Pay Attention!

I told you yesterday that they caught the guy, and that he got life without parole. In those days it was harder to buy a handgun than it is today, at least in Michigan. It was almost impossible for a civilian to get a concealed carry permit, and you needed a special permit just to own a handgun. The permits were issued at the discretion of the county sheriff, and if he didn't like you, you couldn't get any kind of handgun permit. What has changed is that now they need a good reason to deny you a permit, before you needed a good reason to get one, and the sheriff had the sole authority to say what was a good reason and what wasn't. Michigan recently changed their concealed carry permitting process. Now the State Police run the background check and, if you pass muster, the county clerk is required to issue the permit. The local sheriff or chief of police doesn't have anything to say about it.

The Groundhog Day myth says that it's a sunny day that means six more weeks of winter, not a  cloudy day. The theory is that, if the groundhog sees his shadow, it scares him back into his hole. In reality, it's not uncommon for groundhogs and other hibernating mammals to wake up and go for a walkabout on a mild winter day. When it gets cold again, they return to their burrows and go back to sleep. Their comings and goings are a response to current weather, not a prediction of future weather. That Punxsutawney Phil charade is a travesty on both the myth and the reality. They have this pet groundhog who is asleep in his groundhog house, and they pull him out, hold him up in the air, and then put him back in. The groundhog doesn't even fully wake up, he just acts all groggy and sleepified. The officiaries meet before the ceremony and decide what they are going to announce, the groundhog is not even consulted.

European seasons run about a month ahead of ours, it has something to do with ocean currents. The winter solstice, which we call the first day of winter, is called midwinter in Europe. Same thing for the summer solstice. When Shakespeare wrote his "Midsummer Night's Dream" it was about the summer solstice. The ancient Pagans were really into the changing of the seasons, as are the modern Pagans. In addition to the solstices and equinoxes, they celebrate dates that are about halfway between each one, so they mark a total of eight seasonal changes. The in between ones don't come out exactly in the middle anymore because the calendar has been changed several times. Groundhog Day roughly coincides with one of those in between holidays, as does May Day and Halloween.  I forget the one that comes between the summer solstice an the fall equinox. They call them by different names, but that's undoubtedly the origin of the modern traditions.

In my neighborhood, the vernal equinox doesn't even come close to being the first day of spring. The old timers used to refer to that time of year as "breakup", the time when the snow and ice starts to recede. It usually does start about that time, but it takes anywhere from two to six weeks for all the snow and ice to be gone, it's different every year. People traditionally plant their gardens after Memorial day but, even then, you need to be prepared to cover your plants to protect them from frost on cold nights until well into June. Frost during June, July, and August is rare, but not unheard of, but by July your plants should be well enough along that frost won't kill them. No sir, a little global warming wouldn't hurt us a bit.