OK, this is the time of year when I stick out my neck, and defy all the experts when it comes to predicting the upcoming winter – I was right last year and they were wrong. All of the ads on TV and radio this past month or so were reporting a tough and harsh 2016-17 winter for Maine. The one common denominator in all of these brainwashing advertisements is that the sellers were pushing snowblowers, snowmobiles, ridiculously large trucks with plows, home heating materials, etc. Get the drift?

Well, I have come up with something that contradicts even the usually reliable publications on that subject.

As in the past, if you have read this column, I rely more on Mother Nature to provide me with the signs of the impending winter months.

First, we will go to the annual cicada, you know, the little guy you never see that gives off that loud buzzing sound during the hot summer months. Old farmers lore says that from the date you first hear its call, the first killing frost will occur 90 days later, following the full moon. We have a little controversy on that issue this year. Traditionally, you will hear it anywhere from early to late July, bringing the first killing frost in October. This year, with the strong objections from my wife, I have yet to hear one. However, she claims she heard them back around July 15, and continues to insist she has heard them, as recently as last Saturday. Their sound is usually quite distinct. If they have been buzzing, they are extremely faint. My wife has claimed for some time now that I am going deaf, much to the differing opinion of my doctor.

An annual cicada we found in a woodpile at camp a couple of years ago.

It is called the annual cicada because it makes an appearance yearly, as opposed to the periodical cicada, that you hear about in the news, that occurs in large swarms only every 13 – 17 years.

Cicadas typically live in trees, feeding on sap, and laying their eggs in a slit in the bark.
Cicadas have been featured in literature since the time of Homer’s Iliad, and as motifs in art from the Chinese Shang dynasty. They are also eaten in China, where the nymphs are served deep fried in Shandong cuisine.

But, I’m venturing away from the topic.

The second indicator of what I am believing will be another mild winter is the placement of bee hives. All summer, I have heard reports from various people of them finding the hives in the ground or at the bottom of trees and tree stumps. Many have been stung while mowing their lawns. That is a usual telltale sign of below normal snowfall. When we have winters with higher than normal precipitation, bee hives are usually located higher, sometimes in trees or under eaves of outbuildings.

A third sign is the common yellow onion. My mother told me many years ago you can tell the severity of an upcoming winter by how the onion peels and its strength. The easier it is to peel, and the milder the taste, the more tame the winter. If an onion is really strong, and is difficult to peel, it means a harsh winter. My wife and I have onions with almost every meal, so we have peeled our share, and they have peeled awfully easy this summer.

A wooly bear caterpillar photographed at camp last week. Photos by Roland D. Hallee

Finally, old faithful, the wooly bear caterpillar. For those who don’t know, old folklore states the wider the red band on a wooly bear, the milder the winter. Usually by now, mid-September, you would have seen many of these fuzzy little creatures. So far, I have seen only one, and the rust-colored band on this particular one was very long, occupying possibly one-half to two-thirds of its body. I’m predicating my prediction on this one sighting, which, scientifically, is a small sample size.

So, with all the evidence presented, I will make a bold prediction that we are facing another mild winter ahead of us. But, I can’t tell you whether it will be as mild as last winter, but relatively speaking, milder than an average Maine winter.

Just don’t tar and feather me if we end up with mounds of snow and below zero temperatures. I can only foretell based on what the natural data suggests.

by  Peter Cates

Brief comments on some cds this week.

Randy Newman: The Best of Randy Newman; Warner Archives/Rhino, CD, released 2001.

Randy Newman

Singer/songwriter Randy Newman was one major talent emerging in the mid-60s. His songs evoke our glorious and unique American gothic past in all its quirky, sometimes scary, frequently funny individuality, yet connected by our shared bond. Linda Ronstadt scored a hit with his anti-slavery, tongue-in-cheek ballad, Sail Away, Judy Collins with I Think It’s Gonna Rain Today. The late Harry Nilsson devoted an entire LP to such Newman titles as Dayton, Ohio, 1903.

The above contains 21 tunes from his Reprise catalog; they include the two already cited hits, Rednecks, Short People, Dixie Flyer, Louisiana 1927, You’ve Got A Friend In Me, Feels Like Home, Same Girl, I Love L.A., Miami, etc. His voice is on the average side but the lyrics and music more than compensate.

Dvorak and Elgar: Cello Concertos, performed by cellist Maria Kliegel with Michael Halasz conducting the Royal Philharmonic; Naxos 8.550503, CD, recorded November 8-10, 1991.

