How to predict the weather using a pig spleen.......

STEP INTO Gus Wickstrom's office in Tompkins, Saskatchewan. Gus, a man of Swedish descent who's lived in this prairie province all of his 60-plus years, is a weather forecaster. He can predict upcoming conditions for the next six months, yet his technology requires no fancy equipment, no high-tech razzle-dazzle. All Gus needs is a barn and a farmhand or two standing by. . .because he predicts the weather by looking at a pig spleen.

Every six months or so, Gus slaughters a pig, and in the frugal way of farm families, he finds a way to use everything but the squeal, as they say.

Gus closely scrutinizes the spleen, using a method he learned from his father and Harold Pearson, a neighbor.

Gus's method: Divide the spleen into six areas, each representing one month. The top of the spleen (closest to the pig's head) shows the current month. The bottom indicates the end of the upcoming six-month period.

Where the spleen thickens, a change in the weather is indicated, usually pointing to a cold spell.

Where there's a pronounced bulge, expect even more inclement weather.

Gus can even read wind and rain into the variations in the spleen.

©1999 Yankee Publishing Inc.

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"What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is.".............
Dan Quayle