PHIL MEET CHUCK, CHUCK MEET PHIL
February 2nd. Ground Hog Day. Somewhere in Pennsylvania Punxsutawney Phil is awakening from his winter hibernation. Thousands of people are gathered to celebrate. Remember the movie “Ground Hog Day” with Bill Murray stuck in time until his behavior improved? Bring on the beer and polka band. Time to see if spring is around the corner. Time to see if Phil sees his shadow.
Somewhere in Minnesota our ground hogs will stay in their holes if they have any sense. It was -5degrees this morning. Predictions for tomorrow are worse with a biting -35 wind chill. Survival of the fittest should have bred ground hogs who live in Minnesota to ignore man-made festivals and folk culture and stay in the ground. Whether he awakens and sees his shadow or not, winter here has usually lasted at least six more weeks. We are zone 4 people. Not time to plant those peas yet.
We tend to call ground hogs wood chucks in this state. I know they burrow relentlessly and eat garden produce, but I’m not sure if they chuck any wood. How would we know if they did chuck wood? And what does “chucked” wood look like?
Since they are related to squirrels I can understand how people might consider them pests. I remember a few guys from my youth taking an Elmer Fudd-like shot at them.
Perhaps that is not a good idea. With everyone worrying about global warming or climate change maybe we should be keeping an eye on these little guys to see if they ever pop out of the ground on February 2nd in Minnesota. Then it would be time to consider a move to Canada or at least high ground.
February 2nd. Ground Hog Day. Somewhere in Pennsylvania Punxsutawney Phil is awakening from his winter hibernation. Thousands of people are gathered to celebrate. Remember the movie “Ground Hog Day” with Bill Murray stuck in time until his behavior improved? Bring on the beer and polka band. Time to see if spring is around the corner. Time to see if Phil sees his shadow.
Somewhere in Minnesota our ground hogs will stay in their holes if they have any sense. It was -5degrees this morning. Predictions for tomorrow are worse with a biting -35 wind chill. Survival of the fittest should have bred ground hogs who live in Minnesota to ignore man-made festivals and folk culture and stay in the ground. Whether he awakens and sees his shadow or not, winter here has usually lasted at least six more weeks. We are zone 4 people. Not time to plant those peas yet.
We tend to call ground hogs wood chucks in this state. I know they burrow relentlessly and eat garden produce, but I’m not sure if they chuck any wood. How would we know if they did chuck wood? And what does “chucked” wood look like?
Since they are related to squirrels I can understand how people might consider them pests. I remember a few guys from my youth taking an Elmer Fudd-like shot at them.
Perhaps that is not a good idea. With everyone worrying about global warming or climate change maybe we should be keeping an eye on these little guys to see if they ever pop out of the ground on February 2nd in Minnesota. Then it would be time to consider a move to Canada or at least high ground.
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