Chipmunks

Last year a chipmunk came into our screened-in porch and Lily ran after it. Vickie, seeing what was happening rushed onto the porch to save the plants and keep the plant stands from overturning. Around and around the porch went the chipmunk and Lily and Vickie, plant stands tottering that way and teetering this way, until finally the chipmunk made its escape through the open screen door. However, Lily was hot behind the little creature and finally caught it in the yard only to drop it when Mom (Vickie) yelled, "Drop it!". The little critter staggered off into the thicket with a hyper-beating heart, a story to share around the chipmunk campfire, and hopefully no worse for wear.

A couple of days ago a chipmunk was at the screen door (closed this time) peering into the screened porch; don't know whether it was last year's adventurer or not; if it was it may have been reliving what was perhaps the most exciting day of its life. Or it could have been another chipmunk visiting the scene of its friend's great adventure; perhaps it was there on a triple-chipmunk dare to encounter the dawg and get the human to chase it around and around the plants? Maybe the underbrush concealed an audience of chipmunks waiting to see if the chipmunk would follow through on the dare? 

In any event I broke the party up when I approached the door from the outside, the furry thing darted away beneath the ramp to the porch. 

I've had a thing for chipmunks for as long as I can remember. It probably started with a Little Golden Book titled Donald Duck's Toy Train. Chip and Dale were in the story.

Now I know chipmunks don't get a lot of press, but they sure are cute and I love to see them dart hither and tither and yonder.