“Brown Earth”

Weather predictor
At home deep in the brown earth
That is the ground hog

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It was sunny this morning. So, if our resident groundhog bothered to come out of hibernation to check the weather, "Missouri Max" probably saw his shadow. I guess that means we'll see 6 more weeks of Winter here. Meanwhile Back East, Punxsutawny Phil also saw his shadow https://www.wgal.com/article/punxsutawney-phil-groundhog-day-prediction-2022/38957462#

The above image filled the frame in the camera.
Max is one of the groundhog pups that "Missouri Mable" gave birth to & then started to bring around in the Spring of 2020 before they were weaned. Although Max is still a totally wild animal, he grew up knowing that I meant him no harm. As a result, he would often allow me to get far closer with my camera than any regular groundhog would.

I hope he will still be around next Summer. Although his mom "Missouri Mabel" remained until November, I stopped seeing Max by early Fall 2021. The photo above is from Summer 2021.