There’s a debate raging in my household right now about whether or not the hot weather this summer will result in a cold winter. If my grandma were still alive, she’d go out and find some wooly worms and would check the bushiness of the squirrels’ tails and she’d be able to tell us whether or not this winter will be cold.

Since she and her old wives’ tales aren’t around, we have to debate. My dad and husband say the winter will be cold, since the summer was so hot. I think I read somewhere that we’re in the middle of La Nina or some other weather pattern that makes our weather especially hot and dry, so the winter will be warm and dry as well.

My brother, who wears a tinfoil hat, says this is all a result of global warming and Tennessee will be a beach community in the next 5 years. It will be interesting to see who is right.