One look outside the window for winter 2026 and it’s easy to be confused.
January temperatures in the 60s one day and then a drop into the teens just hours later.
Wind and rain contrasted by sunshine and snowflakes all in the same day have become a new norm.
It’s no wonder the Whiting-Robertsdale Historical Society has moved up their date for the Third Annual Groundhog Day Gala Dinner this year to Saturday, Jan. 31 at 6 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 1120 119th St. in Whiting. Music, a full bar and a multi-course feast are part of the fundraising festivities until 11 p.m. All money raised supports the new Whiting-Robertsdale History Museum, which opened last year in 2025. Individual tickets are $100 and tables are $800 to accommodate eight guests.
Reservations are required by calling Gayle Kosalko at 219-659-8129 or visiting www.wrhistoricalsociety.com to purchase tickets online.
The Whiting-Robertsdale Historical Society was started as a Bicentennial project in 1976. Since that time, it has amassed a large collection of historical items related to the Whiting-Robertsdale area, all now housed at the organization’s new museum location at 1606 119th St. in Whiting.
This is a special year since it is the 50th anniversary year for the Whiting-Robertsdale Historical Society. I attended last year’s gala event for the first time, and it was both fun and filled with surprises paired with the buffet feast.
We no longer have a media star local groundhog who garners TV time as our Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana weather soothsayers. In the past, both Brookfield Zoo and Lincoln Park Zoo had noted groundhogs among their animal numbers for viewing. For many years, Chicago media would trek to witness the weather predictions of our zoo weathercast creatures. Brookfield Zoo’s named groundhogs over the years have included Chipper T., Sunshine, Cloudy and Tumbleweed, among others.
Today, both zoos stake claim to “wild” groundhogs who are spotted on their zoo properties frequently, but none has finessed in weather forecasting.
At our own farm, we have a number of groundhogs who live around our acreage, including one near our farm’s footbridge over the field ditches and another that likes to burrow under our late collie Laddie’s long vacant backyard doghouse. There are groundhogs who construct sturdy underground lairs lined with large gravel pieces positioned alongside the trek of what’s left of the abandoned railroad dividing our farm field landscape, as well as their likely relatives who dig their homes in the sand floor of the farm machine shed where Dad’s 1948 John Deere tractor is housed.
Here’s some of the dirt I dug up about groundhogs and the many traditions and tales associated with popular ways of predicting weather, with some help from the Purdue Extension Office.
The lore associated with Groundhog Day, which is always observed on Feb. 2, is that if the groundhog sees its shadow, expect six more weeks of winter. If it doesn’t see its shadow, spring is just around the corner. As for “just around the corner,” that seems to be open to interpretation and debate.
One of the theories of how this holiday originated connects it to European farmers in the 18th Century. In Europe, where winters are milder than in the Midwest, farmers watch hedgehogs (a smaller underground cousin) or badgers (larger, more aggressive cousins to groundhogs) come out of hibernation in early February. Their appearance was a sign that it was time to begin spring planting. Since the U.S. doesn’t have hedgehogs and badgers tend to be more to the south and west of North America, Dutch settlers settled for the weather wisdom of groundhogs, which can be found throughout the Midwest and along the East Coast.
Groundhogs hibernate when the temperature drops to 50 degrees for an extended period. During hibernation, a groundhog’s body drops from 90 degrees to 38 degrees. They only take a breath about once every minute as their heart rate slows to four to six beats per minute.
Of course, one of the world’s most famous groundhogs shares my same name and lives in a luxurious den (that’s the animal’s preferred hole with leaves and sticks for bedding) in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. “Punxsutawney Phil” lives on a hill (with commercial heating, believe it or not) that is called “Gobbler’s Knob.” Throughout the years, Phil’s record has been the standard for the Feb. 2 outcome for most of the country, despite his zip code. Statistics show he is accurate about one-third of the time. Phil’s handlers sometimes use a special homemade carrot-shaped cake to coax out the fickle, furry fellow. The cake is made of carrots, honey and syrup.
Groundhogs are often referred to as “woodchucks” (as my dad usually referred to them) and are members of the squirrel family of mammals known as “marmots,” which include chipmunks, squirrels and prairie dogs. And despite that famous nursery rhyme, woodchucks don’t like wood but get labeled a pest because of their hole-digging and habit of chewing on flowers and vegetable garden plants. Their true diet consists primarily of plants, seeds, insects and maybe an occasional small bird.
Though they make their home underground, they can also hold their own in the climbing department. When in danger, they will climb a tree for a quick escape or even swim a shallow stream to escape natural enemies like rattlesnakes, wolves, bears, foxes, mountain lions, hawks, dogs and a gun held by an angry farmer or hungry hunter. Yep. Many sportsmen eat groundhog meat for its tender and mild flavor.
For the record, groundhogs have four toes on their front feet and five toes on each back foot and most adult groundhogs tip the scales at more than 20 pounds, with a lifespan of five years in the wild and up to 20 years in zoo captivity.
Dad’s beloved older sister, my Auntie Judy, who died at age 83 in December 2005, had a Feb. 2 Groundhog Day birthday. It’s always been easy to remember the date of her birthday. As so often mentioned in my columns and published cookbooks, Auntie Judy is one of the reasons this chronicling column was launched in April 2002 because of her fervent mission to preserve and pass along our family recipes. Today’s handwritten recipe for her delicious European pastry squares was tucked away in a cookbook preserved by her sister, my Auntie Lilly, in the farm pantry.
Columnist Philip Potempa has published four cookbooks and is a weekly radio show host on WJOB 1230 AM. He can be reached at PhilPotempa@gmail.com or mail your questions: From the Farm, PO Box 68, San Pierre, Ind. 46374.
Auntie Judy’s European Pastry
Makes 12 pastry squares
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour, divided use
1/2 cup butter
3 tablespoons white sugar
2 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 cup coconut
1 teaspoon vanilla
Directions:
1. Work 1 cup flour, butter and sugar together and pat into an ungreased 7-inch-by-12-inch baking pan.
2. Bake pastry bottom layer in 350-degree oven for 10 minutes.
3. While bottom layer is baking, mix together eggs, 2 tablespoons of flour, baking powder, brown sugar, chopped nuts, coconut and vanilla.
4. Spread top mixture over baked layer in pan and bake for an additional 20 to 30 minutes or longer if needed.
5. Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting into squares and sprinkling with powdered sugar.
