As I write this it is still dark outside, but like the rest of the civilized world I am waiting anxiously to see if our local groundhog will see his shadow. Being already 8 am in Pennsylvania now, I assume the "official" U.S. ground hog has already seen his shadow and scurried back in his hole. (Yes, people, there really is a Punxsutawney Phil.) I am afraid to look at the Yahoo home page right now - I'm sure they have the result posted. Also I am not in the mood for things Pennsylvania this morning since the slimy cheating ref-paying Steelers "beat" my beloved Arizona Cardinals last night. But we all know who the real best team is. Me? - I will wait for our local result. Although I already know what it is going to be since today is supposed to be sunny.What amazes me is the number of people who don't believe this ritual predicts the length of winter. Can you imagine such backward ignorance in this day and age? Thank god for groundhog science.
It has occurred to me, though, that some enlightened people who believe in the magical powers of groundhogs, may be unable, through no fault of their own, to take advantage of this gift of nature. My friend Stine, for example. I worry that she may not actually have enough sun on February 2 in order to cast shadows. But perhaps they have other rituals of weather prediction in her beautiful part of the world that they use to replace the standard groundhog. Or perhaps they even have sun. A mystery. I hope to visit one day and find out for myself.
Then there's my other friend (I have two friends) Ettarose in North Carolina. I worry that she is too backwards to be able to interpret the shadows, or to remember whether no shadow means winter or no winter. I worry that she will not even remember that today is Groundhog Day, being preoccupied as she is with waiting for her dialup to load this page. I worry a LOT about Ettarose, actually.Actually, I have more than 2 friends. I have many friends. I am blessed. And one of those extra special friends is my rocklike supporter A. A. is several thousand miles away, but we have coffee together. A. has just returned to England from France yesterday (she keeps moving back an forth in an effort to keep the law off her trail) and we may have coffee together later. Being British, she has a genetic defect that makes her lean towards tea, but I have slowly trained her to begin drinking coffee. It has done wonders for her disruptive nature.
Speaking of coffee, that reminds me I promised a concluding post about how to make good coffee.
Tomorrow. I meant tomorrow.
10 comments:
Our little Canadian friends Wiarton Willie and Shubenacadie Sam both seem to be agreeing with Phil (I just had to go look it up).
I went to school in Pennsylvania and we never, ever registered what Phil saw or didn't see - I don't know why. Just clueless - about the weather, anyway.
I look forward to learning how to make good coffee - tomorrow, right?
I have to ask. Surely somebody else is wondering. Why have you started this blog? What was the matter with The Slap & Tickle, for instance? Sorry, all that coffee has flown straight to my brain which has suddenly started working again.
@Lidian - I'm afraid I don't have any little Canadian friends since Grumpus dumped us. Unless you count Canucklehead. But he is hardly representative of the cultured genteel folks who live in the Great White North, is he? Technically, though, he was born there and lives there and plays hockey and drinks beer, so I think he more or less qualifies. And he IS verrrrrrry little. So.
Oh, you mean the groundhog thing. Yes. I agree.
Coffee? Not unless you can hustle up two more followers between now and then.
@ A. - What was wrong with the Slap & Tickle? Are you serious? Didn't you ever READ it? :)
Relax Max, if you ever went to my humble blog you would know that I in fact know quite a bit about Phil. Actually I was more intrigued with Gobbler's Knob if you want the truth.
Ettarose, I went to your blog and read your groundhog post. Only you called them candles. An honest mistake. Didn't I comment? I'm pretty sure I did. Wait, I'll go look.
Okay, you're right, no comment. There is now. Bite me.
Puxey Phil saw his shadow before the sun even came up on our mountain. Here in the Appalachians we would rejoice greatly if we thought there were only 6 weeks of winter left. In actual fact, we're looking at probably 12. And I remember in late May of 2002 when it was in the 20s for a full week. This is hard on a Southern girl.
@Janet - You are such a complainer! What if you lived in Alaska? :)
Hee hee - I would love to visit Alaska, but if I lived there I think I would die in the winter. I'd have to have those sunlight-simulator lights installed.
:) :)
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