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Food » rec.food.cooking » OT Canadian Rodent Icon Dies
| OT Canadian Rodent Icon Dies [message #289505] |
Do, 13 Juli 2006 20:57 |
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He was found on the edge of an Ottawa highway and moved to a small town
where officials fed him and gave him a climate controlled home asking that
he take a look at the weather once a year. Wiarton Willie let himself be
dragged up from a sound sleep every February 2. Willie died yesterday at his
custom built house following a long battle with infection. The best guess is
he was nine years old. Willie was an albino.
Willie will be cremated and his ashes burried beside a statue of himself.
BACKGROUND
How groundhogs got a reputation for predicting weather patterns is a
mystery, because they are not the least bit interested in their shadows or
the number of winter weeks remaining. The only reason they come out of
hibernation is for food and sex.
The original Wiarton Willie, an albino groundhog said to be 22 years old,
died during hibernation during the winter of 1998-99. The good burghers of
Wiarton discovered this to their horror just before Groundhog Day 1999.
Willie's death made headlines around the world.
On Groundhog Day, they put Wiarton Willie face-up in a small pine casket,
bright pennies over his eyes, paws clutching a raw carrot. But it was a
fake! Turns out the real Wiarton Willie was so disgustingly decomposed he
couldn't be put on display, so they found a stuffed facsimile and laid it in
the casket.
"We didn't try to hide the fact that he was stuffed," said Tom Ashman of
Wiarton Willie's publicity team. "If the media had been doing their job they
would have seen the stitches on the belly."
But, why fake it?
"People needed closure," Ashman explained.
Groundhogs are woodchucks, members of the squirrel family, marmots,
sometimes called "whistle-pigs." They are not the sharpest knives in the
drawer. When nervous, they emit a high-pitched squeal, which might as well
be an embossed dinner invitation to predators who follow the squeal until
they find and eat the groundhog.
So how did they gain a reputation for predicting weather? Fact is, they
aren't very good at it. The people of Wiarton insist their Willie was
accurate 90 per cent of the time, but what do you expect them to say when
the Groundhog Festival attracts 20,000 free-spending tourists to the town
every February? Scientific studies show groundhogs are accurate only 37 per
cent of the time, which means you'd do better flipping one of the pennies
that covered ol' Wiarton Willie's eyes.
Loyalists insist that Wiarton Willie possessed an uncanny ability to predict
because he was born exactly on the 45th parallel, midway between the Equator
and the North Pole. Wiarton is a pretty town of 2,300 on the Bruce Peninsula
between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay.
The legend of Willie Wiarton began in 1956, with many groundhogs taking
their star turn as Willie.
Other jurisdictions have their favourite winter-predicting groundhogs, the
second most famous - after Wiarton Willie - being Punxsutawney Phil of
Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. There is a Brandon Bob in Manitoba, a Staten
Island Chuck in New York, a Balzac Billy in Alberta, and a Gary the
Groundhog in Kleinburg, Ontario.
Wiarton Willie's successor is Wee Willie, another albino groundhog. Actually
there are two Wee Willies - Wee Willie and Wee Willie-2 - just to be safe.
An Ottawa man captured them after Wiarton Willie died. He sent them to
Wiarton for the big show.
And a big show it is, with hockey tournaments, curling bonspiels, dances,
parades, pancake breakfasts, a Monte Carlo Night, a dart tournament, snooker
tournament, horse-drawn sleigh rides, a mammoth fish fry and a circus.
(Above From CBC Canada News Service)
The funeral for the previous Willie was televised nationally. The ersatz
stuffed Willie was given a burial at sea type funeral where the flag draped
corpse slid from a board into a rubbish bin. The mourners cheered.
Think I will crack a bottle of Dom P. One less rat in this world.
F.J.
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| Re: OT Canadian Rodent Icon Dies [message #289512 ] |
Fr, 14 Juli 2006 05:16 |
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"fudge" <fudgeREMOVECRAP [at] nrtco.net> wrote in message
news:44b697aa_1 [at] news.cybersurf.net...
>
> He was found on the edge of an Ottawa highway and moved to a small town
> where officials fed him and gave him a climate controlled home asking that
> he take a look at the weather once a year. Wiarton Willie let himself be
> dragged up from a sound sleep every February 2. Willie died yesterday at
his
> custom built house following a long battle with infection. The best guess
is
> he was nine years old. Willie was an albino.
> Willie will be cremated and his ashes burried beside a statue of himself.
