Six wild turkeys walked leisurely through the soybean stubble under the blue sky in late November, probably just like humans watching them, celebrating the arrival of winter.

Many people celebrating the low snowfall in November warn that the holidays in December and January will pay a price. The National Weather Service predicts that there will be equal chances of above and below average temperatures and snowfall in the next three months.

Based on experience, the weather will balance itself. The winter of 1978-79 produced record snow and record cold in most of the Midwest. The harvest is over, there are not too many weather complications, and a warm winter is expected.

Dad suspected that the forecasters knew the weather better than them, and believed in the signals of nature. When the brown band around the middle of the caterpillar is wider, the winter will be milder. When it is narrow, severe winter will follow.

It is thicker than normal acorn husks and corn husks, and the pine cones are larger. The August morning is foggy, indicating that winter is harder. Scientists say that ancient proverbs are folklore.

Dad is not ashamed to share his evidence with me.

I found it strange—in the long rain and cold weather, when the alfalfa was about to be packaged and destroyed—he said that the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union was disrupting the weather. Satellites penetrating the sky violated God’s creation, and there is a price to pay for doing so.

Nevertheless, he was fascinated when TV showed humans walking on the moon after Apollo 11 landed on the moon in July 1969.

When snow piles soar over electrical and telephone lines, many people will welcome an old-fashioned winter. Resorts need thick ice for ice fishing, and the snowmobile industry needs abundant trails. Memories fade, but few people forget how toothless winters severely damaged the snowmobile industry in its heyday.

Many people are praised for inventing snowmobiles. These include OM Erickson and Art Olsen of PN Bushnell in Aberdeen, South Dakota. In 1914, they made an open seat "motor-bob" from a modified Indian motorcycle. Others owe it to the Canadian Joseph Bombardier, who built one in 1935. His invention involves a large car body connected to the sky. Polaris modified it and produced so-called modern snowmobiles in the mid-1950s. Others owe their credit to the inventors of Northern Europe.

Snowmobiles were very popular in the early 1970s, and manufacturers joined in to meet demand. Companies including John Deere, Messi Ferguson, Hutts, Evinrude and Mercury sell more than 250 brands. Nearly 500,000 machines were sold in 1971, and annual sales are expected to reach 1 million by the end of this decade.

The industry was hit hard in 1973, when the Environmental Protection Agency responded to complaints about snowmobile engine noise and instituted rules to make machines more expensive. It was subsequently required to improve the durability of the machine. The OPEC oil embargo increased fuel costs by 300%, and the ensuing economic recession reduced the disposable income in the pockets of consumers.

Snowmobiles regained their footing in the 1990s.

My brother bought a new snowmobile from a farm tool dealer in the 1970s. He allowed his youngest brother to clean the calf pens without his help in exchange for short-distance pastures. My father thought that the only good sound on the ranch was the sound of a crosscut or a chainsaw, but he thought it was unwise.

"Don't commit suicide for this," he said, then added that we should play checkers.

The machine died long before I died. When it gave up its ghost, it only walked more than 100 miles. According to my calculations, the cost of ownership for each mile traveled is about $1.

The machine stayed outside for several years before it was kindly rescued from pain. It might be a mistake to ruin it, because quirky brands are popular with collectors.

To read more Farm Boy Memories by Mychal Wilmes, click here.

Mychal Wilmes is the retired editor-in-chief of Agri News. He and his wife Casey live in West Concord, Minnesota.