As you've probably heard by now, "Punxsutawney Phil", the famous groundhog from Pennsylvania, didn't see his shadow on Feb. 2nd, presaging an early spring this year. However encouraging this may be, we northerners should probably pay closer attention to Canada's equally famous prognosticating rodent from Wiarton, Ontario. (Ontario IS a little closer to us than Pennsylvania after all).
"Wiarton Willie" (pronounced Wire-ton Will-ee), an albino groundhog with cute pink eyes, has maintained a 90% accuracy rating since beginning his career in 1956 - pretty good for a glorified rat. Unfortunately for us and the eager Canadians, Wiarton Willie passed away unexpectantly on Jan. 31st. Not surprisingly, local officials didn't announce the bad news of his untimely death until Feb. 3rd so as not to spoil the local celebrations. When word eventually leaked out, they were quick to hold an open casket funeral for the many mourners of this old and trusted friend.
Shockingly, and this is absolutely true, reporters soon discovered that the body on display, with pennies on his eyes and a carrot in his little paws, wasn't Willie at all, but a substitution from the local taxidermy shop. It turns out the pennies were there to hide the glass eyes in the stuffed counterfeit woodchuck and, again, the embarrassed officials were forced to quell a nasty scandal by admitting that by the time they found poor old Willie, he was a little too ripe for a dignified funeral.
Unlikely as it sounds, this business of groundhogs predicting the weather on Feb. 2nd didn't spring from the minds of desperate chambers of commerce. It's actually based on an ancient Celtic celebration called "Imbolog," marking the midpoint between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. In a society dependent on agriculture and therefore on the weather, this was a time to celebrate having survived halfway through winter (we can relate, eh?), and led to all kinds of weird weather related superstitions. Those pagan Celts were truly a strange bunch but I hear they really knew how to party - reminds me of several local friends.
At any rate, it's no wonder that we non-snowbirds can be somewhat less than enthusiastic about this much maligned month of February. It can be a real struggle at times. The novelty of winter has begun to wear thin, yet spring is still several months from making an actual appearance. Thankfully, this February has come in with decent weather and a number of other small enjoyments and surprises to relieve the winter blahs.
Ice fishing has been good for many as evidenced by last week's newspaper picture of Mark Boline's 22 pound lake trout. Another lucky young fellow, Robby Blomberg, was rewarded with a nice moose antler found on a recent fishing trip to Mayhew Lake with his dad. If you keep your eyes open, this is a good time of year to find one yourself. Peter Schliep and David Smith continue to amuse us with their low-flying antics over Birch Lake. And the seed catalogs have begun to arrive, cheering those of us with green thumbs and helping to create that "Spring state of mind."
For myself, I was thrilled and proud to be able to repair our recently broken oven. Using tools I wouldn't have recognized a few years ago, I managed to save myself the trouble of taking out a second mortgage in order to afford bringing a repairman up the Trail. I'm smiling! Also, friend Malena Johnson recently turned me on to a great service available to rural and homebound residents of the Arrowhead region, "Mail-A-Book."
It seems our local library system offers a catalog of books and tapes that can ordered and returned by mail - at no charge! If the powers that be manage to pull the plug on our satellite network TV stations, this will take away some of the sting. Except for watching The Simpsons, I'd be better off reading a good book anyway.
Finally, the "FOJK" (Friends of Justine Kerfoot) report that she recently arrived home from a Duluth hospital, just as strong and ornery as ever, after recovering from a bout of pneumonia. Happy Valentine's Day, Justine - we all love you! And to the rest of you Druids and Celts out there, Merry Imbolog - party on! Whadayathink about Adam Moe for this year's human sacrifice?