So Phil didn't see his shadow and it will be an early spring. Yay. I'm sure Phil was thrilled to be dragged out of his warm crate at the butt-crack of dawn in the middle of a Pennsylvania winter by a bunch of weirdos wearing top hats simply to tell them (in groundhog-ese, of course) his prediction about how much longer winter will go on. He was probably all, "Hey! I was in the middle of a good dream! And spring starts on March 21st, you idiots. Look at any calender and you'll see that. Now put me back in my warm bed."
Check out the FAQs on the groundhog.org site. While Phil is cute and all, it kind of makes you wonder how someone started this tradition. According to Wikipedia, the tradition in the US is derived from this Scottish poem:
As the light grows longer
The cold grows stronger
If Candlemas be fair and bright
Winter will have another flight
If Candlemas be cloud and rain
Winter will be gone and not come again
A farmer should on Candlemas day
Have half his corn and half his hay
On Candlemas day if thorns hang a drop
You can be sure of a good pea crop
I don't see anything in there about groundhogs, do you? Do they even have groundhogs in Scotland?
All I can say is a good thing they use groundhogs and not whippets for weather forecasting on February 2nd. Whippets would be all, "Who the *bleep* cares if you can see my shadow? It's 6:00 in the freaking morning, it's freaking cold out here, and I don't freaking care about this whole freaking holiday thing anyway! Let me back in my bed...NOW!" and then streak off to bed so fast you'd think they WERE a shadow. Well, at least that's what Sophie would do.
Anyway, hope you had a great Groundhog's Day. Now go watch the movie.
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