Groundhogs Just Seem to Make Life Better

When most people think of groundhogs, they think of Punxsutawney Phil in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania, who is supposed to be able to do long-term weather forecasts. Impressive as that is, you can use your imagination and find even more interesting talents among groundhogs. They tend to bring people together in admiration of the adorable critter.

The Groundhog has a lifesize, friendly mascot named Lookout you’ll meet at community events and around town, and the Mentone Ukes now have an amazing logo created by group co-founder Jerry Megli that you see everywhere, from our website, Facebook group, and even here in the paper. These days, branding is important for any kind of public-facing organization. I thought maybe our ukulele group needed its own branch of the groundhog family. Buc-ee’s has their beaver, and Mentone celebrates the mighty groundhog, and in some cases several groundhogs.

I’m in no way an artist but being able to generate images by just writing a description into a prompt for an AI generative art app was becoming a thing at the time. The first ones I tried weren’t very good and the results were usually too weird or just not right. But I found one called DALLE (not to be confused with Buc-ee’s) that is amazing. You could generate an image for any theme that you need, such as holidays, festivals, or sessions focused on musical genres. The thing that really made them was having the groundhogs play ukulele and have their mouths wide open like they were singing. We were now able to get incredible promo art.

Now I have never seen a groundhog in the wild singing and playing a ukulele, but I figure that is just as likely as having one do an accurate weather forecast.

The Mentone Ukes will hold practice sessions at the Moon Lake Library on Oct. 11 and 25 at 1 p.m. A free introduction to the ukulele is offered, and loaner ukuleles are available. Newcomers and beginners of all ages are welcome to attend! For more information, you can find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and on our website, www.mentoneukes.com. Strum and be happy!

BY HANK ALLEN