Drippy, Drippy, Drippy!

  Back in October, I was happily munching on the wild persimmons that grow beside the path near the marsh. These little golden blobs are sort of an acquired taste since they can be quite tart or astringent at times. To me, they are perfect.  It was. also, at this time that I cut open the seeds to see the "weather forecast" for the coming winter months.  There were spoons.  For those who are not familiar with this folklore, cut open the seeds and you will find cutlery.  A knife means stabbing cold, a spoon represents snow (or, in our case, rain) and a fork means warm.  I found spoons....lots and lots of spoons.  Nary another utensil showed.  I pondered this.

  Well, so far this winter, we have had rain...lots and lots of rain.  In fact, I think this has to be one of the wettest winters on record for the Deep South.  It has also been warm.  My old wood-burning stove has only been used a handful of times this season.  I have only burned two wheelbarrows of firewood and some of that was more for ambiance than heat.  

  As I write, it is pouring rain once again.  Our temperatures hover around the mid 60s both day and night.  When it is not raining, it is foggy.  Pea soup thick fog blankets the entire Bayou.  The humidity is a stifling to a point that we finally broke down and bought a dehumidifier for the living room.  It works great if you can get past the idea of having to empty the thing.  The "empty" alarm sounds just about every 6 hours....day and night just to keep the indoor humidity a around a 50% level in that one room.  Honestly...when you hear folks down here say "Its not the cold.  It is the humidity." or, in the summer, "It is not the heat.  It is the humidity.", believe us.  We speak the truth.

Persimmon Snacks!

  Along about this time of year, I start to keep watch on the wild persimmon trees that dot the woods around the Bayou.  Late October and early November sees the fruit starting to ripen and, if I am not quick, I will get nary a nibble even though there are dozens of trees.  The quarter-sized fruit goes fast when the possums and coons get a sniff of them ripening.  Each time the old dog and I take a hike, a good handful of the persimmons is a must-have snack. 

  This afternoon's snack provided a dozen or so seeds from the persimmons.  These were brought inside, rinsed and dried.  The seeds had a purpose!  The winter weather forecast was about to be revealed!  The seeds (when split) reveal the type of weather for the next few months...supposedly.  Each year, I carefully split seven or eight of the seeds just out of curiosity.  This is easier said than done, however.  To my imagination, splitting a persimmon seed is akin to splitting a penny.  It is hard to do!  If you are not careful, that splitting can become slicing of the finger!  So...I made things easier.  First, as I mentioned, wash and dry the seeds.  Persimmon seeds directly out of a persimmon are slimy!  Even after their bath, the things are still slippery and hard to hold.  It is a good idea to have a dish towel handy.  Now for my brilliant idea!  Use a pair of sturdy kitchen sheers to trim the edges of the seed.  This helps tremendously!  Trimming the edge gives you a flatter spot to start the knife.  After trimming, pinch the seed between the thumb and forefinger and SLOWLY, CAREFULLY begin slicing.  WATCH THOSE FINGERS!!  Trust me...It is easy to slip here!  Once you get one seed split, it is time to give up on the rest!  Nah, keep going.  You are doing great!  I did nine seeds from four persimmons.  The results show the weather forecast.  Snow?  Sleet?  Cold? Warm?  Inside the seed, you find a quite clear image of cutlery.  Spoons (snow shovels)=snow/rain.  Forks (Pitchfork)=warm.  Knife (spear)=stabbing cold.  Well....

  This year, I found all spoons.  That usually means rain, here in the Deep South, if the folklore rings true.  BUT....looking back since I have been recording this "evidence", we sure have had a LOT of spoons!  Admittedly, there have been a few knives but rarely a fork (even though, one may argue that our winters are warm compared to other folks').  Perhaps, looking at the inside of the seed, just gives us the idea whether the seed is viable.  The "spoon" may simply be the part that will eventually sprout.  This makes more sense as we sure have a lot of baby persimmon trees each year.  Those possums and coons seem to plant lots of seeds.  At least trying to get the seeds gives me a good reason to be munching the fruit!

