groundhog day and wild animals

in case you were unaware, punxsutawney phil saw his shadow, which means we will have 6 more weeks of winter. in the process of obtaining this information, i happened upon a very informative website about phil, which taught me the following random facts:

1. Punxsutawney Phil is the only true weather forecasting groundhog. The others are just impostors. [sorry Birmingham Bill, apparently you are a fake!]

2. There has only been one Punxsutawney Phil. He has been making predictions for over 120 years! He gets his longevity from drinking the "elixir of life," a secret recipe. Phil takes one sip every summer at the Groundhog Picnic and it magically gives him seven more years of life.

3. After Phil emerges from his burrow on February 2, he speaks to the Groundhog Club president in "Groundhogese"(a language only understood by the current president of the Inner Circle). His proclamation is then translated for the world.

when i was in the 3rd grade, we lived in Pittsburgh, PA (but BOO STEELERS -- all of my family is from Philadelphia -- big rivalry!). Punxsutawney was one of my spelling words, and I will ever remain loyal to the creepy little all-knowing meterologist rodent.

in other random animal news, i got henry to take me to the zoo on sunday! unfortunately, the birmingham zoo is in a sad state at the moment. many of the animals were "hibernating" [you can't fool me, i know alligators don't hibernate!] and the zoo itself was in somewhat disrepair. in any case, we got a few good shots of the animals that were out. it was a beautiful day too!


spectacled langurs


who you lookin' at?


well-trained sea lion


new arrivals: sleepy kangaroos!


what a fun afternoon!