A tsunami of activity is underway.
Can't be seen.  Not discussed.
Funding is hidden in something called a "Stimulus."
Intelligence has been reworked, missions rabidly deployed.
Right now nobody is missing George Bush more than some guy named Osama.
Will it be weeks? Or months?  Moving is such a pain in the ass.
Squeeze the women and kiss the kids...
It's time to make one's peace with Allah.

Now, it seems, I only visit Xanga on the holidays: Groundhog's Day last time and Valentine's Day now.  So what's the next holiday?...President's Day on Monday.  Damn, I'm practically on a roll...

I actually was on a roll last Saturday.  My SUV rolled over and over and down into an Ohio country ditch and proclaimed 4 wheels to the sky while inside gas started to drip on me and blood dripped from me.  Coming to a stop upside-down, I took one moment to celebrate my core-life, still intact, and then righted myself and climbed up out of the broken passenger window and into open air.  Out and looking back in through the broken window, I realized the vehicle was still running with my keys in the ignition.  So I climbed back in to terminate the internal (and possible source of external) combustion, retrieved my keys, and climbed out again.  Out for a second time, I realized that yet another set of keys (to the country log cabin) - that I had deposited in a cup tray - had been thrown somewhere inside about.   So I climbed in again, searched, and found them.  And again climbed back out.  At that point, nearly completely battered, exhausted, and confused, I walked away....

One week later, no, I'm NOT okay -- I'm still dripping blood onto the keyboard.  Just kidding.  I'm not that sloppy.  I'm dripping neatly into collector basins for resale to vampires.

I've already settled with the insurance company.  Now it's time to find a new ride.  And heal.

A few simple Groundhog questions:

Why does light bring continued darkness?
And darkness, supposed light?

On February 2nd we find the coincidence of many holidays: the Christian Candlemas (Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary) Day, the modern Groundhog's Day, the pagan celebrations of rebirth (Imbolc and Oimelc), and St Brigit's Day (Ireland). And they're all related! There's a re-aligned tie-in, too, of the Roman holiday of Lupercalia (modern St. Valentine's Day) since the Feast of Purification and Groundhog' Day were celebrated by the Eastern Orthodox calendar and some Ozark folks on Feb. 14th , and many pagans consider the current Candlemas Day (Feb. 2), the Feast of Lights, to be a pagan version of St. Valentine's Day anyways. So confusing! (For a stunning analysis of the all these intricate holiday tie-ins, check out Candlemas: The Light Returns)

But back to riddle at hand....

According to an old English song:

If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Come, Winter, have another flight;
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Go Winter, and come not again.

According to an old Scotch couplet:

If Candlemas Day is bright and clear,
There'll be twa (two) winters in the year.

Why so? Because Candlemas day is a cross-quarter day in the pagan calendar, six weeks between the solstices and equinoxes. And according to pagan beliefs, the cross-quarter days can be used as 'inverse' weather predictors, whereas the normal quarter-days are used as 'direct' weather predictors.

So face it: Punxsutawney Phil is a pagan (naughty groundhog pagan!) utilizing the presence (or absence) of sunshine to create a detectable shadow (or not) from which he inversely makes a prediction! No sunshine, (no shadow), winter's at an end! But sunshine (and shadow), six weeks more does dismality send!