celebrating groundhog day

How to Celebrate Groundhog Day

Well, it’s Groundhog Day. Again. And that must mean we’re up here at Gobbler’s Knob waiting for the forecast from the world’s most-famous groundhog weatherman, Punxsutawney Phil, who’s just about to tell us how much more winter we can expect. Not really, of course. That’s just what Phil Connors says in the movie, and Punxsutawney Phil already made his prediction this morning (early spring). But what you really want to know is “how do I properly celebrate such a fantastic holiday?” (And also, “Why isn’t it a national holiday already?” But some questions just don’t have answers, regardless of how

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Groundhog Day 2015: Snow City

It’s hard to believe that just a week ago, you could see plenty of lawn in front of my house. We live out in an open field, so our snow melts faster than many of our friends, but still–almost February, and we had so little snow? What is this–Miami Beach? Not hardly. We got the big blizzard last Monday night, followed by another 12″ or so Friday, and now there’s another 6-10″ falling at the moment. Oh. And I discovered there’s another 8-12″ forecast for Thursday. It’s like the gods of winter are trying to make up for missed opportunities.

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My Friend the Groundhog

I suppose it was inevitable. We live off in the country. Denisa has a thriving garden each year. Sooner or later, a groundhog was going to find us and start going to town on those tasty veggies. At first, Denisa thought it was some kind of beetle, or slugs. Something was eating the tops of her broccoli and carrots. She asked around for different ideas about how to deal with it–and then she saw it. The groundhog in flagrante delicto. She came inside to complain to me, and I think I wasn’t quite as compassionate and enraged as I ought to

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Why Groundhog Day Might Be Better Than Christmas

Let’s get the religious argument out of the way right off the kicker. I’m not here to say that Groundhog Day is more important than the celebration of Christ’s birth. (Though I might argue that Christmas these days is about more than the celebration of said birth. But today’s blog post isn’t about that, and it would take me too long to get into it at the moment . . .) No–for my current purposes, I’m just looking at the expectations we all have of any particular day. When I get up on a work day, I have an idea

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And the Winner of the Groundhog Haiku Contest Is . . .

After 74 votes over the space of a week, some pretty intense campaigning, and allegations of voter fraud, I’m proud to announce a winner of my Groundhog Haiku contest. Ready? CONGRATULATIONS, CANDIDATE 1–Debbie Kinney-Dearden Her winning haiku, in its entirety: A groundhog I am Call me Punxsutawney Phil I’ll eat your garden Debbie gets to have a character named after her in my current book, TARNHELM. In fact, I’ve already picked out the spot for her to reside, and I’m presenting you with her scene in its entirety, right now. (Debbie, your name can appear however you’d like–just let me

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