The Acorn Theory

It is said that the size and amount of acorns predict the weather for the winter to come. I respect the mighty Oak tree but am sceptical about this weather theory.
My neighbor has a beautiful oak on the edge of his front yard that hangs over my drive and yard. It is a beautiful tree providing shade and a home to many birds and squirrels. The curse of the tree is the acorns that start to drop sometimes as early as July. Last year we had  a  bumper crop and I was out there every few days sweeping up piles of these little future Oak trees.
Some people say that the more acorns there are, the more severe the winter will be. Well, as you know, despite all the falling acorns, our winter last year was very mild....so does this theory hold water...or snow as the case may be?

Our Gnarly Oak

Now we are into August and hardly an acorn has fallen. Does this mean a mild winter? Goes against the theory. Someone said that the low acorn production is due to the drought and hot weather...make sense. But listen to this.....my neighbor swears that the weather is predicted by the squirrel's tail. The busher the tail the harder the winter. I thought the tail size was genetic...silly me. Anyway, just to be sure I checked this morning and my backyard squirrel's tail was long and thin.....so another predicton of a mild winter.
Since the weather is one thing that we have no control over, I will just say that I am happy to:
1. Not hurt my bare feet on those small pointy acorns
2. Hours of labor saved on clean up
3. No more crunchies when I back my car out the drive way
Just hope there is enough for the squirrels to "squirrel" away for the winter

Just remind me in March to post a follow-up story on the "Acorn Theory"