February 1st...Up a bit late...so taking a down day with some 5er maintenance. New folk arrived in the park for the weekend. Our neighbor from the Houston area came to check on their trailer. Enjoyed their chat...learning about this area. In talking with the Host, I learned that they grow a variety of crops on this rich black soil. Corn, soybeans, sorghum, rice, and cotton among a few.
The pool tractor was active with it's daily cleaning. J is fascinated with this thing. Fun to watch as it climbs the steps on one side...work its way across and down the other side back into the pool. LOL
The hot tub is nice at the end of each day as we chat with our neighbors and soak our troubles away. J checkes the temperature of the hot tub with his temperature gun as we turn ON the bubbles and heater. Wait about 1 1/2 hrs. then enjoy the heated water with a final temperature of about 103 degrees. Nice!
Here is the Texas Red Passionflower...a vine blooming on one corner of the pool fence. This vine is a perennial that can grow up to 20 feet & comes in 6 different flower colors. It likes full sun and dry conditions. It's fragrant, butterflies love it, and it is deer resistant.
Back in NC, our Passionflower is purple in color with the flower more frilly.
J worked on the Tonneau cover. One of the latches was not latching properly and the cover needed a coat of UV protection spray.
Below J is getting ready to go up onto the roof to lubricate the TV antenna for a smoother up/down movement. He is removing the "honey wagon" to climb the ladder.
You also can see our weather station above the ladder where it is attached. We love that apparatus. It gives us quite a bit of info on our indoor accurite monitor. Wind speed (current, peak, average), direction of the wind, indoor & outdoor temps, % humidity, barometric pressure, future forecast, heat index, dew point, wind chill, rainfall rate, amt. of rainfall now-for the month-year total, time, date, and it has alarms we can set to alert us for bad weather...like to pull in an awning. It also keeps records. Just a WOW piece of equipment.
February 2nd...Groundhog Day is upon us again. Did you know that this day began many years ago in Germany with the badger believed to be able to predict the coming of spring. When the German immigrants settled in Pennsylvania, the tradition continued. But, badgers were scarce in Pennsylvania. So, they substituted the groundhog for the badger. This day began in the US in 1887 by a group of groundhog hunters from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. They named the furry animal Punxsutawney Phil after King Phillip. He became the official weather-prognosticating groundhog. Although some maintain his predictions are 100% accurate...he really is only about 40% correct.
The groundhog is a rodent and cousin of the ground squirrel. It is sometimes called a woodchuck or whistle pig. Hunters would whistle...the groundhog would stand up at the sound of the whistle...perfect for a shot. Groundhogs in the wild live about 6 years. In captivity, they live about 10 years. So, Phils name has been passed down over the years.
Tradition has it that on February 2nd...if it is sunny...the groundhog will see his shadow...become frightened and return to its burrow...indicating 6 more weeks of winter. If it is cloudy...the groundhog will not see his shadow...indicating spring is on the way.
February 2nd...cloudy with periods of rain. Temperature is cooler and winds are becoming brisk. Campers are moving about as they hook up to head home for their football festivities.
Groundhog Day on Gobbler Knob
Punxsautawney Phil woke up...looked to the sky and gazed around his stump. Then speaking in Groundhogese, he directed us to the correct scroll, which read:
A Super Bowl winner I will not predict,
But my weather forecast, you cannot contradict,
That's not a football lying beside me
It's my shadow you see
So, six more weeks of winter it shall be!
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