No ground hogs saw their shadow today on the Phactors' estate. There are two reasons for this. One, if any ground hog was in residence, it would still be hibernating. Two, there are no ground hogs in residence because when one takes up residence it gets relocated to a more rural venue. TPP is quite happy for each and every no ground hogs day, although for obscure reasons, ground hogs were always called woodchucks in our part of the world. And no one ever called them marmots. In their proper place they are nice animals, rather like big guinea pigs. A family acquaintance had a tame one as a pet, but they had orchards and therefore a lot of area for rodent grazing. Their pet woodchuck liked being petted, but each spring upon emerging from his den under their barn he seemed a bit fuzzy about everything. Their banishment is for simple reasons: they are such gluttons, they can eat you out of house and garden. They do things like bend down the okra stalks to eat the leaves. And light weight garden fencing that works to keep rabbits at bay can't stop these heavy weights. So we celebrate not just February 2nd, but every no ground hogs day.