February, Done At LAST!

I’m sorry; I’m just not a big fan of February. Valentine’s Day, President’s Day, are certainly fun and I’ve enjoyed writing about both of them. However, in simple terms, February, in my humble opinion, is like an entire month of Monday mornings. It’s cold, it’s bleak, there’s no football, no baseball yet, I think that’s the main reason it’s the shortest month of the year. Whoever made our original calendars, when faced with which month to cut to 28 days, probably screamed, “FEBRUARY!”

 Leap Year

Another thing about February that really bugs me is that “leap year” thing. We seem to be a little short each year time wise so we have to add another day to the calendar every four years. If we don’t do this, sooner or later, the time will be lost and we’ll end up celebrating our July 4^th celebration right before Thanksgiving.

On the surface it would seem to make sense to add an extra day to a month that already is the shortest month of the year. Obviously it wasn’t the same person who decided to make February short in the first place. I don’t know about you but I definitely don’t need an extra day in the most depressing month of the year.

That Extra Day

Put me down for an extra day to recuperate after New Year’s Eve. Give me an extra shopping day during the Christmas season. How much would that help our struggling economy? There is no national holiday where retail businesses close or a three day weekend between New Year’s and Memorial Day in May. That’s just not fair. Add that extra day in the middle somewhere and put another three-day weekend in there to give the workingman or woman a much-needed rest.

Look at the end of the year.

September we have Labor Day, then November, Thanksgiving followed by Christmas in December and New Years Day in January. Four, three-day weekends in as many months — that’s it. Now compare that to the beginning of the year. February, Valentine’s Day (not a national holiday; everyone works), President’s Day banks and public worker’s go home. March we have St. Patrick’s Day. Butte needs two days to recover from that. April, Easter but it’s on Sunday while some people do get Good Friday off. And that’s it — until the end of May when we finally get our first real three-day weekend on Memorial Day. There has got to be a better way of using that extra day.

Shorten It More

Twenty-eight days is actually too many days for a month as useless as February. I think some months need 32 or even 33 days. You’d have a bigger payday for Thanksgiving or Christmas. November should definitely be more than 30 days just because it’s the biggest shopping time of the year.

Think about it. The first six months of the year we live in snow up to our knees, temps in the teens, more cloud cover than sunshine, and no holidays. Throw in high gas prices, high food prices, slick streets, April 15th, no cell phone use in the city limits, no warm temperatures until June, and the end of ski season and you have a society that is not going to be very cordial to their fellow man.

Some Final Thoughts

Mardi Gras should be celebrated at the end of February, not the beginning. I know it’s the beginning of Lent but I would rather celebrate February going than the “second coming.” So at midnight tonight I just might break open a nice vintage Champagne and have a nice little celebration that February is done for another twelve months. Good Riddance. Think Spring.