HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY

[Golddollar]

As an Ambassador of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, I want to wish everyone a Happy Groundhog Day. Earlier this morning, the Inner Circle of the Punxsutawney Club made their 136th trek to Gobbler's Knob, to commune with the Seer of Seers, Punxsutawney Phil. Phil emerged from his stump, and according to legend, in the ancient dialect of Groundhogese, informed the Club President, Jeff Lundy, that a shadow was cast, and so we now have six more weeks of winter.

 

[Jack Flash]

Very special GHD:
2/2/22

 

[jeffrefrig]

Only in PA do we trust a famous rodent over the meteorologists!
Happy Groundhog Day!

 

[s&wchad]

Only in PA do we trust a famous rodent over the meteorologists!

Weather Man…
One of the few jobs where you can be wrong half the time and still win awards!

It started coming down about an hour ago and they’re predicting a foot of snow here by tomorrow evening. I sure hope their wrong this time.

 

[oldbrownhat]

Well, Happy Groundhog Day to the rest of you. We have a problem up here in parts of The Great White North. I just read this morning that our groundhogs here in BC are still hibernating and so unable to do their job so they're using a stuffed (fake) one

The grounds surrounding the Allan Brooks Nature Centre in B.C.'s North Okanagan Valley near Vernon are home to many yellow-bellied marmots, a type of groundhog found throughout southwestern Canada.

That would make it the perfect place for a Groundhog Day celebration if not for the fact that, come Feb. 2, they're all still hibernating underground.

"We're not going to wake them up," said centre manager Cherly Hood. "As a nature centre, we feel they should be sleeping at this time."

Instead, the centre is using Okanagan Okie, a stuffed animal dubbed the "mayor of Marmot City" to draw attention to the work it does educating residents about wildlife and habitat preservation in the Okanagan — including the region's many marmots....

...There are other fakes as well: Manitoba's Merv is a puppet while Alberta's Balzac Billy is a six-foot tall sunglass wearing mascot who uses his thumb to check for a shadow..."​

Clearly we need to get our ducks in a row up here. We're pretty advanced. (We've had flush toilets for quite a while). Surely we can genetically engineer an earlier-rising marmot?

 

[Sistema1927]

This morning's 1440 News Digest had this:

Historybook: New Amsterdam (present-day New York) becomes a city (1653); First Groundhog Day celebrated (1887); First Groundhog Day celebrated (1887); First Groundhog Day celebrated (1887); HBD Shakira (1977); RIP Hollywood legend Gene Kelly (1996); Philip Seymour Hoffman dies of drug overdose (2014).

LOL!

 

[grover99]

any groundhog around here would have dig his way out of a foot of snow to check for his shadow

 

[Eric300]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7amSrgtINI[/ame]

 

[pharmer]

Definitely saw my shadow today. Joe

 

[oldbrownhat]

Definitely saw my shadow today. Joe

I do believe I detect just a smidgen of smugness

 

[walkin jack]

Groundhog Day - Your Weather Forecast - YouTube

Every one needs to watch this movie. It is a Bill Murray classic!

 

[pharmer]

I do believe I detect just a smidgen of smugness

I'm smiling ain't I. Joe

 

[Fishinfool]

Definitely saw my shadow today. Joe

Maybe the Canadians could convince you to winter in BC, and you could become "Mayor of Marmot City"? Sounds like a catchy title...

Larry

 

[oldbrownhat]

I'm smiling ain't I. Joe

That's a smile? It looks like you're ticked because it's dropped below 70º! (Wish I had the same problem. It's 32º with a dusting of snow.)

Maybe the Canadians could convince you to winter in BC, and you could become "Mayor of Marmot City"? Sounds like a catchy title...

The interior of BC is nice, but I think I can safely say that "Mayor of Marmot City" probably sounds better on paper than in reality. Mind you, with the pandemic still around and so many people working online, you could probably hold down the position by Zoom without leaving the tropics

 

[robvious]

all I want is a 6 week guarantee that winter will be over...

 

[Golddollar]

Every one needs to watch this movie. It is a Bill Murray classic!

I went to the Groundhog Day ceremonies from 1989 to 2009. I saw Bill Murray at the Groundhog Day ceremony in 1992. He stayed hidden until the ceremony was just about over. The story is that he ordered a re-write of the movie script based on what he saw from attending the actual Groundhog Day ceremony. In the movie, Phil's proclamation is word for word identical to the actual proclamation at the 1992 ceremony.

 

[RobertJ.]

Apparently, opinions differ:

 

[Rustyt1953]

Here's a hypothetical fer ya...what happens if ole Phil comes out and drops dead?

 

[pasound]

Milltown Mel, a New Jersey groundhog, died on January 31.

 

[Golddollar]

Here's a hypothetical fer ya...what happens if ole Phil comes out and drops dead?

Not going to happen. Every year at the Groundhog Club Picnic we give Phil his summer elixer. Every swallow of elixer is supposed to give Phil 7 more years of life.

One year I got my picture on the front page of the Punxsutawney Spirit as I turned the tap on the keg of summer elixer to give Phil his drink.