My arms were loaded with bags as I struggled to get my house key in the lock, when my husband Steven opened the door from the inside.

“Let me help you with those.” He reached out to take some of the bags from me.

I pulled them out of his reach. “You can’t!” I cried. “I have Christmas presents in them!”

He stood back and let me in the house. “Christmas presents?”

“You never know when you’re going to see something that would make a nice gift.” I said as I placed the bags on the couch making sure nothing was peeking out to spoil the Christmas surprise.

“You do know it’s August, right?”

Our son Alex came into the room. He looked over at all the bags sitting on the couch. “Looks like you’ve been busy.” He laughed.

“They’re Christmas presents.” I said heading for the kitchen to get a glass of water. “So no peeking!” I called.

I pulled a glass out of the cabinet and opened the freezer to grab some ice. “Oh, man! That feels good.” I said as I felt the blast of cold air hit me when I opened the door. “It must be close to 90 degrees outside.”

Steven and Alex came into the kitchen.

“It’s over 90 degrees.” Steven said.

“Exactly the kind of weather that makes me think about Christmas shopping.” Alex laughed as he went into the pantry and pulled out a bag of chips.

Steven leaned against the counter. “We’ll be thanking her on Christmas day.”

Alex nodded his head. “True.” He poured some chips onto a paper towel.

“You sure will.” I said as I filled my glass with water and took several long gulps. “Boy did I need that!” I said as I put the glass on the counter top.

“So how do you know what to shop for?” Alex took a bite of a chip. “I have no idea what I want for Christmas this year.”

“Well, it’s not like you’re seven years old and I have to wait until the last minute, when you announce the must have toy everyone is getting.” I reached over and took a chip off the paper towel. “I’m pretty confident I know what you both like.” I smiled as I popped the chip in my mouth.

Steven looked over at Alex and shrugged his shoulders. “Hey, I’m happy with new socks and underwear every year.”

“I can always use some new ones.” Alex agreed.

“Oh, come on!” I cried. “I get you more than that!” I peeked my head around the corner and pointed to the bags. “You’ll also be happy to know that’s not what’s in those bags!” I cried.

“Really?” Alex looked over at me. “So, what’s in the bags?”

Now it was my turn to laugh. “Nice try, but it’s a surprise!” I went into the living room and gathered up the bags. “Now it’s time to find some hiding places for these.”

“Are you writing down your hiding places this year?” Steven called after me. “Remember that year you found some hidden Christmas presents in February?”

“I remember.” I called as I headed for the guest room. “They turned out to be awesome Valentine’s Day presents instead!”

I was sitting in the middle of the laundry room floor with spiral notebooks all around me when my son Alex came into the room with his laundry hamper filled with dirty clothes.

“Hey, what are you doing?” He asked as he went over to the washer and dryer and placed his hamper on top of the dryer.

“Remember when we had that sump pump problem the other day?” I asked as I turned another page in one of the notebooks.

“Yeah,” He began pulling the whites from the hamper and tossing them in the washer. “One of the reasons I’m doing laundry now. We couldn’t do any while the pump was broken.”

“I’m way ahead of you on that one.” I nodded over to the dryer that was tumbling something with a zipper on it as we listened to it clank against the metal drum every few seconds. I smiled then went back to glancing through the notebooks.

“So, what are you looking at?” He asked again.

“Oh yeah.” I closed the notebook and looked over at Alex. “When I had to pull everything out of the closet, so the plumber could get to the pump, I realized these were in there.”

“And?” Alex looked confused as he reached for the laundry detergent on the shelf above the washer.

“My old diaries.” I laughed as I opened it again. “I’m going to say I must have been about fifteen when I was writing in this one.”

Alex’s eyebrows went up. “Some good stuff in there?”

I shook my head and laughed again. “Nope. I think I was so worried that someone would read it that besides talking about the books I’d read, I seem to be talking in code so no one would be able to decipher it.”

“Like how?” Alex put the detergent back on the shelf, closed the lid on the washer and turned it on before turning around and facing me.

