Happy Groundhog Day

Punxsutawney, PA or as the locals refer to it as "Punxsy" is mentioned in the book a few times. In fact, my orthodontist was in Punxsy and my nephew was married there. When we attended the wedding, we stayed in the hotel next to Gobblers Knob. Here is an excerpt from the book about Groundhog Day. Read the book to learn more!

It was a snowy, bitterly cold February in 1884, and the family

was quiet. Freddy was reading the weekly newspaper from Knoxdale,

while Mary was sewing by the fire. Freddy began reading a story

aloud about a group called the “Inner Circle” in Punxsutawney, a

town about twelve miles away, who, on February 2, takes a groundhog

out of hibernation and predicts the end of winter. If the groundhog

sees a shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter. If there is

no shadow, winter will end early. The good news was that there was

no shadow, so winter will end early this year.

There was silence. Mary never stopped sewing. Freddy didn’t

know if Mary was ignoring him or if her mind was elsewhere, as was

often the case. Just as he started going back to reading the paper,

Mary stopped sewing, looked up at Freddy, and said, “Tomorrow,

let’s go dig up our own groundhog and hold it up just to make sure!”