Ground Hog Day
Antelope Valley
One of the strangest and most magical holidays of the year, Ground Hog Day, comes at the beginning of one of the strangest months, February.
This odd holiday, adorable for its quirkiness, features a rodent who can predict the weather. Winter will come sooner or later depending on whether a ground hog emerges from his hole to see his own shadow or sees nothing.
These are the fascinating details of ground hog day, rivaled in strangeness only by the egg-bearing rabbit of Easter.
In the Antelope Valley of southern California, we do not have a Puxatony Phil or any famous ground hogs. In fact, we don’t have ground hogs really. We have gophers. That didn’t stop Sagebrush Café from celebrating Ground Hog Day.
At the Quartz Hill coffee shop, free cookies were given away to each and every customer all day along with a “Happy Ground Hog Day” salutation. Door prizes were also given out. Greeting cards and coupons for free coffees and free lattes were waiting for the lucky customers to walk in at specified times.
Additionally, Sagebrush Café celebrated Ground Hog Day by hosting a good-old-fashioned coloring contest. The first entry posted inside the café was a tongue-in-cheek depiction of a ground hog as a gangster, tear-drop tattoos at his eyes and everything.
It was all for fun at Sagebrush Café. They didn’t explain why they were celebrating Ground Hog Day because no one asked. As of 2 o’clock in the afternoon, no one had taken up the owner’s challenge to dress up in a Ground Hog Day costume for free coffee.
What price, dignity? I think we’ve found an answer…
Punxatony Phil did see his shadow today, whichn supposedly suggests another six weeks of winter. But, as the Sagebrush Café owners said, what does he know? He’s only a ground hog meteorologist. He didn’t even go to college.
If the professional weather people can’t predict the weather 50% of the time, then how can we expect some untrained, superstitious rodent to do it?
Antelope Valley Arts 