Punxsutawney Phil's Shadow

[We will post our own pictures later this afternoon. This picture is from the AP. Yep, we are in the background, right above the guy's hat. Good thing he didn't cover us up.]

This morning we embraced a bitter--and early--winter morning in Central Pennsylvania (16 degrees) in an effort to see Punxsutawney Phil and hear his prediction on whether or not we will have an early spring.

We rolled out of bed at 3:45 a.m. and piled on layers of clothing. Within two hours we were in Punxsutawney, Pa. We followed our directions flawlessly, which was very unlike ourselves, and found parking in town near the railroad tracks next to the Country Store. Then we were loaded on a school bus. A mile and a half later, at 6:30 a.m., we arrived at Gobbler's Knob where we, along with 10,000 other individuals, awaited the annual debut of Punxsutawney Phil. As we stepped off the bus we were just in time to see the early morning fireworks show. It was spectacular. I love fireworks! Typically when fireworks go off the sky grows darker, but this time the sky grew lighter. It was great.

Through all of our layers of clothing, the cold didn't really affect us. In fact, Richard and I both felt very comfortable being outside. We had a great time taking pictures with my phone (my camera battery was dead, so we couldn't use it) and awaiting the anticipated announcement.

As you can imagine, when it was announced that Phil saw his shadow, and we will have to endure six more weeks of winter, the crowd was a little disappointed. But Richard and I are both excited that at least we ONLY have to ensure winter six more weeks--YIPPIE!

After the announcement we worked our way through the departing crowd to get a closer look at Phil. By the time we were near him they put him back in his cage. So we took a couple more pictures and then headed over to a huge bonfire where we warmed our hands. Instead of taking the bus back into town we decided to enjoy a brisk morning walk. It was nice to spend time together outside.

Once in town we walked around some booths and explored a souvenir shop. Throughout the city they have a number of statuesque groundhogs, which are painted and posed differently. It would be quite interesting to get a map of all the groundhog statues in Punxsutawney. I wonder if someone has put this together. If not, someone should. My favorite statue was the fireman groundhog at the fire station.

Interestingly enough, by the end of the morning my shoulders were sore from the weight of all the clothes I were wearing. On our ride home we stopped at a donut shop for some donuts and hot chocolate. By 11:30 a.m. Richard was heading back into work and I was getting ready for a nap. I hope he has a great day!

Phil's Forecast
Around 7:25 a.m. the inner circle brought Phil out of his little cage that was inside a make-shift tree stump. They identified his shadow and read his official forecast:

Hear Ye Hear Ye Hear Ye

On Gobbler's Knob on this glorious Groundhog Day, February 2nd, 2010, Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of all Prognosticators awoke to the call of President Bill Deeley and greeted his handlers, John Griffiths and Ben Hughes.

After casting a joyful eye towards thousands of his faithful followers, Phil proclaimed, "If you want to know next, you must read my text. As the sky shines bright above me, my shadow I see beside me. So six more weeks of winter it will be."

The Church Building

During our walk into Punxsutawney, we passed a church building right next to Gobbler's Knob that looked very similar to many of the houses of worship built by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We tried to make out the name on the Church and decided that it just couldn't be one of our Church buildings. But then we noticed a sign near the street that identified the Church's name. It was one of our church buildings. We were so excited. Although most of you reading this will find our excitement quite odd, what you don't know is that finding a church building that belongs to our church in Central Pennsylvania is rare. There are so many different congregations and church buildings out here that we are not accustom to finding or having a place of worship nearby. It was a wonderful sight and perhaps what some would call a tender
mercy.

Panic & Desire
Near Punxsutawney we saw some signs directing us to a couple towns with very unique names. Panic and Desire were the names of the towns. :) Now those are cities you don't hear about every day.