Billie Naisby

Hudson's Hope Kids Collection

    The huge old mossy tree had been laying undisturbed for many many years. Although now in early spring each year it becomes home to a family of groundhogs here at Six Mile. It seems like it comes alive each spring after the long cold winter.

    But truly it needed a rest and time to recover after a season of being home to a family of these tunnel digging creatures. 

    This spring the four groundhog pups were very active and Momma groundhog spent every waking hour trying to slow them down.  She worked non- stop all the while trying to house clean and find food for her family. Luckily there was a nice green lawn close by.

    The pups were named Eenie, Meenie, Miney and Moe. There were two girls and two boys. They were big and strong pups and would be good diggers when they got a little older.  But for the time being they just poked their heads out of the old tree to enjoy the sunshine. The rest of the day was spent playing tricks on their sisters.

    The time finally came when the pups had their first real lesson on digging holes. What fun!  The dirt flew and scattered and Miney and Moe made sure that when they were digging Eenie and Meenie were close by to get covered with dirt. Momma had to come and scold the boys time and time again.

    Momma and Papa warned the pups about going near a house across a wide wide field. Everybody said it was a haunted house. It was empty now and it was looking pretty shabby. It was just a scary place.

    Two uncles of Miney and Moe, Uncle Pen and Uncle Al, went near that house to do some digging and they never came back. Moe said,”Maybe they beat each other up!” They had many quarrels but always patched things up.

    “Did anyone ever go to look for them, Momma?” Miney asked.   

    “No” Momma said, “Everyone was too frightened.”

    Momma said “The lady at that house lived all alone and we could hear her singing those opera songs most of the day. The loud sounds scared a lot of animals and birds especially when she hit those high notes. Most of the time though, the birds chirped and sung along with her.”

    The lady hired a handyman to help her with chores and repairs. He made trips to the town about a half hour away to buy food and supplies.

    Then one day the singing stopped and the lady and the handyman were not seen again. The gossip was that the tax man came and ordered them to move out of the house.

    Miney and Moe could not sleep that night thinking about that story of their uncles.

    The next day they told Momma that they were going to explore but they waddled over towards that haunted house. The closer they got to the house the stranger everything became.

    The wind howled so loud which was odd because a few minutes ago it was very quiet. The tall grasses swayed and bent to the ground. What was happening?

    Suddenly the sky got very dark and the rain poured so much that Miney and Moe had to look for a safe dry spot. They huddled together beneath some big shrubs and soon discovered that the ground under  them had been freshly dug. So they dug some dirt at the top and there it was, the start of a big tunnel. So they dug deeper. Along the way they snacked on lettuce and spinach leaves that looked a lot like the plants in the garden near their burrow. They came upon an icy cold spring under a big rock but the strange thing about it was that a tin cup was sitting beside it.