On the frozen slope of the Lander Valley sits a prairie-dog weather prophet.
Her name is Lander Lil. And she’s a gargantuan rodent, but she has a great personality – much like your mom.
A prairie dog is just like a groundhog, except prairie dogs are delicious.
Lander Lil is the famous version of Punxsutawney Phil.
You can tell she’s a Lander prairie dog and not a Riverton one, because she didn’t stab anyone today. And she makes a mean vegan smoothie.
Groundhog Day started at daybreak Sunday.
I awaited the rising sun in tense anticipation, along with my fellow Cowboy State Daily contributor Bill Sniffin.
If Lander Lil were to see her shadow, it would mean a giant windstorm would wipe Wamsutter right off the map. When she doesn’t see her shadow, it means Wamsutter will just keep being awesome.
That’s how we tell the weather here in Wyoming.
Sniffin, who once put Lander Lil’s granny in some bacon grease, explained that Sunday is Lil’s 40th birthday.
Landerites hatched the notion of her statuesque existence back in 1984, when they felt that too much attention was being paid to Pennsylvania’s Punxsutawney Phil, who doesn’t chew Copenhagen.
The Rockies’ icy backside needed its own weather sentinel, they figured.
Local businesswoman Mary Ann Atwood and local economic developer Alan O’Hashi came up with Lander Lil, to be built at the site of a real prairie dog town in front of the post office.
Sculptor Bev Paddleford forged the bronze beast, and there Lil remains — the only prairie dog we Wyomingites don’t shoot at.
We just haven’t gotten that hungry - yet.
The sun crested the horizon beneath an ominous, California-shaped cloud. Lil couldn’t see her shadow anyway, since she faces south and not west.
Gosh, I thought aloud, I wonder what’s gonna happen next year?
Here’ wishing a lovely winter to the entire Cowboy State, even Jackson.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.