Groundhog Day...Groundhog Day, a day later.

I am back. I have returned for no apparent reason. In my absence, I failed to note the Lad's 14th birthday (mid to late January) and Groundhog Day. That was yesterday.

Well, we were supposed to have the Blizzard of the Century around these parts yesterday. What a disappointment. There was snow but I have seen worse even three years ago. We were supposed to get 30-38cm of the white stuff by the end yesterday and I do not think we broke 20cm. It was supposed to be so bad that they actually closed the schools. It was a fucking Snow Day.

I do not recall those when I was in school. I do recall some heavy snowstorms while in grade school. I do not recall school being closed. Not that it mattered to me, I lived a short, very short, walk away from grade school, so no amount of snow would prevent me from getting to school. I can recall an April snowstorm, when I was in grade 5. That was pretty heavy and I had to help push my brother's JK teacher's navy blue VW Beetle out of the snow covered parking lot. But there was no declaration of Snow Day.

I am sure that there were others and I do not recall there ever being a Snow Day. I do recall them closing the schools at lunch because of weather but never before that time. This time, a Snow Day was declared early, so the Lad had a day off. It was not a bad thing, better safe than sorry, but it was not necessary. I could have got the Lad to school yesterday morning.

I do recall a wicked snowstorm when I was in my first year of university. It was February 27/28th, 1984, and I remember coming home late that Monday night from a frat meeting and jockeying three cars so that I could put my car in the garage. My parents were going to work and I had only one class on that Tuesday morning, biology and that was a study prep day class to cover our midterm exam being written on the 29th. I was not planning on going, so I figured I would leave my car in the garage over night. In fact, I did stay home, study and my family were off to work and school. I did dig out and take my car to watch the Grammy's at a friend's house that night, though (I figured that if I did not know my work by that time, more studying would not have helped).

Well, during this big snow of yesterday, it was Groundhog Day. As there was still snow falling and the sky was grey, there was no sun to be seen in Weirton, ON (home of Weirton Willy) or Punxatawny, PA (home of Punxatawny Phil). Was it any wonder that neither groundhog saw its shadow? That means an early spring is forecast.

Now, I do have to wonder about the wisdom of using a fucking rodent to predict the weather and coming of spring. Are we that unenlightened that this is a mode of prediction? I get the tradition (and it is not to be taken too seriously), I just do not understand the genesis of the day and how or who thought that the fucking groundhog had seasonal/weather predictive powers. Why not Wolverine Day? Why not Mangy Coyote Day? Why the fucking groundhog, of all animals? Somebody help me with that one, please.

Ciao!