GROUNDHOG DAY QUIZ

                               I'm certain all of you think you know about the furry rodent who is the seer, sage and soothsayer of weather prognostication.
                               What's most impressive is that his forecast is performed without Doppler radar or the need to tell folks in the Delaware Valley what the temperature is in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, as if we care.
                               Yeah, his name is Punxsutawney Phil.  And he lives at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney.  And he's rousted from a winter sleep at approximately 7 a.m. every year on Feb. 2nd  and asked if he sees six more weeks of winter or if spring is just around the corner.
                                Those are the easy facts.
                                But what do you really know about Groundhog Day and the varmint of the hour?  To which animal family does he belong?  What noise does a groundhog make?  From what ancient Christian celebration is Groundhog Day derived?  After whom was Punxsutawney Phil named?
                                 So poke out your head and take the quiz.
    1.  Who was Punxsutawney Phil named after?
                 a) Phil Rizzuto
                 b) John Philip Sousa
                 c) King Philip, a 17th century Native American war chief
    2.  Groundhogs are members of  what family?
                 a) hamster
                 b) weasel
                 c) squirrel
                 d) Soprano
    3.  Where do groundhogs live?
                 a) in huts
                 b) in dens
                 c) in burrows
                 d) in rent-controlled apartments
    4.  When threatened, what might a groundhog do?
                 a) grumble
                 b) whistle
                 c) hiss
                 d) call 911
    5.  German immigrants in Pennsylvania chose the plentiful groundhog as a weather-predicting subsitute for what animal that served the same purpose in the old country?
                 a) tit mouse
                 b) squirrel
                 c) badger
                 d) Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz
    6.  In the movie "Groundhog Day," weatherman Bill Murray didn't want to report on the groundhog, which he called a weather-forecasting what?
                 a) rat
                 b) ferret
                 c) skunk
                 d) varmint
    7.  What does the Indian name Punxsutawney mean?
                a) town of the sandflies
                b) respect the land
                c) nature's bounty
                d) without this woodchuck, this town's history
    8.  The celebrationof Groundhog Day is derived from what ancient Christian celebration?
                a) Feast of Lupercalia
                b) Brunn's Holiday
                c) Candlemas Day
                d) St. Stanislaus Day
    9.  Which U.S. president was the first to meet Punxsutawney Phil?
                a) James Garfield
                b) William Howard Taft
                c) Richard Nixon
                d) Ronald Reagan
  10.  What is Punxsutawney Phil's reaction if he's criticized for an incorrect forecast?
                a) He shrugs his shoulders
                b) He throws you the paw
                c) He whines like John Bolaris
                d) He has no reaction; he's a woodchuck
 11.  Since groundhogs have incisors that keep growing, what must they continually do?
                a) Break them off on hard stones
                b) Grind them by chewing
                c) Be careful not to puncture their lower lip
                d) Find a mate who's not into looks
 12.  When a female groundhog is ready to give birth in the den she shares with a male, what does she instruct her mate to do?
                a) get hot water
                b) get close to her
                c) get ice cream
                d) get out

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 Answers :  1 c ; 2 c ; 3 c ; 4 b ; 5 c ; 6 a ; 7 a ; 8 c ; 9 d ; 10 d ; 11 b ; 12 d