Golly, I hope not. That fat furry Feb two feller will soon be in the news. It is the only day he gets to shine. Atlanta's Col. Beauregard Lee is our weather forecaster around here. There is a feller up in Pennsylvania, but what does he know about the South? I will stick with our local boy.

That reminds me. I saw a groundhog standing on a tuff of grass out here on Hickory Star Road. It was the middle of December. He should have been hybernating. I guess the warm spell we have been having fooled him as well as my daffodils that are poking up through the leaves in my flowerbeds.

Wanting to know more about this chubby feller, I got online the other day to see what I could find. There was more information than I could handle. So, I will go with what I know for sure. First of all, you often see a groundhog, a.k.a woodchuck, standing in a fencerow scoping out the roadway. My research told me that this lowly rodent hasn't learned a thing since his time on the Ark. I can believe that. Our usual view is his upturned belly in the middle of the road. Roadkill, it's called.

There is a brother in the Lord at our church, ninety three years young, who has never tasted groundhog, but wants to. He asked if I would cook one if he caught it. I said, “Sure nuff.” I would be glad to skin the feller, cut him up, marinate the blazes out of him and make a stew. Just bring on the groundhog. I am still waiting. Hopefully, he has forgotten about it.

A sister in the Lord at our church told me about a groundhog that lived in a hole behind a travel trailer. She put up a sign saying, “G. Hog lives here.” Later, she came home to the trailer to find his honor asleep on the porch. She had to move the sign around to the front.

I was going to attach a recipe to this story, but changed my mind. First of all, I have never eaten groundhog and don't intend to. I have never made the recipe I was going to use. If you want one, just Google “groundhog” and you will find several. Don't bother letting me know how it tastes. If it is great, you will be a local celebrity. It is your call. If not, well . . .

“How much wood can a woodchuck chuck,
If a woodchuck could chuck wood?
A woodchuck would chuck
All the wood he could,
If a woodchuck could chuck wood.”