Mixed Signals from Groundhogs

It's hard to know which rodents to believe these days....particularly during the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries south of the border. But I digress. The Canadian groundhogs couldn't appear to agree on whether spring would come early or not....though it was never clear whether they were asked if winter had actually come yet.

Some said early spring. Some said more winter. Poor Winnipeg Willow out in Manitoba was so anxious about being the tie-breaker that she up and died, mere days before prognosticating.

Winter showed up about a week into January, after a green Christmas and New Year's. Then it went away again, with temperatures climbing to a ridiculous 20 C for a few days in late January. Great excuse for yardwork and barbecue.

As of this entry on February 9th, it just began to snow again today, and winter appears to be returning. Jane has predicted six more weeks of winter, and decided to stay in Chatham tonight with friends, rather than risk sleeping at the Tim Horton's in Tilbury again in a whiteout. To be fair, she did grow up near Wiarton, so maybe some Willy rubbed off on her.

Winter finally arrived in mid-January....

....and promptly left again

Momma Pook is not amused

OK, maybe she's a little amused

Spring by February?

I've got no beef with that!