Groundhog Club co-handler John Griffiths co-handler Al Dereume holds Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, during the 133rd celebration of Groundhog Day on Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa. Saturday, Feb. 2, 2019. Phil’s handlers said that the groundhog has forecast an early spring. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
1 Comment
Bill Brenner
on February 3, 2021 at 7:41 pm
Happy Ground Hog Day to you, Randy. The Miami Herald article about Carl Hiaasen reminded me of the time he spoke at a local bookstore here in D.C. about growing up on the edge of the Everglades, fishing, catching snakes, and roaming the outdoors with his buddies, one of whom lost a finger from the bite of a poisonous snake he kept in a box under his bed. While in the hospital, he had Carl sneak into his house and remove it before his mother found it. Know the feeling?
This fall I spent several hours a day, most days, in our town woods cutting trails and trimming invasive plants and vines: Asian fly honeysuckle, multflora rose, winterberry, wineberry, wild grape. Part of the woods, however, is a mature beech forest, with little understory and few invasives. It reminds me a lot of the woods below Bonnieview and the “Private Drive” when we were young. A beautiful place we saw as our own and took for granted, although most of it was part of the Andrews estate.
So in a sense I’m still playing in the woods, 70 years later, except that I don’t have my Irish Setter, Rusty, for company, nor, sometimes, the Brown’s Irish Setter.
I hope you are well and business has been good. I may be headed West this summer. If I get near Ennis I’ll check to see if you have any openings, and in case you haven’t witnessed enough fishing incompetence and need the money.
Happy Ground Hog Day to you, Randy. The Miami Herald article about Carl Hiaasen reminded me of the time he spoke at a local bookstore here in D.C. about growing up on the edge of the Everglades, fishing, catching snakes, and roaming the outdoors with his buddies, one of whom lost a finger from the bite of a poisonous snake he kept in a box under his bed. While in the hospital, he had Carl sneak into his house and remove it before his mother found it. Know the feeling?
This fall I spent several hours a day, most days, in our town woods cutting trails and trimming invasive plants and vines: Asian fly honeysuckle, multflora rose, winterberry, wineberry, wild grape. Part of the woods, however, is a mature beech forest, with little understory and few invasives. It reminds me a lot of the woods below Bonnieview and the “Private Drive” when we were young. A beautiful place we saw as our own and took for granted, although most of it was part of the Andrews estate.
So in a sense I’m still playing in the woods, 70 years later, except that I don’t have my Irish Setter, Rusty, for company, nor, sometimes, the Brown’s Irish Setter.
I hope you are well and business has been good. I may be headed West this summer. If I get near Ennis I’ll check to see if you have any openings, and in case you haven’t witnessed enough fishing incompetence and need the money.
Stay safe.