Chores are Scarier than Jaws

While half the world is looking forward to spring, half my neighborhood still turns on their Christmas lights at night. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

When I lived out in the country (we had 10 acres, most neighbors had 10 to 20 acres) there were all sorts of wildlife running around. Deer, coyote, red foxes, kestrels, eagles, red tail hawks, moles, voles and, yes, groundhogs! There was one groundhog that we named "the sentry" because it liked to sit on top of a wooden fence post and would stay there for hours just watching the cars and the world go by. One day my hubby and I went for a walk down the road which was unusual because we didn't do that often. A few hundred feet away from our home by the side of the road we heard a high sharp whistling noise. Upon investigation I found a baby groundhog dangling upside down with it's ankle caught in the crook of a small bush. Mama groundhog was frantic, running up to her baby and then scooting away when I approached. I bent the limb of the bush down and the baby landed on some scrub, unharmed, thank goodness! Mama ran to her baby and they scurried off to safety. I have sometimes wondered what might have happened had we not gone for a walk that very day.