The Wooly Bear Caterpillar or Wooly Worm

I’m sure you have heard many sayings about the weather. “In like a lion, out like a lamb.” Here in the hills of West Virginia, we put a lot of stock in some of this lore. My grandma used to say if the leaves of a tree turn upside down, rain is coming. There’s some scientific truth to that. When a cold front moves in, hot air rises and the current upward shows the undersides of certain leaves before the rain comes.

The Carolina or Giant Wolf Spider, hanging out in the camp restroom.

One story that intrigues me is that of the wooly bear caterpillar…aka, the wooly worm. Grandma always said there were thirteen weeks of the winter season and there are thirteen rings on a wooly worm. The black rings allegedly indicate harsh weather and the brown predict a milder winter season. I caught this wooly worm out in our field the other day and, if the folk tales are to believed, it looks like we could have a few weeks of mild weather in the middle of winter with harsher conditions in the later half. Let’s remember to revisit that along towards spring, shall we?

We had several days of really chilly weather here while we were at the beach. What happens in mid to late October after the first real cold snap is something we all dread. The Stink Bugs and Asian Lady Beetles come out of the woodwork and into your house. Yuck! I noticed several lady beetles around the storm door yesterday and stink bugs have been showing up in and around the camper for a few days now. I’ve heard of home remedies for these things, so I’m going to have to do some research and get after them before I have to get the vacuum out to suck them up by the dozens. 

Scorpion Fly…I found one of these on my windshield this fall.

So, as I was writing this, I opened my email program to see if I could find a message I was looking for. As soon as the app opened, I knew something was going on. I have over 60K unread messages in my inbox normally. Yeah, I know…it drives my daughter crazy, but I just can’t be bothered to clean it up all the time. Anyway, the mailbox was flipping like an old black and white TV that needs adjusting. It said it was downloading 16 messages. I waited for them to download and it turns out they were the first emails Mr. Virgo ever sent me back in October of 2005 when we were communicating through match.com!!! The first one that downloaded was from…October 20th!!! 👀  Ok…it’s Halloween season and that’s spooky. But, I smiled and said, “Well, hello there! It’s been a long time since I’ve heard from you!”

I know there’s a lot of scary and ugly things going on in the world right now. I think this is maybe God’s way of sending a message that would catch my attention. “Just keep your eyes looking upward and do your best to spread My Light and Love to your fellow brethren.” Stay safe out there, my friends. Better times will come…He promised.

🍁

““And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.”

Joel 2:28 ESV