So today is Groundhog Day and despite its German/American origins Canadians have also got 3 weather predicting rodents. In Nova Scotia there is Shubenacadie (pronounced ['ʃuːbə'nækədiː] hope that helps) Sam, out on the prairies there is Winnipeg Willow and our local groundhog is Wiarton Willie up on Georgian Bay.
Here are today's predictions...
Shubenacadie Sam saw his shadow so winter will continue for a further 6 weeks.
At the 3 day festival in his honour (there's not much to do up there in the winter) Wiarton Willie came out so Spring is on its way, although apparently his record is not good (37 percent correct) so who knows.
Winnipeg Willow went to a Mountain Equipment Corporation to make her prediction, I hope she got free snow boots and a tent for her promotional efforts, and also predicted an early spring.
Reading about Groundhog Day has been disappointing as I can find nothing to suggest that some sort of magic makes the day happen over and over again so I cannot use this as a tool for behaviour manipulation with the children, I would have to watch the film to figure it out and I'm not sure I could bear it. I did discover that it is Candlemas Day which is the mid point between the shortest day and the Spring Equinox and traditionally considered to be the middle of winter, obviously this explains why you need to turn to 'wiley, furry prognosticators' (todays Globe and Mail) to find out how much more snow is on its way.
Which leads me to how grateful I am that today my vocabulary has been enriched by the word 'prognosticate' which is apparently what groundhogs do. What a great word, I prognosticate that I shall be finding ways of slipping it into everyday use over the next little while until it drives Tom and the children absolutely bonkers.
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