30 The Weather
Others say, —
Half the pork and half the hay
On Christmas Day.
It is related that there was a time when the men would occupy a part of their leisure on Christmas Day in making a tour of the neighbors to see how their hay was holding out.
If the woodchuck comes out on Candlemas Day, and sees his shadow, he crawls back to his hole and dozes again. He knows there will still be sharp weather. If the day is cloudy and he sees no shadow, he knows the hardest part of winter is past, and begins to make preparations for warm-weather housekeeping.
It’s a sign of rain when the flies bite.
As long as the dogstar reigns, there will be dry weather.
“I was sure ’twas goin’ to rain when I started out this mornin’, it looked so dark and dull. Then I see one o’ these little whirlwinds, and it turned around from right to left like you wind your watch, and I knew we wouldn’t have no rain that day anyhow.” A whirlwind has to turn from left to right to mean rain.
