| Author | Content |
docgipe
NORTH CENTRAL, PA (Zone 5a)
February 2, 2009 10:37 AM Post #6081874
| Great article...There will be no Phil this year unless they dig the sucker out from under a whole bunch of snow. ROFLOL. |
Potagere
February 2, 2009 11:39 AM Post #6081956
| Another great reminiscence on a holiday, its traditions and what it evokes in the individual.
Thanks, Ben! |
docgipe
NORTH CENTRAL, PA (Zone 5a)
February 2, 2009 2:41 PM Post #6082443
| I'll pitch my two cents...if anyone wants a great day or two one should plan well in advance and go to the Punxy Phil celebration at least once. It is a great community activity that is nationally witnessed each year. I've been there three times and always enjoy the fun and in fact I have somewhere a ten cent certificate proving I shook the critters paw and am a lifetime low level supporter of the whole thing-a-ma-gig...circus if you think it that much fun.
To show the other side of the coin there is a significant do gooder organization to kill the activity under the cruelity to poor dumb animals position. I fail to agree with this position but such are the times. I would suggest Phil is the best kept groundhog and takes his job...well in the best interest of all groundhogs who should be likewise kept critters. ROFLOL |
Desertdenial5
Tolleson, AZ (Zone 9a)
February 2, 2009 3:08 PM Post #6082531
| Punxy Phil says 6 more weeks of winter. I am glad I no longer live where there is snow!! |
irisMA
South Hamilton, MA
February 2, 2009 4:28 PM Post #6082905
| He is a tame groundhog, transported in a box. It probably likes the outing. People will probably after pets next, since living in a house is not 'natural'. |
Potagere
February 2, 2009 4:28 PM Post #6082909
| Whooda thought it?
I kinda grew up with groundhogs.
About 20-some years ago, the "Town Fathers" (by then the "town great-grandsons" supplemented with a whole bunch of "I just showed up last year, but I gotta a lotta bucks") decided these little guys were called "marmots" and were cute and were a Tourist attraction.
So now my hometown is a "Marmot Ville".
But nothing has changed, Marmots don't generate jobs; the smart kids leave town; the others shoot marmots for food.
This message was edited Feb 2, 2009 5:33 PM |
sallyg
Anne Arundel,, MD (Zone 7a)
February 2, 2009 5:33 PM Post #6083238
| We saw some of the proceedings on TV this morning, and I foundn= myself wondering if there'd be a DG article--Sure enough!
Hubby heard that 40,000 attended today. |
docgipe
NORTH CENTRAL, PA (Zone 5a)
February 2, 2009 6:23 PM Post #6083449
| Jim...in France. These critters are called Marmots in our American Western mountains. They are a bit darker in fur color but otherwise look, act and eat the same. They may average a little bit smaller in size too. I read somewhere that they were an abundant source for low grade fur used by the early Indian hunters and trappers. |
Dutchlady1
Naples, FL (Zone 10a)
February 2, 2009 6:30 PM Post #6083471
| Fun article! |
BennysPlace
Beverly Hills, CA
February 2, 2009 6:36 PM Post #6083505
| Hi Docgipe:
Thank you for the compliments on the article. It was a lot of fun to write. I am going to try and go next year. I have wanted to go for years. I think it is time to just do it. 
Hey there Jim!
Thank you kindly! I have loved this day since I was a child (as you read) and so writing about it was a tremendous pleasure. We will be having a celebration this evening by watching the movie with cheese popcorn. It will be fun. By the way, I am excited to report the poppies are sprouting EVERYWHERE. Stay tuned for a new Memorial Day article with updates. Wishing you nothing but the best my friend.
Hi Marie,
We won't have six weeks of winter here. That's for sure! It is meant to get in the 80's this week! Glorious yet worrying about how hot the summer will get.
Hi Sally,
How wonderful to see it on tellie! I don't think it was on tellie here. 40,000 is incredible. Good for them! I hope to make up part of that group next year.
Hi Dutchlady,
Thanking you kindly! It was fun to write! Happy Groundhog day to ya!
Wherever you are, I hope you keep warm. We are fortunate to have sunny skies and a high of 74 or so. (Dodging snowballs from the colder parts of the world). My mates in Stevenage, UK are playing hookie from work as they watch the snow fall. There is five inches on the ground and that is significant.
Happy Groundhog Day everyone!
Blessings,
Ben |
duchessdreams
Reno, NV
February 2, 2009 6:59 PM Post #6083597
| Great artical. Loved that movie:) |
jayne_a
Missoula, MT (Zone 4b)
February 2, 2009 7:20 PM Post #6083677
| Here in Montana we're going to have six more weeks of winter no matter what the groundhog says! |
Potagere
February 2, 2009 8:04 PM Post #6083840
| Ben: I am so glad that your poppies are doing well! I'd like a photo when they really come on!
docgipe I grew up with these "groundhogs' in downtown Spokane, Washington, in the "American Western mountains".
I also spent years hiking the Cascades and the Rockies, where there were/are "beaucoup" of "marmots".