They Are At It Again!

  Those silly raccoons are at it again.  I have to give it to them...they are resourceful rascals.  Eating out of the compost, bird feeders and cat's bowl is not enough.  Obviously, the coons are still hungry after filling their bellies with handouts so they have to raid the fruit trees.  Nary a pear hangs on the four trees now.  For two nights in a row, the varmints climbed the trees and gnawed on pears.  Now, I have none.  Perhaps I need to get better at defending my trees against these marauders but I am just not sure how to go about it.  Perhaps the rascals need to stop being so cute then I would not hesitate to set traps.  Nah...probably would not even then.  At least, they have no more pears to eat this year!

  This morning, however, I found that the raiding rascals found another food source.  The wild persimmon trees took a massive hit last night.  I have seen two baby raccoons running around the yard lately but this looks more like the work of the entire family!  Persimmons littered the ground and most were already covered in ants.  Only a few remain in the trees and those are far too green for me to eat.  I guess the raccoons will feast upon those as well.

  Of those on the ground, I did manage to rescue three persimmons to use in my winter weather forecasting.  Once these ripen to golden mushiness, I will savor the fruit and slice the seeds.  So far, the seeds have done a rather good job at predicting our winters and it would be great to know what is in store with the forthcoming season.  Thanks to the coons clumsiness, I have three....three chances at seeing how much firewood will be needed to heat the Little Bayou House.  Thanks for being so generous, Silly Coons!

Where Did Winter Go?

  The "Big Thaw" has come to the Bayou.  After three whole days of cold...at least cold by Bayou standards, our ice has melted and we are looking at weather more usual for the area.  Our cool spells never last more than a few days max, then we are back to rain and warm temperatures.  The ice is a novelty, however, and folks get real excited when they see it.  Most of the time, we have sleet...not snow but it will never fail to be heard "Snow!!! We are getting snow!!"  Nope...ice...we are getting sleet.  There is a vast difference.  Snow is pretty.  Ice is slippery.  Enough said.

  Like I said, the ice started melting this morning and now is a thing of the past...a mere memory that is fast slipping from the mind.  This morning, while on the pier, Mark and I found that our fishing buckets were frozen with about a three inch slab of ice.  Cool!  Ice is one of those things that intrigues me.  Take a liquid, add cold air and you have a solid. In this case, we had a solid with lots of bubbles.  The wind might have had something to do with that since the water was being churned with every gust.  Now, take that solid, add sunshine and you have the liquid back again.  The ice melted and dripped all over the pier boards.

  Tonight sees us much warmer but the rains will come again.  If you recall, my cutting of the persimmon seeds during the end of October revealed spoons...lots of spoons!  I was a tad confused by this as spoons supposedly mean rain or snow by the folklore method of predicting the coming winter.  I was beginning to doubt the veracity of my seeds.  Surely we could not be having THAT much precipitation this winter.  Well, we have.  December saw far above the average and January has exceeded that already.  Spoons do not lie...persimmon seeds do not lie.  I wonder what the rest of January and then February and March have in store for us.  Rain?  Ice?  Why not snow???

Have I Been Duped?

  Once again, I spent a good ten minutes of my morning splitting persimmon seeds.  There was a little "madness in my methods" since I was checking the weather forecast for the coming winter.  My trial of the seeds is still being processed.  Question???  Can persimmon seeds predict the severity of winter?  I am still pondering the fact.  

  According to the Old Timers around the area, if you slice a seed and find the image of a fork, the winter will be mild.  If you come across a knife, the weather will prove to be stabbing cold.  A spoon, on the other hand, will see you shoveling snow or, at best down here, having a dusting of powder or perhaps sleet.  For the past couple of years, I tested.  Knives and spoons seem to be the most prominent symbol in the seeds that I have tested over the years.  Ice and snow!  Well, that did work out a couple of times with ice storms.  Forks were not often present but warm winters are almost the rule down here.  

