Animal News

"A major (hurricane) storm coming in off the Atlantic early this year," was the

surprise statement Mercedes made during a recent communication about all things other than the weather. He went on to elaborate, "It will come in late July or early August. It'll be followed by three more which aren't as strong. They are more like Jean or Francis were."

Mercedes is a very accurate weather predictor and you can see more of his predictions on this page (July 2005). When his mom replied, "I hope you're wrong, Mercedes," his simple reply was, "Don't count on it."

Mercedes lives outside Jacksonville, FL with his herd of two, Chance and Reign. Although he did not say he felt they would need to evacuate for these storms, as he's done in the past, he did say it needed to be planned for. He always makes note that the horse trailer only holds two and although LeaAnn promises to NEVER leave anyone behind if evacuating she's working on getting a three-horse trailer soon.

"We have to make an evacuation plan Mom," she said with urgency in her

message.

"We have one Daphney," Petra replied. "We have two horse trailers and 20 horses, but we have a plan and we'll be alright."

"Not for a hurricane, Mom," Daphney said with such a serious tone I knew something big was coming. She then went on to show me a tornado.

Jacksonville, FL is not really prone to tornadoes unless they spin off hurricanes, I was told. But Daphney was worried about this kind of event. She showed me how she wanted to be with her mom at the barn when she put the identifying tags on all the horses halters so they would be ready in advance.

"We just turn them loose Mom, right?" she asked hopefully.

"Yes Daphney," Petra replied. "For that we would turn them all loose. And you can come help me put the tags on all the halters."

Daphney, a Mexican Chihuahua, came across with the feeling of a Welsch Corgi. I was surprised to find she was not the breed of dog often associated with horse farms, but nonetheless, she takes her horse duties seriously.

Daphney indicated April as being the timeframe she was most worried about — early April.

We will have NO wildfires this year, Mom."

Cassie, a 14-year-old cat in Avada, CO, mentioned this her mom Robin during their consult just before New Year's. I asked Robin if they have had them in the past and she reported that they sure do. Last year they could smell only one, but in previous years they have had many. Arvada is a suburb of Denver.

Cassie had also said that the road to the cottage would passable for their upcoming annual trip there in January. "We have to go Berthod Pass," Robin said, "and it can be treacherous." At the time of Cassie's predictions, Denver airport had only recently reopened from the Christmas storms that swept the area, and they were in the process of getting another one as we spoke. Surely the Pass, in the Rockies, was heavily inundated with snow.

Mercedes called for a burst of snow in Jacksonville! 

Lea Ann reported that while she was away training to become an Equine Massage Therapist, the man at the barn Mercedes is stabled at said they'd had snow flurries one day while she was away, just a few days before.

Mercedes is a 15 year old Thoroughbred living in Jacksonville, FL. He has been a very accurate hurricane predictor in past years; however, this year he never mentioned a word about hurricanes.

Finding it rather odd this past June and July, when he usually would be starting to issue forth worries and concerns, in retrospect we were thrilled to see that his NOT predicting for this season proved true. No hurricanes of significance in the Atlantic Basin came ashore in the US except for one Cat 1 that slid over Key West early in the season.

This past week Mercedes issued forth a message unlike he ever has before. "We will have a little snow this winter, Mom," he told LeaAnn during a consult. "Not a heavy frost, snow!"

LeaAnn's reply echoed a foreboding tone, as a typical Floridian might, "So we're going to have a real cold winter, Mercedes?"

"No Mom, not a cold winter, just a burst."

"A bigger one, Mom. A bigger earthquake." Along with this Wren shared that he felt

this quake would be in the range of close to 7.0, and coming inside of 4-6 months.

Wren is a beloved Thoroughbred gelding who pastures across the road from the beautiful beaches of Oahu, Hawaii. He had not been concerned about the 6.5 quake that had hit the island the previous week, but this statement came with trepidation.

When asked about the quake HI had just experienced days before, Wren said, almost in passing, "The fish were flying."

Monika felt she understood what he was talking about. She believes the fish kept in the big water tanks for the horses (which help keep algae and other things from growing in them) were jumping when the quake hit. But Wren's worry about a bigger, future quake in the not too distant future kept her worried.

"I don't worry about an earthquake affecting the horses as much as I do a tsunami," she told me, "because the beach is so close to where they are. Maybe I will retire Wren back to the Mainland against his wishes," she sighed, but as our conversation continued, Monika decided to keep Wren with her in HI as he was more distressed about the thought of retiring to OH before she can go with him.

Wren, although bred to play polo but it doesn't seem he ever played. He did assist with exercising polo ponies and had a brief career as a pony club horse. He came to Monika when his former humans placed him in a good home when they had to move to Argentina.

