It is groundhog day tommorow. This is the day when we all wait for a
gopher to pop out its hole then some expert must decide if he has seen
his shadow or not. If the gopher sees sees its shadow than there is six
more weeks to winter but if it doen't than we only have six more weeks
until spring. Thus is the nutso ritual of this mid winter holiday. Why
do we celebrate this? I haven't a clue. You can be sure of this you
will not find me next to some groundhog tomorrow.
http://www.groundhog.org/history/tradition.shtml
Have a great Groundhog day whereever you are
Chuckie in the Frozen North, Zone 5

"Chuckie" wrote in message
oups.com...
It is groundhog day tommorow. This is the day when we all wait for a
gopher to pop out its hole then some expert must decide if he has seen
his shadow or not. If the gopher sees sees its shadow than there is six
more weeks to winter but if it doen't than we only have six more weeks
until spring. Thus is the nutso ritual of this mid winter holiday. Why
do we celebrate this? I haven't a clue. You can be sure of this you
will not find me next to some groundhog tomorrow.
http://www.groundhog.org/history/tradition.shtml
Have a great Groundhog day whereever you are
Chuckie in the Frozen North, Zone 5


Shoot the *******! :-)

In south Houston, we haven't had a single good freeze yet!

How about six weeks of winter TOTAL!?!?!?

John :)


"Chuckie" wrote in message
oups.com...
It is groundhog day tommorow. This is the day when we all wait for a
gopher to pop out its hole then some expert must decide if he has seen
his shadow or not. If the gopher sees sees its shadow than there is six
more weeks to winter but if it doen't than we only have six more weeks
until spring. Thus is the nutso ritual of this mid winter holiday. Why
do we celebrate this? I haven't a clue. You can be sure of this you
will not find me next to some groundhog tomorrow.
http://www.groundhog.org/history/tradition.shtml
Have a great Groundhog day whereever you are
Chuckie in the Frozen North, Zone 5

"Chuckie" wrote in message
oups.com...
It is groundhog day tommorow. This is the day when we all wait for a
gopher to pop out its hole then some expert must decide if he has
seen
his shadow or not. If the gopher sees sees its shadow than there is
six
more weeks to winter but if it doen't than we only have six more
weeks
until spring. Thus is the nutso ritual of this mid winter holiday.
Why
do we celebrate this? I haven't a clue. You can be sure of this you
will not find me next to some groundhog tomorrow.
http://www.groundhog.org/history/tradition.shtml
Have a great Groundhog day whereever you are
Chuckie in the Frozen North, Zone 5


Same difference, but the wording I like is:
If the ground hog sees its shadow then there is six more weeks to
winter, but if it doesn't, then it's only a month & a half until
spring.

Tom J

I know thats what makes the day so nutso.
Chuckie in the Frozen North, Zone 5

"Chuckie" wrote in message
oups.com...
It is groundhog day tommorow.

Thus is the nutso ritual of this mid winter holiday. Why
do we celebrate this? I haven't a clue.

If you look at the Wheel of the Year, and mark off the equinoxes and the
solstices, then you'll find that there are midpoints between these dates. In
the European pagan calendar these holidays are Imbolc (Groundhog Day), May
Day, Lammas, and Samhain (Halloween), but these holidays, because of their
ties to the seasons, are pretty much universal in all cultures.

Groundhog Day is the remant in our culture of what was Candlemas, and before
that, Imbolc. There's a gardening-related article on the Groundhog
Day/Imbolc connection he
http://landscaping.about.com/cs/pest...dhog_day_4.htm. In the
Shinto/Japanese calendar, the holiday is Setsubun-sai, and in the Hindu
calendar, Vasant Panchami. The equivalent holiday in the Jewish calendar is
Tu B'Shevat, which this year is coming in a couple of weeks -- the whole
Jewish calendar is running late this year. (You can find an interesting
little article about this holiday he
http://telshemesh.org/hp/fifteen_psa...the_trees.html).

You can readily understand why this time of the year is marked and
celebrated. Here, you can feel a tiny kernal of warmth, an ember of what is
the spring-to-be, wrapped in the icy tendrils of winter. It's not yet
spring, but you can feel that the worst of winter is over. That is the magic
of this holiday.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
http://www.bicyclemeditations.org/
Sponsor me for the Big Climb! See: www.active.com/donate/cpetersky06
See the books I've set free at:
http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

Thanks for these great articles. I have not changed my perpective on
the silliness of groundhog day. Though I will on febuary 2 celebrate
the mid winter holiday. I am not sure how I will celebrate it yet.
Happy Groundhog Day everyone.
Chuckie in the Frozen North, Zone 5

"Chuckie" wrote in message
oups.com...
I am not sure how I will celebrate it yet.
Happy Groundhog Day everyone.
Chuckie in the Frozen North, Zone 5

Get naked and roll around in the snow?

Snow! Jeez, I'd settle for a good freeze to knock out the mosquitos! And
fleas...shoot even the flies have been back for a week or two now...

What snow???

Tex John "Chuckie" wrote in message
oups.com...
I am not sure how I will celebrate it yet.
Happy Groundhog Day everyone.
Chuckie in the Frozen North, Zone 5

Get naked and roll around in the snow?

Snow! Jeez, I'd settle for a good freeze to knock out the mosquitos! And
fleas...shoot even the flies have been back for a week or two now...


lol glad to see chuckie im not the only one that calls the groundhog a gopher.
hope everyone has a happy groundhog day tomorrow.
cyaaaa, sockiescat.