  I am thinking that perhaps this system is purely a myth and the Old Timers who keep swearing by it, are fudging a bit on their finds.  When I cut the seeds today, I found spoons....lots and lots of spoons. Mark and I mulled over the discovery.  Should we lay in an extra cord or two of firewood and perhaps weatherize the windows?  Perhaps an investment of some more blankets would be prudent?  Spoons...lots of spoons! Bring on the snow!  Or have I just been duped by a couple of old geezers who were pulling my leg?

A Little Bit of Autumn!

  While most of the country is basking in the glory of fall colors, here on the Bayou, we have to be content with what we get.  That is very little in the way of brilliant foliage.  Usually by the time the leaves change from their summer greenery, they are already dropping from the tree limbs.  I find more color on the ground than waving from the treetops.  This is probably due to our lack of cool air and our copious amounts of rainfall. Factor in the high humidity that tends to make mush out of just about everything and you will understand why I am thrilled to find any bit of orange on the hillside.  Later on, the hickory trees usually give us a bit of gold and the stray maple may just pop a bit of red but while everyone else is oohing and ahhing, I am wandering about hunting anything reminiscent of fall.  While I love winter, I am in hopes of a least a bit of autumn to grace the area.

  My hike was short today.  Since Ms. Ez, the Bayou Dog, is not longer with us, I just cannot get the "feel" of a good hike.  I am taking baby steps to adjust to her absence.  I did wander down to the persimmon tree to grab a snack before the possums eat all of the fruit.  Here, I found my tiny sliver of the season.  What leaves were left on the tree were golden...sort of...maybe?  These leaves would just have to do.  I was satisfied that autumn had made an appearance at least.

  Speaking of persimmons, the "weather-forecasting" seeds predict an unusually cold winter ahead for us.  Knives and spoons were seen inside with the images of knives being dominant.  I guess I should prepare for a "stabbing cold" few months.  To be sure, I did compare my findings with the "Old Farmer's Almanac" and, sure enough, they agreed that Son and I had better start laying in a supply of firewood.  Perhaps this winter will be a good time to catch up on crafts, reading and baking.  Brrr!

The Spoons take it by (snow)storm!

 Last fall, I decided to test the "Old Wives' Tale" of weather forecasting by persimmon seeds.  Theory has it that a piece of cutlery can be found inside a sliced seed and that piece can predict the severity of the coming winter.  I dutifully sliced open seven persimmon seeds.  The inside of one was black.  Obviously, the seed was rotten so that one was discarded.  In the remaining six, one contained the image of a knife and five had spoons.  Hmmm.  According to legend, we were bound for a snowy, wet winter.  A knife represents stabbing cold, a spoon stands for snow while a fork means a mild winter.  Those spoons and that one knife did not bode well for the Bayou.  I was curious just how well the seeds' prediction would hold.  It did.  Actually, for the first time in years, we had snow...errr...ice.  Lots of crunchy ice blanketed the Coast not once but twice with lots of sleet and snow flurries dotted around the rest of the winter.  Yep, that is about as much snow as we receive this far down in the Deep South.  I was happy that the seeds did so well with their forecasting as now, perhaps, I could determine just how much firewood we would need to gather. 

  Once again, it is persimmon time on the Bayou.  I have a number of the wild trees dotting the hillside that provide me with plenty of leaves for tea, gobs of the marble-sized fruit for jam  AND loads of the large seeds for weather forecasting!  I decided today was the day to test a few more seeds.  Elizabeth and I sat at the table while I snipped the edges of a seed with the scissors.  This makes it easier to slice.  (Wild persimmon seeds are really hard!)  Once I succeeded in slicing the seed, she announced "Spoon!"  Well, alrighty then!  Spoon = snow.  I sliced the second seed.  "Spoon!" she said once again.  Hmmm..snow. Then came time for the third seed.  You guessed it, once again, she proclaimed "Spoon!"  All three seeds had spoons.  I sliced four more seeds and nothing varied.  All seven seeds contained spoons.  No forks nor knives ever even tried to show up in the seeds!  Spoons!  Seven spoons.  Oh, my!

