09.27.09
Hickory Horned Devil
Fall, State Fair weather is officially here when you see the Hickory Horned Devil crawling on the ground. If you see him before October, it’s going to be an early Winter. This week end marked the first sightings of the Hickory Horned Devil crawling on the ground in Cherokee County. It’s only September, so you’d better dig in; between all the persimmon seeds saying spoons forever and the Hickory Horned Devil crawling, looking for a borrow before the end of September – LOOK OUT! In Cherokee County, we’ve gotten a little over a foot of snow in one storm pretty regularly every ten years since 1967. In March of ’67 it snowed a foot during the school day. In January 1977 Tahlequah set a State record in one night, with a 20 below zero morning and 14 inches of dry snow. In 1987 we had another 12 inch snow just after we came back from a construction job in Malone, New York. That was the year a man from Texas won the Hulbert Tough Man Contest, because no one else was stupid enough to sled down Boston’s Hill naked. It’s been a long time since we’ve had another snow like that, the nearest thing to it was in 2000, but it was only 8 inches deep and melted quickly. We are WAY!!! over due for a big one!
READ ALL ABOUT THE HICKORY HORNED DEVIL ON ANIMAL PLANET.COM or just Google – hickory horned devil. It’s really cool; the Hickory Horned Devil is a little known, local resident of Tahlequah, who is only about 45 days old right now, but he’s big as a hot dog and blue green, with two to five sets of black tipped, orange, spiked, barbed, horns. He lives in a tree, but in the Fall he crawls on the ground, looking for a burrow. He looks terribly mean, but he can’t really hurt you. If you see him, try to make sure he finds a soft, leafy place to dig a hole for the Winter and maybe you’ll see him again next year. Remember, October 3rd, 2009 is the
Tahlequah Farmer’s Market Fall Festival. I would like to hear your family’s version of the persimmon seed Winter weather forecast and hear some good caterpillar stories too!
