DON'T LOOK NOW but it is Septem- ber. We will be celebrating Thanksgiving a little more than two months from now, and winter is a mere three months away.

Winter, of course, brings cold and snow--at least that's the theory. But winters in this part of Virginia are usually a bust.

Being less than two hours ride from the Atlantic Ocean, we are too often under its warming influence.

Then, too, there are those mountains to our west. What snow the Appalachians don't rob from us the Blue Ridge often takes away.

Still, there are exceptions, like the winter of 2010-11, when the blizzards came with great fervor. That, of course, was followed by last winter where a popsicle would have melted on the back porch on even the coldest night.

Although there are a few signs to the contrary, I foresee another easy winter approaching. Around here, if we get one hard winter in five we are lucky, or unlucky, depending on your point of view.

We had our blizzards the winter before last so we've likely got four or five more years to go before we see another monster snow. That's just life in our part of the world.

Occasionally, however, Mother Nature tricks us. While I don't rule out that possibility, I tend to think the Old Gal doesn't have much snow up her sleeve this time around.

Mild and dry. That's the kind of winter I see, one much like last year, although I don't think spring will come as early as it did this time around. The signs for a cold, snowy winter just aren't there.

The old people always said that there would be one snow for every foggy morning in August. We had only one or two and even then the fog was not very thick.

There is not a great crop of acorns in the woods and blackberry season was a bust. Again, the old people claimed nature would provide plenty of food to fatten animals if a bad winter was in the offing.