from the tsunami. The noted natural phenomina and left for high ground.
anonymous, you write an interesting scenario. I am assuming you are often amused by the threads. If you find them so entertaining, why not start observing what goes on around you, it just might save your skin someday.While the leg pulling is gentle enough, it really isn’t at all helpful. It doesn’t bother me as my husband dearly loved a leg pull, and yours seem gentle enough, but to someone of a serious nature it must be off putting.
When I went home for lunch today I took my apple and almonds outside to the backyard to eat while sitting in the beautiful October sun. My husband said, “Look up.” I did and I saw a beautiful bald eagle flying alone quite high. Eagles winter here in Northwest Arkansas, but I don’t ever remember seeing one so early. It’s usually way into winter. Unusual, but lovely.
anonymous at 2:55 - I can’t find any ‘signs’ or suggestions of in this thread. Perhaps you meant ‘observations’? Certainly it is difficult see anything as ominous, these fairly concrete observations of nature, but then you may have a very active imagination. One phenomonon we’re likely observing is climate change, late or double blooms, change in wildlife patterns. Observation of plant and animal cycles requires connectedness to the present. You will miss the opportunity to gain a lot of information if you are anticipating away in your twilight zone.
I think the unusual behavior of my dog may be explained by a 4.2 earthquake that occurred last Sunday. The earthquake was oceanic, but near. She stopped barricading yesterday. I am wondering if the same earthquake might be responsible for the roosters clock being off too. There is a scientist who studies animal behavior in realtion to earthquakes. I’m going to try to google and find him to see what info he has.
On the fence - The almanac is not backing up the behavior of the local squirrels. My moneys on the squirrels!
Lisa in Southern Maine – at 22:40 I’m glad you figured that out about your dog—I was going to suggest you see a doctor about your own health since many dogs can “smell” certain kinds of illnesses in humans!
I’m-workin’-on-it - I never even thought of that! I would have appreciated the suggestion, very much!
its seed year for the pines I think. Also here in europe are there many cones. Happens with regualer interwals. But it has been a very warm autom, and that is not very “normal”, not when it happens year after year.. its global warming.. a fact of life.. and it will change everything in the comming 100 years.
Feather Pillow Oct 6 at 14:50- I live in NW Arkansas also. Haven’t seen you on the arkansas thread. Join us.
Buffalo, NY. And it’s unusually cold here in upper midwest. Thought this was an El Nino year!/!
Wolf - did you get 2 feet of snow the other day?
Lisa in Southern Maine – at 10:33 Scattered flurries here in Sout’eastern WI. No shoveling. But “Wicked cold”. Leaves turned on a dime, and most will fall without the usual lovely color change - green to brown/drop, I predict… How’s by you?
I was swimming at the pool the other day and they have windows, one overlooking a pine tree. While I had thought I had seen pine trees overladen, this was absolutely astonishing. It looked like a white pine. The ends of the branches had a couple of dozen pine cones on each. I wonder if dried pine cones would be safe in the fireplace. Does anyone know. When they drop I’m going to ask if I can gather them up. They aren’t very attractive cones that I usually heap up on the stairs with greenery after Thanksgiving, but if they are not too much in the way of sparking they might be worth gathering up. It was like a woman having sextuplets. I must photograph it next Friday when I go swimming. A memory of a brief but very beautiful Indian Summer. Ours seems to have gone to freezing nites. Just a mile away the temps are 10 degrees warmer winter and summer. We have microclimates, another mile further and there is another belt of weather. So within a three mile drive you go through three different weather patterns.I know my area and know where to expect black ice or fog.
Here in MI, we had heavy blizzard like snowfall (didn’t last) all day. I have never in all my 30 plus years here seen heavy snowfall mid October. Our leaves haven’t even fully changed.
On a lighter note, the kids found a wooly bear caterpillar, but it was all orange, no stripe. Never seen that before, either. I thought the folk tale was, wider the stripe the harder the winter? Or is it the opposite? Oh, no!
Northstar, maybe you can id it on bugguide.net; there’s all kinds of “wooly” caterpillars. Here’s one .
diana – at 12:57
I wonder if dried pine cones would be safe in the fireplace
We use dried pine cones as fire starter. Newspaper then pine cones topped with twigs and pine lighter knots. Stack on hard wood for the main fire.
Im in Western MI too. In my 50 years Ive never seen snow this early. Once and a while Ive seen a few flurries in late Oct., but never accumulation. We had a great summer, Im afraid were gonna pay dearly this winter.
FYI Pine cones soaked in Epsom Salt make real pretty fires.
RE: pinecones.
I’ve used them to start fires too, but I’ve heard that in woodstoves (and probably fireplace inserts as well), you shouldn’t put too many in at once. It’s possible for too many to release too much heat too quickly (they have a lot of pine pitch, I guess) and damage the stove. Something about how the heat not being able to escape quickly enough. An open fireplace won’t have that caveat on pinecones.
I’m sorry I don’t have detailed information on that. Maybe someone can correct me or flesh out the info.
But I’ve thrown a few small pinecones (I’ve got smallish ones here) in to help a fire start, and never had any trouble.
Here’s some info (and photo) about wooly bear caterpillars and forecasting the winter
A while back, I posted the following observation on another thread. With the talk of pine cones, I thought it might have more relevance here.
[From Clark (on the pigs in China as hidden mammalian reservoir part 8 thread)]:
…Clark’s posting has really piqued my interest because of a very peculiar thing I’ve noticed here where I live in the mountains of southern California.
…I spend a lot of time outdoors. And this year, for the first time in the almost 19 years I’ve lived here, I have noticed an extraordinary number of pine tree seedlings. Although I always see an odd seedling here or there, this year is different. They are all over the place. In the sun and in the shade, in areas I water and in areas I don’t.
(And although we had a relatively good winter (high precip) this past year, I don’t think it’s just that. We’ve had plenty of high precip winters before and I’ve never seen so many seedlings.)
Up until now, considering all the local pine trees lost to the ravages of bark beetle disease and also considering that, in the event of a pandemic, I expect most of my decorative planting to wither, I’ve viewed the seedlings as nothing other than a wonderful coincidence. Maybe even a miracle.
But now I have to wonder if they don’t represent something more ominous.
And if they do, if there is any connection between a pandemic and “millions of trees [springing] up on abandoned farmland,” based on my personal observations I would also have to wonder which event—the pandemic or the springing up of trees—came (or comes) first.
crfullmoon: what a great site! My kids will love it! And thanks, Kim- looks like my wooly bear is predicting a _very_ mild winter. Let’s hope!
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