January 2nd - Groundhog Day

"Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don't forget your booties 'cause it's cooooold out there today.”

Groundhog Day traces its roots back to European lore, in which a sacred bear, not a groundhog, was said to be able to predict the weather by seeing or not seeing its shadow.  The celebration that we are more familiar with dates back to 1840s Pennsylvania, which is sad when you think about the fact that actual weathermen haven’t gotten much better since that time.

As we all know, the story goes that if the groundhog sees its shadow, we can expect six more weeks of winter.  If it doesn’t, then spring should be right around the corner.  I’m also sure that we all know that the most famous groundhog prognosticator is Punxsutawney Phil.  Phil was made famous by the classic Bill Murray existential comedy, Groundhog Day, which I will be watching tonight (unless someone out there can come up with a better groundhog based movie).

Fans of Phil say that he’s been around since 1890, and that he is given a sip of Groundhog Elixir to magically lengthen his life. I didn’t realize that the story of a groundhog foretelling the weather was too "realistic" and that it had to be spiced up with some fantastical elements.

“Gah, a groundhog that tells the weather…SO last year. Now, a groundhog that tells the weather AND drinks immortality juice…yeah, I think we’re on to something here…”

What I didn’t know before doing this project was that there are actually more groundhogs out there giving out weather predictions.  There’s Balzac Billy who operates out of Balzac, Alberta, and Mountain Maryland Murray who resides in Cumberland, Maryland.  There’s Buckeye Chuck in Marion, Ohio, and General Beauregard Lee from Lilburn, Georgia.  What happens if they disagree?  Who's prediction trumps the other?  Does Chuckles from Manchester, Connecticut have a more reliable record for predicting the future than, say, French Creek Freddie or Shubenacadie Sam?  And are groundhogs able to predict other things on different days?  February 2nd is strictly for the weather, but has anyone asked them what the lottery numbers will be on March 9th?

Now, because I don’t actually own a groundhog (also known as a woodchuck, land-beaver, and my favorite alternate name, the whistle-pig), I had to think outside of the box on how to celebrate this one.  And my thought was to call Phil directly and see what he was up to today, a month out from his big day.  I figured that he didn’t live in that little stump in Gobbler’s Knob all year round (it doesn’t look like there’s room for a fridge, mini or otherwise, in there and he always looks well fed when he’s hoisted up, so you do the math).  I decided that I would call the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club directly to see if they could track him down for me. Their information can be found at www.groundhog.org.  

And here’s what happened:

Nobody in the Chamber of Commerce answered the phone.  Nobody at the Punxsutawney Phil Giftshop answered the phone.  Nobody at the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club answered the phone.

It appears that, like Punxsutawney Phil, the residents of Punxsutawney only work on February 2^nd.