We won’t know exactly what Puxsutawney Phil will show us until Monday morning, but I lay odds on six more weeks of winter.
I was in Puxsutawney, Pa. for Ground Hog Day, 1977, covering the big fun of the annual festival for a Pittsburgh NPR station.
Besides consuming copious amounts of beer, I got to listen to the locals swap all sorts of lore about the over-sized ground squirrels and how they’ve come to represent our hopes for an early spring.
Seems we owe it all to the very practical Germans who had no interest in butchering livestock so close to the beginning of Lent. Pass around enough beer or schnapps and if someone has a little woodland skill or a bored hound, guys can do the craziest things.
Drag a sleeping hedgehog from its burrow, grab a club, and if you work fast--protein problem is solved! The American equivalent to the European hedgehog is Phil, or a member of his family.
This year, we have the convergence of Groundhog Day and the Fortnight of Deflategate—or as some would prefer Super Bowl 49!We don’t make these things up, so if you haven’t settled on your Super Bowl menu, Woodchuck Stew might be memorable for your guest and a culinary adventure for the cook:
Either way, as you enjoy the memories of your Super Bowl Feast, look forward to some cold weather, ice, snow or a wintry mix on your way to work, Feb. 2. Here's the outlook for Monday, Feb. 2, from our friends at Accuweather.Super Bowl prediction? Who lost the game will be one of those difficult trivia questions only Seattle folks and real sports fans will confidently answer within 10 years, and I will be one of the viewers who ate and drank with prudent moderation.
And in case you didn’t get the message, “I’m only here so I don’t get fined.”
