|
Labor Day Is Here and Fall Is Around The Corner
The last holiday of the summer season is upon us and everyone will
have to wait until Thanksgiving to get another one of those
long official weekends. Labor Day is the one of those holidays I have
never really gotten caught up in over the years, other than it is a
time for a lot of dove hunting in my part of the country. As a child,
it usually meant that it was time for school to start back up, but now
a days school starts back about the time the ink dries on the kid’s
report cards from getting out for summer vacation. I guess that is one
reason Labor Day is still sort of on the downhill side of lonesome for
me, due to as a child, it implanted a feeling of dread within my
physiological thought patterns just knowing that summer was over and
school was starting up. That dread is still there when I hear the
sound of crickets doing their fall chirping announcing school start up
and backwoods fun is over.
Labor Day has really been around for awhile. It was first celebrated
on September 5, 1882, with a parade put on by the Central Labor Union
in New York City to honor the achievements of the working class, so
says the Old Farmers Almanac. The Almanac goes on to say, “The
holiday’s popularity spread, and on June 28, 1894, President Grover
Cleveland made it a federal holiday, to be observed on the first
Monday in September. It’s thought that the U.S. holiday was inspired
by Canada’s labor movement, which was started by Canadian trade
unionists in 1872 and resulted in the first official Labor Day in
1894. Although the day’s focus on organized labor has diminished over
the years, the legal holiday still marks the end of summer and the
traditional time for children to return to school.”
Most folks today use the holiday to go to the lake, take an extended
trip to the mountains, camp, fish or just fire up the grill one more
time for the gang before colder temperatures settle in later in the
month. And, I promise those temperatures will come a calling before
you know it. Just the other day, I saw a solid black wooly worm cross
the road and you all know what that means. If he is any sign of what
winter may be like, this winter’s cold and snow may be the reverse of
what this summer’s heat and rain have been for us the past few months.
It wouldn’t hurt to cut a little more firewood and to fluff up that
insulation in the attic if you have any confidence in Tennessee wooly
worms. Of course, I’ve only seen that one and I’ll have to be watching
for more as the season goes on, but the first one out does bear paying
special note to.
When it comes to weather predictions, I only trust Uncle Sid to give
me the real facts. Those weather guys in Nashville do a great job, but
Uncle Sid has experienced more weather changes in his lifetime and his
bones than those fellows will ever see on their radar screens.
Thus, the best predictor of weather in these parts is my Uncle Sid. He
has seen his fair share of cold and hot spells, plus being trained by
his mother Floramai. She could predict weather by every part of her
body, as well as every varmint located in the woods near their farm.
All of her talents she passed down to her son and Uncle Sid has even
added some of his own.
I asked him the other day what he thought, his winter’s weather will
look like and he said, “Tomato skins were extra thick this year at our
place which always means a real cold winter. I think it’s going to be
a cold one for sure because the squirrels are growing thick coats of
fur and Aunt Sadie has run out of canning jars from stocking up our
pantry. And, as of today, Aunt Sadie bought herself a brand new pair
of flannel pajamas and that is a sure sign of a cold winter at our
house. Yeah, it’s going to be a real snowy and cold one for sure.”
There you have it. The first winter’s forecast from Uncle Sid and
myself. The squirrels have thick coats, Aunt Sadie has done got her
some new flannel PJs and the wooly worm is already crawling before
frost in a solid black coat. Sounds like you had better enjoy this
Labor Day holiday because Thanksgiving should be a perfect time to
kill hogs this year. Of course, that last sentence will only be
understood by you old timers and I suggest you youngsters ask some of
them to explain it to you. Have a good fall. |
