Monday, February 02, 2004

Lookin' for love in all the wrong places.

Groundhog day, a day of cyclical terror for groundhogs around North America. Ripped from slumber, they are trotted out, put on display and then reviled should they dare to give the wrong answer. Heavily clothed humans gather huddled around the groundhog hole, blasting loud music, chattering noisily and inflicting their presence on a rodent, simply minding it's own business.

And now it turns out we've had this Groundhog day thing wrong all along. They aren't looking for their shadows, their looking for love. The likes of Punxsutawney Phil, Wiarton Willie et al are just awakening to their desires, not giving us faint hope for an early spring.

Anthony Aveni, a professor at Colgate University says that February 2nd is more about sex than shadows. The groundhog is out looking for mates and we're only getting in the way. Rather than ripping him from the hole and shining a bright light on him, perhaps some wine, candles and soft music might work better.

It's no wonder we're getting six more weeks of winter, lets face it the way we treat the groundhogs we're lucky it's not six more months.

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