FALL HARVEST

It was a beautiful fall morning and my son Alex and I were taking advantage of the gorgeous day by sitting on the deck and eating our breakfast.

“What are your plans for today?” I asked as I took a bite of my egg sandwich.

“Well, even though it’s Saturday, I want to finish up a project I’ve been working on all week.” Alex squirted some ketchup on his plate and dipped his sandwich in it.

“Sounds good.” I said as I watched a squirrel digging a small hole in the center of the yard. Once he was finished digging he looked around before placing an acorn in the hole and quickly covering it up, even giving it a few extra pats to make sure it was sealed in tight. “What do you think the odds are that he can remember where he’s buried that?” I asked Alex as I pointed to the squirrel as he trotted to the tree line of our woods.

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “I have no idea.” He said before taking another bite.

“Well, let’s see.” I picked up my phone and began typing. As I was reading the first article I couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh, come on! I find this hard to believe!”

“What?” He took a sip of his coffee.

“It says that they can find anywhere from 75 to 95 percent of their buried nuts.” I looked over to watch two squirrels chase each other around a tree. “They just don’t seem that bright.”

Alex laughed. “That’s because you like chipmunks better than squirrels.”

“Only because they’re cuter and smarter!” I countered as I put my phone down and picked up my tea cup.

“Okay, I’ll give you cuter.” Alex said. “But how do you know they’re smarter?”

“Well, for one they don’t bury their food all over the yard hoping they’ll be able to figure out where they put it when they’re hungry.” I pointed over to the chipmunk sitting on the wall of our fire-pit, it’s cheeks puffed out with all the nuts he’d collected. “He’s going to go down into his burrow and store those nuts in his food chamber where he’ll have no problem finding them when he wants to eat.”

Alex had finished his sandwich, tossed his napkin on the plate, and leaned back in his chair. “Okay, maybe that’s a smarter way to store food.” He agreed. “But that still doesn’t mean squirrels are dumb.”

“Really?” I looked over at the two squirrels chasing each other around the woods. “Have you ever seen a chipmunk chew through the lid of a garbage can because they can’t find the food they stored away in the fall?”

Alex shrugged his shoulders as he nodded his head. “I guess you have a point there.”

“Exactly!” I pointed to the squirrels that were now yelling at each other, puffed up and twitching. “There’s no way those two idiots are remembering where they hid their nuts 95 percent of the time.”

The chipmunk had jumped off the fire-pit and was now slowly climbing up the steps of our deck.

Alex and I both stopped talking and sat perfectly still as the chipmunk was now just a few feet away from us. He stopped and looked at us before he scampered across the deck and dropped over the side near where he’d dug his burrow.

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about.” I said once he was out of sight.

“What?” Alex looked confused as he picked up his coffee cup.

“There’s no way I’d be sitting quietly if a squirrel was coming up on our deck.” I looked over at the feuding squirrels still yelling at one another, tails flicking. “I’d be stomping my feet and chasing them off.”

Alex started to laugh. “That’s not because you think chipmunks are smarter.”

“Nope. It’s definitely because chipmunks are cuter!”