Stories from the deck:
Good things: Since he has been unable to get rid of me (surveillance and staring me down don’t work), Chippy has decided to befriend me. He now visits me on the deck, and I think he is interested in negotiation for shared occupancy…perhaps with a shared meal or two in the mix. Chipette, of course, is avoiding me as she is wimpy (and may still be miffed about my making fun of her a couple of years ago when she kept running up the pole to the bird feeder and repeatedly bonking her little noggin on the preventive inverted pie tin halfway up).Chipmunks can be rabid. Don’t get too close. If they approach you rather than run away from you, it could be problematic.Okay, I am already really old; there’s a deadly virus lurking; there is horrendous social and political unrest all around; and now I’ve gotta worry about an otherwise friendly but potentially rabid chipmunk???!!!
Hmmmm…he has approached me for a couple of days now with no incident (ran under my chair once)., sooo….
Good things: a cool morning on the deck. A handsome cardinal has joined the group of onlookers. Chipette and Chippy are scurrying about on the hill attending to some important munky-business or other. There are other things I should be doing, but hete I am… (Actually, I seem to recall it was Albert Ellis who thought we did not need shoulds and oughts. I second that!)
Just spotted Quirrely who apparently snagged a treat from somewhere and ducked into a patch of weeds to enjoy it privately.Good things: Two — yes, two! — visits from the shy little Chipette. Chippy must have given me a positive review. Wow!!Good things: lunch on the little deck. (Lately have been adding aji amarillos (yellow chilies) to sandwiches. Does a good job of mitigating allergies and stuffiness! And quite yummy.
Am wondering, however, how it is that a chipmunk can covet food from a distance if someone else is eating it….but can’t seem to find food put out in plain sight specifically for her? Although this is Chipette to whom I refer. And, as I mentioned previously, she is the one who used to regularly bonk her little noggin on the upside-down pie plate on the bird feeder pole as she’d repeatedly try running up the pole to get food (the whole run up-bonk!-run down-repeat cycle). Not sure if she was always this ditzy or just since the closed-head traumas. So far she has zoomed right by her proffered meal twice! ?Woohoo!! Chipette finally claimed her peanuts and strawberry tops!! We are forging a relationship (although she did wait until I was napping).
Good things: Chipette ? is sitting in the vegetation by the little deck trying to muster the courage to come to the wall for her peanuts. (I told her she only gets 4 because I have heard that squirrel kin have a tendency to overeat, and I don’t want to give her a tummy ache.) But wait!! Said chipmunk moved a bit further away and proceeded to do some scratching (apparently had an itch) which provided a brief profile view which leads me to suspect that today’s visit is actually from Chippy. (Thought “she” looked bigger than I remembered. Hmmm….) Actually, now that I look closer, I can see that the eyes are bigger and rounder than Chipette’s. So maybe Chippy doesn’t know where to look for the peanuts. It took awhile for his girlfriend (wife?) to figure it out. Thought it was just her personal ditziness, but maybe a characteristic of chipmunkness..Well, Chippy never found his peanuts, so Chipette has out-munked him. Sbe apparently overcame her shyness, and he in turn backed off his bravado.Good things: cooler on the deck than indoors after power out all night — again. A couple of nigjts ago it was out due to a car hitting a pole. This one was caused by a tree that came down. It would really nice to have a longer break between stressful events. Chipette did visit briefly this morning. She waited for awhile for me to go in quest of peanuts, but I guess she got tired of waiting. Haven’t seen her since I came back out.
Well, the wildlife seems to be harboring a bit of a mean streak today. There’s a feisty mosquito trying to work its way around the peppermint oil mist to take a nip at me. There’s a kamikazi fly. And Chippy and Chipette have engaged in some kind of tiff in the yard. (I think she won.) I am beginning to suspect a foot fetish with Chippy who occasionally attempts to sneak close to mine. Once-shy Chipette, however, has come to enjoy posing on the tie wall.
Sadly, my breakfast deck party with Chipette and Chippy is rained out today. However, my sunflower is getting a drink!
Good things: learned something new from the auto mechanic. Apparently mice like to ear the wiring on vehicles because the wiring has a yummy soy-based protective coating. Who knew?! (And apparently Irish Spring soap shavings sprinkled throughout the engine block will ward them off!)
Good things: a quiet morning on the deck so far. Damn Groundhog has not shown up; one chipmunk (not sure which) skulking in and peeking through the shrubbery; a minor squirrel tiff.
Chipette is a bit lighter in hue, has smaller narrower eyes and a scrawnier tail, and lacks some baggage that Chippy seems to boast.
Chippy has rounder eyes, darker more reddish coloring, a bushier tail, and some additional accouturements which Chipette seems to lack.
Apparently chipmunks will engage in fisticuffs over a juicy strawberry. Pretty sure it was Chipette that won the skirmish.
Okay, who invited the Damn Groundhog? Apparently I do discriminate as I do not welcome him. Perhaps I am stereotyping, but he or his kin were responsible for digging a hole under my son’s deck once upon a time which partially collapsed it and required expensive repairs. And it was a hole into which my then-three-year-old grandson almost fell and got lost!! So I attribute bad manners at the least and destructiveness at most on the groundhog ilk. And this particular groundhog has made no effort to learn English — specifically the key phrase “go away”. My biases are fairly obvious as evidenced by his given name, Damn Groundhog.
Good things: brunch and a bit of napping on the deck till the heat bullied me back indoors. Chippy and Chipette decided to visit simultaneously and had a small spat over who got to be on their favorite spot on the tie wall. They trounced one another briefly and then both took off in different directions. Interesting. Despite their kerfuffles, I am thinking they have better manners and social skills than many of the (alleged) humans I’ve witnessed lately. (Not referencing my friends and family, of course).
Good things: when I came out to the deck today, Chippy came barreling down the yard to greet me…and skidded right past his fruit snacks I had provided. I had thought Chipette was the ditzy one, but I am leaning toward the theory that ditziness and chipmunkness are synonymous. Actually, I am beginning to wonder if Chippy might be on uppers as he is prone to zooming around a lot and is rather twitchy. Hmmmm..
Damn Groundhog is back and has apparently decided the birdfeeder seed is his…which is frustrating the squirrels and chipmunks who know it’s theirs (even though the birds keep eternally hoping the term “bird” feeder actually means something).
The squirrels are a feisty lot, however, and may band together to protect their turf. Heck, they’ll rumble over an acorn! And I wouldn’t discount my dainty little Chipette’s ability to give ol’ DG a quick nip in the nuggies to drive him off (the aforementioned Rhonda Rousey syndrome).
Hmmm….just had a brief visit from a squirrel who happened by the deck. It was a comparatively smallish one, so not Burly Quirrely or Quirrelette. Rather bold, though. (Actually, it appeared to have some sort of bluish chip stuck to its nose on one side, so maybe it came to take issue with the distribution of Irish Spring shavings in the engine block.)
Been out here for awhile now and nary a chipmunk. Quirrely and his gang have disappeared, too, but high, high above, I have seen the broad wingspan of what is likely the evil redtail hawk… Well, no sooner than I noted his absence, Chippy paid a brief visit. He did skulk about very tentatively and close to the tiewall, though. Safety first!
Things (not necessarily good); DG (Damn Groundhog) sighted hanging out under the bird feeder, gleaning. Am pretty sure he was the bigfoot responsible for dislodging a wood block from the tiewall by the little deck (since it would have taken multiple little chipmunk and squirrel legs in a flurry of improbable team effort to accomplish same). Grrrr…..
And so, the inaugural collection of the Munky Stories (not to be confused with the Monkey Stories)….