“It happen’d one Day about Noon going towards my Boat, I was exceedingly surpriz’d with the Print of a Man’s naked Foot on the Shore.”
If the groundhog lived in these parts, he wouldn’t have seen his shadow today. He’d have seen a sky filled with light gray clouds which cast no shadow.
From my window, it looks cold out, but it is 43°. I figure this sense of feeling cold has to do with the missing sun. When it shines, I have an illusion of warmth.
In my garden, the shoots of the dafs are above the ground. I can even see some buds. Yesterday the local paper had a picture of croci (crocuses if you don’t like the Latin ending) which have bloomed along 6A. These poor spring bulbs have been duped by the warmth of the winter. Every other year I am thrilled to see their shoots popping above the ground as I know spring is near, but not this year. It is February which can be snowy and really cold.
I feel like a hermit. Lately I haven’t been out much. If I didn’t have the dog to talk to, I might just lose my power of speech, but Gracie is just a listener. She cocks her head to acknowledge the conversation but that’s all she offers. I figure it isn’t just me though. We all seem to hibernate in winter. The weather doesn’t invite us out to take a casual ride. I do go out to do errands but I go reluctantly as I hate to leave the warm house and my cozy clothes. Tomorrow is that errand day out of necessity: I’m out of cat food. Gracie and I will go to the dump first then do some grocery shopping. I don’t have anyone to talk to at those either. The dump is always freezing this time of year as the wind whips across the frozen tundra so I quickly go from bin to bin. At the grocery store, the only person I talk to is the deli man when I order.
I do see my friends every Sunday, and we play games and have dinner. Once every couple of weeks we go to trivia on Thursday so I get to practice my communication skills. Sometimes, though, I feel a bit like Robinson Crusoe before he found Friday.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: Bulb, Crocus, gardens, groundhog day, hermit, Punxsutawney Phil
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February 2, 2012 at 11:20 am
So Kat, to amuse yourself, wander over to http://www.neilyoung.com where Neil has posted a 37.25 minute jam with Crazy Horse. The piece of music is identified as “Horse Back” but it clearly contains large loops back to “Cortez the Killer”
There is also a video that takes you around Neil’s living room/recording area
Tomorrow the staples come out first thing and I will be worthy to cruise Maggie again over the weekend
February 2, 2012 at 2:03 pm
Thanks, My Dear Hedley
I’ve watched some of it and will finish the rest later. I do have plentry of time. Right now I am forced to watch Madonna’s press conference as nothing is on TV!
February 2, 2012 at 12:26 pm
Hi Kat,
Don’t worry about the croci (or crocuses depending on which declension it is). They will be fine. I have seen the blooms get buried under snow many times. They seem to survive though their flowers might not.
I do go out for winter pleasure rides. It has to be a sunny day though or what’s the point?
It’s not as warm here. 37F and gloomy, gloomy, gloomy. I have knitting group tonight so I will get some socializing done assuming I am awake. This weather makes me want to sleep.
If the groundhog did not see his shadow, we will not have 6 more weeks of winter. I don’t know how he could have seen his shadow today except because of all the TV lights. A false reading if you ask me. 🙂
February 2, 2012 at 2:08 pm
Hi Caryn,
I had 4 years of high school Latin so I knew the plural of first declension masculine ended in i but I wasn’t sure most people had gotten as stuck as I did in learning it. The nun made us memorize the whole declension: (singular) us, i, o um, o, (plural) i, orum, is, os is.
We’re down to 38°, and it is even darker than it was this morning. I’m not leaving the house-wasted my shower today!
I totally agree about the false reading-no shadow on a cloudy day anyway!
February 2, 2012 at 12:35 pm
I was saddened to see on the nightly news that D.C’s Cherry Blossoms are peeking out far too early for Spring. I think the walk around the Jefferson Memorial is the most stimulating walk a person could have come Cherry Blossom time. I virtually lived there on my lunch breaks and evenings when dating. I was hoping we could afford to time it right this year and visit Rebecca at her new digs up there. I loved it when our Beagle looked like she understood what we were saying. Then she’d barked because we laughed at her.
