February 2, 2017 - Groundhog Day & Punxsutawney, PA

6 More Weeks of Winter

Elisa's Daily Blog
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: 71 DAYS

What's the Deal With Punxsutawney, PA

Happy Thursday! And Happy Groundhog Day!
Today, we find out what the verdict as to whether Spring will arrive early or not.

According to folklore, if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day, then the spring season will arrive early, some time before the vernal equinox; if it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat back into its den, and winter weather will persist for six more weeks.​

(credit: pinterest.com)

Did you know...
The center of Groundhog's Day is Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

Well, for years I had been a "bystander" to the idea of Groundhog Day, never really focusing on the details. 

In fact, I must have watched Groundhog Day, the movie with Bill Murray a dozen times and still never focused in on the locale.

Well, that's all changed! And I'll tell you why.  A few nights ago when Tanya and I were chatting on the phone and finalizing some details for our Cousins Chicago Road Trip in June, we came upon some very interesting and fun information.

(credit: en.wikipedia.org)

As you know, our two respective gangs will be driving west to Chicago together from New York, but then we bid adieu after two days together in the Windy City.  At that point, me, Gianna and Kelsey will make our way back east to New York.

Tanya and I were looking at cool places to see and things to do on the return drive, when my dear cuz came across a little town that was on the way back - "Punxsutawney." 

That's right - and what is it famous for?  It is the home of the infamous Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog who will tell us how many more weeks of Winter there will be.

(credit: en.wikipedia.org)

Before I get into the specifics about Punxsutawney, let me digress to tell you a bit about the day at hand -- and please check out Tanya's blog, as she has given us even more information for your reading pleasure about Groundhog day!


Anyhoo, today started off pretty good with a school event - The Annual Student Game Show.  All part of Catholic Schools Week, today is a day of fun when the kids compete by grade in a competitive game show.

Later this evening, Gianna has her first Sports Night when the 7th & 8th grade compete against each other in various sports games.

Prior to the fun games, the kids have a pre-sports night dinner and party where they will be eating pizza and decorating t-shirts and making posters to decorate the gym.  She is totally stoked!!

Alrighty, back to Groundhog Day....
​

There is an official site for both this annual day and event, tourist information about the area and anything and everything you may be wondering about Groundhog Day.

At Groundhog.org  you can find the answers to all of your Groundhog Day questions.

Groundhog Club co-handler Ron Ploucha holds Punxsutawney Phil during the annual celebration of Groundhog Day on Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016. The handlers say the furry rodent has failed to see his shadow, meaning he's "predicted" an early spring. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

For instance...
​WHO IS THE INFAMOUS GROUNDHOG?
Punxsutawney Phil is preparing for the annual Groundhog Day prediction.

While we wait to hear if he sees his shadow or not, here is everything you might want to know know about the famous groundhog.

He is groundhog known by many names.

His full name is Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators and Weather Prophet Extraordinary.

But Phil wasn't even his original name. In the early years of Groundhog Day, Punxsutawney referred to him as Br'er Groundhog. The club says he was later named after King Phillip.

According to Pennlive.com, "Phil weighs 20 pounds and is 22 inches long, while most groundhogs are about 15 pounds and 20 inches long.

In addition, most groundhogs live about seven years. The Groundhog Club members give Phil a "magical punch" every summer to prolong his life by seven more years. They say there has only been one Phil since Punxsutawney began celebrating the holiday 131 years ago.

That magical elixir, however, doesn't appear to work on humans.

"We've tried, it just makes them fat and bald," co-handler Ron Ploucha told PennLive. "If you saw some of our Inner Circle members you can tell the ones that tried."

Gobbler's Knob, the Groundhog Day ceremonial grounds, and the groundhog's ceremonial stump. A quiet place 364 days a year. (credit: commons.wikipedia.org)

​
So, what's the story with Punxsutawney, PA and why did I add it to my return drive from Chicago?

