There are plenty of methods and systems that people use to predict the seasons. Probably the most famous is Punxsutawney Phil - resident Pennsylvanian and noted groundhog. Others may feel more comfortable placing their faith in the position of the sun (and thus the calendar), while others may prefer the pillars of Stonehenge with their mysterious purpose and past. For years, I used to enjoy reading the Farmer's Almanac and all of its predictions, pithy sayings, and homespun wisdom to help me understand our world.
Yet I have moved on from mere media events, ancient Druid sun positionings, and rehashed Appalachian folklore to an even more accurate - and certainly more entertaining - method for divining the changing seasons. For lack of a better term, I call him "Mine Road Mike".
Each day for the past three years, on the way to and from school, my two youngest children and I like to talk and listen to music (well, they listen, I try not to). Over the first few weeks of our commute, we began to notice that an older gentleman, sometimes joined by what appeared to be his wife, was always seated on his front porch just off the road. No matter the time of day or the weather, this gentlemen was seated on his porch enjoying the view and occasionally waving as we all rushed past on our way to other places.
While at first, we simply remarked that our "friend" seemed to be there all the time, we slowly realized that he was really there - all the time - rain or shine. Over the next several months, we noticed that while his attire rarely changed for weeks at a time - same shirt, same pants, etc. - he did alter his wardrobe for the seasons. In fact, we often joked about how if we never used another source for the information, we would always know the season and time of year based upon which clothes "Mine Road Mike" was wearing.
In fact, "Mike's" system was so simple that even the Druids from Stonehenge would be impressed: Spring - long pants/shorts, white undershirt, light flannel shirt, ball cap; Summer - short pants, no shirt, ball cap; Fall - long pants, heavy flannel shirt/jacket, ball cap; winter - no outside appearances (hibernation?). As impressive as it seems, it isn't necessarily the regularity of the apparel that inspires us as commuters driving by, it is the sameness of the clothes. My money is that they are in fact the same clothes, jacket and ball cap - simply alternated between seasons, but never within the same season.
While it may seem that I am making fun of "Mike", in fact, I am impressed with him for several reasons. At the top of the list is his regularity. To his credit, he is taking in the outside air every day. Refusing to be stuck in front of a television, he instead opts to view the entire panoply of life that encompasses Mine Road and its commuters. More importantly, I respect his ability to choose to wear his favorite attire all the time, without fear or worry about what others - obviously including his wife, might think. Finally, one of these days I hope to find an excuse to just stop and say hello. He seems like a great guy to just sit and have a conversation with.
So, you can have your mysterious Stonehenge, the far too-simple act of looking at a calendar, and you can certainly have your overhyped and oversized rodents. For me, nothing says the seasons like "Mine Road Mike". Long may he wave . . .
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