February 2, 2012 at 2:13 pm
Z&Me,
I was too when I saw the news last night about the cherry blossoms. They are being so fooled by this crazy winter. I look at Europe and how much snow they have and poor buried Alaska.
I swear Gracie knows what I’m saying. When I tell her to get a certain toy, she does. I do wish she’d be able to answer though sometimes that might just scare me.
February 2, 2012 at 1:14 pm
Let’s see if I’ve got this right.
If the groundhog sees his shadow, we get 6 more weeks of winter.
If the groundhog doesn’t see his shadow, we get about a month and a half more of winter.
Am I right?
February 2, 2012 at 2:14 pm
John,
I think you have that perfectly right!
February 2, 2012 at 1:26 pm
I’ve been talking a lot this week since my car has been to the garage and nothing has worked as planned 🙂 🙂 🙂 But I have driven a Hyundai Matrix instead and I almost liked it in the end. I’ll go back to the garage next week and then I’ll have the matrix again.
10,4F here now and it will drop a lot tonight if clouds doesn’t come, I hope they do. The sun has been shining most days now when the high preassure has stopped over scandinavia.
The only thing showing here is the snow drops, well they don’t show any longer because of the snow. But they had come rather far before the snow fall anyway. But I guess everything stops now because the winter has finally artived and with it the flu. We weren’t many people at work today so I guess it’s just a matter of time until I get it.
Have a great day!
Christer.
February 2, 2012 at 2:17 pm
Christer,
I can’t be without a car either. There is no way to get most places down here without a car.
It will get colder tonight but will be back into the 40’s tomorrow. The sun is expected tomorrow and the rest of the week. I hope so! I need the sun.
I don’t think the flu has been by here yet, but I don’t get it much anymore as I’m not at school with all those kids who are germ ridden. I did have a flu shot so I’m hoping that will work.
February 2, 2012 at 8:06 pm
If Punxsutawney Phil is correct we will have six more weeks of warm dry winter weather. Maybe we can declare it spring on March 15th. It’s been that kind of year. Who in their right mind would pay attention to some ground hog in Pennsylvania’s ability to predict the weather. He’s right up there with Santa and the Easter bunny.
If you haven’t noticed, your socialization comes in part through this blog. We are all your friends. Are you having or have been invited to a Super Bowl party on Sunday evening? Are there any Giant fans left New England since the Patriots came into existence with the American Football League?
One of the founders of the AFL was Lamar Hunt. He started the league and owned the Dallas Texans. When he and Clint Murchison, owner of the Cowboys realized that Dallas couldn’t support two teams they flipped a coin to decide who would leave town. Lamar lost and moved the Texans to Kansas City and renamed them the Chiefs. His father was a Texas multi billion air who developed the East Texas oil fields in the first part of the 20th century. When the Dallas News reporter asked Lamar’s father, H.L. Hunt, about Lamar losing a million dollars on the AFL in 1960, H.L. replied, “At that rate he will go broke in the year 2590”. H.L. was a right wing weirdo who was a supporter of the John Birch Society, founder of the Liberty Network and an ardent anti-semite and Communist hunter.
Lamar coined the term Super Bowl before the second meeting between the champions of each league. He was playing with his kids in the garage with a Super Ball, and he thought that the name Super joined with Bowl was a great name for the championship game. The first Super Bowl was called the NFL & AFL Championship game and was not a sell out.
February 2, 2012 at 8:37 pm
Bob,
That’s exactly where he is, with Santa and the Easter Bunny. It’s just a bit of fun. He wasn’t even all that popular until the movie Groundhog Day.
You’re right about my friends being here as well as very close friends nearer at hand, but we don’t see each other all that much in winter. We do have Sunday dinner together so this weekend it will be for the Super Bowl. The Globe just had an article about the Giants’ fans still around here. Most of them are ol and don’t want to change their allegiance. I remember watching Y.A. Tittle with my dad who was a Giants fan before there was the Pats.
Got a chuckle at your quote about 2590.
I really didn’t know anything about the founding of the AFL. I just knew the names of the teams from watching the games. I didn’t know the origin of the name Super Bowl either. Thanks for filling in all the gaps!