  Well, once again, it is a matter of wait and see.  Will we have another icy, snowy winter ahead of us this year?  Who knows?  Still, to be on the safe side, Michael and I will start cutting firewood in the coming weeks.  Being prepared for the worst case scenario is always the best idea.  Fire up the chainsaw!  Where is the axe?  I am ready!  

Is it true?

The world is filled with myths, old wives' tales, folklore and superstitions.  Some of these are based on fact while others are merely based on fears.  Throughout the years, I have been warned, chided and otherwise advised about so many things that would fall in any one (or more) of the above categories.  At the moment with onset of what appears to be a severe winter for most of the country, I pondered a few of these folklore predictions. There is the superstition that for every foggy morning in August, there will be a snowy day in winter. Now there is a interesting idea.  I wish I would have counted the foggy days in August if there were any.  Our most memorable fogs are usually when the weather is a bit cooler than August which is perhaps our hottest part of summer.  Since I do not recall any foggy August morns, I am supposing we should not look for snow.  I do remember August as being a particularly wet month which was great for the garden!  Then we move on to the old wives' tale about pine cones.  Supposedly, the larger the cone...the colder the winter.  This is another one that we will have to chalk up as a dud.  The squirrels gnawed all of the pine cones before they were mature.  How in the world am I supposed to predict my winter without pine cones?  Early geese migration is another sign of a cold winter.  I do recall seeing a large flock of geese flying into the Bay area way back in the month of August.  At that time, it struck me as being odd.  As a rule, we do not see geese until late November but there they were!  

Now comes the tried and true method of predicting the severity of the coming winter.  Persimmon seeds!  There is a bit of folklore that mentions the cutting of seeds and the type of cutlery found within.  No, I do not mean that you will actually be able to supply your kitchen with all the silverware you need by simply chopping up some seeds but you may be able to decide if you need another blanket or two.  It seems that if you slice a persimmon seed open, there will be an image similar to a fork, knife or spoon found inside.  I decided to test at least that part.  I gathered a dozen or so seeds from under the wild persimmon tree.  With great care, I took out my sharpest knife and proceeded to carve away at that seed.  I would you to know that this was no easy task!  For you folks who have never seen a persimmon seed, they are flat.  Actually, they are about the size of a penny and I do believe they are just as hard!  Now just go try to slice a penny and you will see what I mean.  Anyway, it took several tries before I got the bright idea to trim the edge of the seed case.  Using my kitchen sheers, I snipped at the edge of the seed.  Once that was off, I was able to use the knife to slice the inner portion of the seed.  It was still quite hard so I really had to force the knife.  Finally after ruining six seeds beyond any use, I sliced one quite nicely in half!  Uh, oh.  Not good if I was expecting to be greeted with tidings of a mild winter.  This thing had a spoon shape inside.  That does not bode well for my garden!  You see, the different utensil shapes found inside the seed are supposed to indicate the weather for the upcoming winter.  A fork shows that the winter will be mild.  A knife represents a bitterly cold winter with winds that stab like knives.  A spoon represents the shovel..the kind used in scooping up lots of snow.  I cut three more seeds and found two knives and another spoon.  So, will we have a cold, snowy winter this year?  According to the persimmon seeds we had better gather more firewood!  The cold is coming!

Persimmon seed with the clear image of a spoon inside that indicates a snowy winter!

Actually, if you talk to anyone around here, they will tell you that I have been harping that we are going to have just such a winter.  How did I come up with this idea?  Earlier in the fall, I searched for Woolly Bears.  Those fuzzy red and black caterpillars that are supposed to be able to predict the severity of the winter.  These caterpillars have black bands on either end with a reddish band in the middle.  If that red colored band is narrow, the winter will be harsh.  Every Woolly Bear I found had a very thin band of red. Interestingly enough, the Woolly Bear predictions have proved to be around eighty percent accurate over the past fifty years or so.