Weatherman

Listen while you read:https://youtu.be/6EecUGOngvM

Predictions show a steady low
You're feeling just the same
But seasons come and seasons go
I'll make you smile again

If you don't believe me
Take me by the hand
Can't you feel you're warming up?
Yeah, I'm your weatherman

~  Delbert McClinton

First off . . . this one is for Gene!  You asked for Delbert McClinton, and here he is!

If the song/lyrics sound familiar to you, it is likely because you saw the 1992 Bill Murray film Groundhog Day.  And since today is Groundhog Day, it was an appropriate song choice, right?  Funny that I should be acknowledging that from my winter home in Florida, but old habits die hard, don't they?

As for groundhogs, I could do without them.  I am a gardener, and groundhogs can do as much damage in a garden as grubs or Japanese beetles or the scary tomato hornworms.  And I have battled all of them.  Last summer was my first war with groundhogs, though.  I managed to snag four of them in my catch-and-release trap over the course of the summer.  (Only one of them died in captivity.)  Nasty, nasty critters.  But being the humanitarian (animaltarian?) that I am, I relocated my prisoners to another location instead of murdering them.  Contemporary wisdom says to relocate them six miles away, so I was obedient to that rule.  On a mountaintop between the New Jersey and New York state border, I released my captives into the woods.  And yes, when the next groundhog found its way into my trap, I did wonder if it could be the same one that I'd just released the week before.  Someone suggested I spray the groundhog's tail with red paint before relocating it, and then I'd know.  I will keep that in mind for this coming gardening season.

But I digress.

They say it's gone, say winter's done
That don't mean a thing
'Cause I'm the one that moves the sun
For you I'd turn it into spring

"I'm the one that moves the sun"?  And you thought I'd avoided a political post!  "I am the only one who can fix this!"  Sound familiar?  Just ask the weatherman.

To my friends in the North, Happy Groundhog Day!  I hope Punxsutawney Phil delivers!