A hot blooded Thoroughbred at times, his only job now is to be a companion to Monika, a pleasure and trail horse, and to be an uncle to their new foal.

"He will still occasionally go out for leisurely rides if Wren can understand the concept of leisurely!" Monika reports.

Wren is 18 years old and this is his first prediction. We all hope he is wrong.

Lady, a 10 year old Arabian horse in Fulton, NY is a weather

sensitive girl as well. Although new to weather predicting, Lady reported on 23 August, 2005 that winter would be cold but not as snowy as last year.

Update: Hey Colleen, I think Lady Jane did a great job her 1st year predicting. We did have cold temps and gosh LOTS of wind, but not much snow this year.

Marci 5

"Do you hear the piggies crying?" Pepper asked his mom,

Pat, today.

"No," she replied.

"I think they don't want to move," he said, indicating that the wild pigs of Hawaii are moving to different grounds.

"It's the rain," Pepper continued. "They don't want the ground to move." (He seems to feel the pigs are moving to higher ground, and one was seen on the property a few weeks ago — very unusual to see.)

With this Pepper showed me that if you went out to the barn at the back toward the pastures, to the far left is where he is thinking the land will slide.

"That's absolutely right," Pat said. We are butted up against the mountain, but to the left the land rolls downward a bit. If we have a mudslilde, that's where it would be.

Pat reported that today on the news Hawaii has broken a consecutive rain record, last set in 1951. They've had 38 straight days of rain and another week of it is in the forecast. I did not realize Hawaii could be prone to land or mudslides, but it is true, I am told. I just hope Pepper's concern for the piggies is unwarranted and that the land will stay intact, where it belongs.

Pepper, a 10-year-old gelding, lives on the main island, outside of Honolulu.

Update 1 April, 2006:

Colleen, I don't have details yet, but we had our 41st heavy rain day and because we're saturated, it didn't take long to have substantial run-off damage. There was a landslide yesterday at about 1:00 p.m., a block away from us. About 5 years ago, during hurricane Iniki, this same nursery sustained a landslide with huge boulders rolling down from the Koolaus. At this point, I have no details, other than knowing first-hand of substantial water damage to a home below the nursery.

Will try to report back to you when I learn more.

Gosh, I'm so proud of pepper to have made this prediction, especially when we're not prone to landslides in our area, except 5 years ago. There have been many landslides, but in different areas always plagued by heavy rains and water.

Aloha, Pat

"Hurricanes will go around us next year," Gracie told her two-legged mother on

A nice New Year's prediction from a little pinto potbellied pig. Gracie lives with her humans and herd in Ruskin, FL, just outside of Tampa. It has been a concern of weather experts that Tampa is overdue for a good sized hurricane. This is Gracie's first weather prediction. She is 7 years old.

Update:

Gracie's two-legger, Barb wrote to say, "She was right! In 2006 we didn't even have any close calls or many hurricanes at all for that matter.

What is her prediction for this year?" We'll have to stay tuned... Gracie is contemplating this question, or grazing. I'm not sure which.

"Winter is not too bad so far – I'm afraid of what's coming, but it

won't last very long this year.

Whisper is an American Warmblood who was born and raised at the farm she lives on with her mother and herd in Aylett, VA. She is two years old.

Colleen,

I don't have to go back and look up what Whisper said, I LIVED it all winter! She said, "I shudder to think about this winter; but it won't last very long." When she said that, I think we were already heading into our cold spell (December), and it was bitter for quite some time. Not much in the way of snow, though. For the most part, Jan and Feb were fairly mild; March was mostly just too windy! but not very cold. I would say that Whisper was very accurate in her prediction! Interestingly, I kept hearing the humans in this area predicting at least two huge winter storms for January. Well, I didn't see them in MY corner of the world!

Chris

"Winter is not coming soon and will not be really cold, like

last year." Lollypop is a Vietnamese potbelly pig who was rescued in Florida but now resides in Oneida, New York. Her prediction was given on October 13th, 2005. Her 'pigture' was taken on November 4th of the same year, and her pal Babe is smiling behind her. I REALLY hope Lollypop's prediction is right on as I live only 45 minutes away from her and the past two winters have been brutal. Lollypop is 15 years old.

Responding on behalf of Lollypop regarding her prediction last fall, so
as not to be influenced by my personal relationship with her (and
wanting her to be right), I sought out the advice of Carol, pig slave
to a herd of 80+ rescued pigs, who also lives about 45 minutes away
from Lollypop.

