The Big Eddy. As I write on February 3, the Delaware River is supporting 15 inches of ice at Narrowsburg’s Big Eddy, most of it formed since January 11. The river’s first ice sheets—up to seven inches thick—appeared before Christmas, but rain and milder weather reopened the channel.

Last weekend (February 1-2) seemed like an ice carnival. On Saturday, clumps of fishermen showed up and joined several dozen scuba divers who’d pitched an equipment tent on the Eddy the night before.

During cold winters, members of this New York City diving club routinely gather at the Eddy—generally on a weekend in early February—to test equipment and practice under the ice.

Fishermen also converged from far afield. It’s common to discover individuals or small groups from Callicoon, Liberty, and other parts of the Catskills. Yesterday (Sunday) I spoke with men from Carbondale, Dupont (near Wilkes Barre), and Stony Point, New York, a town on the lower Hudson River.

The Eddy also attracted pedestrians and families with small children—muffled in hoods and heavy clothes—on Sunday to withstand the wind’s 20 mile-per-hour gusts.

Groundhog Day. February 2, 2003, is one of the few times—in over a hundred years of forecasting—that Punxsutawney Phil has seen his shadow. It means six more weeks of winter, and not just in Punxsutawney, PA!

	TRR graphic by Barbara Yeaman Spring will be late—the groundhog saw his shadow on Groundhog Day, February 2.

Years back, when I inquired about the secret of Phil’s long life, I was told that he drinks a special punch, and that one sip will add seven years of longevity. One of Phil’s handlers—skeptical about its life renewing properties—confided that he was applying the punch to his balding head.