Updated Groundhog Day 2011, and it is right around the corner, as February has arrived, which means this low echelon holiday is right around the corner for us. Let me be straightforward here. When it comes to this low priority holiday, there are two opposing views, one of which holds this unheralded holiday to be one of the most, if not the most boring and least celebrated and recognized holidays that we have. I myself, am slightly partial to the holiday myself, and watch the movie with the same title on DVD every year to celebrate this unfestive event. For this holiday in 2011 there will, of course, be no exception to the watching of the Bill Murray classic movie to pass the time and enjoy a few laughs. After a few months of dreary winter weather we can look forward to the little varmint declaring that winter will soon be over, or we will have another 6 weeks of the dreary wintry weather to deal with, at least in theory. How accurate his forecast is remains to be seen, but taken in context, it does have some credibility as animals are better judges of their environment than we are I imagine. As it stands now, it seems as if the varmint Punxsutawney Phil will not be seeing his shadow this year, which means, according to legend, that we will have an early spring, but we can only hope this is the case!

In the real world, Punxsutawney, PA is the privileged home of Phil and of the holidays festivities of which this furry critter is at the center of attention. It is also the proud home to the “Punxsutawney Groundhog Club” which pays tribute and homage to Phil. And then there is the celebrated Bill Cooper, President of the “Inner Circle” of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, and is officially listed as the Groundhogese expert responsible for the direct and official translations from Groundhogese into English each and every Groundhog Day, just like the title name movie’s guru, Bill Murray. With this next statement we indeed are not kidding you, as the following comes from the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club itself, “Bill is officially the man in charge of the daunting task of translating Punxsutawney Phil and his message in Groundhog-ese on Gobbler’s Knob so that the forecast can be accurately delivered to Phil’s followers,” and weather forecasters around the nation, and in some instances, the world.

Whether or not you are a believer in this national uncelebrated holiday, enjoy. Maybe we can get them to give us the day off sometime in the future so we can all watch the infamous Phil appear from his hole, or just sit home and watch the movie. We should make this a national holiday, no mail, close everything and give us a break, as most of us have to wait till either Good Friday or Memorial Day to get a paid day off of work after the Christmas Season Holidays, and that is a long stretch for some of us hard workers. This would be a nice little break in between so we can all take a day off in between. So call your congressman today to get them to make this day a national holiday we can all enjoy, whether we celebrate it or not! Anyways, Happy Groundhog Day 2011 and enjoy, and we will be updating with Phil’s official message tomorrow by the way!