Editor’s note: Amos is a church mouse, who types by hopping on the computer keyboard, but he can’t operate the capital shift keys, and he shuns punctuation marks – except dashes and hyphens. amos encounters greg the groundhog boss i am so happy to see january melting away surely february will bring warm joy-filled days but maybe not not if you believe that eccentric groundhog named greg i met the other day he must have wakened on the wrong side or at least on the wrong day he was the rudest most egotistical groundhog i ll ever meet he was grumping and harrumphing groaning and moaning to beat the heat what s the matter says me you re not acting so very cheerfully of course not says he rather miserably look at me am i not the epitome of weather predictability greg the groundhog is the top dog of fogs bogs and rain-soakin sogs i m the best in the west east north and all the rest but who gets all the top press who claims that he s the best some dog of a groundhog named pawpucket phil or whatever you will well maybe says me that he s just predicting for his territory his own part of the country and you can prognosticate for our little city and surrounding community our community says he with a shout who cares about this little drip of a water spout i have greater dreams in sight my career is just taking flight why anything less than a continent wouldn t be right now go on my little mouse go chase yourself a little louse or at least go on back to your house you see i ve got to stick my head out of my hole and predict the future of winter or spring cause that s my role after all i m the celebrity of the day and nobody and nothing s going to get in my way oh yeah says me a little bit defiantly you better be careful what you say cause god is listening all the time every day he hears you when you sob and pray and he hears you when you gloat and bray you just need to watch out or you ll get what you say in the way you pray and sure enough boss the lord must have listened in cause when greg the groundhog popped up early this morning he was hit square in the mug by a load full of muck snow and mud splattered by a city dump truck so boss we may never know what greg s fascinating prediction might have foretold - it could have been warm or maybe more cold but for him it ll be a long wintry din-din of eating self- glorified dirt pride and sin amos p s - boss i really hope this winter can be cut short by god s mercy and grace mainly cause my toes still are froze and my little tail thinks it s turned into a permanent icicle