Well, considering that it's considered the weather capital of the world, I decided that we should absolutely make this a stop for us gals and see the grounds and the sights:

Gobbler's Knob
The Groundhog Day ceremonial grounds, and the groundhog's ceremonial stump. A quiet place 364 days a year.

Gobbler's Knob Trail
The trail is almost a half of a mile in length with lots of flora and fauna.  Throughout the trail, there is signage that gives the history of Groundhog Day, the Inner Circle, Punxsutawney Phil and groundhog facts, and more. These signs  include smart phone technology to enhance the visitors’ experience.

The Groundhog Club Headquarters
The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club has on display historical and rare Groundhog Club and Punxsutawney Phil items. 
Click Here to find out what memorabilia is on display!

Now, I'm going to jump back to our Cousins Chicago Road Trip  for a moment...I added  a stop in Punxsutawney, PA to our road trip on Day 7 as we drive from Cleveland to Milesburg, PA (where we will be spending the last two nights of our trip.

So very excited to see Gobbler's Knot and I'm sure the kids are going to get a kick out of it too!

I'll get into more detail on our Chicago Road Trip next Travelin' Tuesday.

I'm off to get my busy day going!

HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY!!

-E
xoxo

Tanya's Daily Blog
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: 4 DAYS

Groundhogs around the World 

Well folks it's Groundhog Day here in the states and the little fella saw his shadow...so that means we have 6 MORE WEEKS of Winter!

Kinda funny and odd tradition.

I mean how often can Punxsutawney Phil actually be right?

Well in my researching I found an article from LIVESCIENCE.COM reporting that a team at The Washington Post actually did the math.
They calculated the average daily temperatures during the six weeks after Groundhog Day for the past 30 years, comparing the temperatures in the years when Phil saw his shadow to those in the years he did not. 

"Even though Phil's predictions proved correct for some areas of the country, the difference in average temperatures between years he predicted an early spring (times he did not see his shadow) and years he did not (times he saw his shadow) varied by no more than a few degrees," the Post reported.

In the Post's analysis, weather records suggest that Phil was right more often than not in some cities, but the results basically come down to chance. Temperatures do not vary uniformly across the country, so Phil's predictions are bound to be right somewhere.

One exception was Oklahoma City, where years in which Phil saw his shadow were 8.5 degrees Fahrenheit (4.7 degrees Celsius) cooler than years when he didn't see it, the Post analysis found.

But in many places, the revered rodent's predictions were way off. For example, in St. Petersburg, Florida, years when Phil saw his shadow were on average 13.9 F (7.7 C) warmer than nonshadow years, according to the Post.

The many groundhogs that have been designated as Phil over the years have predicted 99 forecasts of more winter and 15 early springs, according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, which takes care of the animals. (Nine of the years are missing records.) According to data from the Stormfax Almanac, Phil's predictions have been correct only 39 percent of the time in his hometown of Punxsutawney.

DID YOU KNOW:
There are a number of other parts of the country and the world that have their own weather-forecasting rodents.

New York has Staten Island Chuck, a groundhog that lives at the Staten Island Zoo. This year, Chuck's prediction disagreed with Phil's — the New York native instead called for an early spring.

Staten Island Chick

BALZAC BILLY

Another groundhog, Balzac Billy, hails from Balzac, Alberta, in Canada.

He awoke from his long hibernation at the Blue Grass Nursery and Garden Centre Thursday morning and saw his shadow -- predicting six more weeks of winter.

SHUBENCADIE SAM 

Shubenacadie Sam, a groundhog from Nova Scotia's Shubenacadie Wildlife Park, came out of his burrow and gave the prediction of an early spring.

BUCKEYE CHUCK

Buckeye Chuck of Ohio came out of his burrow and saw his shadow, meaning six more weeks of winter.

BIG AL 

While most states look to groundhogs for their seasonal weather forecast, everything is bigger in Texas -- including Big Al.

The 14-foot, 1,000-pound alligator makes perhaps the most scientifically-sound weather prediction of any animal every year using his favorite food -- Kentucky Fried Chicken. 

