I normally watch Punxsutawney Phil on live feed getting dragged out what is likely not his den on Groundhog's Day to predict what the next 45 or so days will bring with regard to weather. I was a little late trying to get on the official website on February 2nd and therefore didn't get to watch live as Phil predicted an early spring.
I have on more than one occasion called Phil a "stupid woodchuck". I'll do it when he predicts a continuation of winter-like conditions and has been right, and also when he's predicted early spring-like conditions and been wrong. There's just no making me happy in February when all I want are warmer temperatures and nothing coming out of the sky that's frozen or freezes on contact with my deck, walkway, car, roads – well, you get the idea. By this time, I'm tired of shoveling snow – even more so with the bum shoulder I'm nursing that really doesn't like the action of lift the snow/chuck the snow out of the way. I'm tired of having to bundle up to go to my car and scrape the frost off and/or sit there with it to let it warm up before heading to work. I've gotten tired of cats that won't even venture outside until the temperature's above freezing (they have a cat door - there is no excuse). I am tired of houseplants that shed in the winter, get luxurious when put outside in warm weather, then return to shedding within a week of being inside. I like it when Mother Nature waters them and I don't have to, too. I wistfully peruse seed catalogs, thinking about how beautiful all of it will look on the deck and balcony of my apartment, knowing full well that you can't really grow much of anything on a deck under a tree canopy that only allows full sunlight for maybe two hours a day and a balcony that can't handle a full blown sun-loving garden.
Yes, indeed, by February, my spring fever is more than apparent. So when Phil predicts an early spring and it doesn't happen, I want to call for his removal as a meteorological prognosticator. But except for a few days of chilliness and a day or so of mixed precipitation that disappeared within a day each time, Phil has been on the money this year. Temperatures in the 40s and 50s, rain instead of snow. I can take it. Yes, I know there's a downside to having early warm temperatures, including early and increased insect populations, an increase in allergies, etc. But this year, I just don't care.
So, I sincerely hope it stays nice right up until spring and beyond. Let Punxsutawney Phil be right in his prediction right up until March 19th and beyond. After all, I hear woodchuck stew is kind of fatty and gamey.
Only 25 days until Spring.
