What Do Groundhogs Know, Anyway?

Groundhog Doodle by Artgal Style

This was scheduled to be a much longer blog. I started writing and got on a roll. Then in rereading, I realized that there was a lot of tongue-in-cheek talk about religion, religion and groundhogs, but religion just the same. I didn’t want to publish it in case it might be offensive to someone stopping at my cyber coffee shop for the first time. I think that first half may just be in the personal archives. If you want to read the copy that didn’t get published, drop me a line at chronicelofnani@gmail.com and I’ll send a copy.

After the religious stuff the post kinda changed direction...

So, the Germans who settled in Pennsylvania are the ones who brought the tradition of rousting a hibernating mammal on Candlemas for predicting Spring to break up the mid-winter doldrums. The two used to be intertwined, but Groundhog Day was like the spin-off that grew to become more popular than the original show! The original mammal was a badger, but they settled on the Groundhog and that’s why Punxsutawney Phil is the head honcho Groundhog, the home of the original Groundhog Day.

Yes, I know I’ve been going on and on about the Groundhog this month. It’s just that, like the German settlers in Pennsylvania that brought the silly part of their Candlemas holiday with them, I’M TIRED OF WINTER! This year’s been especially cold and especially snowy.

So here’s my problem with the Groundhog – Politics. The Groundhog is too much of a politician. Tells us what he thinks we want to hear and then leaves us to just live with it until by some miracle it happens or we discover he lied again. And it’s not just us humans. It’s everyone alive! This morning I was having my muffin and coffee at around 5:30 before I started my test questions for the day and as the sky started getting light, Kaline joined me on the table and had that, “did you hear something? I heard something!” look. I listened close to see what she was hearing. I heard some dripping from the back window where there were some moving sounds from the icicles and some early commuters n the main street, but wait! Then I heard what her eyes were following to the window behind me. She jumped onto the buffet and seemed to ask me to pull the shade. I obliged her. What we were both listening to now was a Cardinal’s song, just outside the window.

Cardinals sing the end of winter and beginning of spring, their song is the first to fill the air when the end of winter is near. With a big storm coming that prompted my doctor’s office to call and suggest that I cancel my appointment tomorrow, I’m sure the Cardinal was either duped by the Groundhog too or is part of his plan.

Then I remembered that spring means Spring Training and the Cardinal’s song reminded me that Lance Berkman is a Cardinal now. How did we let that happen? If the Cardinal is on the Groundhog’s payroll, then the Groundhog is not a Pirates fan, like I would have guessed, but he’s a Cardinals fan! The groundhog seeing his shadow in the fall made Lance Berkman a Cardinal! Talk about power-drunk! GRRR!

Just one more reason to put groundhog on the menu!

Lance Berkman and his pet groundhog can go play in the snow. I’M going to go hibernate!