Punxsutawney Wah?

There’s Thanksgiving: which I’m a big fan of because it involves delicious food and warm and gooey i-love-my-family type sentiments.

Then there’s Martin Luther King Day, President’s Day, Memorial Day, Columbus Day, which all exist to commemorate various American historical happenings. 

But I have to say, of all American holidays, Groundhog Day is the one that baffles me the most. 

Now, I have noticed in our Blogspot Statistics that we have a lot of international readers, so I think an explanation is in order:

Groundhog Day, as I understand it, was originated by the Pennsylvania Germans in the 18th century. The holiday consists of waiting for a groundhog to emerge from its burrow and hope that the creature does not see its shadow. If it does, this is a sign (nay, scientific proof) that the winter weather will continue for six more weeks.

This year, Punxsutawney Phil The Groundhog did not see his shadow. "So an early spring it will be!", exclaimed the man in a top hat who apparently speaks groundhog. Well, I hate to be a non-believer in the predictions of rodents, but I beg to differ, Phil:

That's me, under that patch of snow, right there