"You Don't Need a Weatherman....." (All We Need Are the Geesies!)

Winter solstice arrived the other evening with both, a whimper and a bang.

 

The temperature was hovering around a record-breaking 62 degrees when I left with my dogs to head to Harlem Meer in Central Park.

 

So warm was the air, I considered returning home to remove the light rain jacket I was wearing.

 

But, there was the weather prediction for "light sprinkles" during the evening, so I decided to stay with the slicker and roll up the sleeves.

 

Arriving to the Meer, I was pleased and relieved to immediately see many of the geese were still there and were gathered with the ducks along the south embankment. 

 

Upon recognizing my dogs and me, many of the mallards and some of the geese (especially Buster) came to greet in their comical and usual heads up, waddling, manner.

 

Among them were Brad, Piggly and Wiggly who were together with the rest of the birds.  The alliance of the needy (three flightless ducks) is seemingly moving along now at accelerated pace with the arrival of winter.

 

But, it sure did not feel like "winter."

 

So warm was it in fact, that after distributing nightly treats to my special geesies and duckies, I sat with my dogs on a park bench and just took in and enjoyed the lovely scene before me.

 

At one point however, a number of the sentry geese at the water's edge lifted up their heads, seemingly sniffed at the air and immediately sent out alarm or "warning honks."  

 

The mallards, suddenly jolted to attention began to chatter and cluck quickly and loudly amongst themselves.

 

What's going on? I wondered.

 

Thinking that Frankenstein was perhaps hiding behind a tree or worse, Goosebusters or the USDA, I got up from the bench and looked all around.

 

But, there was no sign of anything.   Not a human or dog or raccoon or white truck anywhere.  Nothing at all!

 

It must be some kind of false alarm, I finally figured and sat down again on the bench.

 

Geese after all, are so alert and wary all the time, it sometimes seems they are jumping and reacting to shadows.  The mallards, following the geese's leads similarly are reactive to even the smallest stirrings.  A few times, when simply taking a flash photo, all of the birds bolted for the water.

 

Nothing to fret over, I finally concluded.

 

But, I could not have been more wrong.

 

Within a few minutes, some small raindrops began to fall.

 

Obviously, those "light sprinkles" the weather forecast had predicted. -- Not a big deal.

 

But, suddenly a fog descended all around and the wind kicked up with a vengeance.

 

And then, it was as though the sky opened up and huge sheets of driving rain began to come down.

 

Even before I could grab my dogs from the bench, they were completely soaked.

 

The ducks and geese were all huddled together, taking the sudden downpour as just another expected twist in the elements.  They were none too perturbed and took matters in stride.   The geese after all, apparently predicted the sudden storm.

 

I am not normally a runner, but I might have qualified for a marathon.

 

Together, with my dogs, we ran and raced-walked through the park pathways as if chased by demons.

 

The rain continued to beat down in a driving force, but the fierce (apparently 40 MPH) winds would not allow me to keep the hood of my raincoat over my head.  It kept blowing off and I finally had to give up on protecting my head and face from the assaulting rain.

 

I don't think I saw another living soul in the park on the mile "run" towards home.

 

As might be expected in cases like this, the rain began to finally slow when we were a block away from home.

 

But, every inch of me was entirely soaked by then, right down to my underwear.

 

So much for "a few light sprinkles."

 

Had I any brains at all, I would have immediately fled Central Park when my friends, the geese sounded out the first warning honks.

 

We pay "meteorologists" many thousands a year to predict the weather.

 

But, when it comes down to it, the geese will do it for free.

 

And they are hell a lot better at weather forecasting and far more accurate than any human with Doppler radar and weather maps.

 

As Dylan sang, You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows."

 

No.  Apparently, all you need are the geesies.   -- PCA

 

 

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