Happy GHD!!

System

Yes, he saw his shadow! Six more weeks of winter. Don't let that depress you. Watch the movie instead. Hey! Shouldn't we be paying double-time and a half to employees working today? Isn't that in FLSA somewhere? SOMEWHERE? I'm going for coffee. I'll be better soon.

Parabeaglex2

Sounds like you're already hitting the coffee pretty hard, Sam. Y'know, those Starbucks drinks have 57% more caffeine in 'em than the office coffee... x;-)

ray a

Hey Sam, has your snow melted yet?

Whatever

However, Staten Island Chuck didn't see his shadow. But then again, he's from Staten Island (if you're from New York you will understand that this is a truthful but derogatory comment).

DeidreFR5

Our groundhog didn't see his shadow - his hole is still buried under two feet of snow. So spring should be here in six weeks, but I don't think winter will have left.

Don D

General Beauregard Lee is a groundhog in Alabama or Georgia, I think. He did not see his shadow this morning. These guys are just like two legged weather persons. No two of them agree on any given day. x:-) I have exactly 3/4 of a cord of wood left. So, I want winter to last about 5 more weeks.

HRCalico

Don, my hubby and I were trying to figure out the other day - just how much wood is in a cord?

Shadowfax

a cord is 128 cubic feet, usually a pile of wood 8 feet long by 4 feet high by 4 feet wide. I have a bit more left than Don, but then , it's probably a lot colder here than in Ms.

HRCalico

Thanks, Shadowfax. My next step is to convert wood to corn, to see how much we're saving by using our corn stove! I have a feeling those calculations will involve funny, fuzzy math. Anything is better than figuring attendance . . . except that also seems to involve fuzzy math some days. #-o

HRinNH

My mom told me that the moment the poor guy came out of his hole (Phil) he was picked up and showed off in front of lights and cameras. He was so scared that he peed all over the ruffian. Then they declared that he saw his shadow.

Whirlwind

> He
>was so scared that he peed all over the ruffian.


I'm sure he needed to go pretty bad after hibernating for a couple of months.

HRinNH

LOL...didn't think of it that way. I know I can't go the whole morning without a bio break. Poor little guy!

Cheryl C.

Parabeaglex2

What a great Forum! Where else can you talk about rodent bodily functions and learn so much, all at the same time?

Don D

He peed all over the ruffian? What would the kinfolks of the ruffian think? And what is a ruffian anyway? And why would you pee on him? I think that old fat fart holding him up on television is the one who appeared to need to go take a leak. The poor woodchuck just wanted to grab a bite to eat and chill.

HRinNH

ruffian:

n : a cruel and brutal fellow [syn: bully, tough, hooligan, roughneck, rowdy, yob, yobo, yobbo] or, as Don said, Old Fart.

Don D

Did you know the average life span of a woodchuck is three years? That only gives him three tries to get it right, then they shovel him under. I kept hoping he would take a bite out of that guy's wrist! Who wants to be held out, belly first, for an extended period of time with a TV camera in your face?

Whatever

Paris Hilton?

Whirlwind

x:D

Don D

I said FACE!

Whatever

In that case, I'll update my answer to Janet Jackson (but only within the past year).

HRQ

We don't really have a winter season in Phoenix anyway...
-HRQ

PHOENIX: Phoenix Phil, Arizona's official groundhog, was buried alive beneath a recently constructed K Mart parking lot. Therefore, he did not appear on Groundhog Day and forecast the weather by looking for his shadow.

"That groundhog, he was a gonner," explained Governor Janet Napolitano.

"There is no precedent for the groundhog not showing up," said Arizona State Senator John Dumbreak, "so we don't know what this means for sure." Dumbreak introduced legislation to designate Randy the Rattlesnake as the official February 2nd weather prognosticator for Arizona. The legislation was passed in emergency session.

"Problem is, rattlesnakes don't have a shadow,"noted the Governor, "but irrationality and misinformation has never stopped the state legislature from passing stupid laws."

Baja Arizona neo-luddites were thrilled at the news that Phoenix's groundhog ended up beneath six inches of asphalt.

