Groundhog Day!

Groundhog Day has a special meaning for me. I was born on Feb. 2.  As time went on, I learned that Groundhog Day has quite a history. It is called Candlemas in the Christian world because Priests would bless the candles of the followers which would be used for the remainder of the year. The ancient Celts called it Imbolc or Lamb's Milk, I think this was because this was the time when lambs were born. It's also a Cross-Quarter Day which again comes from the Celts. Imbolc was the traditional Cross-Quarter Day that was midway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox.
I've had a number of nicknames over the years, one of them was 'Rodent', although I think this moniker was given me more for the shape of my nose rather than my birthday's namesake. Somewhere I have a picture of a groundhog holding a sign (I'm sure it was Photoshopped) that says 'I'm a rodent, not a meteorologist!'.
When I was in college I would go groundhog hunting with my father (sort of a right of passage if you live in Western Pennsylvania). On one of these occasions for whatever reason I thought it would be a great idea to tan the skin with the hair still on and give it to my wife (girlfriend at the time) as a gift. After tanning, stretching, and drying the hide I decided that I would make it into something.

The famous Groundhog Stool

I cut a board into a 10 inch circle, added padding, tacked on the groundhog skin and put 8 inch legs on it to make it into a stool. I gave it to her for her birthday. Yes, I'm a Romantic at heart.

I presented it to her at her house placing it in the middle of the living room floor. Their Miniature Schnauzer immediately attacked it and I had to rescue it before it was destroyed.

We kept this stool for 15 years through our wedding and moving to Colorado. And then one of our friends got married. We thought 'What a nice thing it would be to give them the Groundhog Stool'. Six years into their marriage we received a package in the mail. It was the Groundhog stool signed by them with the date of their marriage on it.

A Tradition was born.

We kept it of course until a few years later another friend got married. It was shipped off to them with our best wishes and again returned with their signatures and dated. 

This went on for many years, sometimes not sent back directly to us but was passed on to others and eventually returned to us with names and dates of people that we didn't know. Finally after many years and many names and dates, the Groundhog stool was given to someone else. It's been over ten years now and we haven't seen it. 

So if you ever receive a small stool with fur on it that looks like a groundhog, please return it.