A persimmon seed is a folklore that is too great not to give it a try. You split the seed lengthwise and look at the root inside to predict if the winter ahead will be mild or come with lots of snow!
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Yeah well, I haven't seen a persimmon tree around here so I have to go with the Old Farmer's Almanac, Farmers Almanac and NOAA, all of which give conflicting reports most of the time.
I used to follow all three of them and try to figure out how bad the winter is going to be, but not this year. Why should I worry about how cold or warm or snowy or wet it is? I don't farm, I don't travel on a daily basis, I have a roof over my head, I have a space heater and a wood stove, a generator and 50 gallons of gas, and plenty of food. They don't plow this far out of town and we've been iced in a week or two but other than boredom, nothing really changes at my place.
Sure, I pay close attention to the 10 day forecast and if I see a snow of ice storm coming, I'll go to the store three or four days in advance to buy any perishables we may be low on but that's about it, which is far better than the town people who wait until the day before the storm hits before they go do their panic buying only to find out the stores are all sold out of what they need.
I can go to the Walmart damned near any day of the week and usually find a parking place within 3-4 parking spots from the door, but the day before a winter storm? The parking lot will be packed full with people lined up on Hwy 52 waiting to turn in.
What's really funny though is that a mile and a half away at the Piggly Wiggly, there might be 10 more people in the store than there usually is even though they sell the exact same groceries that people are panic-buying at the Walmart, and within just a few cents in price.
And NOAA just released their 2023-24 winter predictions. The weatherguessers there say my area has an equal chance of above/below normal temps, which doesn't tell us a fucking thing.
