Sent to me by a friend in Rochester:

It was late fall, and the Indians on a remote reservation in South Dakota asked their new chief if the coming winter was going to be cold or mild. Because he was a chief in a modern society, he never had been taught the old secrets of predicting the weather.

When he looked at the sky, he couldn't tell what the winter was going to be like. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he told his tribe that the winter was, indeed, going to be cold and that the members of the village should collect firewood to be prepared.

But, being a practical leader, he then called the National Weather Service and asked, 'Is the coming winter going to be cold?' 'It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold,' the meteorologist at the weather service responded.

So the chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more firewood in order to be prepared.

A week later, he called the National Weather Service again. 'Does it still look like it is going to be a very cold winter?' he asked. 'Yes,' the man at National Weather Service replied again. ‘It's going to be a very cold winter.'

The chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every stick and branch.

Two weeks later, the chief called the National Weather Service one more time. 'Are you absolutely sure the winter is going to be very cold?' he asked. 'Absolutely,' the man replied. "It's looking more and more like it’s going to be one of the coldest winters ever.'

'How can you be so sure?' the chief asked.

The weatherman replied: 'Because the Indians are collecting a sh-tload of firewood'.