Hello bloggershere!  I'm finally here and "Baby It's Cold Outside!"  It's only 23° but it feels like 12°.

I was jumping with joy when Punxsutawney Phil didn't see his shadow today.  Please, Please, Please be right Punxsutawney Phil.  I am tired of this cold weather and my inner southern girl is ready for flip-flops and sundresses.

If I were not such a wimp in cold weather, I would travel the four hours to Punxsutawney, PA and join in the Groundhog Day festivities, which start at 7:28 a.m. On a Saturday morning, I'm still asleep at 7:30 a.m. and so is Punxsutawney Phil.  Poor Phil is woken up and he is taken out of his hole to forecast the weather. I would not be in a good mood if I was woken up and pulled out of my hole at 7:28 a.m. 

I am a curious person and when I want more information, I go into research mode so I turned to the Internet.  I wanted to know 

• Who is this Punxsutawney Phil?  
• Why does he get to predict the weather? 
• How did this Groundhog Day tradition start?  

I quickly found Punxsutawney Phil's website www.groundhog.org.  Groundhog Day is actually a centuries old tradition (I wouldn't have guessed that!).  I learned from Punxsutawney Phil's website, "The groundhog tradition stems from similar beliefs associated with Candlemas Day and the days of early Christians in Europe, and for centuries the custom was to have the clergy bless candles and distribute them to the people. Even then, it marked a milestone in the winter and the weather that day was important." (Groundhog Day History)  The site lists a part of an old English song, a Scottish couplet, and Scottish rhyme.  Most importantly, Phil's website tells the reader that early Pennsylvanians, mostly Germans, decided that the groundhog resembled the European Hedgehog and "if the sun did appear on February 2nd, so wise an animal as the groundhog would see it's shadow and hurry back into its underground home for another six weeks of winter."(Groundhog Day History) 

There you have it, ladies and gentlemen.  

I hope you liked my first post and I'm now going to curl up and watch the movie GroundHog Day, a perfect movie for February 2nd.