It’s that time of the year where people stop looking toward the sky for Santa and instead flock to Gobbler’s Knob in Pennsylvania to see if a groundhog will predict a short winter.  

As seems to be the norm, Punxsutawney Phil has predicted six more weeks of winter.  This year Phil has come down upon heavy criticism from PETA saying that he should be left alone to prepare for the winter and not be subjected to the crowds of screaming people, as well as being handled.  Their alternative is to replace Phil with a robotic groundhog so that he won’t have to suffer the trauma and be able to “retire”.  As a side note groundhogs only live 5-8 years, so contrary to the Phil lore, it is not necessarily the same groundhog that has always been looking for his shadow.