Punxsutawney Phil Predicts Early Spring

[rebeccajo 14]

Six more weeks of winter.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22963448?GT1=10856

[Mags 112]

Six more weeks of winter.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22963448?GT1=10856

[buckeye6976 0]

"Buckeye Chuck" didn't see his shadow today and predicts an early Spring as did Gen. Beauregard Lee in Lilburn.

[rebeccajo 14]

Six more weeks of winter.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22963448?GT1=10856

Happy dance?

I can see you've acclimated nicely........

[PlatyPius 5]

I hate winter.

But I love beaver.

Never had ground hog... Well, there was this one time at a party...... What was her name?.....

[Mags 112]

Six more weeks of winter.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22963448?GT1=10856

Happy dance?

I can see you've acclimated nicely........

My work colleagues all think I'm insane because when it's cold I talk about how much I love it. Y'know, the nostrils sticking together stuff, the snow stuff, etc

[Kazan' Tiger 1]

Reminds me, I have to watch "Groundhog Day" tonight. It's an annual tradition! Actually, one of my favourite films!

[Mags 112]

Reminds me, I have to watch "Groundhog Day" tonight. It's an annual tradition! Actually, one of my favourite films!

I love that film too. Apparently the director was interviewed a while back and said that Phil Connors was stuck in Punxsutawney, reliving that day, for roughly 22 years.

[Kazan' Tiger 1]

Wow! I had guessed less. But to be fluent in French, become a doctor, play the piano with that sort of precision, and everything else, it coud have taken that long for sure!

Reminds me, I have to watch "Groundhog Day" tonight. It's an annual tradition! Actually, one of my favourite films!

I love that film too. Apparently the director was interviewed a while back and said that Phil Connors was stuck in Punxsutawney, reliving that day, for roughly 22 years.

[eric&gen 0]

Stupid why do they make a big deal for an over sized rat kids stuff.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

WEll our week of winter seems to be over in Southern California - back in the 60s the past few days

[PlatyPius 5]

Stupid why do they make a big deal for an over sized rat kids stuff.

Because "stupid kids stuff" like that reminds us that we aren't dead and that we don't exist just to work.

[eric&gen 0]

No Early Spring,

Says Groundhog1 of 5 Punxsutawney Phil didn't like what he saw outside his stump: the rodent predicts six more weeks of winter, according to his handlers.

The rodent was pulled from his stump by members of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club Inner Circle, top-hat- and tuxedo-wearing businessmen who carry out the tradition.

Each Feb. 2, thousands of people descend on Punxsutawney, a town of about 6,100 people about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, to celebrate what essentially had been a German superstition.

The Germans believed that if a hibernating animal cast a shadow on Feb. 2 - the Christian holiday of Candlemas - winter would last another six weeks. If no shadow was seen, legend said spring would come early.

Since 1887, Phil has seen his shadow 97 times, hasn't seen it 15 times, and there are no records for nine years, according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club.

An estimated 30,000 people gathered for this year's festivities - about twice the number of people who attended last year, said Marlene Lellock, director of Punxsutawney's Chamber of Commerce.

The turnout was particularly large because Groundhog Day fell on a Saturday this year, she said. The event was last held on a Saturday in 2002.

Fireworks burst overhead and high school students wearing colorful shirts danced onstage as part of the celebration at Gobbler's Knob, the natural amphitheater where the ceremony takes place. Three couples also got engaged onstage.

Organizers introduced exchange students from Germany, Brazil, Thailand, China and Iceland to the crowd and led revelers in singing "Happy Birthday" for people born Feb. 2.

Dan Whitcomb, who traveled from Boston and wore a top hat and tuxedo similar those of Phil's handlers, joined two friends - one also dressed as a handler and the other costumed as Punxsutawney Phil.

"We wanted to see the great Puxsutawney Phil, and we're tired of winter," he said.

Some members of the crowd held signs, including one that read, "Scotland Loves Phil." Another carried a political message, with the names Obama and Clinton crossed out and "Phil For President" written in.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

That's odd. In my region the news reported he saw his shadow and predicted six more weeks of winter. Maybe they just put the wrong story out there?

[Amby 490]

Six more weeks of winter.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22963448?GT1=10856

Happy dance?

I can see you've acclimated nicely........

My work colleagues all think I'm insane because when it's cold I talk about how much I love it. Y'know, the nostrils sticking together stuff, the snow stuff, etc

mags the first winter I was in London I had lived in Los Angeles before and hadn't been in the cold for a few years so we were standing outside the restaurant waiting for someone to get there with a key and I was telling these guys that it was the coldest I have ever been in my life. One was from Iceland and the other from Sweden they thought I was insane. Guess it wasn't that cold