“I hope it snows.” That’s a common mantra in South Texas where a White Christmas is rare. But if you ask the Farmer’s Almanac, at least two-thirds of the nation can expect much colder than average temperatures this winter. The Almanac also predicts more snow in the Midwest, which from my experience, generally influences Texas’ temperatures no matter the distance.

So should we expect colder than average temperatures this January and February? The national weather service says “no,” but the insects in my backyard say “yes.” Given a choice, I’d rather be at odds with the National Weather Service than to snub the insect’s built-in weather detecting devices.

There are other clues as well. Spiders built larger webs, hornets constructed their nests closer to the ground, and the month of August was hot and clouded with fog. Predictions for a cold winter, perhaps?

For years, people have used nature’s signs with great success. Take the ants, for example.

If you look closely, ants below and between the foliage have been cutting leaves at an unprecedented rate. They built tiny expressways that stretched endlessly from yard to yard. They increased the size of their ant holes to accommodate the increased traffic and even solicited the help of soldier ants to keep the activity at an optimal pace. You just couldn’t help but wonder what the rush was.

The ants kept me busy as well, clinging to my shoes to distract me from their activities while rerouting their thoroughfares around obstacles I placed in their path. They moved from tree to tree.

I just can’t recall observing these six legged creatures construct the type of infrastructure that is evident in my backyard today. And I never, in all my years as a backyard enthusiast, have seen such a rushed activity.

Could there be something to be learned from all of this activity? If we’re unprepared, the cold weather could catch us off guard.

As a rule, ants hate cold weather and will hibernate during the winter. When it’s cold, they stop moving altogether. Most, and at the first sign of cold weather, will seek refuge below the earth where the temperatures are much warmer.

So perhaps we too – like the Aesop fable taught to our students by their teachers - should follow the ant’s example in preparing ourselves for the impending cold weather.

According to my research, Aesop lived in the six century B.C. and spent much of his life pondering life’s simple truths. His stories moralized animals’ specific characteristics. Surely we remember his fable where the grasshopper - because of his laziness - sought help from the ants to help feed him during the cold winter.

We may be creative creatures like the grasshopper in the Aesop’s fable, but like the ants, it wouldn’t hurt to prepare ourselves for the cold weather that could soon, in the weeks to come, replace our sunny days.