Chapter 3 = Norma's Homemade Banana Blog

Entry #1 of the February 2023 Contest

Groundhog Day and groundhogs in general (not the movie)

I think Groundhog Day is one of those weird little traditions we all have taken for granted over the years. It makes no sense, and we all know that. We will all have six more weeks of winter, whether the groundhog sees its shadow or not. It's the cycle of weather.

Most folks are not in tune with weather these days. We go from our heated cars to heated offices or stores to heated homes and back and forth. Not too many work in the cold. And then come summer, we flip that to cooled homes and offices and cars. Again, the vast majority don't live or work in the outdoors as we did in centuries past.

We want our homes hot in the winter and cold in the summer. Not that there is anything wrong with central heat. But I don't like air conditioning. We don't have it in our home. People existed for eons without it. There are ways to build structures to make living better in hot climates. But seems as if I'm going down a rabbit hole here. Or perhaps a gopher hole.

Back to groundhogs. A rodent. The groundhog, also known as a woodchuck, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. They were everywhere when I lived in Gardiner, near Yellowstone. My dog was constantly entertained by trying to find them in the hillside behind the motel. We called them marmots. The babies were fun to watch.

So, how much wood can a woodchuck chuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?