HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!

Today is the day we have set aside to honor that most venerable rodent, the groundhog, aka, woodchuck, rock chuck, and earth piggy. And what an 'honor' that will be!  Even though he may be peacefully hibernating, senior citizens in top hats will rouse the poor little fellows from their dens all over the country, and ask them to predict whether or not Winter will last another 6 weeks, even though the calendar clearly states that is indeed the case!

And what does our distinguished emissary have to say for himself?  "I'm up and dressed what more do you want?"

So, what's it gonna be Your Honor, more Winter or an early Spring?  "How do I know; I just woke up!!  Go ahead, pick one!"

The most prominent groundhog in Pennsylvania is, of course, Punxsutawney Phil (who will be televised far and wide), but there are a few other official forecasters as well who will be looking for their shadows at various locations around the country today (with obviously conflicting results).  Buckeye Chuck will be predicting the weather for Ohio, as will Sun Prairie Jimmy in Wisconsin, General Beau Regard Lee in Georgia, and Staten Island Chuck in, well........

It seems there will be no rest today for the weary woodchuck!

The event will meet with a great deal of pomp and circumstance involving the aforementioned forceful dragging out of the guest of honor from his warm Winter den, followed by such noteworthy ceremonial traditions as kissing the little fellow on the nose.  I can't help it, my very favorite was the year when the feisty little guy bit the silly man on the nose!  (I would have peed on him too, if he woke ME up that way!)

But I couldn't let this momentous occasion pass without honoring our own little groundhog now could I!!  NO I will NOT be waking him up to kiss him on the nose (as a matter of fact we kinda tiptoe around out there so as not to wake the little glutton up), but rather a pictorial tribute to our most prominent (and equally famous in his own right) resident woodchuck.

Here he is in Spring, when he discovered he could shovel it in even more efficiently from INSIDE the feeder.

BURP!!!

And then we continued to enjoy his antics throughout the entire Summer.

As I have stated before, goose chow helps build strong woodchucks 12 ways.  Get a load of that spread!!!!  He didn't get that butt from eating salad!

And here we have him at the goose feeder AFTER Frank 'woodchuck pruffed' it with his latest tactic! Unfortunately, it didn't  slow him down even one notch!

Although by now you probably get the gist of the theme, I didn't want to leave Fall out........

and then, of course, there was the infamous December 27th snowstorm!

 Well, the time is now 10:30 a.m. All the other four legged forecasters have long since made their mandatory predictions and gone home to bed. Apparently our little chuck will miss the festivities entirely, no doubt due to the fact that he stayed up much too late chowing down on goose feed, and is still peacefully sleeping it off!  But I WILL keep a sharp eye out all day just in case, so do stay tuned for any further developments!

Oh, and Happy Groundhog day to you and yours (woodchucks that is)!