Beautiful Bullies, "where's yer Willie?" and Frogs Needing Homes

On February 9th, Bullies from across North America will be congregating in Long Beach, California, for the 4th annual ‘Beautiful Bullies‘ competition. For the first time ever, Frenchies have been welcomed into the competition.

Do you think they realize how totally and utterly Frenchies are going to dominate this competition? Go team Frenchie! If you’re in the area, stop by and check it out.

I’m spending this coming weekend in lovely Wiarton, Ontario, where I’ll be anxiously awaiting the predictions of Wiarton Willie. Will it be six more weeks of winter, or an early spring? We’ll have to wait for Saturday to find out.

Willie’s weather prognostication career has been sadly marred by scandal. In 1999, the long lived original Willie was found dead, and festival organizers were unable to find a replacement in time for the weather prediction. Instead, they marked Groundhog Day by revealing “Willie” in a coffin. He had been dressed in a tuxedo, had coins over his eyes, and a carrot between his paws.

A scandal ensued when it transpired that the real Willie had in fact decomposed, and the body in the coffin was that of an older, stuffed groundhog. The Associated Press was obliged to issue a retraction on its wires.

There are numerous other weather predicting groundhogs across North America, although Willie is the only albino.

Wikipedia lists:

• Punxsutawney Phil found in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania
• Wiarton Willie found in Wiarton, Ontario
• Staten Island Chuck found in New York City, New York
• General Beauregard Lee, PhD found in Atlanta, Georgia
• Malverne Mel and Malverne Melissa found in Malverne, New York
• Brandon Bob of Brandon, Manitoba
• Balzac Billy of Balzac, Alberta
• Shubenacadie Sam of Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia
• Gary the Groundhog of Kleinburg, Ontario
• Spanish Joe of Spanish, Ontario
• Sir Walter Wally of Raleigh, North Carolina
• Pardon Me Pete of Tampa, Florida
• Jimmy the Groundhog of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin
• Octoraro Orphie of Quarryville, Pennsylvania

If you can’t make it Wiarton, or to any of the other February 2cnd groundhog day celebrations, you can check out the live WillieCam – http://www.wiartonwilliecam.com/

They’ll be broadcasting Willie’s predictions live on Saturday morning, bright and early at 7:00 am eastern standard time. Sean and I will be there with the dogs, so if you are planning on attending, drop us a line!

Side note: a friend of ours on the upper east coast of the USA has suffered a family emergency. Due to this, they are placing several lovely teenage French Bulldog puppies, and a few retired show girls. If you are interested in learning more about these avail-a-bullies, please email her directly.