Category Winter

Things You Didn’t Hear at the First Thanksgiving

Intentergy 1 Comment

Things You Didn’t Hear at the First Thanksgiving

20161123_120103.jpg

Here are the Top 10 Things I bet you would not have heard at the First Thanksgiving.

10. “I can’t find the marshmallows for the sweet potatoes.” (Marshmallows were not invented until the mid 1800’s. Potatoes did not become a staple in American diets until decades later.)

9. “Is there Cool Whip for the pumpkin pie?” (While there may have been pumpkin, no ovens were used regularly in America for 20 years. No Cool Whip until 1966.)

8. “Pass the salt and pepper” (There probably weren’t many, if any spices. The meats would have been seasoned with nuts, fruits, and herbs. Much less sodium than today)

7. “What a Halftime show!” (Halftime shows did not come about until the 1920’s when Walter Lingo used halftime to help sell his pure bred dogs.)

6. “You have to sit at the kids’ table.” (The children probably sat on the ground.)

5. “Is that turkey organic?” (Everything was organic. Turkey was probably not even on the menu. Historians have recorded that some fowl was part of the meal but the main source of protein came from 5 deer brought as a gift from the Native Americans.)

4. “Want to watch “Bambi”?” (See note from #5.)

3. “God Bless America”(America was still a wild wilderness. Pilgrims were celebrating survival thanks to their Native friend. BTW – Irving Berlin wrote the song “God Bless America” in 1918.)

2. “I am going to put my Christmas tree tomorrow.” (Puritans did not celebrate Christmas. They believed it was a wasteful day created by selfish, greedy men.)

1. “I have to leave early to get to the Black Friday Sales.” (Black Friday probably meant Black Plague day and everyone died.)

By: Melanie A. Peters

P.S. I am grateful you were willing to read my post of things I don’t think were said at the First Thanksgiving.

Disclaimer: I was not at the First Thanksgiving to witness if these things were said or not.

Woolly Worms and Wives’ Tales

Intentergy 3 Comments

Woolly Worms and Wives’ Tales

We found this fast little fellow on our sidewalk and had to share!

I have always heard it said that if the woolly worms in the fall are solid black, it will be a long, cold winter.

Who am I to argue with the wisdom of wives’ tales?

We have spotted quite a few of these solidly colored, fuzzy fellows lately and (along with the Farmer’s Almanac) it has me curious.

Last fall the woolly worms all seemed to have three stripes. They were black, then brown, then black again. This pattern was actually a pretty accurate reflection of the winter. It started out cold and wet, was dry and mild, and then really wet and cold before early spring.

2015-wooly-worms

2015 Woolly Worm

 

The idea of Mother Nature providing us hints as to what is to come (weather wise) has always fascinated me, so I did some research. Here is a brief synopsis of the cool stuff I learned.

In the 1940’s and 1950’s the curator of insects from the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, Dr. C. H. Curran, conducted a study of the Woolly Bear Caterpillars to see if the size of their brown band was an accurate predictor of the type of winter that would follow their autumn appearance. His research did support the wives’ tale, but he knew it was too small a sampling to legitimately support the fanciful idea fully. It would take a much more serious and larger scale investigation to prove those old wives (whomever they may be) correct. While unable to deliver a definitive answer, Dr. Curran, his wife, and a close group of friends enjoyed these studies so much they called themselves The Original Society of the Friends of the Woolly Bear.  Continue reading “Woolly Worms and Wives’ Tales” →