Not Another Auld Lang Syne Redux

For many January is the time of the year for New Year’s Resolutions. Last year, I was derailed from my traditional New Year’s blog post by a bad case of the flu ( See my thebrainetrust.com post from one year ago “Not Another Auld Lang Syne…Because “In-Flew-Enza”  January 2018) but this year I have no such excuse. Instead, I merely note that every year that I have made resolutions, no matter how low I set the bar, I end up not keeping them.

So instead of foolishly listing a series of resolutions that won’t be kept, I thought I’d mirror what I did last year  which is to pull together a list of good things about the month of February (instead of January as I did last year) since we are only about one week away.

#10 The days are getting longer and the sun is setting later. By the end of January the sun sets at 5:49 PM in Columbus (or 30 minutes later than Jan. 1) BUT by the end of February it sets at 6:22 PM which means for those of us in the geriatric set its sets during or even after dinner!.

#9 In Columbus, on average, there are fewer cloudy days in February (18 out of 28) vs  January (21 out of 31 days). Makes you want to break out the sunglasses!

#8 George Washington’s Birthday is in February –“George Washington, George Washington… He Was a Great Man”

#7 Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday is also in February – sadly they now combine the two birthdays together into a “President’s Day” kind of a rip off for our two greatest Presidents.

#6 My Mom’s Birthday is in February (note it is higher up on my list that either Lincoln or Washington as it is clearly the most important of the February Birthdays). Happy Birthday Mom!

#5 Groundhog Day is in February. This “CAN” be good if the Groundhog doesn’t see his shadow and therefore Spring is coming. If he does see his shadow then we have six more weeks of winter, per the poem below:

“If ground-hog day was bright and fair,
The beast came forth, but not to stay;
His shadow turned him to his lair,
Where six weeks more, he dormant lay
Secure in subterranean hold—
So wondrous weatherwise was he—
Against six weeks of ice and cold,
Which, very certain, there would be…
~H.L. Fisher, “Popular Superstitions,” Olden Times: or, Pennsylvania Rural Life, Some Fifty Years Ago, and Other Poems, 1888

I guess this always confuses me. If it is sunny and he sees his shadow wouldn’t any self-respecting groundhog say to himself “Hmm its sunny and nice out here. I think I am staying outside!”

#4 Feb-BREW-ary is a month for beer lovers. Made that one up, but count me in!

#3 Febru-AIRY is a light and “airy” month when we all feel relaxed and free. JanNOAIRY is the opposite.

#2 Febulous February! Febtastic February! 

#1 By the end of February, March 21 the Spring Equinox is only three weeks away. This is the official beginning of Spring HOORAY!

So enjoy the rest of January and look forward to February. To quote those wise prophets of Fleetwood Mac “It’ll be here better than before, yesterday’s gone, yesterday’s gone”.