I'm not too keen on groundhogs...

Well today's proclamation that winter will continue for 6 more weeks just reaffirmed my dislike for groundhogs. I think it all started when we caught a groundhog happily gnawing away at the (stained!) trim on our garage a few years back (long story.) They may look cute and all, but they're still pesky little critters. And Punxsutawney Phil is no better. The rascal saw his shadow this morning, so according to legend, we'll have 6 more weeks of winter.

But seriously, can we get a little scientific here? Isn't this whole shadow/no shadow phenomenon really more of an "is it sunny or is it cloudy?" kind of thing? Technically speaking, I know there is still a possibility that you can cast a shadow on a cloudy day, but other things come into play like the amount of cloudiness, the time of day, and where you are standing in relation to the sun. Now if it's a sunny day, I'm sure that most if not everyone will cast a shadow regardless of where you are positioned. So can't we just surmise that if it's a nice sunny morning, the darn thing is bound to see his shadow? And if it's cloudy, there's a higher probability that it won't. Now if we take the critter out of the picture, can't we just conclude that if it's sunny on the morning of Feb 2nd, we'll have to endure 6 more weeks of winter. But if it's cloudy, there's a higher chance that spring will arrive sooner. Stop and think about that for a minute. Doesn't it sound a bit absurd? Forcasting the start of the next season based on the morning weather of one random day?

If that's the case, then why don't we do this for other major seasonal changes? Let's pick a day in April to use for the first major heatwave in summer? Or pick a day in August to foretell the first frost? How about a day in the fall to determine when we'll have the first snowfall? And we wouldn't even need any furry animals - just look at whether or not it's sunny that morning. Sounds easy enough, don't you think?

Sorry for the rant. I'm a little bitter. I'm sick of winter. I'm sick of the cold. Sick of being stuck indoors. And sick of the snow. To top it off, I'm still sick from my cold from last week. I'm ready for a change.