How much wood could a woodchuck chuck . . .

On the left is Muskrat Sally: see the skinny tail On the right is Groundhog Gary: see the bushy tail If a woodchuck could chuck wood? A woodchuck would chuck all the wood if a woodchuck could chuck wood. I've been stewing over Muskrat Sally (and evidently you can eat both of these animals as well as wear the muskrat, particularly on your head; that would be as a hat) since she didn't have a rat-like tail like a musk-rat. So I emailed the San Diego Zoo and the Nashville Zoo with a picture of the muskrat and asked them to name that mammal! Can you believe they answered lickity-split! Maybe San Diego even answered too quicky and didn't read that I was from TN because they told me that it was a prairie dog. But, Nashville said it was - ding ding ding!!! - a groundhog (also called woodchuck). Perhaps Punxsutawney Phil was on vacation and bunking in the area or we have our own groundhogs. And, our own evidently aren't as well fed as P-Phil. Groundhogs' diets, for your edification, consist of grasses, berries, grubs, grasshoppers, snails, insects, and other small animals (I'm assuming this means mice). They are also one of the few mammals that hibernate (hence Groundhog's Day). Whatever, Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia says that groundhogs' natural predators are coyotes, so now I'm pretty sure he was hiding under our deck until the coast was clear the other night when I heard the coyotes howl. Now, to end, for all you groundhog lovers out there, yes, and sung to the tune of "I'm a little teapot", here is: I'm a little groundhog:

I'm a little groundhog, it's my day.

Wake and stretch, go out and play.

Down in my burrow, down so deep,

Time to wake, from my long winter's sleep.

* * * * *

Grumble, grumble, scratch, scratch,

Grunt, grunt, yawn.

I'll eat my breakfast in your front lawn.

I'm a little groundhog, it's my day.

Wake and stretch, go out and play.