Monday Musings - February 2, 2026

 

Happy Groundhog Day!

1. Welcome to February! Today is the first of four February Mondays. There are 47 Mondays remaining in the year. 

Phil Predicts Six More Weeks of Winter
Gobblers Knob, PA
February 2, 2026

2. The prediction is in from Punxsutawney, PA. Phil predicts six more weeks of Winter! Ugh. 

3. Is America under siege from an internal force? Has ICE/CBP gone too far in assaulting Americans? Has the president lost sight of the fundamental principles that made America great? Is the president abusing his position to get richer at the expense of "We the People?"

4. Next week--the Super Bowl. I am ready for football to be over and baseball to get underway. I wonder how many people will be watching the Olympics and skip the Super Bowl? I believe the Monday after the Super Bowl should be a national holiday. Not a lot of work gets done anyway. 

5. It is cold! Yesterday, I had to switch the HVAC from cool to heat for the first time in three years. The temperature in the house got down to 69 degrees. Just a bit cold. Fortunately, the heat came on and we are enjoying a cool, but comfortable 71 degrees. 

6. Today in History. On February 2, 1887, Groundhog Day, featuring a rodent meteorologist, is celebrated for the first time at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. According to tradition, if a groundhog comes out of its hole on this day and sees its shadow, it gets scared and runs back into its burrow, predicting six more weeks of winter weather; no shadow means an early spring.

Groundhog Day has its roots in the ancient Christian tradition of Candlemas, when clergy would bless and distribute candles needed for winter. The candles represented how long and cold the winter would be. Germans expanded on this concept by selecting an animal—the hedgehog—as a means of predicting weather. Once they came to America, German settlers in Pennsylvania continued the tradition, although they switched from hedgehogs to groundhogs, which were plentiful in the Keystone State.

Groundhogs, also called woodchucks and whose scientific name is Marmota monax, typically weigh 12 to 15 pounds and live six to eight years. They eat vegetables and fruits, whistle when they’re frightened or looking for a mate (they’re sometimes called whistle pigs) and can climb trees and swim.

Slump in commodities rattles global markets - Reuters
Israel reopens Gaza's Rafah border crossing to Egypt, with tight limits - Reuters
Russia does not want a global conflict, Medvedev says - Reuters
Five-year-old boy detained by ICE has returned to Minnesota, lawmaker says - Reuters
Trump says Kennedy Center will close in July for 2-year renovation - CNN
Johnson must sell conservatives on funding deal Democrats pushed for, or risk shutdown - CNN
Where things stand with the government shutdown, and how soon it could end - FoxNews
Kenyan job seekers were lured to Russia, then sent to die in Ukraine - The Washington Post

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL