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An Exclusive Groundhog Day Interview with Awe-Manac Author Jill "Not" Badonsky

By Chris Dunmire

Greetings, blog tour-ees! Emerging from a hole in the ethersphere in the, er, shadow of the annual Punxsutawney, PA, tradition known as Groundhog Day, is an illumination on the subject of weather-forecasting critters and the shadows they keep. In just a moment you'll witness an unbelievable conversation between myself and Jill Badonsky, author of "The Awe-Manac: A Daily Dose of Wonder" (follow the blog tour at kaizentral.typepad.com).

Before we dig in to this topic, go have a sneak peek at some excerpts of Jill's "Awe-Manac" at Creativity-Portal.com if you haven't already because they'll key you in on some underground information necessary for understanding the following silly and decoding the bonus February 2 page for your enjoyment at the end.

Here we go!

CD: Speaking of shadows and groundhogs, how do you feel about our allowing groundhogs to determine how much more winter we'll get?

JB: The groundhog, Marmota monax, has actually lost a lot of credibility in the last several years because of advanced equipmentography in the area of winter determage, shadow locationario, and related data instrumentation. The general public does not rely as heavily on Groundhogs as they once did to ascertain winter's duration. Because groundhogs have such diverse personalities they have coped with this reality and downsizing in a variety of ways. There are Ground Hog support groups and AA groups for the less resourceful, some have taken up riding small Harleys and dirt bikes in exhibition parades, and a large number of them have formed groups that write haikus about winter — some of which are very good.

Do you think we ought to just let groundhogs man (hog?) the Weather Channel?

Many of the weather men and women that you see actually are groundhogs who have very good make-up artists. This is another area groundhogs have migrated toward in order to sublimate the angst of their endangered respect. This is a well kept secret mostly because many weatherman and women are also in the witness protection program and live underground.

Did you know that a groundhog is also known as a "woodchuck" and "marmot?" So this rodent gets to predict the weather AND have the fun tongue-twister: "How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood!"

I did know that.

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck . . . if he fails to see his shadow?

Many woodchucks drink quite a bit when they cannot see their shadow so it's under strong advisement that they stay away from heavy machinery and instead chuck toward public bathrooms or maybe even consider staying home to polish wood.

And then what happens when he faces his shadow?

Facing the shadow for a Groundhog is a guaranteed pathway to the creation of meaningful ballads, quality country western music and once, a performance art piece involving tin foil, a black light strobe and Styrofoam balls.

Bonus February 2 page from Jill Badonsky's "Awe-Manac" (Reprinted with permission from the author):

© 2009 Chris Dunmire www.chrisdunmire.com. All rights reserved.