Pardon-Me-Pete

Well, it's Groundhog Day! Again! And this time around we decided to stay home once again. Madison was sick yesterday, and Mommy and Daddy needed the rest with a busy weekend ahead of us. Next year, we decided things would be a little more ideal - and Madison might actually have a clue what's going on! Until then, she has her groundhog doll (from Build-A-Bear), and she actually watched "Jack Frost" again - the movie hosted by Pardon-Me-Pete, the groundhog who can give an accurate forecast for the next six weeks.This year, it's anybody's guess as to when winter will end. The snow further north has been crippling for much of the nation, although this last storm we've missed out on the white stuff.

It's been a busy church day, filled with activity. Daddy did pretty much the whole service for the kids this evening, so there was a lot of planning. It was good to see Mommy and Madison visit for dinner. We went to Chick-Fil-A and had a nice sit-down meal, where we could enjoy each other's company. Afterwards, we went and did a pre-purchase of the upcoming Veggie Tales video: they had a deal where you can get two more DVDs for free. We now have a LOT of Veggie Tales movies for Madison. This is great because she really likes them.

Last night, Mommy and Daddy watched "Groundhog Day" again, this time with the director's commentary. We've watched that movie so many times - once a year for the last twelve years or so. It is quite a tradition, watching it on Groundhog Day each year. Daddy remembers first watching it at Ba-Ba and Nana's old house. Mommy and Daddy were just starting to see each other, and not married yet. That was some time ago, before we even got a DVD player, actually. That's right, we watched it on VHS. Talk about OLD!

Time sure does fly. Makes you appreciate every minute. Speaking of which, here's a classic image below:

That's what time Madison crawled into bed with us this morning! The movie "Groundhog Day" is all about time. Perhaps that is one reason for the blog - we capture all the time that races by. This morning, Madison was with her groundhog, peeking out to see if there was any shadow. Here's another classic image:

The official record from our house this morning: no shadow. That's also the report from Punxsutawney Phil and General Beauregard Lee, the northern groundhog and his counterpart south of the Mason Dixon Line. What that means is this: Spring is on the way. We'll see how accurate they are this year. All the groundhogs boast of great accuracy records, more so than most weather forecasters. Still, this year has been a funny one with the weather. We've had a lot of cold, and the most snow this area has seen in many, many years.

But we're hoping the groundhog is right. As Phil Conners would say, "Winter, slumbering in the open air, wears on its smiling face a dream... of spring. Ciao."

"This is one time where television really fails to capture the true excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather."

- Phil Conners