soupy1957 said:
Many years ago, when I was but a wee lad, I was living in a very remote area of Northern Maine, above Caribou. 700 people lived in that town, and about the same number STILL live in that town. They were all farmers. (most all).
One day, while riding my bicycle up and over the hill that sat in the middle of our little community, I saw a couple of the farmers standing in the field near the house, and they were both looking up into a blue sky, with white puffy clouds.
I stopped my bicycle, and asked them what they were doing. They responded, "we're lookin at tomorrow's weather!"
As an adult, I suppose in hind sight, they were somewhat joking with me, but not entirely. These folks I grew up around, were forced to plant and harvest according to climatic conditions. So there was some element of truth to what they said.
In fact, there is an old adage that I still quote from time to time, "Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning; Red sky at night, Sailor's delight" (speaking to wind conditons pending). It has proven to be valid, time and time again.
I watch the weather every day, but mostly to know how much of a bundle up I'll need to do, when I go outside, or whether or not to pull the tarp sides down over the wood piles. Other than that, I only watch the weather during hurricane season, to find out if we have one blowing up the eastern seaboard.
-Soupy1957
Soupy, you helped bring back some old memories. Because I grew up on a dairy farm we had to be well aware of the weather and it was a daily and sometimes an hourly thing. Those farmers were not joking with you at all! They were just doing what farmers need to do. Today it is not quite as important as it was many moons ago simply because farming has changed so much.
For example, when I was a young lad I remember that we had to put up a lot of hay every summer. We numbered the bales by the thousands and had a very large barn for storing this hay. When I was really young I remember putting up hay loose rather than baling. If you go through the countryside or maybe see these things at an antique show, look sometimes at the old hay loaders. I recall using one of these contraptions. Of course it took more man power. Once the hay was ready, we'd have one person on the tractor. Behind that was the hay wagon with 2 people on that stacking the loose hay. The loader was hooked directly behind the wagon. Then it came time to store the hay. For that we used one person on a tractor onto which someone hooked a rope. Of course there was another person on top of the hay wagon setting the forks to raise the hay to get it into the mow.
But the ropes went through pulleys and on the first pull, it raised the hay and one person in the hay mow would holler when it got high enough. Another person, usually a young boy, would wave to the person on the tractor who was backing up while pulling the rope. After stopping, the tractor was then drove forward just enough so the boy could unhook the rope. He would then go to the other rope while the tractor drove to him. That rope got hooked on and on this pull the hay would be taken into the mow. When it got where the workers wanted it dumped they again would holler. The boy would signal, rope unhooked etc. Then the boy would come back and he had to manipulate the rope to get it back down to the person who was setting the forks.
In addition to all of this, in that time there was no hay conditioner. That meant a minimum of 3-5 days that the hay needed for curing before it was put up. That is one big reason for keeping track of the weather. Knowing when to cut the hay was a learned thing which some farmers never could seem to learn. They are the ones who put up poor hay which had an effect on the amount of milk they got which had a big effect on their paychecks.
I recall one time (and please do not take this for bragging because it is not intended to be that) I worked for a farmer for a summer (there were 3 of us boys and I was the youngest so naturally the older boy were used more in the farm and I sometimes was left out). I remember the very first day I was there he started talking (while milking in the morning) that maybe we should cut some hay that day. My comment to him was that I wouldn't and he asked why. I told him what I thought the weather was going to do. Back then we didn't have the weather reports that are available today. His words: "You sound just like your grandfather!" I asked why he said that and he told me that he never knew anyone who could forecast the weather better than my grandfather. Yes, I took that as a compliment. I had told him that it would rain the day after tomorrow. When that day rolled around I received another compliment and a big thank you because we had a big rain.
I may not be as good as I once was with the weather but by habit, all my life, or since childhood, I have always been aware of the weather and predicting what could happen. I believe that has been a big factor in my ability to successfully heat with wood.
Some of the old weather sayings are pretty neat with much wisdom. Some like:
Crow on the fence, rain will go hence. Crow on the ground, rain will come down.
Or other things like watching the animals. Chickens were one we paid attention to. When outdoors and we got some rain we would watch the chickens. If it started raining and the birds ran into the coop, we knew it was just a shower. If they stayed outside, figure on a long rain.
Before the rain, especially in the winter months, we liked to let the cows outdoors while we cleaned the barn. Every once in a while we'd have a nice sunny day but would notice every so often some of the cows, especially the heifers, would start running around and even bucking to kick up their heels. If so, we knew a storm was coming. But, we did not know how big the storm was; just that we would either be getting rain or snow.
Cheers.
hh: 