>
> BACKGROUND
>
> How groundhogs got a reputation for predicting weather patterns is a
> mystery, because they are not the least bit interested in their shadows or
> the number of winter weeks remaining. The only reason they come out of
> hibernation is for food and sex.
>
> The original Wiarton Willie, an albino groundhog said to be 22 years old,
> died during hibernation during the winter of 1998-99. The good burghers of
> Wiarton discovered this to their horror just before Groundhog Day 1999.
>
> Willie's death made headlines around the world.
>
> On Groundhog Day, they put Wiarton Willie face-up in a small pine casket,
> bright pennies over his eyes, paws clutching a raw carrot. But it was a
> fake! Turns out the real Wiarton Willie was so disgustingly decomposed he
> couldn't be put on display, so they found a stuffed facsimile and laid it
in
> the casket.
>
> "We didn't try to hide the fact that he was stuffed," said Tom Ashman of
> Wiarton Willie's publicity team. "If the media had been doing their job
they
> would have seen the stitches on the belly."
>
> But, why fake it?
>
> "People needed closure," Ashman explained.
>
> Groundhogs are woodchucks, members of the squirrel family, marmots,
> sometimes called "whistle-pigs." They are not the sharpest knives in the
> drawer. When nervous, they emit a high-pitched squeal, which might as well
> be an embossed dinner invitation to predators who follow the squeal until
> they find and eat the groundhog.
>
> So how did they gain a reputation for predicting weather? Fact is, they
> aren't very good at it. The people of Wiarton insist their Willie was
> accurate 90 per cent of the time, but what do you expect them to say when
> the Groundhog Festival attracts 20,000 free-spending tourists to the town
> every February? Scientific studies show groundhogs are accurate only 37
per
> cent of the time, which means you'd do better flipping one of the pennies
> that covered ol' Wiarton Willie's eyes.
>
> Loyalists insist that Wiarton Willie possessed an uncanny ability to
predict
> because he was born exactly on the 45th parallel, midway between the
Equator
> and the North Pole. Wiarton is a pretty town of 2,300 on the Bruce
Peninsula
> between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay.
>
> The legend of Willie Wiarton began in 1956, with many groundhogs taking
> their star turn as Willie.
>
> Other jurisdictions have their favourite winter-predicting groundhogs, the
> second most famous - after Wiarton Willie - being Punxsutawney Phil of
> Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. There is a Brandon Bob in Manitoba, a Staten
> Island Chuck in New York, a Balzac Billy in Alberta, and a Gary the
> Groundhog in Kleinburg, Ontario.
>
> Wiarton Willie's successor is Wee Willie, another albino groundhog.
Actually
> there are two Wee Willies - Wee Willie and Wee Willie-2 - just to be safe.
> An Ottawa man captured them after Wiarton Willie died. He sent them to
> Wiarton for the big show.
>
> And a big show it is, with hockey tournaments, curling bonspiels, dances,
> parades, pancake breakfasts, a Monte Carlo Night, a dart tournament,
snooker
> tournament, horse-drawn sleigh rides, a mammoth fish fry and a circus.
>
> (Above From CBC Canada News Service)
>
> The funeral for the previous Willie was televised nationally. The ersatz
> stuffed Willie was given a burial at sea type funeral where the flag
draped
> corpse slid from a board into a rubbish bin. The mourners cheered.
>
> Think I will crack a bottle of Dom P. One less rat in this world.
>
> F.J.
>
>
I think in PA ol' Pauxetawney Phil is just quietly replaced making the
public think he's the same rodent for the last 100 years.
-ginny
who just sends her 10 year old, Jill, out to see her shadow (born 2.2.96)
>
>
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| Re: OT Canadian Rodent Icon Dies [message #289516 ] |
Do, 13 Juli 2006 21:31 |
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Virginia Tadrzynski wrote on 13 Jul 2006 in rec.food.cooking
> > How groundhogs got a reputation for predicting weather patterns is a
> > mystery, because they are not the least bit interested in their
> > shadows or the number of winter weeks remaining. The only reason
> > they come out of hibernation is for food and sex.
>
Samr as me....
--
Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect
-Alan
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| Re: OT Canadian Rodent Icon Dies [message #289520 ] |
Do, 13 Juli 2006 21:42 |
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Virginia Tadrzynski wrote:
>
> I think in PA ol' Pauxetawney Phil is just quietly replaced making the
> public think he's the same rodent for the last 100 years.
> -ginny
> who just sends her 10 year old, Jill, out to see her shadow (born 2.2.96)
When you're talking about a rodent who predicts the weather it is not a big leap
of faith to think that he lives longer than the average gopher.
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