Friday, February 02, 2007

Early spring sayeth the rodents


The surveys are in and three out of three prognosticating groundhogs bring tidings of good news, an early spring will follow the late winter for most of the continent.

There is a growing list of groundhogs dedicated to the fine art of weather forecasting, some more well know than others.
Other than Wiarton Willie who is apparently Canada’s official groundhog of note, there is Punxsutawney Phil of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania and Shubenacadie Stan of Nova Scotia who make up the three high dogs of Groundhog Day. They are followed by a cast of characters that include Brandon Bob in Manitoba, a Staten Island Chuck in New York, a Balzac Billy in Alberta, and Gary the Groundhog in Kleinburg, Ontario.

It’s a growing list that Suggests that groundhogs across the continent have realized what a cash cow Wiarton Willie has stumbled upon when wanders (or more correctly is yanked) out of his hole.

Of course the current Wiarton Willie is not the original hog, the main groundhog of predictions passed away in the winter of 1999, an understudy has now taken his place and apparently not keen on any competition.

Wiarton officials were involved in a bit of a scandal when it was determined in 2003 that the current predictor of spring has a bit of a homicidal bent to him, having killed off his understudies.

This makes him a mass murderer of some repute now and apparently a groundhog not to be messed with.

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