Punxsutawney Putz

Hey, when you think of Groundhog Day, what comes to mind?

Bill Murray?

Or this little guy?

At this time of year you probably think of the little ball of fur. But any other time, I'm sure it's the movie, starring Bill Murray that comes to mind. And that's fine. I'm with you. After all, the damn little rodent is a poseur. Yep, that's right, everybody thinks he knows what he's doing but it turns out he's wrong more than he's right. Here's what the day is all about...

But a Canadian study (leave it to those Canucks) conducted over 30 to 40 years showed that for nearly two-thirds of those years the groundhogs' forecasts turned out to be wrong. That's right, either they were contrary to what they should have been, or winter dragged on its normal duration. Groundhogs across the nation had a dismal record of being right about 37% of the time. For shame. No wonder they've been the subject of ridicule.

And look at the names they've been given. Ohio's Buckeye Chuck. Georgia's General Beauregard Lee. Alabama's Smith Lake Jake. New York's Staten Island Chuck. North Carolina's Sir Walter Wally. And of course the most well known: Punxsutawney Phil. Silly, Silly. But Canada is not without shame. We have our share of weird wolly woodchucks: Balzac Billy from Alberta. Shubenacadie Sam of Nova Scotia. And, of course, our answer to Phil, Wiarton Willy, just outside our nation's capital, Ottawa.

Given their woeful record of prognostication, being held up to riducule and their alliterated assinine monikers, my money's on another Phil - Phil Connors. Now, that man was accurate!

My Back Pages - October

Well, folks, I read seven (count 'em) seven books in October. One I didn't finish but even at that I hit the magic number 50 I estimated for myself by the end of the year. The six books I successfully waded through were, firstly, What Happened, Hillary Clinton's book on her bid for the Presidency. I''m a bit of a political junkie so I get off on this stuff but still it kinda struck me as one long whine over losing. Next up was the excellent Canyon of Dreams: The Magic and Music of Laurel Canyon. Laurel Canyon was the fabled area outside of Los Angeles where many musicians and artists lived. Known as a 60s enclave, the book takes a look at just who lived there over the last 80 years. A fascinating read. Next up was Lightfoot, a biography of Canadian folk singer Gordon Lightfoot. He may have been responsible for some iconic folk songs but he was also quite the womanizer and boozer. Enough said. Then I read Dan Brown's new tome Origin, the fifth ...

The Polka Dot Door

A long time ago, when I was 22, my first child was born. That kid grew up on a little Canadian kid's show called Polka Dot Door, produced by the TV Ontario network. And Dad, more often than not, sat through those shows with his little one. Nine or so years later when a brother, and a year after that when a sister came along number one son was moving on to Knight Rider and The Dukes of Hazzard. But there was a nice overlap where his siblings picked up where he had left off with Polka Dot Door. And Dad was right there to welcome them. So you're looking at a Polka Dot Door veteran. The show began in 1971 and ran to 1993. I didn't watch the full run but I did get in my fair share. The formula was pretty simple. A young male and female host, which seemed to change every week, sang songs, told stories, made crafts and generally did their best stimulate little brains. The show opened as follows... Imagination Day! Oh boy! ...

30 Days of Photos III #4 Sour

Check out Ziva's Inferno for the rest of today's photos.

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