Countdown to Spring

I’m a little miffed with Punxsutawney Phil right now. According to him, there’s more winter ahead. Well I’m a real Wimp when it comes to cold weather, and that is Wimp with a capital W. I don’t know why this is. The only explanation I can come up with is that I’m just innately sensitive to cold temperatures. In case you’re thinking that I need to wear more layers of clothing, which is what everyone tells me, I can say with certainty that’s not it. I normally have 4 to 5 thick layers on when I’m inside, and it makes no difference. The cold just seeps through all of them. It settles right in, and once it’s made a stand, it’s not backing down for anything.

I’ve come to understand that, unlike me, there are actually quite a few people in this world who like cold weather, even choosing of their own free will to live in cold climates. I find this astonishing. I’ve always been amazed that the truly frigid parts of this planet are populated with actual human beings who have the freedom to move if they were so inclined, yet they stay put, choosing to brave the elements. I wouldn’t last five minutes in a place like that. Once the thermometer dips below 50°, I’m counting the days until spring. I’m with the bears on this. I could easily hibernate all winter.

But hibernation is obviously out of the question, so I decided to do some checking on this especially chilly morning to see what Punxsutawney Phil’s track record looks like. Turns out that know-it-all did indeed see his shadow last Groundhog Day, allegedly indicating six more weeks of winter, but he’s not anywhere near as accurate as he would have us believe. I discovered that although many consider this method of weather forecasting to be highly scientific, Punxsutawney Phil is correct only 39% of the time, so I’m going to take this whole shadow spotting thing as a good sign. Phil is probably just taunting us anyway. I bet he doesn’t like the cold either.