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A twice told tale handed down to my brothers and myself from our half crazed Uncle Ned who told us one of these gems every Christmas ...

One morning in early September, the Chief of a local Native American Tribe was approached by the tribal elders and asked if the upcoming winter would be severe or mild.

The chief consulted with the medicine man, but he  had lost touch with the reading signs from the natural world. If the truth be told, neither the Chief or the medicine man had a clue how to predict the weather but the Chief being a modern man decided to phone the National Weather Service.

"It will be a cold winter," the meteorlogist told the Chief.

Acting accordingly, the Chief told his tribe to collect and store plenty of firewood.

Having a desire to be accurate, the Chief made a follow up call to the Weather Service a few days later and asked for an update.

"Are you still forecasting a cold winter?" he inquired.

"Yes, yes, it will be very cold', the weather officer told him.

Feeling more confident, the Chief went back to the tribe and told the people to collect every bit of wood they could find.

A month later the chief called the National Weather Service once more and asked about the coming winter.

"Yes," he was told, "it is going to be one of the coldest winters ever.'"

"How can you be so sure?"  the Chief asked.

The weatherman replied: "Because the Native Americans of the area are collecting wood like crazy."

Tippin' my hat to ya!

Holmes