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Yes, Sunday was not only Super Bowl Sunday, but it was Groundhog Day and Punxsutawney Phil, the world's most famous fuzzy forecaster, popped out of his burrow Sunday morning and predicted six more weeks of winter, much to the disappointment of the crowd gathered at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa. According to folklore, if it's cloudy when the groundhog emerges, the critter will leave his burrow, signifying that winter will soon end. If it's a sunny day, Phil will supposedly see his shadow and, frightened, retreat back into his burrow, and winter will continue for six more weeks. Phil emerged at 7:28 a.m. ET to the cheers of thousands of cheering fans who braved temperatures in the 30s to hear his prediction. Many wore knitted hats in the shape of groundhogs or had groundhog paw marks painted on their cheeks.
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Well, the six more weeks of winter this year probably wouldn't be any different than any other year except for the fact that we already have had three months of pretty bitter winter. I hear the Farmer's Almanac (which was pretty true to form about our winter thus far) says that we are to have a cold, wet spring. In March, we are supposed to have snow and cold, followed by warmer and rain, then followed by snow and snow showers and cold with the month ending with the final two weeks being sunny and cold then showers and warm. With the month ending with showers and warm we may just get the baseball season going "by mid April"!
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My buddy Ron Dentinger sends out some "good stuff" on email sometimes. Here's one little quip that reached me the other day and he had told this to me several times before.
"I was just listening to the CBS news coverage about the baby that was born in a car that was stranded on an Atlanta Expressway. It brought back memories of the first baby I delivered. That also was on the front seat of a car on Green Bay Ave in Milwaukee. It was 1 of 17 babies I delivered while riding the Milwaukee Police Department's ambulance."
Ron has had quite the experiences during his lifetime. He came here working for an insurance company and eventually managed the Don Q Inn Motel, was Dodgeville Chamber of Commerce Executive Director and "was run out of town" (just kidding) and sent to Dousman, Wisconsin. He is a professional master of ceremonies, commedian, entertainer and author - none of which he will probably admit to!
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The Dodgeville Chamber of Commerce honored a "good fellow" last week when Lowell "Duzie" Terrill was given the Governor Dodge Lifetime Achievement Award. I have known Duzie probably for as long as I can remember. He was at Strong's Bank for many years and most recently is part of Ameriprise Financial. The chamber banquet brought a lot of his relatives and friends out to the Dodger Bowl on a cold night to be there helping honor him. A lot of them can be seen in the above photo.
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I was doing some work at the Chronicle Sunday, but got to see parts of the first half of the Super Bowl while printing some forms. For the second half I went to Bob and Mary Kratochwill's house to join them along with Charlene Mingst and Jan Aschliman. They provided some very good snacks and main meal (I told them I only came for the food), but there was one drawback. Bob had gotten an apple pie from "My favorite bakery" - my late buddy's place and I was trying my darndest to eloquently pass on eating any of it, but Bob (being the good host he is) brought me a piece with some ice cream. It was a good thing he added the ice cream so I could "choke" it down!