Ground Hog Day!!!

I can't believe it, it's Ground Hog Day. I thought that it was made up for the movie but apparently it is real. So... they monitored the Ground Hog's at a place called Balzac which is just north of Calgary about 15 minutes and the Hog's have stuck their heads up out of the ground and as they couldn't see the shadow of 3 of them apparently legends says that Spring is going to be early this year. Pity it couldn't come earlier.... I am sick of the snow.

Mind you there is no sun today - any wander there is no shadow!!!!


A quick history of Ground Hog Day...

The legend of Groundhog Day is based on an old Scottish couplet: "If Candlemas Day is bright and clear, there'll be two winters in the year."

Every February 2, people gather at Gobbler's Knob, a wooded knoll just outside of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

Residents contend that the groundhog has never been wrong.

The ceremony in Punxsutawney was held in secret until 1966, and only Phil's prediction was revealed to the public. Since then, Phil's fearless forecast has been a national media event.

The groundhog comes out of his electrically heated burrow, looks for his shadow and utters his prediction to a Groundhog Club representative in "groundhogese." The representative then translates the prediction for the general public.

If Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, it means six more weeks of winter. If he does not see his shadow, it means spring is just around the corner.

Approximately 90% of the time, Phil sees his shadow.

Phil started making predictions in 1887 and has become an American institution


At 7:28AM on Friday February 2nd, 2007, Punxsutawney Phil, King of the Groundhogs. Seers of Seers, Prognosticators of Prognosticators, Weather Prophet without Peer, Imitated but Never Equaled gave the following proclamation:

El Nino has caused high winds, heavy snow, ice and freezing temperatures in the west;
Here in the East, with much milder winter we have been blessed.
Global warming has caused a great debate;
Mild winter makes it seem just great.
On this Groundhog Day, we think of one thing:
Will we have winter or will we have spring?
On Gobbler’s Knob, I see no shadow today;
I predict early spring is on the way!

Sunrise at 8.30am

I took these photo's out the window from work at 8.30am the other morning. I couldn't believe it when the sun was still rising so late in the morning. Unfortunately they came out blurry but thems the breaks...





This is a picture of Joyce's new truck. Joyce and i worked together and Calgary stampede.

New Years Eve

I spent New Years at a Pub called Aussie Rules in Calgary with Trina and her friends. There is practically nothing Australian about the pub except it is called Aussie Rules and they serve VB and Bacardi Rum, which is no good to me as i drink neither. But a good time was had by all. Aussie Rules has 2 grand piano's and they play music all night, mostly what people request. The only aussie songs they know are Land Down Under, Tie me Kangaroo down sport and Walting Maltilda. Pretty weak, but it was a different kind of atmosphere and loads of fun. So thanks to Trina for taking me to Aussie Rules and making it a great new years....

Photo's from Fernie

Assorted photo's from Fernie. I took some up on the Ski Hill and some down town.
















Thank you John and Julie for letting Nathan and I come and stay and spend Xmas....

Xmas in Fernie

Well this year was really good to be able to go to Fernie and spend xmas. My friend Nathan came with me. We debated for quite some time where to spend xmas as all we wanted was a white xmas and we were invited to go and stay with John and Julie O'Shannessy. Their house was really nice and we were greeted when we got there by Julie's parents. They were so welcoming they were offering us drinks and food as soon as we walked in the door. We got comfortable very quickly and soon met up with John and Julie. They had to work nearly the whole time we were there but all is good Nathan and I entertained ourselves. We spent time walking around the town and then on xmas day we went up to the Ski hill with John and Julie and skiied while they worked. John is a ski instructor and Julie works in guest services. It actually snowed on xmas day and i had my first real go and skiing. So it was a great day. We spent all day on the hill and then came back to the house to get ready for dinner. We did presents at 7 o'clock and dinner at 8. Dinner was great. I made everyone a prawn cocktail and we had turkey and potato's and plum pudding. Of course i made sure that there was lots of chocolates and we had good wine.

After xmas day poor Nathan got sick and spent time in bed and so i spent time wandering around the town and cooking dinner for everyone. Boxing day we had left overs and on the 27th i cooked Gnocci with chicken in my garlic cream sauce. It went down well. I was lucky that i had it ready when i did as we had a power black out and had to eat dinner by candlelight which was actually really nice.

John and Julie have the most gorgeous dog. It is an Alaskan Mallamute called Nooksie. He was so friendly he didn't even bark.

These are some of the photo's i took on xmas day:

The Hockey

Since my last update i was really lucky and was taken to the Hockey to see the Calgary Flames play against Detriot. As i managed to stay friends with Brad from the Oil company that i worked for and there were some spare tickets that night we got to go. The tickets are in the second row and we sat behind the players bench. The flames won 4 to 0 that night so the atmosphere was great. Thanks Brad!!! I have posted a few of the photo's that i took that night the last one is funny. Seeing the other team pout as they were losing.