Groundhog Club co-handler Ron Ploucha holds the weather predicting groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, after the club said Phil did not see his shadow and there will be an early spring, on Groundhog Day Saturday in Punxsutawney, Pa. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
How lucky we are here in the Northwest. Although we are breaking our backs and our ankles slipping on ice and shoveling snow, at least our experience is real. A couple of days ago my granddaughters who live in sunny Southern California brought home this notice from their school: "Thursday is Pretend Snow Day. Please bring jackets, mittens, scarves and whatever you want to wear." Pity those poor little Southern California kids who are so deprived of what winter is really like that they have to have a pretend snow day. I bet the falsity of it all makes them want to ditch their snow boots as soon as school is over and head off to the beach with their surfboards just to forget. Meanwhile I am chipping away at the 3-inch sheet of ice that has settled behind my back door like a glacier, all the while thinking about having my own pretend sun day. I'll dress in shorts and a tank top, slip on my flip flops and sit outside on the patio in my iced-over lawn chair with a gin and tonic until hypothermia starts to set in/Kathy Hedberg, Lewiston Tribune. More here.
D.F. (Dave) Oliveria joined The Spokesman-Review in 1984. He currently is a columnist and compiles the Huckleberries Online blog and writes about North Idaho in his Huckleberries column.
granddaughters who live in sunny Southern California brought home this notice from their school: "Thursday is Pretend Snow Day. Please bring jackets, mittens, scarves and whatever you want to wear." Pity those poor little Southern California kids who are so deprived of what winter is really like that they have to have a pretend snow day. I bet the falsity of it all makes them want to ditch their snow boots as soon as school is over and head off to the beach with their surfboards just to forget. Meanwhile I am chipping away at the 3-inch sheet of ice that has settled behind my back door like a glacier, all the while thinking about having my own pretend sun day. I'll dress in shorts and a tank top, slip on my flip flops and sit outside on the patio in my iced-over lawn chair with a gin and tonic until hypothermia starts to set in/Kathy Hedberg, Lewiston Tribune. More here.
