Y’know, as a kid growing up, I never really understood Groundhog day. Not because I’m slow or anything, just really, really unfamiliar with the concept.
Why was I unfamiliar with the concept? It sounds simple enough, right? If the fat little rodent sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter. If not, there’s and early spring. What could be so hard about that? Here’s why it was a hard concept to grasp as a kid…
BECAUSE I GREW UP ON THE !@*#&$ CANADIAN PRAIRIE! OF COURSE THERE’S SIX WEEKS OF WINTER AFTER FEBRUARY SECOND! THERE’S ALWAYS SIX WEEKS OF WINTER AFTER FEBRUARY SECOND! WE’RE LUCKY IF THERE’S ONLY SIX WEEKS OF WINTER AFTER FEBRUARY SECOND!
See what I mean? If you know nothing else, how can you relate? It’s like my wife trying to be sympathetic about my stomach, or trying to explain television to an African bushman or something. Where was this fantastical world where you might actually see spring before the end of March? Where, where, dammit! Then I grew up and moved away and found out…
It was Toronto. Yes, five years in good ol’ TO. Five wonderful, glorious years where in the winter, we never had a day that I recall where the temperature stayed below -30 (with the windchill). Five years where, in a warm year, you might even have a non-white Christmas (to call it “green” would be stretching things). And, by the end of March, you were thinking “I wonder what I should plant in the garden this year?” Here, the end of March is when we’re out sacrificing our pets to the weather gods, praying “please make it stop!”
Oh yeah, and while I’m at it….it’s febRUary. RU, with an R. As in, “you’ll rue the day you moved back to this frozen tundra.”
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Yeah, I’m gettin’ testy. It’s *$&!#$& groundhog day and I think we’ve had about 8 days where the temperature has been above -20 since December 5. You’d be getting a little uppity, too…
Type-up Comedy 
Try the United States sometime. I live in KY. I know the winter storm has been all over the news, but it was 56 degrees last Saturday. I rode my motorcycle. It will be almost 60 this weekend. The coldest temp I’ve ever seen is -2.
Everybody talks about living in Canada, but nobody does anything about it.
BTW, nice theme.
that’s ‘cuz we have to have SOMETHING to be unhappy about. The weather is a national obsession for us.
There are advantages to being on the Canadian Prairie. We don’t get a lot of humidity in summer, and I haven’t been in a smog alert since leaving Toronto.
Funny, I didn’t hear anything about a winter storm in Kentucky. Heard about one in England, though.
I think the theme is Andreas09(?)
Living in Edmonton has taught me that it’s best not to make assumptions about the weather based on the calendar! 🙂
The Groundhog and the Equinox