Reflections on the Seventh Week of Winter

      Groundhog Day? Already? Without weeks of snow, ice, and below freezing temperatures, February second surprised me.

    Emma's uncharacteristic behavior surprised me too. Before breakfast on Groundhog Day, I climbed to the loft for yoga. She, the cat who stays inside till toasty-warm end of spring, followed Spence outside when he fetched wood. She roamed the porch and deck. Did she see her shadow? After Spence let her in, I heard marching paws climb the spiral stairs. Continuing her strange behavior, she strutted under my downward-facing dog pose and head butted my breast then my knee. When I lunged over my crossed left leg, she moved to the side of the mat and butted my ribs. Unsuccessful in collecting pets, she lay on her side facing me, purred, and twitched the end of her tail.

    Back downstairs, I bundled into outdoor gear and surprised our other cat by cradling him in my arms. “We're going to look for our shadows.” George bleated what sounded like “no,” but I walked to the middle of West Creek Road with him wriggling in my arms. As if taking groundhog duties seriously, George settled and slowly swiveled his head back and forth. Frost covered grass, gardens, and pebbles in the driveway. A woodpecker called, a chickadee sang, and Deer Creek babbled in the valley. We didn't see a shadow. I carried the groundhog substitute back inside. “No shadow,” I said to Spence.

    “But the sun isn't up yet,” he said. “Of course you didn't see a shadow.”

Spence was right. We had clear skies, and, in our valley, the sun doesn't rise above hillside trees till mid morning.

    After exchanging Groundhog Day greetings with friends in England and taking a windy walk through woods accented by afternoon shadows, I did the math to verify the feeling that we'd had less than our usual share of winter. Of forty-four days, eighteen had below average temperatures and twenty-six had above. In the first half of winter, Wells Wood temperatures average 33.2º F (0.6ºC). This winter, we averaged 36.8º F (2.6º C). I extended the math check with firewood calculations. Folk lore says you need half your firewood left on February second.

February 2	Wood Cut	Wood Used	Wood Left
2015	2 ½ Cords	1 ½ Cords	1 Cord
2016	3 ½ Cords	¾ Cord	2 ¾ Cords

Last year Spence had less than half his wood left on February second. This year he had four-fifths.