Wednesday, October 13, 2010

A Wooly Worm Wednesday

Do you have wooly worms where you live? In Virginia we do. 

I can't look at or even say the word "wooly worm" without smiling. You have to admit that even if you dislike bugs and insects in general, it's hard to not like them. Wooly worms don't fly around and they don't make a racket at night. They don't bite you, scare you, and they don't get tangled in your hair and cause you to scream or jump. They're fuzzy, unassuming, and non-threatening. I think of them as the Zen of caterpillars. If you mess with them, they curl up and play dead. I don't like being crawled on by anything buggy, but have to admit that I'm okay with letting a wooly worm meander across my hand.


Wooly worms are famous for foretelling the length and severity of the winter season. If they're light-colored, the old folks say, it's supposed to be an easy winter. The darker they are (or the broader the dark section of wooly fuzz) the harsher the winter will be. The other day I saw a black one, and then last week while Carl was painting we saw this one that we "think" was a wooly-worm or its cousin.  But I guess like the two legged weather men, they can't make up their mind either.

 Right now in Virginia, there are a few really warm days left.  When you are driving down the road on those days, you'll see the fuzzy little guys crawling across the pavement in front of you. This time of year wooly worms are always in a big hurry, searching for a warm place to hibernate for the winter. They race across the road at breakneck wooly-worm speed. I have to admit that I sometimes swerve to avoid them. I mean, who wants to run over what I consider the teddy bear of caterpillars? But no matter how fast they go, sadly they're never fast enough and I end up running over my share of them. I think it's kind of sad that these poor, peaceful little creatures, no matter how hard they may try, are no match for my speeding down the road--When you come to think of it, life is kind of that way. You can't outrun it, can't get out of the way of it, and inevitably there are times that no matter how hard you try, you end up run over and flattened by it...On that note, I'll end by saying that I hope you're having a good week, I've been "flattened" a couple of times, but I'm getting across the proverbial road and doing okay...

29 comments:

  1. how true indeed! life is one flattening after another...hang in there....we can't change anything, only our response to it...take care of yourself....
    xoxo

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  2. What a GREAT analogy!!!

    Here's hoping you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get the absolute most joy that you possibly can out of what's left of this week!

    ;-)

    Hugs ~

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  3. Loved your post. I am always careful not to run over or step on these (we always called them caterpillars). If you step on one, it'll rain! lol. Give the guys and gals a hug for me. blessings, bobbi.

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  4. Gosh ~ I haven't seen a fuzzy worm in years and years. Honestly since I was a little girl. (ahem...that would be QUITE a few years ago.) I remember the black and yellow ones in particular. So cute! You are right, they aren't a bug you purposely squash.

    Thanks for showing this sweet little creature Kim!
    xo Catherine

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  5. I swerve too Kim...:-) They are adorable and sweet in their own little way. Here too I have been watching them and they all seem to have hardly no black on them this year....dare I hope? Maybe it will be a lovely mild winter?
    The watch continues....
    Tina xo

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  6. Good Morning Kim!
    I was told, that the bigger the brown section in the middle was, the longer the winter! LOL, I guess it depends on which area of the country, your old wife came from.
    Have a good day and am trying to send good vibes through the heavy fog!

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  7. Didn't God create some adorable, unique little creatures? You got some good shots of these little cuties.

    Liz

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  8. Every so often we see one of those fuzzy pillars. The Dogs think they are wonderful to play with! Geisha actualy found one that she protected from the other dogs, she would growl at the other pack members, while she pushed it all so gently around the deck.

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  9. Woof! Woof! What a pretty worm. “We are all worms, but I do believe that I am a glow worm.” by Winston Churchill. Wishing you to have a Golden Week. Lots of Golden Woofs, Sugar

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  10. I remember seeing these little worms when I was a young child living in Texas. For some reason we thought their bite would be lethal. Ha!

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  11. I haven't seen any of these on our roads, but we do have little frogs at night that we can see hopping madly away in the glow of the car headlights - they have a better chance of getting to the other side of the road in time than the woolly worms, I think, but even then, and despite out best attempts to safely swerve, flattening sometimes happens! Keep hopping, Kim - we all need you!

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  12. Around here we call them wooly bears. I haven't seen many this year. Don't know quite what that means.

    Your analogy was good. Only, we have the option to choose not to be flattened, but to pick ourselves up and continue on. Sounds to me like that is the choice you have made.

    Hope things get better.

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  13. I remember wooly worms! And I had totally forgotten that they can "forecast" winter. What a fun memory! Thanks for reminding me.

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  14. They are so cute, aren't they?

    Good to hear you're doing ok - life does have a way of tripping us up, running us down, and then sends us rainbow surprises.

    x

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  15. I love those furry little caterpillars.If I see one on the path I always pick it up and move it to a safer place where(hopefully) it won't get stepped on! :o)

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  16. Khyra shared the patio with one the other day - she wasn't quite sure what to think of it

    I relocated it to another spot just to be safe for all parties!

    On one of our walks a few days later, we saw one in the street - it was not much bigger than a TicTac - it so made me smile!

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  17. What an appropriate analogy. We live pretty close to you but haven't seen a single woolly one yet!

    Hope you're hanging in there.

    Wags,
    Zona

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  18. Hi there, Been thinking of you all week and wondered how you are doing. I love these types of catepillars-they are just so cute and easy to hold. I've never heard about the black part being indicitive of our winter but I'm praying we have a really easy winter.
    Hugs to you today.
    Noreen

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  19. Yes these are very poopular caterpilllars here to. Love the colour!

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  20. The past few nights I've found some wooly worms waiting on the patio when I let the dogs out for last call. The woolies scurry out of the way of the dogs and the dogs just give them a sniff, then go on their way. I stand there and converse with the little guys, or should I say at the little guys. They don't respond. Mine are all black and quite long.

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  21. We have tons on the roads here in Indiana, but all appear to be black this year. Noah doesn't know what to make of them yet.

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  22. Funny, I wrote a post this past week about the woolly bear caterpillar (that's what I call them). They do not seem to be as numerous here in Nebraska as they are in your area, but I have seen two or three so far this fall. They are happy little creatures -- probably the only caterpillar we actually want to pick up, I imagine. Hope things get better for you in the coming weeks. Take care.

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  23. Good to hear Kim. The Wooly Worm has its place and purpose with us. As do we.
    I've always loved caterpillars.
    Jim

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  24. Bless your heart, you have had a hard week if there ever was one. We saw a white wooly worm recently (of course I blogged about it!)Googled it and it forecasts a really bad winter! We've seen the brown and black ones, so they can't make up their mind...just like weathermen!

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  25. I was just thinking about these little woolies,, because they are all over the road.
    Yes I try to swerve too...but they all cannot be missed. The little woolies are everywhere.

    If you were one of those little woolies, I think you would be rolling off the road in a little ball, by the force of the wind
    as the tires whirl past you.
    Then you would try again
    love
    tweedles

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  26. We just saw our first woolly worm since moving to Oregon! It was dark!!
    - C

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  27. Just peeking into your world for the first time. It always amazes me how you can so easily see a wooly worm on the road as you fly by it...they seem so giant.

    I love your Retriever pics. We just rescued a Golden/Chow mix last spring. I haven't seen many Golden"s up close but I can certainly see Molly in the pics of your Golden's. She's a little over a year old and ALL play.

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  28. Yes, I very occassionaly see these. Great aren't they ?
    Hope you start to feel brighter son & the wooly worms help you find your way ...what do the dogs make of them ?

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  29. Those little critters visit the NW in May and June. They always seem to be sticking to the front door. The want in for some reason. I don't think they have cable or HBO.

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