It's easy to attribute a whole personality to one of these cute little guys. There's a lot to know about them that's interesting, should you care to look it up. (I know, I know.) Well, a few years ago Charlotte brought one in the house. We thought he was dead. Charlotte checked him every hour and was just about to consign him to residence on a shelf or in a dried flower arrangement--I'm not sure what her plan was--when she discovered he'd disappeared! Probably thawed out. Back outside he went, after I took the picture you see here.
It was then that I looked up some of the interesting facts about woolly bear caterpillars, which I won't bore you with, except to say that, evidently, when they are more reddish brown, like the one in this picture, it means a mild winter. This would be good news, had Charlotte found this caterpillar recently instead of a few years ago, but cheer up!--the Old Farmers Almanac is calling for a Winter that will be milder than normal this year, with average to above-normal precipitation and snowfall near, or below, normal.
So there you go. You're slightly better informed now than you were five minutes ago. Just another service I offer . . .
photo Joe Daily's Scrapbook