In article , Bill
Brewer writes
Hi Sharon,

"One swallow doesn't make a summer". "If the ash before the oak, we're in
for a soak, if the oak before the ash, we're in for a splash". Works more
often than not in foretelling the weather for the coming summer.

Err, it can't possibly work - ever! The leaf appearance time of trees is
to do with the past and current conditions and is nothing whatsoever to
do with the weather to come. How could it possibly be otherwise? The
same applies to the autumn berry crop which a similar old wives' tale
suggests that it presages a hard winter to come.

As every dairy farmer knows, most cows from an early age, like many humans,
suffer from rheumatism.

With respect, humans rarely suffer from rheumatism "from an early age".
I'm interested that you say that cows do. Why is that, do you think?

That is why they sit down in grassland before the
onset of rain. We have been able to produce cows that give very heavy milk
yields, but not alas eradicate their rheumatics. That unfortunately for the
cow is of secondary importance.

Hmm. How long before the rain do they sit down? How often do they sit
down and no rain appears? How much rain is needed to make them sit down?
Are you saying that they never sit down in periods of drought, such as
we have just been experiencing? Where I live, we haven't had any rain
since last Sunday night and none is forecast until next Monday, yet I
can see some cows sitting down right now! And I don't believe that they
haven't sat down at anytime this week.

--
Malcolm (Skeptics 'R Us)