I don"t believe I have ever seen the geese fly by this early, The Robins came through a month ago. Are you seeing any thing strange up north? Old timers use to say That the animals can for tell hard winters. Just wondering LOve Irene

-- Irene texas (tkorsborn@cs.com), September 30, 2001

Answers

Irene, I started to get worried of a rough winter when there were so many squirrels in the beechnut tree, it looked as though it were 'alive'! That was in August, the nuts weren't even ripe yet. The geese that migrate from here are long gone, many stay and have gotten used to the NY winters. I agree that animals are a good indicator of weather to come. Added another stack to the wood pile today, and fired up the first burn, just to take the chill off, didn't keep it going, you never get used to a little cold if you're always warm- can't spoil them in October, or they'll be screaming come January!

-- Kathy (catfish201@hotmail.com), September 30, 2001.

Here in SW Virginia we have already had several nights of frost and the some of our trees are losing thier leaves before they even change color. The black walnuts have also already fallen. We have been in the 30's at night. I'm working on window quilts!!

-- Karen (db0421@yahoo.com), September 30, 2001.

geese are just about gone from here,, saw the last one (I think ) today),, even had snow here in Mich,,last week, ,1/2 inch. Winters on its way,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), September 30, 2001.

My rabbits started shedding last month already. One had a mohawk up his back. And there are feathers everywhere. I think it's gonna be a bad winter. I hate the cold.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), September 30, 2001.

I've noticed geese and ducks heading south already, too. I think it's been two or three weeks already. I never thought how early it was until I read your post, Irene. Now that I think about it, last year I was still seeing them heading south at Thanksgiving.

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), September 30, 2001.

Geese are early here too in Northern NY State{on the Canadian border} They usually fly in when shotgun season opens and it's only the beginning of bow season.

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), September 30, 2001.

Here in Ohio it's as cold on some days as the usual end of october weather,Ive had the furnace on already and see lots of animals getting ready for winter,we are about i month ahead of norm here! Get ready folks we may get eary snow!!

-- Julie (nelson3@bright.net), September 30, 2001.

I saw a couple of small flocks going over this past weekend. We've had a couple of light frosts already but not a killing frost yet. The trees are really changing colors here in N.E Pa.

-- emory (et@hazleton.net), September 30, 2001.

All right, so we're weird up here in Maine. I've been wondering if fall was ever going to get here!!! I hate hot, sticky weather and it just wouldn't go away, but this weekend it FINALLY acted like fall. I even broke out my lightest longjohns....and was I ever happy to do so!!! If it's too cold, you can always put more clothes on, but if it's too hot, there's a point when shedding clothes doesn't offer relief and does make the neighbors stare!

-- Sheryl in Me (radams@sacoriver.net), September 30, 2001.

The squirrels started taking over my pecans here in E. OK too. It also seems that the hummingbirds disappeared in the last week or two.

-- Nancy (NAWoodward@lakewebs.net), October 01, 2001.

Fall has definately been here for the last three weeks or so. I have three soccer players this year and keep my winter coat in the car for the night games :-( Should I start putting out seed for the birds so early? We still have plenty of berries on the bushes and those pecky gnats or no-see-ums or whatever you call them. I usually wait until the berries are almost gone to start feeding, but I'm wondering...we're about 30 miles north of Albany NY. Thanks for your help and for listening...Cheri

-- Cheri Asprion (t.asprion@worldnet.att.net), October 01, 2001.

The birds have been investigating our feeders already and we have had rodent noises in the walls. That shocked me as it seemed very early (like 2 weeks ago?). It made me wonder about the winter to come. How do they know what we don't?? Those caterpillars that are brown and black seem have narrow bands in the middle..whats that means again?? We've had some glorious weather though..Indian Summer fall days that you wish would last forever. The leaves are changing but not much drop yet around here.

-- Alison in N.S. (aproteau@istar.ca), October 01, 2001.

I am so glad someone started this thread. I am relatively new to country life in the sense that I am just recently learning to watch nature instead of the news for the weather. We are about 2o miles north of the northern NY border, in eastern Ontario. The geese started coming through at least three weeks ago, about the same time we had a killing frost that took my tomatoes. I was surprised to find the garden dead when I came out in the morning. Next year I'll know better and have the hose out before the sun comes up. We have had scads of feathers all over everywhere; I was wondering what that was all about. Thought the chickens were molting but wondered why. So now I've got to get the coats and extra blankets, scarves, mittens, etc., out of the shed to see which of my six children needs what. Today we butcher chickens, next week we celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving, and the day after that we start school. Now that we are more into homesteading, school marks the beginning of winter (end of harvest) for us.

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), October 01, 2001.

we've had temps in the high 90s most of the past week, some areas of southern california are looking for 100 degrees today. It's unusual for October.

