WHO GIVES A SHIT?

...ok maybe that's a bit harsh. But seriously, folks, of all the silly nonsense traditions that have existed, and then unexisted in America, why does this one persist?

I am currently taking up residence in the Santa Barbara area, and we haven't had a single rainy day this year.

So the groundhog says six more weeks of winter. Well DUH! If I were a burrowing furry creature who lived in PENNSYLVANIA all year, and someone asked me in February -- while there's snow everywhere -- how much longer the winter would last, of course I'd be a pessimistic little rat-thing and say "yeesh, this winter's never gunna end!" Now, I don't think we have too many groundhogs down here in sunny sorta-SoCal, but something tells me that if we did, their meteorological predictions would be quite a bit more optimistic.

So to you groundhogs, woodchucks, whatever the heck you're called: Please, stick to chuckin wood. That's your thing.

Nevertheless, um, happy Groundhog Day!