Groundhog Day

[MacPhantom]

Bad news folks...... Six more weeks of winter.

Have a good day, and remember... "Don't drive angry. Don't drive angry!!"

[Belladonna]

We usually have 6 more weeks of winter even when he predicts it will end early!
Just keep the fireplace lit and try to enjoy it.

[witchy]

I am one of those people, the cup is 1\2 full!! We ONLY have 6 more weeks of winter, YEAH!!!!!

[Andybev01]

Uh...whether or not he sees his shadow we always have 6 more weeks of winter...

[ilovemichaelmyers]

I don't see it as a bad thing, I LOVE Winter! If you lived here in the Summer, you would be praying for rain and snow as it gets sweaty, nasty, and irritatingly HOT here! I don't know WHY I live in the desert, I would like to live in a cooler climate, by the time our oldest daughter gets to JR. high in 2011, we are outta here! (the school system sucks here too).

[Spookymufu]

I did a year in Phoenix, 115o in the shade sucks! I preferred the winters there.

Here in Houston the winters arent too bad, maybe 52 on average, heck thats shorts weather, the other day it was 33 tho, burrrr.
The summers here are brutal tho, 90's with 90-100% humidity.....

[ilovemichaelmyers]

I did a year in Phoenix, 115o in the shade sucks! I preferred the winters there.

Here in Houston the winters arent too bad, maybe 52 on average, heck thats shorts weather, the other day it was 33 tho, burrrr.
The summers here are brutal tho, 90's with 90-100% humidity.....

Yes, that is how hot it is here too but NO humidity at all, just very dry heat, it makes you want to sit in a cold shower all day because running the A/C all day costs ALOT, like $400 a month! If it gets in the 50's here, I feel like I'm freezing my arse off! I guess I'm used to it being hot but don't like it at all. I'm originally from Cali so it doesn't make sense that I HATE the hot weather. Maybe I was an Eskimo in a past life or something.

[Belladonna]

I've spent a little time in the desert...no fun in the summer at all!

I do like winter. Just this one, we've had a ton of gray days in a row. It's livable now, though.
On the warm-ish side, no wind. I'll take it!

[Murfreesboro]

This morning I looked up stuff about Groundhog Day on line, because I had never really known where it came from. Turns out Feb. 2 is the mid-point of winter, halfway between the solstice & the vernal equinox. I'd never thought about that. In Europe, centuries ago, the peasants thought of it as a turning point, when it was still winter, but they could start thinking about spring. I don't think they had ground hogs over there, but they had other hibernating animals, bears and such, and the folk belief sprang up that these animals would venture forth from their dens on Feb. 2 and could somehow sense what was coming in the weeks ahead.

According to one source I read, the farmers would start preparing their fields on Feb. 2--they'd plow the first furrow. I guess if you have to do it with animals pulling the plow, it takes a long time to get a field ready for spring planting.

In the Christian calendar it is also a feast day commemorating Mary's ritual purification at the Temple (40 days after Jesus's birth). It is the last feast in the calendar that refers to Christmas, and in some Catholic areas, the nativity scenes are packed away on this day. The holiday has been known as Candlemas for centuries. Evidently the priests in the old days would bless the candles for household use on this day, and in many places they would have a procession of people through the streets, holding their lighted candles, on the evening of Feb. 2.

That's the kind of stuff I enjoy learning about.

[Belladonna]

I do too, thanks for sharing that.

[Andybev01]

All this talk of groundhogs is making me hungry.

[MacPhantom]

It's snowing a pretty good clip right now, so I'll probably put off tilling the garden until next week....

[jadewik]

I did a year in Phoenix, 115o in the shade sucks! I preferred the winters there.

Spooky-- you make living in the Sonoran Desert sound like a prison sentence. Yeah... "I did a year in Phoenix. Tough as Hell."

... so if you did one year in Phoenix and I spent 20 there... does that make me a more heinous criminal?

I always loved those summers when it was 116 outside on the drive home from work in my chevette that didn't have any a/c... I'd come home and have to shower I'd be soaked... but you know what? I LOVE the dry heat-- your skin might be leathery by summer's end, but at least you're dry... and you can hang-dry your clothes... and, my favorite, you can get out of the shower and be dry in a few minutes.

[Spookymufu]

I did a year in Phoenix, 115o in the shade sucks! I preferred the winters there.

Spooky-- you make living in the Sonoran Desert sound like a prison sentence. Yeah... "I did a year in Phoenix. Tough as Hell."

... so if you did one year in Phoenix and I spent 20 there... does that make me a more heinous criminal?

I always loved those summers when it was 116 outside on the drive home from work in my chevette that didn't have any a/c... I'd come home and have to shower I'd be soaked... but you know what? I LOVE the dry heat-- your skin might be leathery by summer's end, but at least you're dry... and you can hang-dry your clothes... and, my favorite, you can get out of the shower and be dry in a few minutes.

Arizona WAS like a prison sentence, you also have to know I moved there from SLC Utah, quite a weather shock. The only cool thing about Arizona was the monsoons, tons of rain falling in a few short min, soaking the ground, pretty cool to actually experience, other then that.....bleh