My yard is full of groundhogs and rabbits this year. Every time I open the door, I see one or the other or both. They seem to peacefully coexist with each other, but the rabbits are afraid of me. They either sit perfectly still or take off like lightning across the yard. The groundhogs don’t seem to be afraid of anything. There’s one especially fat and fast critter that I consider the neighborhood bully. He certainly scares me.

But today I saw something different. It was a very little groundhog, but he was hopping like a rabbit. Now, I’ve seen groundhogs stand on their hind legs like a begging dog, and I’ve seen groundhogs run very fast with all four feet on the ground, but I’ve never seen a groundhog hop. And, no, I hadn’t been drinking. This was early morning.

So all day I’ve been thinking about what those groundhogs and rabbits have been doing underground in my yard overnight. Is it possible that Mr. Rabbit and Ms. Groundhog got a little too friendly one night? You’ve heard of a mule, haven’t you? How about a liger? I think I’ve just may have discovered a new species. I call it “grabbit.”