According to gator-rescuer and naturalist Gary Saurage, alligators are genetically unable to eat until all danger of winter's freeze has passed; their bodies cannot digest food until warm weather is assured. 

The science is simple. If Big Al eats his KFC, spring is on the way. 

This year Al passed on the chicken, predicting six more weeks of winter.

GENERAL BEAUREGARD LEE

When it comes to furry weather forecasters, few are more decorated than General Beauregard Lee of the Yellow River Game Ranch just outside Atlanta.

Beau predicted an early spring.

ESSEX ED

Last year when Essex Ed -- the groundhog at the Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange, N.J. -- overslept on Groundhog Day it was up to Otis the Hedgehog to fill in. 

According to county officials, an unusually warm December threw off Ed's hibernation schedule, causing him to oversleep. 

This year, Essex Ed woke up in time to predict six more weeks of winter.

What about weather from around the world?

Thanks to Sputniknews.com:

Russia celebrated Groundhog Day, too. However, Archi the groundhog in the Moscow zoo slept the whole day long and didn't make any forecasts. Zoo staff was not surprised: the animal did not wake up because the frosts were stronger than usual on this day.

At the Samara zoo, the groundhogs were also sound asleep, which means winter will last until the beginning of April.

Meanwhile, the Leningrad zoo cancelled the celebration of Groundhog Day as their marmot Frol suddenly died and there were no other furry forecasters in the zoo to replace him. (insert sad face here)

In Canada, two main four-legged forecasters, Ontario's Wiarton Willie and Nova Scotia's Shubenacadie Sam crawled out to predict an early spring.

As for Ukraine, the spring should be expected very soon, too: Timka the groundhog was awake and active at the Biological Station of Kharkov National University, but he didn't see his shadow.

WOW - who knew of all these characters?!
I almost feel like I too might have been napping in my own burrow...
NAHHH I was too busy traveling!

You maybe wondering why Americans, Canadians and others around the world turn to these furry rodents for weather predictions in the first place? 

According to History.com:
Falling midway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, February 2 is a significant day in several ancient and modern traditions. The Celts, for instance, celebrated it as Imbolc, a pagan festival marking the beginning of spring. As Christianity spread through Europe, Imbolc evolved into Candlemas, a feast commemorating the presentation of Jesus at the holy temple in Jerusalem. In certain parts of Europe, Christians believed that a sunny Candlemas meant another 40 days of cold and snow. Germans developed their own take on the legend, pronouncing the day sunny only if badgers and other animals glimpsed their own shadows. When German immigrants settled Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries, they brought the custom with them, choosing the native groundhog as the annual forecaster.

The first official Groundhog Day celebration took place on February 2, 1887, in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. It was the brainchild of local newspaper editor Clymer Freas, who sold a group of businessmen and groundhog hunters—known collectively as the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club—on the idea. The men trekked to a site called Gobbler’s Knob, where the inaugural groundhog became the bearer of bad news when he saw his shadow.

In other news...

While we are here wondering if spring will come early or not the French are busy enjoying La Chandeleur - 
a.k.a. Candlemas, a.k.a. a day dedicated to eating crêpes.
The Catholic religious holiday is exactly 40 days after Christmas, but it also has origins in an older pre-Christian holiday celebrating the harvest and marking the midway point of winter. On the same day as we recognize Groundhog Day. I personally would rather be eating crêpes!!!

Mmm these crêpes from Nesmon's Cafe are soooo good! (c)travelincousins.com

Dominic took another fencing class last night and if you noticed from recent pictures of him - he's lightened the top portion of hair on his head. All in plans of dying it - GREEN!

Dominic's new color (c)travelincousins.com

I love it!!!

Class time (c)travelincousins.com

Learning the basics (c)travelincousins.com

Well guys, I am almost finished with stage one of packing for all four of us. Yippie!
Hopefully I can move on to stage two today.

I've also got an IPC travel meeting later this evening for our August trip up to Idaho. I'll keep you posted.

Gonna head out now. Have a good one!
​-T