So although we have not heard from Lolly's two-legged mom, there are
two It's a Hit responses to Lollypop's winter prediction. Winter did
not come as early as it had the year before, and we received most of
our snow in mid December. And despite the doubling of fuel oil prices
this winter, I personally did not see us using as much fuel oil as the
winter before. Colleen

"Winter will come early and hard." This report is from Pippen, a domestic/ feral stray who now enjoys the life of an indoor/outdoor cat in the cranberry bog country of Marsten Mills, MA - Cape Cod. On September 30, 2005 he gave us this prediction for the upcoming winter.

Pippen is believed to be 6-7 years old.

Deb, Pippen's human, reported in a recent consult that she felt Pippen
was definitely a HIT for how winter came early and hard. "We got snow
earlier than I remember in a long time. October and November were the
coldest months too, which was very unusual, but once we got past
December, it was more mild and easier than usual," she said.

Bailey, an 8 year old Poodle, also in Fulton, NY when asked her thoughts on the

upcoming winter reported, "I don't go out in it so what do I care?"

Mercedes, a 13 year old thoroughbred in Jacksonville, FL predicted in early July 2005 a

severe hurricane to hit FL during the 2nd to 3rd week of August. He predicted that it would come in from the Gulf Coast, that it would be BAD and he wanted to leave, despite him living in a new concrete barn built to all current hurricane building codes. It would be bad enough that when they left, the cats needed to go with them, but not in the back of their new horse trailer with him and his herdmate Chance. Hurricane Katrina popped up out of nowhere off the Bahamas the third week of August. After raking the tip of FL, she headed into the Gulf and early on was predicted by the National Hurricane Center to either travel up the coast of FL or to make a C shape in the Gulf, swinging back in and tracking across FL, with a hit upon Jacksonville. A very sensitive horse, Mercedes is a great weather predictor and has been uncanny in predicting Florida's hurricanes. About 3 days in advance of a "big wind" (his term for hurricanes) Mercedes will NOT go out into the pasture unless he's accompanied by a human who stays there with him. If left out there, he will panic. Interestingly enough, on August 26th, as Hurricane Katrina was well out into the Gulf, setting her sights on New Orleans, LA and Biloxi, MS, Mercedes was put out in the pasture to graze. No sooner had he been left, he freaked out and snapped a deep flexor tendon in his right rear leg. He was brought in immediately and was quickly followed by one of Katrina's leading rain bands which sent downpours through that area. As Hurricane Katrina is just now making landfall on New Orleans, Merecedes is recovering from his injury but will NOT go out to pasture himself, even though it is bright and sunny in Jacksonville.

November 1, 2005 - "It's OVER!" Mercedes lead off the consultation with this prediction, coming right on the heels of Hurricane Wilma, the largest hurricane ever this late in the year in the Atlantic Basin. Even though Alpha and Beta followed, Mercedes was not concerned about any of these three. He is still recouperating from his injury acquired the morning Katrina came ashore in the Gulf, but is relaxed and looking forward to calm winds and fair seas.

LeaAnn asked him if he knew the hurricanes were coming because he could feel the vibration of them which lead Mercedes to ponder that for a minute. Thoughtfully he finally said, "No. If I spit in the wind it will come back to me," he replied while showing me that the droplets of spit would be picked up by the trade winds, encircle the globe, then come back to smack him in the face. Although sounding humourous, it did make sense to LeaAnn and I. Mercedes is aware of what is on the wind. Obviously he is very intune with the environment.

"Do not go west mom, we HAVE to go northeast!"

This was Boo's response when he asked his mom to explain the hurricane evacuation plans that she should have ready for this year. She responded that they all would get in the car an head west. Boo didn't think that was a good idea. Three times he came back to this during Shelly's communication and he even asked if they all (5 dogs in their home) could get hurricane collars.

"What does a hurricane collar look like, Boo?" I asked, and he quickly showed me bright (hunting) orange with name tags riveted to the collar.

"We'll get those for you Boo," Shelly assured him.

Several more times throughout the session, Boo mentioned that the should not go west, only north east should the hurricanes come. It seems he feels they will come in from the Gulf Coast this year.

So this is Boo's first weather prediction, of sorts. We will all have to wait and see what happens during the coming hurricane season.

Boo is a 5 year old Chow/Black Lab mix dog who lives in St. Augustine, FL.

UPDATE

Although I have no specific information for you from Shelly, Boo's human, St. Auguustine, FL is next door to Jacksonville and as you will see from Mercedes predictions, 3 big hurricanes came in from the Gulf Coast this year:  Katrina, was the deadliest, but was joined by Dennis (before her) and Rita (after her).