Pyrrhactia isabella

Well, I've decided that it is fall. I've just run out of patience for summer. I'm not designed for hot weather. Everything in my body wants it to be cold, green, and foggy all the time. But, fall will do.

Today while rambling in the woods with Mr. Nuthatch we spied a woolly worm, a sure sign that summer is OVER. Now, some say that woolly worms foretell the future; to be specific the pattern on their fuzzy form indicates the severity of the upcoming winter. According to the University of Illinois extension service this is not true. But they're not having much fun, are they? Well, I am.

According to the woolly worm we saw today, the winter will be mild. The band of reddish-brown across its back was wide (the wider the band, the milder the winter). I can't say I'm excited about this because I tend to be pitiful in the wintertime--snow is the only good thing about it and we just don't get much to speak of here in D.C. But, I'll enjoy the fall and will keep looking for woolly worms nonetheless. By the way, the woolly worm is the caterpillar form of the Isabella tiger moth. And also, I hate to misinform--the "approved" common name for the woolly worm is the banded woolly bear. Could anything be finer?