-- Dave (something@somewhere.com), October 01, 2001.

Alright now you guys, no more talk of early winters or snow! I'm not ready for it yet! We're still looking for more rain to raise the water table over here in central Maine. Sheryl, you're over by the Saco? Has it been dry over your way too? I know what you mean about waiting for fall to come. It's usually much cooler -- especially at night-- than it has been these past weeks. Here it is October already and I haven't even put the down comforter on my bed yet, although this past weekend I did put an extra blanket on. We've barely had a frost yet. Just a touch here and there. Certainly no killing frost. I see the robins have been passing through town these past couple days. I haven't seen any geese yet. A strange thing happened last week. We had snapping turtles hatch out somewhere nearby. I found 2 babies wandering around town, looking for the river. My daughters and I took them down and released them. I didn't think they hatched this late.

-- Nancy in Maine (paintme61@yahoo.com), October 01, 2001.

Oh my....here in N. Fl. we are having some early cool fall days (for Fl that is). I noticed last week that the hummers are gone. They usually are here through October. Squirrels have built very large nest and are gatherin green pecans. I also noticed a LOT of feathers in the chicken pen this morning. The only thing I haven't noticed here, is usually with a cold winter coming, we have a lot of woolly worms..haven't seen but one or two...interesting to see how it comes out.

-- drafthorse (msjazt@aol.com), October 01, 2001.

My grandfather-in-law (in Tahlequah, Eastern Oklahoma) has been warning us that it is going to be a hard winter for some time now; I haven't had a chance to ask him how he knows. I also noticed that in just the last couple of days my hummingbirds have disappeared (Central Oklahoma); I miss them, we only had the feeders up a short time!

-- Christine in OK (cljford@aol.com), October 01, 2001.

I'll have to agree with Drafthorse. I'm in North Florida as well and my hens have been molting like mad. Thought something had killed one last week when I went into their house because of all the feathers laying around.

={(Oak)-

-- Live Oak (oneliveoak@yahoo.com), October 02, 2001.

My hens are dropping feathers and it is getting very cool here at night, down in the 40's. I am in Georgia and usually can wear shorts up until Thanksgiving, but now I am pulling out the winter clothes. Tonight it is supposed to be around 47, but weatherman says after the rain this weekend, it will turn really cold for a few days. I don't mind the cold, just wish I had some snow to go with it. Hate all the freezing rain, with hardly ever any snow. We have noticed the squirrels are really raiding the hickory trees and now are trying to get to the bird feeder. Hummingbirds have left, I saw the last one two weeks ago and haven't seen one since. Best always, Cindy

-- Cindy (colawson@mindspring.com), October 02, 2001.

here in Ar it has finally cooled, wa shorrible this summer, it wa sour first here. Was in the near 100's for about 6 weeks. Worse heat than in VA/NC. Its really nice here now, tolerable and can finally get work done.

as for the gees ein NYS. When we lived in western nYS the Niagara Mohawk plant in Dunkirk, which wa son the shores of Lake Erie had warm water in the water near them, the geese stayed becaus eit wa s anice yr round niche, they thought it wa sthe bahamas I guess. but the wildlife control wa sconcerned at the time as they may eventually breed out their instinct to migrate. The plant closed from whaty we heard and the gees eare not a spleantiful.

I have to wonder though about the winter.

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), October 03, 2001.

The old timers have been promising a severe winter for several years now. No such luck! With all the rain we have gotten this year, the pastures are all still green going to make seeding the rye grass harder. We have noticed that the squirells have not torn apart the pinecones like they always do, storing even the seeds of the pinecones, must have been a bumper crop of hickory nuts and acorns this year in the woods. The goats are extra fuzzy early. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), October 03, 2001.

Nancy, I'm live about 5 minutes from the Saco river and yes, it's quite dry here too. And today it was HOT! I understand it's supposed to turn cooler this weekend, but the weathermen keep saying such things and I don't believe a word they say! Can you imagine getting paid to guess correctly 50% of the time? A monkey could do that! And for all those weathermen and women I just insulted, actually I realize that this is an extremely difficult area of the country to predict weather for since we're right at the crossroads, so to speak, for all different weather zones. My hens have actually started molting in the past week, and they're molting hard. I did finally see my first flock of geese pass through 2 days ago. (I work on a farm, so I am outside most of the day, so if they were passing by I'd see them.) The foliage between here and Fryeburg was lovely today, but it was a hot day to go to the fair!

-- sheryl in Me (radams@sacoriver.net), October 04, 2001.

Last night and early this morning, I saw some geese going south, how common is it for geese to fly over night? These were pretty low especially for over a city.

-- Thumper (slrldr@yahoo.com), November 04, 2001.