Specially for Groundhog Day I'm sharing a gallery of photos of a friendly groundhog that lives on our property. For those not in North America, and unfamiliar with "Groundhog Day": It is a tradition marked on February 2 each year, based on folklore that says if a groundhog emerges from his burrow on this day and sees his shadow then we'll have 6 more weeks of winter. So, if it's sunny on February 2 the groundhog will see his shadow and say we're in for 6 more weeks of winter, and if it's cloudy he won't see his shadow which means we'll have an early spring.
Various regions in North America have an "official" groundhog and elaborate ceremonies each year celebrating Groundhog Day. These official groundhogs are responsible for seeing or not seeing their shadows, thus forecasting a long winter or early spring. Records of their forecasts have been kept for many years and as it turns out the groundhogs are usually wrong! But even though they only get it right about 40% of the time, we all have some fun with Groundhog Day events anyway.
If you've never seen a groundhog before you might be wondering how large they are. If you can imagine a hamster that is the size of a small cat then you have a groundhog. They weigh about 6-12 pounds and can be about 2 feet long. So, a groundhog is like a big strong hamster that loves to dig and build underground burrows, and eat cabbage. When cabbage isn't available they'll eat a wide variety of greens found in the fields. They specially love dandelions.
We have a friendly groundhog living on our property. He wasn't always tame but I brought food to his den every day one spring so he quickly learned to enjoy seeing me. Each day I brought him apples, carrots and cabbage. I discovered he liked cabbage more than anything else.
Dad wondered where all our apples, carrots and cabbages were going, but he was glad that "the boys" had taken to snacking on such healthy foods so he didn't ask too many questions. Dad did extra shopping for those healthy fresh fruits and vegetables to keep up with our appetites. But when he sees these pictures he'll figure out what was really going on. Seriously dad, did you really think any of us would actually eat cabbages?
Each day at feeding time I hiked across the field to the groundhog den. My pockets were always filled with cabbage and I carried a camera to take pictures too. The gallery below shows some of the pictures I was able to take of the groundhog coming out of his den to meet me. It also includes pictures of him happily feasting on cabbage.
As you can see in the pictures, he has more than one entrance to his burrow. Some of the holes were quite far apart so I had to sit quietly in the field keeping an eye on all of them waiting to see where his head would poke out. It was a fun game of hide-and-seek he played!
