February 2nd - Deja Vu All Over Again

I woke up on Thursday, Februay 2nd, feeling like I had seen this all before, done this all before, and I had a bizarre urge to be a golf course groundskeeper that only listens to Kenny Loggins. Then Mark reminded me it was Groundhog Day. That explained a lot.

Being a Pennsylvania girl I am always pleased to see one of my homeboys do his thing. My buddy Phil came out and saw his shadow. More winter. Dang it, Phil, that was not the answer I was looking for. So I decided to do a little research on Phil and his kind. What makes him the authority? Of course I turned to my Wiki-friends who supply only the most accurate information. If you want the whole story, click here. You will definitely want to check out the chart of groundhog predictions going back to 2008. Fascinating stuff. And it is not just Phil, there are a whole bunch of these characters around the United States. Don't think about it for too long because it is kind of creepy. All these people around the country, donning formal wear and pulling rodents out of their holes. See? It goes from cute and quirky to flat out weird.

I was going to pin the whole thing on the Pennsylvania Germans but it turns out this is a crazy Euro/Pagan/Celtic thing with badgers and bears formerly assuming the forecaster role. I am fairly certain this is how hobbies and sports were invented. There were a bunch of bored people running around doing crazy stuff like looking at animal shadows and predicting the weather. Finally someone got fed up and said, "Maybe we could just throw this cow dung back and forth," or "Let's knit a wooly mammoth sweater, I'm freezing."

Anyway, let me boil it all down for you. Wiki does not indicate any formal meteorological training for any rodents anywhere. Education aside, there are also geographical considerations (i.e., it may be sunny in Wisconsin but not in Idaho) that definitely renders this a gray-area-non-science. We, of course, decided to take matters into our own hands.

Oddly enough, Spence has a stuffed groundhog (don't ask, I really don't have an answer) so we sent the "Mayor of Our Backyard" out with Smithfield Sal to see what the story was for our little corner of the universe...

That is definite shadow. But we live in Smithfield so it was not official until we hauled out Smithfield Sam (rhymes with ham, get it?)...

He too saw his shadow so it is official. Six more weeks of winter and bacon.

On my way back inside I noticed that our whole front yard and cul-de-sac were completely in the shade. What does this mean? I now am wondering if we will have an early spring in the front yard and six more weeks of winter in the back. I am so confused. Heck, I can tell you when spring is coming. It's when it doesn't get cold any more. Sheesh.

I had enough of this crazy business and turned my attention to more important matters - Crepe Day. Mai oui, c'est vrai! I whipped up an easy crepe batter (recipe here) and we finished our day with cinnamon and sugar, and Nutella crepes.

I don't know what the weather is going to do but it looks like six more weeks of dieting for me.