Antonin Dvorak

I commented a few weeks ago already on the Dvorak Cello Concerto via another recording and would like to make a couple of statements on the Elgar. The composer Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934) wrote this piece at the end of World War I. Despite a botched performance and very cool audience response at its first performance, the work would subsequently achieve major stature through performances and recordings by cellists Pablo Casals, Andre Navarra, Anthony Pini, Jacqueline DuPre, Ralph Kirshbaum, Yo Yo Ma and several others. Back in 1983, I attended a magnificent concert featuring Janos Starker playing the Concerto with Sir Alexander Gibson conducting the Houston Symphony during my 16 years of residence there.

The music takes a few patient hearings to appreciate its hidden beauties but will lift its veil through some persistence, having an introspective, melancholy poetry of considerable depth. The Kliegel/Halasz collaboration is quite moving in both works. A nice mid-priced CD.

Antonin Dvorak

by Roland D. Hallee

Have you ever gone to bed on a warm summer night, and seen this thing flying around that resembles a large mosquito?

It happens to me all the time at camp.

Sitting up in bed, grabbing the book I’m reading, or possibly a magazine for some light and quick reading. And, there it is, buzzing around the light, and becoming extremely annoying. It looks like a giant mosquito.

A crane fly.

One of my relatives recently posted a photo on Facebook of that exact same insect on her arm. In the posting, she notes, “it’s a good thing I’m not afraid of spiders.” Wait a minute, this insect has six legs. All arachnids have eight legs. That is not a spider.

Well, I quickly fired off an email to my biologist contact at the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, along with the photo. It didn’t take long to receive a reply.

His response was, “this is a cranefly, a true fly in the order Diptera, and probably from the family Tipulidae. There are over 1,500 species of Craneflies in North America and possibly several hundred in Maine. The adults are harmless, some species not feeding at all, and some species feeding predominantly on nectar.”

In colloquial speech, the cranefly is sometimes called Daddy Longlegs, a term also used to describe opiliones, or harvestmen, both of which are arachnids. The larvae of the cranefly are known commonly as leatherjackets.

Craneflies are found worldwide, though individual species usually have limited ranges.

The adult crane fly, like mentioned earlier, resembles an oversized mosquito, and has stilt-like legs that are deciduous, easily coming off the body.

The adult female usually contains mature eggs as she emerges from her pupa, and often mates immediately if a male is available. Adult craneflies have a lifespan of 10 – 15 days. Cranefly larvae (leatherjackets) have been observed in many habitat types on dry land and in water. They are cylindrical in shape, but taper toward the front end, and the head capsule is often retracted into the thorax. Larvae may eat algae, microflora, and living or decomposing plant matter, including wood. Some are predatory.

Some lavae species consume some living aquatic insects and invertabrates, which could potentially include mosquito larvae. Many, however, because of their short lifespan, never eat at all.
Despite widely held beliefs that adult crane flies prey on mosquito populations, the adult crane fly is anatomically incapable of killing or consuming other insects.

Crane flies are generally thought as agricultural pests. Since the late 1900s they have become invasive in the United States. The larvae have been observed on many crops, including vegetables, fruits, cereals, pasture, lawn grasses and ornamental plants. It is harmless to humans, can be a nuisance to agriculture, but I wish it would stop reading over my shoulder.

by  Peter Cates

Angel of Death by Jack Higgins; Putnam, 1995, 311 pages.

A thriller from 20 years ago.

I offer a passage that conveys the narrative page-turning power/humor of this book:

“Mullin took Dillon back to the entrance, and as he opened the Judas gate, there was a hollow booming sound in the distance.

“What was that?” Dillon said in alarm.

“Only a bomb, nothing to get alarmed about, my wee man. Did you wet your pants then?”

He laughed as Dillon stepped outside, was still laughing as he closed the door. Dillon paused on the corner. The first thing he did was peel away the moustache above his lip, then he removed the rain hat from his pocket, unrolled it, and took out a short-barreled Smith & Wesson revolver, which he slipped into his waist band against the small of his back.

He put the hat on as the rain increased. “Amateurs,” he said softly. “What can you do with them?” and he walked rapidly away.

All types of story possibilities are suggested by this passage, only four pages into the novel. A U.S. Senator Patrick Keogh has agreed to negotiate a cease fire between IRA and loyalist Ulster groups in the Northern Ireland of the mid-’90s. Meanwhile, a very secret group, the January 30th gang has targeted the senator for termination as part of a larger plan to create horrible chaos by a series of random murders, with zero consistency, and thus heightening the element of terror among the finest investigative agencies.

Jack Higgins

Since 1959, novelist Jack Higgins, now 87 and living on Jersey, which is part of the Channel Islands, has penned 84 novels, of which 21 feature the ex-IRA gunman/now good guy, Sean Dillon, a very formidable, resourceful and, when necessary, ruthless agent. Angel of Death was his fourth appearance and the story cuts more quickly to the chase than the time to open this book for reading purposes. No more spoilers – get it!