Poppa and the long, cold winter

My Poppa was a prominent farmer back in the day, a sage old man that all of the others looked to for advice.  There was a local watering hole that many of the locals went to on Saturday nights, a sort of impromptu town hall if you will. They would discuss weather, planting schedules, current crop prices, or just b.s. about things in general. At one such meeting early in the fall, some men approached Poppa and asked him if  this was going to be a bad winter. After all, he was the oldest, wisest, farmer there, and he should know the signs.

Poppa told them that the acorns and the woolly worms indicated a bad winter, so they should start cutting plenty of firewood, and put up extra hay for the livestock. Now, Poppa was also a practical man, and knowing that he couldn’t really predict weather, decided to call the local weather bureau to keep from having egg on his face. The local agent told him that yes, it did indeed look like a harsh winter was coming. The following week at the town meeting some of the other farmers asked Poppa how sure he was of the weather, with his new-found knowledge he boldly proclaimed it was going to be very bad, to cut more firewood, and stockpile hay and feed.

 Over the course of the next few weeks Poppa called the weather office, each time receiving even more dire news of the impending weather, and each time he carried the news to his peers.

One day Poppa ran into the local weather agent and asked him if they were still to expect a harsh winter.

  “oh, most certainly, replied the agent, maybe the worst in years.”

Poppa asked how he could be so sure this early in the season.

  “Easy, replied the weatherman, all of the locals are cutting firewood like crazy, and stockpiling food.”