Huge event in Punxsutawney, Pa. I saw town once in fall.
They need all the excitement they can get
Frank

This year, both Groundhog Day and the State of the Union address occur
in the same week. As Air America Radio pointed out, "It is an ironic
juxtaposition of events: one involves a meaningless ritual in which we
look to a creature of little intelligence for prognostication while the
other involves a groundhog."

"Chuckie" wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks for these great articles. I have not changed my perpective on
the silliness of groundhog day. Though I will on febuary 2 celebrate
the mid winter holiday. I am not sure how I will celebrate it yet.


If you like silliness, you'll appreciate this email I received this morning:

---
It certainly is a relief to know that Groundhog Day has finally arrived
and Grandpa Groundhog is, even as I write, traveling in his underground
sledge pulled by his team of eight matched star-nosed moles and busily
waking up the roots of all the little plants and reminding them that
it's time to beginning growing for another year!

May you have a great Groundhog Day and a wonderful spring!

Please feel free to pass this Groundhog greeting to all your friends and
remind them, too, about the True Meaning of Groundhog Day!

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
http://www.bicyclemeditations.org/
Sponsor me for the Big Climb! See: www.active.com/donate/cpetersky06
See the books I've set free at:
http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

A shady word-salad in honor of Groundhog Day:

Groundhog Day Party
================

Dwight Hines: It takes true wordplayers to write about the shades of
mortality. [actual quote]

Random House: shade 7. the disembodied spirit of a dead person.

Walrus: The time has come to chat about eschatology.

Banquo: We thanes know all about thanatology.

Narcissus: What would *you* know about youth in Asia?

Pegasus: Horsefeathers! He probably doesn't know the difference
between Calvary and cavalry. If pigs could fly ...

Beelzebub: ... I'd be lord of the pigs.

Izzy: When should we have this party?

Marmota: Today, on February 2nd, of course.

Elvis: You ain't nuthin' but a Groundhog. -- Cynthia MacGregor

Izzy: But where?

J Maccabee: At the Macabre Caberet. It's an adumbral location for a
dumb brawl.

Izzy: How will we get there?

Dorothy: We can felo-de-sallow brick road.

Toto: Yep.

Izzy: Suffering succotash. Who are you?

Succuba: Men succumb to me. Call me Bella Donna.

Atropos: I'm here. In a reversal of Fate, I give everyone a Sport-ing
chance.

Izzy: Do you cast a die? or just a shadow?

Atropos: of nothing. Life hangs by a Hare...

Grim Reaper: ... that I cut with my scythe.

Tortoise: People say I'm an infernal animal. They confuse me with
Tartarus. If I were a sea turtle I'd be a martyr.

Oyster: Who's going to Host this party?

Izzy: I nominate Walt Quader. Where is that guy?

Quader: The phrase 'dead as a doornail' appears as though it might
be a stubbornly persistent corruption of this disputed fragment from
Shakespeare's otherwise lost notebook of sketches for his (alas, also
lost) last comedy, 'The Grim Knocker': ...dead, Isadore? / Nay!
I'll...
-- Walt

Lobster: Let's dance a quadrille. -- Lewis Carroll

White Rabbit: I can do the bunny hop.

Owl: I prefer the hootchy-kootchy.

Wovoka: Will there really be dancing?

Artemis: Of course. Just call me Diana, goddess of Dance. Do you like
rhythm and blues?

Izzy: Is that a form of synaesthesia? Where tints are produced by
tones?

Silenus: That sounds very interesting. I must tell my friend Memnon
about this. Wonder where he is?

Memnon: I'm luxuriating in LuxOr (aka Karn-ak). I still produce tones
from (furtive glance + whisper) light rays.

DH: The idea of this party is you become familiar with ...

Doppelgänger: ... with your own familiar!

DH: No. Just a time and place where no one takes umbrage ... like
Smartgroup's Word Whirl One ...
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/wordwhirl
.... where we all try to strike a happy medium.

Witch of Endor: Ouch.

Saul: Are you really a medium?

Witch: I used to be. Now I'm a large. Beware ... the ... evil ... eye.

Cyclops: What is your name?

Odysseus: My name is gnomon. How's that for style?

Ariel: WordPlay? That group is just a tempest in a teapot.

Belial: A worthless group if I ever heard of one. Full of nuts.

Satan: Don't reverse my name in vain.

Vampi Where is that vein?

Azazel: They're as crAzy as 'ell.

Argus: I'd better keep an eye on that group... if only to see if
anyone is actually playing with words.

Humpty: If you can *see* whether I'm playing with words, you've
sharper eyes than most. -- (apologies to) Carroll

Caesar: If looks were daggers, Argus, you'd really be dangerous.

Pluto: Woof. It's He-l in Sheol.

Cerberus: Arf, Bow-Wow, and How. [Israeli dogs say How-How.] I can
fetch three Styx at the same time.

Cynosura: Why is Argus watching me? Does he think I'm Gladly, the
cross-eyed bear?

Euler: You can't cross all 7 of the Koenigsburg bridges without
crossing at least one of them twice.

Caiaphas: Let me try that. I know how to fix a cross.

Valkyrie: Kyrie eleison. Let me carry you away from this Vale of Tears
.... to Elysium.

Izzy: Do they have Shades in Hades?

Satan: You'll find out soon enough. We recycle lemures as lemurs,
douroucoulis, and tarsiers.

Riding Hood: My, what big eyes you have.

Grandma: This has been one long bubbe-maise. It's time to fly the
coop.

Azrael: Dei gratia. By your grace, I'll deliver the coup.

Israel: Just a minute. Una memento mori. Mama MIA. Son of Sam & Sara.

Eli Goodman: Is Izzy schizy?

Dr. Spock: No, just an ex-spook goin' back to 'is old haunts.

CIAo,
Israel "izzy" Cohen