Magical Groundhogland

We have this chubby little groundhog that lives in a culvert in the ditch in front of our house.  He's the cutest little thing and he's lived there for a few years now, at least.  He comes out the first of Spring and we see him in the yard all through the end of Fall, right before it starts getting cold for the Winter.  He eats pears that have fallen from our tree in the Fall, and he wanders all around the grass in our side yard in the mornings and evenings, looking for what, I don't know.

The other day, I saw him climb out of the culvert and stand up on his haunches, looking all around.  I think he timidly sneaks his way out into the open and then stands as tall as he can, looking all around for any dangers before he ventures out into the grass, or across the road to explore.  He looks like he's already put on some weight, which means he's been eating well this season.  He's cute as can be.  I decided it was high time I marched on over to the ditch to introduce myself, so I did.

As I approached the ditch, the groundhog had his back to me.  He was standing tall again, and the closer I got, I could see his whiskers twitching as he turned his head to and fro, watching across the road.  I got within a few feet of him and he must have sensed me coming because he jumped straight up in the air and turned around to face me in one quick movement.  His eyes were wide as saucers, but when he realized it was me and that I meant him no harm, he seemed to compose himself and tilted his head in question at me.  I knelt in the grass before him and proceeded to introduce myself.  "Hello Mr. Groundhog, how are you this fine sunny day?"  I reached out my hand toward him and he extended his furry little paw and shook one of my fingers.  "I thought I might come introduce myself after all these years of watching you in our yard.  I hope you don't mind," I told him.

"Oh my, how wonderful!" he said.  "I've always wanted to meet you too.  Please, come and let me show you around my humble abode," he said, and motioned toward the culvert in the ditch with his furry little paw.  He started to run toward the ditch and turned back to see if I was following.  I stood up and walked to the ditch and he ran down and stood in front of the culvert pipe, which was the entrance to his little home.  "Come on down!" he said, and I replied, "Oh don't be silly! I could never fit my big old self through that tiny little culvert!"  "Sure you can," he said.  "Come on, I'll show you!"

Hesitantly, I knelt down in the grass again and crawled down into the ditch.  I got to the culvert entrance and suddenly it didn't seem so small.  Maybe I could fit through here after all.  The groundhog led the way and I followed along after him.  Once we got through the dark tunnel of the culvert, the ground seemed to open up a little more and there was room to move around.  I was amazed at what all I saw!  There was room after room in this underground world and each was decorated in it's own wonderful way!  Tiny little lanterns hung around the rooms filled with fireflies lighting our way.  There was one big room with vegetables hanging from the ceiling.  Each had tags hanging from them with words written on them to identify the vegetable.  There were radishes, turnips, carrots, beets and potatoes, to name a few.  Among those veggies, there were numerous roots hanging around and clumps of this and that, and I realized we were underneath our neighbor's garden!  These were the vegetables planted in the garden and apparently the groundhog had labeled the ones that he liked to eat the best.  They were all within reach and whenever he got a hankerin for a radish, all he had to do was reach up and pull it down to eat it.  How clever!

There was another room lined with walnut shells and inside each shell was something different.  Dandelion heads, purple clover blossoms, dried beetles, grub worms, apple and pear seeds and peach pits in a pile in the corner.  Tiny little bowls filled with items for storage.  There was a long since abandoned turtle shell in the corner filled with water and there was a long reed hanging down out of the ceiling drip-drip-dripping the water down into the shell to keep it full.  One of the rooms must have been for sleeping because it had several spaces throughout the room where mud had been packed down tightly to form a bed and soft cottony fuzz and bird feathers had been placed around for comfort.  In this room, there were butterfly and moth wings pasted about on the walls and it was so pretty.

I was in awe as the groundhog led me from room to room.  What a beautiful little home he had made for himself down here and how lucky I was that he was willing to show it all to me.  I know he was proud as he saw how impressed I was with his cleverness.

Once the tour was over and he led me back out through the culvert, I straightened up and brushed the dirt from my hands and knees, hugged the little groundhog, who was now my dear and trusted friend, and bid him farewell.  I'm so glad to have him as our neighbor!