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Almanac predicts more than weather

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Published: September 20, 2007

Nearly all of southern Canada will have above normal temperatures this winter and below normal temperatures in most of the north, predicts the Canadian edition of The Old Farmer’s Almanac.

Come summer 2008, western portions of the country can expect scorching heat, while much of the eastern half of the country will have cooler-than-normal temperatures.

Since 1792 the Old Farmer’s Almanac has predicted the weather based on a secret formula devised by the Almanac’s founder, Robert Thomas. He believed sunspots, the magnetic storms on the surface of the sun, influenced the weather on Earth.

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Stock dogs draw a crowd at Ag in Motion. Border collies and other herding breeds are well known for the work they do on the farm.

The 2008 edition predicts the weather, but also what’s going to be fashionable in the coming year. It says there will be a trend to eco-friendly home construction, women’s fashion will be big and bold, and road maps from the 1930s and 1940s will be popular among collectors.

This year’s pocket-sized paperback includes the gestation and mating tables for most farm animals and a primer on raising pigs.

An astrology chart at the back of the book used the phases of the moon to predict the best time to quit smoking, go camping, make sauerkraut or slaughter livestock.

The last spring frost at Red Deer will be May 25 and the first fall frost in Weyburn, Sask., will be Sept. 12, the Almanac predicts.

For the 14 million single Canadians, the Almanac contains suggestions on how to improve their love life.

Women are advised to place a peeled onion under their pillows during St. Thomas’s Eve (Dec. 20, 2007) and say “Good St. Thomas do me right; bring my love to me this night.”

Men should make three notches in a gate that has five bars on it for nine nights. They will see their sweethearts on the last night, according to the

Almanac.

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