Blog

Oh, Mr Chesapeake Chuck! What are you doing?

By Creature Feature In Critter Corner

One day, I came off of the outdoor trail to the office and to my surprise, I saw our groundhog, Chesapeake Chuck sitting at my desk, looking at Critter Corner on the computer.  “What on earth?”  I murmured to myself.  So as not to startle Chuck, I slowly came through the door.  ” Chuck,” I said softly, ” Chuck?” He didn’t turn around. “Hey, Chuuuuck?” again, a little more insistent.  Slowly, he turned around, a look of surprise in his eyes.  His paws rested on the keyboard, and he snuffled at me. “shu, shu, shu!” he said with a startled sneeze.  “Umm, yes? yes, yes?”  he said a little nervously he glanced away from the computer screen in my direction.

“Chuck, what are YOU doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in bed? it’s kind of cold outside. Most woodchucks would be sleeping in their burrows right now.  Why are you here?” I asked.

“Well,” he said, “I haven’t got my Christmas wish yet.” He sniffled. ” I was hoping that I would’ve heard from Mr. Bill Murray by now.” He frowned sadly, a tear welling up at the corner of his eye.  ” I was hoping my BFF, Bill Murray,  would be in touch with me soon, with my big day, Groundhog Day, coming up, and with the VLM’s 50th Anniversary celebration just getting started, I thought….” He tucked his head, and placed his paws on the desk.  ” I was thinking about trying to write another post here on Critter Corner, just in case, you know…..”

“Well, Chuck, Mr Bill Murray is a very busy man.  He has lots of events to attend this time of year sometimes. Maybe he will get in touch soon. We’ll have to keep an ear out.  If we hear from Mr. Murray, we can let you know that he is thinking about you and might want to come meet you and see you on your special day.” I offered.

” I sure hope so” said Chuck.  ” I suppose I should be getting back to bed now.” He yawned a big yawn. ” I’ve still got some sleeping to do before I can let the folks here at the Virginia Living Museum in Newport News, VA know whether or not we will have 6 more weeks of winter.  My shadow can be very scary! It sometimes makes me want to hide back in my burrow until it warms up into springtime.  Winter has taken awhile to come in, don’t you think?”

” Why, yes, Chuck, it has.  But we can see how it looks in a few weeks, maybe Spring will come swiftly this year, and maybe Mr. Murray will come to see you.  That would be very exciting! I know that some of the locals and the local tv channels like to come see you on Groundhog Day, so maybe he will. ”

“Why, Yes! I had forgotten about that! I do love it when they come to see me.  I like letting folks know what I think about winter and the coming of spring.” Chuck yawned again. ” I’m getting really sleepy.  Could I have a piece of banana before you tuck me back into bed?”

” Sure, Chuck, come on up into my arms.  I’ll carry you back to bed.” I said softly.

“Thank You, Miss Grant.”

“You’re welcome Chuck”, I whispered into his ear as he snuggled down into my arms and I carried him back to his bed. ” Sweet dreams, Chuck, sleep well.  Hopefully when you wake up for your big day, you’ll get your one wish, to meet Mr. Bill Murray.”