Wednesday, 8:30 AM. 10 degrees, wind ENE, light to moderate, it is snowing, and 4 inches of fluffy lake effect snow fell during the night. The barometer predicts partly cloudy skies.Winter being still with us, I have been thinking about the process of hibernation, what animals hibernate, what the advantages of the process are, why others do not hibernate, that sort of thing. The word has its roots in the Latin "hybernare," "to spend the winter." There are all sorts of scientific definitions one could go into, but the word itself is pretty all-encompassing, since we all "spend the winter," in various degrees of retirement from the elements. Last night, Howard and Marlene Papp, friends up the road apiece, hosted a get together for a number of the neighbors who pretty much stay here through the winter rather than migrating south, which of course is the avian alternative to hibernation. It was good to be with many neighbors, some of whom have been hibernating quite seriously.
The weather was warm enough for a while a week or so ago that I prodded and poked at a creature that has been hibernating on our deck since late last fall. It is a Grillus barbecueous, in the family Grillaceae, common name barbecue grill. I even tempted it with a brace of T bone stakes, but it only growled sleepily and refused to wake from its deep winter’s sleep. Looking at the thermometer this morning I can appreciate its wisdom, and I will not attempt to rouse it again until it is truly spring.
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