Celebrating Groundhog Day a little early . . . we like winter so we are hoping that Phil sees his shadow on Monday and runs back inside. Actually we are growing tired of heavy ice on the roads and wind chills below zero, but I am keeping the birds fed and our bird bath maintains warm water for them. No groundhogs in our yard.
For my first tie today I'm helping Mary Lou Stephens celebrate her birthday! She asked me to wear groundhogs, and so just as in the Groundhog Day movie we're getting a repeat . . . from last Wednesday!
I'm getting a jump on Groundhog Day this year! My sister Faith's birthday comes around every year on 29 January, and so one of her favorite holiday dates on the calendar is 2 February. She chose this tie for her special day this time. She and Beth and I are in the crowd who love winter and snow, and so we are hoping for a long wintertime -- and we expect Punxsutawney Phil to agree with us (on Sunday)! You can see the history of his predictions at Groundhog.org. Happy Birthday (again), Faith!
A few days after Groundhog Day I had a good chance to wear this special tie. And because our family was gathering for Sunday lunch at Burger King®, I crowned one of the groundhogs with my royal tie bar.
My sister Faith Lang's birthday comes up every year on 29 January. This time she asked me to wear my groundhogs tie, because the "holiday" called Groundhog Day comes up so close to her day! Faith (and Beth and I) seriously enjoy snow, so we are hoping for more winter -- and that might be signified if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow on Wednesday!
It's Groundhog Day, 2/2/22! I've heard that this morning Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and ran inside for 6 more weeks of winter. Here in Kentucky our solid rainy skies would prevent any groundhog from having a shadow, but the ones on my tie seem very happy to greet you today. And they would like you to know that besides being known as woodchucks they are also referred to as a chuck, wood-shock, groundpig, whistlepig, whistler, thickwood badger, Canada marmot, monax, moonack, weenusk, red monk, land beaver, and, among French Canadians in eastern Canada, siffleux. By the way, the wonderfully wacky movie "Groundhog Day" (1993) "has been analyzed as a religious allegory by Buddhists, Christians, and Jews."
Look who showed up today to create Holiday Confusion! A whole bunch of groundhogs came out of their burrows to say Happy Valentine's Day! And they also say they thank Punxsutawney Phil for his admirable prediction on 2 February that winter is not over . . . we have several winter storms coming our way this week, with snow starting tonight and carrying on to sleet and ice by Thursday. And now I have to do some research to find other calendar dates associated with groundhogs/woodchucks. Groundhogs are solitary, but you can call a group of them a "group" or a "colony."