“Okay, here’s one.” I placed my finger on the passage I wanted to read. “Unbelievable how some people act when they’re in a group! I don’t even have to say their name!” I looked up at Alex and laughed. “Clearly I needed to write down their name because I don’t have a clue who I was so upset with here.”

Alex nodded his head.

“I think it’s right up there with another one I’d read a little while ago where I started by saying ‘I’ll never forget this day ever!” I shook my head and laughed. “But I never said what it was so I don’t even know if I was never going to forget that day because something good happened or something bad.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I’m going to go with something good.” I looked over at Alex. “That makes me feel better.”

Alex shook his head. “So what are you going to do with them?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess I’ll keep them.”

“But you said they didn’t make any sense.”

I pulled the milk crate they’d been in a little closer to me. “These are my childhood diaries! I can’t throw them out!”

Alex sighed and shook his head. “I never said to throw them out.”

“I’ll make sure I put that in my journal tonight.”

“You still keep a diary?” Alex looked surprised.

“Nope.” I laughed. “Like I’ve said, I’ve always been afraid that someone would read them.”

Alex shook his head. “What could you possibly write that you wouldn’t want anyone to read?”

I pointed to my head. “There’s a lot of things I think about that I don’t want to share.”

Alex picked up his empty hamper. “Well, that’s a scary thought.” He said as he left the laundry room.

“Don’t worry!” I called after him. “You’re safe! Nothing but good thoughts about you!”

“Thanks!” He called back.

My son Alex and I were sitting on the back deck hoping for a cool breeze to come by. I looked up at the ceiling fan, its blades spinning as fast as they could go. “That’s not helping much today.”

Alex followed my gaze. “I guess we could go back inside with the air conditioning.”

“I hate being indoors in the summer.” I tipped back in my rocker. “Let’s give it a few more minutes.” I looked out at the woods and could see the leaves were beginning to move. “See?” I pointed to the top of the trees. “The breeze is starting to pick up.”

Hearing the hopefulness in my voice Alex settled back in his chair. “I’ll give it a few more minutes but if it doesn’t get any cooler I’m headed inside.”

“Okay. Thanks.” I began slowly rocking.

I pointed to the dozen or so cowbirds pecking away under our bird feeders. “Do you remember the children book, Are You My Mother? I think the author’s name was Eastman.”

Alex looked over at me. “Vaguely?”

“I wonder if cowbirds go around asking other cowbirds, ‘Are you my mother?’” I was still looking at them as they chased a chipmunk away from the seeds. “I read that cowbirds lay their eggs in other birds nests. They have no idea who their parents or even their siblings are.”

Alex nodded his head. “It is kind of weird that they do that.”

“I guess it’s a nice time saver for Mom.” I looked back to the cowbirds. “Not having to make a nest, or have to deal with incubation.”

“Or feeding them once they’re born.” Alex added.

I nodded in agreement. “So, I guess cowbirds are actually more like the party birds of the bird feeder gang.” I laughed as I looked over at Alex. “All the fun and none of the work.”

A breeze began to stir. “Finally!” Alex said as looked over at the cowbirds. “I wonder what they think when they look over in the nest and see that the others don’t look anything like them?”

“Yeah, I was wondering what the parents think when the chicks hatch and they start to feed them. Do they notice a difference between their young?”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “I guess we’ll never know.”

“I don’t know.” I picked up my phone and began a Google search. “Someone somewhere must have done a study about it.” I started scrolling through articles.

“Well, that’s the nice thing about summer for you.” Alex said as he got up to go back in the house.

“What?” I stopped scrolling and looked over at him.

“You have the summer off so you can research things like that.”

“That’s true.” I nodded. “It’s kind of fun to have the time to look up weird stuff.”

“See?” Alex said as he leaned over and kissed the top of my head. “You can sit out here for the rest of the morning, sweating and doing your research.”

“It’s not that hot out here.” I went back to my phone and started scrolling again.

