Saturday is Groundhog Day. I have no problems with the dirt-dwelling-climate-Nostradamus. I fully understand that out in Punxsutawney, it is more about profit than prophet, anyway.
However, there is a weather person here at KMBC who has serious Groundhog issues.
This person really lets the little critter get under his/her skin. He/she is not alone. There are other folks who do weather, out there, who feel somehow threatened by this buck-toothed prognosticator or jealous of the rodent’s one day in the sun or shade, as the case may be. I say, when it comes to weather-guessing we need all the help we can get!
For example, the late, great Betty-Cam, of FirstNews fame, had achy knees and elbows that were more accurate about predicting rain or snow than any of our big-buck computers or radar. Her personal joints were better than our weather joint.
So, bring on the Groundhog and, for that matter, the hedgehog and beaver and badger and mole (for small meteorological changes) and armadillo and bilby and ferret and gerbil and hamster and shrew and, if he’s not too busy with his tongue-twister, the woodchuck.
This is a hedgehog.
The toothy soothsayer also came up during one of the Johnson County Community College classes I teach. (Yes, the fact that I am allowed to be a teacher, is a major indictment of this nation’s educational commitment to excellence!)
Because I teach in the evenings, I have, occasionally had students older than myself. Less often, lately. One of my first classes had a woman, old enough to be my grandmother, who had no interest in a career change to broadcasting. She actually detested TV and radio and wanted to find out why such messes existed, at all.
Once she came into class totally disgusted with a story she had seen on the news the night before. It was a ridiculous segment about Groundhog’s Day. She went on and on about what a waste of valuable time the story was and how it did nothing to educate or enlighten!
”The reporter was ignorant and, frankly, rather homely.”
Oh, she hated that story and felt it exemplified everything wrong with the media, today.
You know the punch-line. It was a story I had done.
Nothing she said really hurt my feelings. Well, the “homely” part seemed a little mean. I was big about it, though, and as it turned out, she got an “A” in the class, because she was a very good writer and did all the assignments well and on-time. As I told the authorities at the time, I had no knowledge about the stuffed groundhog’s head that ended up in the backseat of her car.
Joel; you have us rolling on the floor. Thanks for starting our day off on a very happy note. May the Groundhogs be with you!!