Impending

We are in a weather advisory area. A winter storm may be impending. Will we have snow? How much? It’s one of those forecasts that aren’t hard and fast, but wintry weather is a distinct possibility. Weather is like that–hard to pin it down to absolutes.

However, pigs know. Before a cold spell, they’ll start carrying sticks to make a bed. Seen any wooly caterpillars lately? Have you checked out the width of that yellow band around their middle? How about wild geese? Are some of the stragglers winging their way to warmer climates, doing their best to make up for lost time? Is there an abundant crop of acorns so that squirrels will have food this winter?

In my own yard, it doesn’t matter about the acorns, the squirrels depend on robbing bird feeders. That’s a lot easier than gathering those nuts from off the ground. I don’t think this sets well with the winter time birds, but they aren’t as big as the squirrels, so what can they do?

If I still lived on the farm, I’d be sure there was an abundant supply of fireplace wood, carried into the garage to keep it dry. Each fall, we would buy ricks of wood to last us through the winter, then when a storm was impending, we’d be sure to move it into a dry place, handy to reach when building a fire.

I imagine grocery stores are experiencing a sudden increase in business. That’s the usual thing. So, we watch the gray sky and wonder. It’s kind of exciting to not know exactly what kind of weather we’ll wake up to in the morning.