I couldn’t help but laugh as I watched one of our chipmunks scurry across the yard, leaping from stone to stone, hiding in our fire pit only to reappear and make a quick dash to go under our grill.
“I wonder if he lives under there?” I asked my son Alex as we sat on the porch and watched.
“I think he lives by the garbage cans.” Alex said as we waited for the chipmunk to come out from under the grill.
“Yuck! The garbage cans certainly wouldn’t be my first pick for a choice spot of real estate.” I leaned back in my rocking chair so I could get a better view of our grill.
Finally the little guy peeked his head out from under the grill and slowly went over to the edge of our sidewalk only to instantly freeze looking over at us.
“Geez, I think we spooked him.” I leaned forward to give him a little privacy.
“There he goes!” Alex said pointing to the empty spot where the chipmunk once stood.
“Did he run to the garbage cans?” I leaned back to see.
“Nope. He went right under our sidewalk.” Alex looked over at me. “He must of made a tunnel under it.”
I got up to go check. As I got closer I could see he’d made a small hole. I looked back at Alex. “He’s so smart he dug it right next to our sprinkle head so you can barely see it.” I walked back to the porch. “I think I’ll give him a little house warming gift.” I went to our bird seed container and reached inside where I kept the bag of peanuts. Grabbing a handful I went back to his hole and placed the peanuts on the sidewalk next to his entrance. “Now he’ll get to feel the same thrill I do when FedEx drops a package at my door!”
I came back to the porch and Alex and I continued on with our conversation.
It wasn’t long before I was putting one finger up to my lips mouthing “Shh.” while I pointed another finger in the direction of the chipmunk. Alex turned to see the chipmunk sitting back on it’s hind legs while he quickly broke open the shells and stuffed the peanuts in his mouth. Once they were all in his mouth he darted back down his hole.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Treasure coming right to your doorstep! It can’t get any better than that for him! I know I love it when I get a present at the door!”
I went and got more peanuts only this time I shelled them for him. “Time to make it even easier for him!” I went back to his tunnel entrance and sprinkled them around.
Back up on the porch we sat and waited.
It wasn’t long before the chipmunk scampered across the lawn and right over to the peanuts. I looked over at Alex. “He must have come from another one of his entrances.” I said as we watched him stuffing his mouth with the nuts.
Just as he was almost finished another chipmunk came out of the hole where the peanuts were placed and began chasing the peanut stuffed chipmunk around the yard. We could hear his squeaks of protest.
I looked over at Alex and shrugged my shoulders. “I guess even chipmunks have to worry about porch pirates stealing their packages from their doorsteps just like we do.”
Slice of Life 