Beware Zombie Groundhogs

I'm pretty certain there isn't an Iselin groundhog.  Well... there ARE groundhogs in Iselin, but none as far as I'm aware that predict the weather. For that, I've always relied on the Pennsylvania groundhogs.

Groundhog Day is Wednesday, February 2nd.  It's a weird tradition; the idea is if it is cloudy that day, when the groundhog emerges, it will signify that winter will soon end. If on the other hand, it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly "see its shadow" and retreat back into its burrow, and winter will continue for six more weeks.

(I always thought it seemed backwards.  If it's sunny, doesn't that seem like the winter should be over sooner?)



www.groundhog.org is the official web site for Punxsutawney Phil.  THAT website states that Punxsutawney Phil is the only TRUE weather predicting groundhog, and that the SAME GROUNDHOG - named Phil - has been prognosticating for the last 125 years... hmmmmm....

Anyway, my sister in the Poconos saw this article.  I really liked it.  Apparently, the groundhog doesn't ACTUALLY need to be ALIVE to SEE it's shadow:


Dead groundhog will make West End forecast- PoconoRecord.com

By Christina Tatu

Pocono Record Writer

January 31, 2011

Sammi III, the West End prognosticating groundhog, made last year's Groundhog Day prediction from her death bed.

This year, a different groundhog will make a prediction from beyond the grave.

Members of Groundhog Lodge No. 6 have been unable to find a replacement for Sammi III, who died last Groundhog Day after making one last forecast.

The organizers of the annual celebration behind Cherry's Sunset Restaurant in Kresgeville will rely Wednesday on a stuffed Sammi I, or "Pudgie," who died in the aftermath of a 1996 parade.

"We have to try something, for the fun of it and the amusement," said Groundhog Lodge No. 6 weatherman Harold Kreger.

Apparently, finding and taming a groundhog as a successor is no easy task. Lodge members have been trying to find a new one since Sammi III succumbed to old age last year.

"You have to get them when they're babies, before their eyes are open," Kreger said.

A groundhog isn't an animal that's raised on a farm, so to find one you need to locate a nest, he said.

"When someone knows of a groundhog that has young in a hole somewhere, you have to get a backhoe and dig them out. The person then hand-raises them and feeds them," Kreger said.

Lodge members had a few leads during the summer, but those groundhogs turned out to be "half grown," Kreger said.

Sammi III lived for 10 years, but the previous two Sammies had bad luck.

Sammi I died of heat stroke following a summer parade in July 1996. The groundhog seemed fine while riding in a float inside its cage, but was found dead upon returning to the lodge.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission ordered the lodge to release the second Sammi because his handlers didn't have a permit for him.

This won't be the first Groundhog Day that Sammi I rescued. After the group had to release Sammi II in 1997, they relied on a stuffed Sammi I until getting Sammi III in 2001.

Groundhog Lodge No. 6 members have been celebrating Groundhog Day in the West End for about 60 years.

German tradition holds that if a hibernating animal casts a shadow on Feb. 2 — the Christian holiday of Candlemas — winter would last another six weeks. If no shadow is seen, legend notes that spring would come early.

Last year, Sammi III predicted six more weeks of winter.

Wow... I JUST got the BEAUTY of their plan.
There is NO WAY that a DEAD groundhog will see ANYTHING! So it can't see a shadow, so there can't be much more of this glacial winter!