Now and then, an official top hat wearing Time & Temperature Keeper would make a report. The first I heard was 10,000-plus people on the Knob, two hours ten minutes to sunrise, and four degrees Fahrenheit.

Then the Inner Circle began to climb onto the stage and they introduced everybody they could find with a top hat. It took a while.

The sky was a pretty solid grey and I saw neither sun nor shadow but Phil apparently did. Six more weeks of Winter he predicted. Only the groundhog knows the shadow.

There were at least two $5 pancake breakfast operations in town. I picked the one at the Salvation Army. I do have a Groundhog Day tradition that I've followed for many years. I make sure to eat pork sausage (a.k.a., ground hog) sometime during the day. In recent years, that has usually been at a Bob Evan's restaurant either at breakfast or at lunch for a sandwich. The Salvation Army took care of that for me this year with links to go with the pancakes. Apologies to the Salvation Army people for photographing what was probably the worst looking pancake of the morning. That top pancake on my plate suffered some minor damage during production but tasted great and I was too hungry to think of rearranging things for the photo.

It wasn't yet 9:00 and my day in Punxsutawney was pretty much done. After Gobbler's Knob has been emptied, the shuttle continues to connect people with downtown and a remote parking area. An indicator that things taper off quickly once Phil has spoken is that the last bus runs at 2:00 PM.

In Wheeling, WV, I pulled a block or so off of the National Road to visit the Kruger Street Toy & Train Museum. I've been by here when it was closed and know I was in town at least once during its open hours but I'd not been inside. It's in an old school building and is packed with toys. Dolls, doll houses, trains, cars, and action figures abound. There are lots of rather old stamped metal toys. The Union Pacific Streamliner is from 1936. The stove is from the '30s or '40s. There was no date on the windup car with the happy family painted inside. It is a "Toy & Train Museum" and there are several working model train layouts. The bulk of the toys represent those I and my parents played with but the next generation isn't ignored. The sign says that Rock-Em Sock-Em Robots were around in 1965 but my first memory of them is from 1972 or '73 when Santa Claus brought a set for my sons. Big Wheels first appeared in 1969 and I have a very vivid memory of my oldest son on one in the very early '70s. Our driveway sloped from street level to a paved area behind the house. The slope was the perfect place to build up speed and the paved area was the perfect place to lock the front wheel and slide into a donut maneuver. I was working on something behind the house while Cris repeatedly dashed down the driveway and spun around nearby. At the end of one of his better donuts, he looked up at me and with complete and uncanny accuracy said, "Wish you could ride this. Don't you?"