"Maybe, in retribution, God will punish their progress-mad leaders and bury Phoenix under 3 feet of snow," commented Ned Ludlight, local luddite leader.

"More likely they'll end up with 12 more years of summer," quipped Joe Sam, our foreign correspondent and statutory agent.

Frightened Phoenix Chamber of Commerce officials frantically dug in the parking lot until well after dawn on the 2nd, hoping that the groundhog could be found.

K Mart officials were not amused at having their parking lot torn up.

"Using a rattlesnake as our February 2nd weather critter doesn't send the right message out about Arizona" explained Sonja Sellem, with the Phoenix Chamber.

The rattlesnake appeared at dawn, and bit a television news anchor on the ankle. Film at 10.

Memorial services for Phil were held in the parking lot.

HRCalico

OK, I'm a calico-cat-owning, Volkswagon-driving, plant-eating, tree-hugging sort of girl, but the first thing I thought of was - he's a GROUNDHOG. He'll dig another way out!

Can't wait to see the film on the snake bite. Will that affect his new weather prognosticator status?

Thanks for the laugh!

Shadowfax

HRCalico converting wood into corn? Is that anything like water into wine? Baptists into Catholic? Are you actually shovelling corn into the stove and burning it? What is the BTU of a bushel of corn? I think there are something like 2150 cubic inches in a bushel (sound right?) divide that into the 128 cu ft in a cord and no one will care whether your burning corn - they'll just think yer drinkin it. I guess either way it keeps you warm.

Don D

I think that sounds about right, although I'll have to read it twice in the morrow to know fer sure. Calico, keep yer cats away from Chinese restaurants and any place that advertises hot tamales.

HRCalico

Ack!!!

My hubby found this somewhere (in a magazine, I think)

Corn Fuel Calculator
1 Gallon #2 fuel oil = 22 lbs of shelled corn
1,000,000 BTU of natural gas = 170 lbs of shelled corn
1 Gallon of propane = 15 lbs of shelled corn
1 full cord of firewood = 2,800 lbs of shelled corn
1,000 KWH of electricity = 635 lbs of shelled corn

I think two, five-gallon buckets of corn will heat the house for 24 hours on a cold day. If it is not a cold day, we have to shut the stove down 'cause it's too hot! (I don't know what that converts to . . .)

I'm wishing I was home in front of my corn stove - we were stuck in the Kansas City area yesterday trying to fly out (hubby is also a pilot) and we came home to a few inches of snow and it's coming down pretty good this morning. As I was turning off the highway to come to work this AM, I was keeping a wary eye on the semi behind me. He stopped OK but the car behind him was going way too fast for the conditions and I saw him do a 180 at a high rate of speed right into the ditch. I think he was OK as long as he didn't hit the semi on his way by!

Speaking of the white stuff, I heard some parts of Nevada got buried. Anybody heard from Marc lately?

ray a

Yes, Marc told me the other day they got a couple feet of heavy wet snow. Said he was shoveling several times a day.... not too different than what we do on the forum sometimes.

Don D

Correctomundo! On those days when Raymond is especially active, the rest of us have to bring out the large, industrial strength shovels. x:D

Shadowfax

Wow! That sounds likea lot of energy in a few pounds of corn. Is there some sort of other fuel to ignite it and keep it going? If not, how do you start a corn fire? Guess I'll hafta grab a couple of issues of Mother Earthnews.

Don D

You never saw your granddad set a match to a jar-lid of properly fermented corn-squeezins?

HRCalico

Well, Don has one way.

The other way is wood pellets and a sterno-like gel. Once that fire gets going, you hit a button that turns on a little auger that runs from the hopper to the fire and it drops a small handfull of corn on the fire every so often. There's a rod with a few "teeth" below the fire that flops over once in a while to keep what they call clinkers from building up.

And it smells good outside! I love coming home on a cold day, taking a deep breath, and then charging inside to a toasty warm house.

Shadowfax

I remember dad bangin on the clinkers in the coal furnace then coming up all covered with soot. So, does it smell like pop corn? Corn on the cob? I am defininately going to look into this - I don'tknow of anyone in our area withsuch a contraption - but using a renewable resource sounds interesting.