for the love of groundpigs
May 01, 2024
At the end of 2020, Elliott and I found ourselves living in a 100+ year-old farmhouse-turned-law-office-turned-our-home as we found our footing during a pandemic and a cross-country move that was decided on a gut feeling more than a desire.
Swindy, the home was lovingly called by our quarantine bubble.
As winter turned to spring, our morale and mental health were soaring pretty low. That’s when our new friend decided to emerge from the tree trunk in our front yard and introduce himself.
Gad living his best life in the tree trunk in our front yard.
We quickly became obsessed, grabbing our binoculars whenever his head poked out of the ground. It didn’t take long before we noticed Gad wasn’t alone—he had found a mate and invited Scrat to join our abode [these names came to us so quickly it truly was as if they had introduced themselves].
A few weeks later, we were standing in our second-floor kitchen [ah, the precious layout of Swindy], when we witnessed something that changed us forever.
Our mother hog had birthed three groundpiglets and we were blessed to witness her carry them to their new home—under our dilapidated deck. Now I know for many people, groundhogs mean trouble. They’ll tear up your yard. Most people respond to whistlepigs with violence. But this house was to be demolished soon and we needed these pigs to keep us going, so for us it was a true celebration of new life.
As the weeks went on, our babies started growing fast. Sometimes we would catch the whole family out on a picnic together. Other times we would accidentally scare everyone and watch their plump, furry bodies bounce away to safety. Watching these hogs live in pure bliss during the nastiest parts of a lingering global pandemic brought us joy when we didn’t have much of it; reminders of perseverance, strength, will, the light at the end of the tunnel.
Then we bought The Gnome Home and were spending all of our free time renovating it so we could move in by the summer. We knew we’d have to leave our family of pigs soon, too.
But as we were clearing the last few boxes out of the house, we noticed something. Our deck was quiet; our yard uninterrupted. The hog fam had left, too; the piglets embarking on new adventures. It was only fitting that we all collectively moved on to the next thing, separately, yet together. ;’)
Our groundpiglets asking us to give them some privacy.
~
The next summer, I’m working for a tour company and standard practice is talking to everybody about where they are coming from. A couple comes in and I check their registration—Punxsutawney, Pa. I’m elated. “My partner and I are groundpig fanatics,” I exclaim. “We’ve been wanting to go to Groundhog Day!” The man laughs and rolls his eyes while the woman lights up. “Keep my number in your phone and call me in January,” she says. “I will hook you up for February 2nd.”
And that is why and how E & me & our firstborn son HeyHey [the van] have spent the last two [now three] Groundhog Days in a weird lil town that is also weirdly obsessed with groundhogs, with a bunch of weird people who also find it weirdly entertaining to freeze their asses off on a grassy knoll at 4am in the middle of winter to anticipate a prognostication that takes all but 3 minutes. It is a thrill to honor our persevering woodchucks; our reminder to do whatever the fuck you want. YOLO!!
Like wearing your groundpig hat while you watch someone carve groundpig wood sculptures right before the next viewing of the movie Groundhog Day. Or shouting SHOW ME YOUR HOG with all you got after the 6am fireworks show. Lollll my goodness, I love the absurdity and delight in it all.
Scenes from Punxsutawney.
But really, spending time in Punxsy is a great lesson for us to celebrate the stupid, little things in life. I know they are just large rodents, but they meant something to us during a time when we really needed something cute and fluffy to occupy our time [and we aren’t interested in dogs/cats lol]. And they continue to mean something to us today, a symbol of what we’ve been through. And then how beautiful and magical and hilarious and silly that we happen to live near a town that has been celebrating—nay, worshiping the same animal that provided us life at a trying time! To sit in the silliness, to celebrate with others the magic that is our existence and our ability to bring people together in the spirit of the groundies.
I leave you with a little something Elliott wrote when we were scheduling groundpig tattoos. While those haven’t materialized [yet?!], his sentiments ring true today:
Groundies (aka groundhog, groundchuck, wood-shock, groundpig, whistlepig, whistler, thickwood badger)
I’m not quite sure what these groundpigs really, deeply mean to us, but there is something there and its important, you know, all the serendipitous things that surround that house, us and these whistlers. Gad was mentioned before we even moved in. We heard about the trail he carved out doing his groundpig routines, but never saw him till after the winter when spring had sprung. But that first few days he popped back out; he was such a magnificent specimen. Who could have thought that a rodent could be so graceful and beautiful. We watched in awe. Then we saw another, Scrat. Then we looked into their mating habits and shortly after we had three more babes to admire and watch grow…
Something about how for whatever reason, in this area of the world, a groundhog is a prophet for the end of a season. They hibernate to emerge (forcibly) into the world to tell us of what is to come. The groundies were there to usher us back into the world as we came out of our social and self quarantine. Forcing ourselves to reintegrate and to be with and there for all those who also were coming from some similar place. We’re still doing the work and we out here.
Also groundhogs, all rodentia, have to keep chewing to keep their teeth from growing too long. PERSISTENCE, KEEP GOING.
~
As always, thank you for indulging and I send you all the silly lil things in life to celebrate. Sometimes all you gotta do is slow down and look in your backyard to find the thing that keeps ya going.
xo !! xo !! peace love and groundiesssssss
bird,,
**groundiessss, oh groundiesss
c’mon boys, show yourselves
i wanna be friends with the groundhogs yes i do, yes i doooo
~lyrics by me, tyvm
**Gratitudes to my parents for the Swindy hookup and to Sandy and her parents/family for taking care of us in Punxsy, [and Alex & Cathleen for joining us in the fun this year]! See you next Ghog Day!!!! ;)