Thoughts on This Past Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day is one of my favorite "holidays". 

Think about it.  There's nothing special to cook, unless you want to.  No one to buy gifts for, no need to clean the house for company.

All you do is enjoy it.  Find out if the animal near you sees a shadow or not, and enjoy the fun of the shows they put on in some cities.

If you don't live near those cities, though, the prediction is not meant for you.

In looking into Groundhog Day, i realized why people long ago used seeing a shadow as a predictor of the weather.

If the day is bright and sunny, a shadow will be cast.  That means you are having a lull in your winter, and it will be roaring back, giving you several more weeks to enjoy its company.

If the day is dull and gray, or rainy or snowy, there will be no shadow.  Winter is "spending itself out" right then, so spring will come sooner.

That was the theory, anyway, and it was for the area where you live.  If Punxsutawney Phil predicts more winter, that's for the northeast, not necessarily for the south.

It's all about how it's playing out in your area.

Again, that's the theory.  It may or may not work for you, and with climate changes, who knows

It's still a fun holiday, and i enjoyed seeing Mr. P. Phil, and i do hope we get more winter.  The weather here on February 2 was cloudy then sunny then cloudy again, so there's no telling, but i am not ready for swamp heat and certainly not ready to turn on the A/C.

We have to save up and fix it first.



Today is:

Biezputras Diena (Porrige Day) -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (date unconfirmed, some sites suggest it's always on a Sunday before Feb. 23 instead)

Create-A-Vacuum Day -- an internet generated celebration of the nothingness of vacuums

General Thaddeus Kosciuszko Day -- Poland (birth anniversary)

Homemade Soup Day

Homstrom -- Scuol, Switzerland (burning of the straw man effigy of Old Man Winter, signaling the coming spring and winter's demise)

Independence Day -- Sri Lanka

King Frost Day -- London (Celebrated yearly until WWI, in remembrance of the frozen River Thames on this day in 1814.)

Laura Ingalls Wilder Gingerbread Sociable -- Pomona, CA, US (Pomona Public Library has on permanent display many of her original manuscripts)

Liberation Day -- Angola

National Stuffed Mushroom Day

Orchid Festival -- Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO, US (through Mar. 26)

Orchid Festival/Tropical Extravaganza -- Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, London (through March 5)

Quacker Day -- for those who love Quacker Factory clothes

Spoiled Cats' Day -- internet generated, and isn't this every day?

St. Andrew Corsini's Day (Patron of Carmelites; against civil disorder and riots)

St. John de Brito's Day (Patron of Portugal; Sivagangai, India)

Thank A Mailperson/Postal Worker Day -- because someone decided it would be a good day to do that, and put it on the internet

USO Day -- US (founded this date in 1941)

World Cancer Day -- International 

Yukon Quest International 1,000 Mile Sled Dog Race -- Whitehorse, YT, Canada to Fairbanks, AK, US (two week international competition for the best mushers and dogs from around the world)


Anniversaries Today:

United Service Organizations (USO) founded, 1941
The University of Wisconsin is established, with one classroom and 20 students, 1849


Birthdays Today:

Natalie Imbruglia, 1975
Oscar De La Hoya, 1973
Gabrielle Anwar, 1971
Michael Goorjian, 1971
Rod corddry, 1971
Clint Black, 1962
Lawrence Taylor, 1959
Lisa Eichhorn, 1952
Alice Cooper, 1948
Dan Quayle, 1947
George A. Romero, 1940
Jhn Schuck, 1940
David Brenner, 1936
Gary Conway, 1936
Betty Friedan, 1921
Ida Lupino, 1918
Rosa Parks, 1913
Clyde W. Tombaugh, 1906
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1906
Charles Lindbergh, 1902
Tadeusz Kosciuszko, 1746


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours"(Album), 1977


Today in History:

The Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies, leaving the Roman Empire in the hands of his two quarrelsome sons, Caracalla and Geta, 211
The coronation of Zhao Kuangyin as Emperor Taizu of Song, initiating the Song Dynasty period of China that would last more than three centuries, 960
Maximilian I assumes the title Holy Roman Emperor without being crowned, 1508
Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler meet for the first time near Prague 1600
In Edo (now Tokyo), The 47 Ronin commit seppuku (ritual suicide) after avenging the death of their master, 1703
The worst earthquake in 8 years in Calabria, Italy, leaves 50,000 dead, 1783
The first Anglican bishops of New York and Pennsylvania are consecrated in London, 1787
George Washington is unanimously elected as the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College, 1789
The French National Convention proclaims the abolishment of slavery, 1794
An earthquake in Quito, Ecuador, kills 41,000, 1797
J.W. Goodrich introduces his rubber galoshes to the public, 1824
The Mormons of Nauvoo, Missouri, leave to go west, eventually settling in Utah, 1846
The Codex Sinaiticus is found at the Greek Monastery of Mount Sinai, 1859
The first rolling lift bridge opens, in Chicago, 1895
The first Winter Olympics games close at Chamonix, France, 1924
The first tieless, soundless, shockless streetcar tracks open, in New Orleans, 1930
Radium E is the first radioactive substance to be produced synthetically, 1936
The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops, 1941
Lunar Orbiter 3 lifts off from Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 13 on its mission to identify possible landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo spacecraft, 1967
After at first contesting the results, Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic recognizes opposition victories in the November 1996 elections, 1997
Facebook, a mainstream online social network is founded by Mark Zuckerberg, 2004
The Federal Court of Australia's ruling in Roadshow Films v iiNet sets a precedent that Internet service providers (ISPs) are not responsible for what their users do with the services the ISPs provide them, 2010
The remains found the previous year in a dig at Leicester are confirmed to be those of King Richard III of England, 2013