In my mind, these were/are not the same animals. The "powers that be" have turned the local groundhogs in downtown Spokane into tourist attractions.
Wild marmots in the Cascades and/or Rockies are more vocal, more assertive and more difficult to see.
|
docgipe
NORTH CENTRAL, PA (Zone 5a)
February 2, 2009 8:57 PM Post #6084069
| Jim...accross our country we have three or four variations in wild turkey and white tailed deer. I really do not know but thought the marmot of the Cascades and/or the Rockies would be the same family but a variation of what dear 'ole Phil is. I think all of our groundhogs of the East are showing no noted variation that I am aware of. I have been in marmot territory four times but I have never done any research in this matter. |
BennysPlace
Beverly Hills, CA
February 2, 2009 10:28 PM Post #6084483
| Hi Duchessdreams,
I thank you kindly and the movie is such a classic. I look forward to home time so I can watch it.
Blessings,
Ben |
justwannagarden
Cooksburg, PA
February 21, 2009 1:58 AM Post #6167570
| Hello, dreamer. I loved the movie, too. So magical. Unfortunately, it wasn't filmed in Punxy. The real Punxsutawney's a place you'd want to visit ONLY on Groundhog Day. Maybe. I live within 40 miles. The woman that used to cut my hair bragged (if you can believe this!) that her daughter (in high school) was "crowned" Miss Groundhog two years in a row. Now, how'd you like to carry that title the rest of your life? Each night I pray that girl accomplishes something else to brag about...
Anyway, every spring I find a new, fat groundhog squatting under my shed. He eats EVERYTHING, so each year I have to evict him with a smoke bomb because I'm too disgusted to pick him up if I shoot him. Also, I think God had a plan for creating every living critter. Anyone know what groundhogs are good for? |
irisMA
South Hamilton, MA
February 21, 2009 4:07 AM Post #6168082
| Fun! |
sallyg
Anne Arundel,, MD (Zone 7a)
February 21, 2009 2:01 PM Post #6168960
| What groundhogs are good for:
Breaking horses legs.
Evoking 'awww's from homeowners when a mom and baby are out together, and not eating from the garden.
Teasing husbands into trying to sneak up on them and paintball them. Can't be done! |
cheerpeople
northwest, IL (Zone 5a)
February 21, 2009 5:56 PM Post #6169945
| Our family tradition is to watch the movie on ground hog day!
The dog one cornered on the porch a while back. I was impressed with how big they really are and what cute chirps they make.
Every year the Phil sees his shadow makes me a little more hostile toward him.
As I'm in IL, I think he should be impeached!
:)
Karen |
docgipe
NORTH CENTRAL, PA (Zone 5a)
February 21, 2009 6:17 PM Post #6170010
| He will be well impeached if you have a peach tree. |
sallyg
Anne Arundel,, MD (Zone 7a)
February 22, 2009 2:28 AM Post #6171742
| LOL Mine are imgreenbeaned, and impumpkinned, and imzinniaed...LOL |
cheerpeople
northwest, IL (Zone 5a)
February 22, 2009 2:49 AM Post #6171836
| Too imfunny! |
bolino
Swanton, OH (Zone 5b)
February 2, 2010 6:40 PM Post #7522754
| 6 more weeks of winter again, according to Puxy Phil. Who knew?!!! |
docgipe
NORTH CENTRAL, PA (Zone 5a)
February 2, 2010 7:43 PM Post #7522984
| Starting last Sunday for about a week you can't touch a motel within fifty miles from Phil's home town. Most reservations are made a half year in advance and many a year in advance. The village elders have found a real good world wide known mascot and worked poor ole Phil to the peak of his attraction. Phil brings in many dollars to that whole area of Pennsylvania. It is a most festive event to say the least. |
docgipe
NORTH CENTRAL, PA (Zone 5a)
February 2, 2010 7:56 PM Post #7523027
| He really looks abused to me. Where's PETA. I'd like to give them a little welcome as the drive through North Central Pennsylvania. 
Click the image for an enlarged view.
|
BennysPlace
Beverly Hills, CA
February 2, 2010 11:18 PM Post #7523601
| Thank you DG Admins for running this article again. How fun!
I love that photo and one year I will definitely make it to the event and thank you for the heads up so I can book far enough in advance.
Happy Groundhog Day Everyone!!! |
qterhrs
Friedens, PA (Zone 5a)
February 6, 2012 6:08 AM Post #8996399
| I live in the mountains of PA and 6 more weeks of winter is an early Spring! |
nodeerforme
Medford, NJ
February 6, 2012 6:52 AM Post #8996451
| justwannagarden: I understand your pain! We can't seem to keep it/them away from our shed, either. I live in South Jersey, and what the many deer don't eat, the resident groundhog does. It even scaled a stone knee wall on my patio to eat the flowers I had in a container there. I would not have believed a groundhog could climb anything if I didn't see it run up the nearest tree upon seeing me.
They can be useful, though. When we lived on the other side of town, we had huge mulberry trees, and when the ripe berries fell, a groundhog or two would come from their burrow way at the back of our property to eat them. They saved us from having purple feet! |
