Winter Nostrums

A "nostrum" is a medicine that is not considered effective, prepared by an unqualified person.

I don't mind the winter. I really don't. I have lived in Pennsylvania for 46 of my 54 years. I have had ample opportunity to move away and, at times, stay away. But here I am. So how bad can it be?

Having said that, I have gone out on a limb recently about the winter weather forecast. In one of my earlier blogs I mentioned that I saw some woolly caterpillars that had no dark stripe in their mid-section. Typically the width of the stripe, some would say, indicates the length or severity of the coming winter. I predicted, since the caterpillars had no dark stripes, that we would have a very mild winter.

I have not seen, heard, nor read the actual long term forecast for winter weather in northeast Pennsylvania. So I figure that, up to this point, my prediction should be as good as the weatherman's. But, having shot my mouth off, I've decided to give it a little *help*.

If you have ever blamed the rain on your having recently washed your car -- raise your hands. Now put them down. This is a blog and no one can see you. However, you DO understand the principle of thinking our actions can somehow affect the weather.

I lived in my last house for fourteen years. Twice during that time I owned snowblowers. I bought the first one because we had several severe winters in a row and I got tired of shoveling the driveway. The following year we hardly had any measurable snowfall. For the next four years we had so little snow that the tires went flat on the snowblower several times. I had to drain the gas twice because I figured it was too old. In March of that year I sold the snowblower. The next week he had what is now known as The Blizzard of '93.

After several more bad winters, I gave in and got another snowblower. I may have used it ten time in five years. When I moved here, to the resort, I sold my snowblower. The resort plows the road in front of my house and I have a relatively short sidewalk. Over the last three years, the first and second had pretty heavy snowfalls. Last year, things were a little different.

We built our new deck before that winter so I got a second snow shovel for the back deck. We had an early, moderate snowfall in November. It just so happened that I was in my office in the garage across the street from the house while it snowed one day and both of my snow shovels were across the street; one at the front door and one on the back deck. So I had to trudge through the snow to get the shovel, so that I could shovel, to avoid having to trudge through the snow. I decided it was time to get another shovel to keep outside my garage door.

Once I made that purchase, it hardly snowed again that year. That's when it hit me. Three snow shovels equal one snowblower.

So I have my woolly caterpillar story, three snow shovels and a ten day forecast that shows weather in the 40's through December 20th. I'm not sure how much credibility I have riding on this but, just to hedge my bet, I'm going out today to buy a bag of ice melt and a new snow brush for the car.

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