I Could've Used a Farmer's Almanac
Ok. Raise your hand if you've ever purchased an Old Farmer's Almanac? You're in good company. It's estimated that over 18 million people read it annually and not just farmers. With topics ranging from cooking to weather forecasting or how to how to fix the toilet (see Toiletology 101)...this little softcover magazine with the familiar yellow cover is educational. I purchased one last week at the Farmer Mecca (Fleet Farm). In hindsight, I should have purchased it much sooner.
In the magazine's 217-year history, there have been some pretty entertaining features as well. Like the folks who swear they can predict the weather by examining a pig spleen. I personally prefer the evening news. But if you're the adventurous type or a purist, just butcher a hog (maybe Al Feucht of Brandon Meats would be willing to part with a pig spleen for the sake of science) and divide the spleen into six areas - each section representing a month. Where the spleen thickens, a change in weather is indicated and a pronounced bulge means inclement weather. And if the spleen indicates a monsoon or tsunami, you just might be holding it upside down.
Some folks prefer a more scientific approach to calculating the severity of the winter ahead. The familiar wooly bear caterpillar is a favorite among the oldsters and youngsters. Unfortunately most of us cannot remember is whether its the black or reddish brown band that is the telling forecasting feature. According to legend, the wider the middle reddish brown band, the milder the coming winter will be. I meant to look up the difference when my son brought one into the house a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately before I had the answer, the wooly bear had slipped away. If this particular wooly bear predicted an unusually mild winter (inside of my house) he would have been right on the money!
That's OK. The caterpillar is in good company...with the two hamsters that escaped from the cage in my son's room. After they both went AWOL (on two separate occasions) I alerted my fat cat that she was officially on high alert for the elusive creatures. Unfortunatley her idea of mouse patrol is surveying the household from a comfy chair. The latest escape was the most frustrating.
We had purchased "Lily" at a local pet store. An employee told me that the small blackbear hamsters were just babies. Looking back now I wish the owner of the store had required his staff to read the gestation and mating table in the Old Farmer's Almanac (ok, so it doesn't contain info about children's small pets...but it should!) Two weeks later we were the proud owners of five baby hamsters. While we knew that first time mothers might cannabalize their young, much to our chagrin (and my son's delight) Lily turned out to be quite the proficient little mother - until she discovered an open door five weeks later.
She couldn't have picked a worse time to defect from motherhood. With only minutes to get my son to his cousin's to catch a bus the morning of my husband's surgery at the hospital...we scrambled around our sprawling farm house, peering under beds and looking into dark closets. The babies were barely alive. With no time to consult a knowledgeable source (surely not the pet store that sold her to me), I pointed a reading lamp over their nest whispered a good luck and bolted out the door. Six hours later they were cavorting around inside of the cage, nibbling on hard food (I only had to teach them to drink water). Then I had to educate myself on the finer tips differentiating between boy and girl hamsters before they figured out how to multiply again.
And now I am wondering if the Farmer's Almanac has a tip for getting rid of the awful smell emanating from my heat registers. Yup, you guessed it. What a perfect hiding place for a hamster until she electrocuted herself chewing through the wiring in the furnace. Ugh. In the end, that little $6.99 hamster has cost me another cage, quadruple the food and bedding and now a $350 bill for cleaning out the ductwork in my home. Perhaps I should have read the Almanac's tip about poisoning unwanted pests or motivating a lazy cat.
Ok. Raise your hand if you've ever purchased an Old Farmer's Almanac? You're in good company. It's estimated that over 18 million people read it annually and not just farmers. With topics ranging from cooking to weather forecasting or how to how to fix the toilet (see Toiletology 101)...this little softcover magazine with the familiar yellow cover is educational. I purchased one last week at the Farmer Mecca (Fleet Farm). In hindsight, I should have purchased it much sooner.
In the magazine's 217-year history, there have been some pretty entertaining features as well. Like the folks who swear they can predict the weather by examining a pig spleen. I personally prefer the evening news. But if you're the adventurous type or a purist, just butcher a hog (maybe Al Feucht of Brandon Meats would be willing to part with a pig spleen for the sake of science) and divide the spleen into six areas - each section representing a month. Where the spleen thickens, a change in weather is indicated and a pronounced bulge means inclement weather. And if the spleen indicates a monsoon or tsunami, you just might be holding it upside down.
Some folks prefer a more scientific approach to calculating the severity of the winter ahead. The familiar wooly bear caterpillar is a favorite among the oldsters and youngsters. Unfortunately most of us cannot remember is whether its the black or reddish brown band that is the telling forecasting feature. According to legend, the wider the middle reddish brown band, the milder the coming winter will be. I meant to look up the difference when my son brought one into the house a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately before I had the answer, the wooly bear had slipped away. If this particular wooly bear predicted an unusually mild winter (inside of my house) he would have been right on the money!
That's OK. The caterpillar is in good company...with the two hamsters that escaped from the cage in my son's room. After they both went AWOL (on two separate occasions) I alerted my fat cat that she was officially on high alert for the elusive creatures. Unfortunatley her idea of mouse patrol is surveying the household from a comfy chair. The latest escape was the most frustrating.
We had purchased "Lily" at a local pet store. An employee told me that the small blackbear hamsters were just babies. Looking back now I wish the owner of the store had required his staff to read the gestation and mating table in the Old Farmer's Almanac (ok, so it doesn't contain info about children's small pets...but it should!) Two weeks later we were the proud owners of five baby hamsters. While we knew that first time mothers might cannabalize their young, much to our chagrin (and my son's delight) Lily turned out to be quite the proficient little mother - until she discovered an open door five weeks later.
She couldn't have picked a worse time to defect from motherhood. With only minutes to get my son to his cousin's to catch a bus the morning of my husband's surgery at the hospital...we scrambled around our sprawling farm house, peering under beds and looking into dark closets. The babies were barely alive. With no time to consult a knowledgeable source (surely not the pet store that sold her to me), I pointed a reading lamp over their nest whispered a good luck and bolted out the door. Six hours later they were cavorting around inside of the cage, nibbling on hard food (I only had to teach them to drink water). Then I had to educate myself on the finer tips differentiating between boy and girl hamsters before they figured out how to multiply again.
And now I am wondering if the Farmer's Almanac has a tip for getting rid of the awful smell emanating from my heat registers. Yup, you guessed it. What a perfect hiding place for a hamster until she electrocuted herself chewing through the wiring in the furnace. Ugh. In the end, that little $6.99 hamster has cost me another cage, quadruple the food and bedding and now a $350 bill for cleaning out the ductwork in my home. Perhaps I should have read the Almanac's tip about poisoning unwanted pests or motivating a lazy cat.
posted by the farmer's wife @ 10:46 AM
1 Comments:
At 9:50 AM,
the farmer's wife said…
Ummmm...one of our cats actually bit the bullet that way too. While listening to him yowling in the basement one night, I tried to get my husband to check on it. He told me he probably got a bad mouse. You bet he did. The poor thing died from getting into some kind of poison.
Does anyone have any reponse to the tale that cats will never touch or eat a poisoned mouse??
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