“It is for me.” He used the back of his hand to wipe the sweat off his forehead. “Besides I have to start work.”

“Well, I’ll have an answer to our questions by lunch.” I looked over at him as he opened the back door. “I promise!” I called.

“Looking forward to it.” He called back as he went inside.

“No he’s not.” I quietly said to myself as I found a research paper that looked promising. “But I do love how he humors me with stuff like this.”

My son Alex and I were walking in the neighborhood watching as our neighbors were either leaf blowing or raking up the leaves that were blanketing their yards.

“This is way too soon.” I complained as I listened to the crunch of the leaves under my feet as we walked along.

Piles of leaves were already at the curb. “I swear this looks more like October than August!” I looked over at Alex as I used the edge of my short-sleeve shirt to wipe the sweat from my forehead. “Thank goodness the ninety degree temperature lets me know we’re still in summer.”

Alex looked up at the trees. “Some of the leaves are already changing color.”

I followed his gaze. “Between the heat and not getting much rain it’s really stressing the trees. That’s why they’re dropping their leaves early.” I looked over at Alex and shrugged my shoulders. “It helps them conserve their energy.”

“Kind of like a dog shedding.” Alex laughed.

I had to laugh. “I guess that’s a good analogy.”

We walked by a pile of leaves that had been raked into the middle of a neighbors yard and watched as several of their young kids ran across the grass and jumped into the leaves.

“Oh, come on!” I whispered to Alex. “In this heat they’re going to be coming out of that pile with half the leaves stuck to them.”

Sure enough, that’s exactly what happened as they rolled out of the pile giggling and picking leaves off of each other.

I nodded my head towards the kids and looked at Alex. “You know what they should be doing instead of jumping in leaves?”

Alex looked confused. “What?”

“Playing in a kiddie pool or running through a water sprinkler!” I dabbed another bead of sweat from my upper lip with the collar of my shirt. “Jumping in a leaf pile should be months away for outdoor fun!”

Alex looked over his shoulder at the kids playing in the leaves. “They sure seem like they’re having fun.”

We could still hear them giggling as we turned the corner and headed down another block.

I shook my head. “They’re little kids. They don’t know what’s appropriate summer fun.”

Alex started to laugh. “Appropriate summer fun?” He looked over at me. “You mean like walking in ninety degree weather is appropriate summer fun?”

I shook my head again. “I never said this was summer fun.” I could feel a drip of sweat moving slowly down my spine. “This is hoping that I drop a few pounds before I have to go back to school in the fall.” I stopped under the shade of a tree, to get a break from the sun for a moment. “What I consider appropriate summer fun, for my age group at least, is sitting on the porch, with a cool breeze blowing, reading a good book, and sipping on a glass of wine.” I sighed as I thought about it. “That’s my age appropriate summer fun.”

“That’s true.” Alex laughed. “Dad and I know exactly where to find you after dinner every night.”

“See.” I smiled over at him. “I know how to have fun.”

“Well, I guess I’ve got to go buy a new watering can.” I said as I held it up for my husband to see.

“Why? Is it leaking?” Steven was busy deadheading the geraniums and hadn’t turned to look.

“Nope. Guess again.”

Steven tossed the dead flowers in a bag and looked to where I was pointing.

There, on the top of the spout dangling off the sprinkler head, was a chrysalis of a monarch butterfly.

“Well, I guess we’ve found him now.” I sighed.

Steven and I had been watching our milkweed plants and one of the large caterpillars had been missing. We’d been looking to see where it had crawled off to, to spin itself into it chrysalis, ever since.

“Yup, it looks like that mystery is solved.” Steven laughed.

“I mean seriously…” I waved my hand around the porch. “It literally had the entire railing system!” I pointed back to my watering can. “And it picks this!”

Our son Alex came out on the porch. “Morning. What are you two up to today?”

I pointed to the chrysalis. “Can you believe this?”

Alex came over to get a closer look. “I saw him crawling around the porch yesterday afternoon.” He stepped back and took a sip of his coffee. “Interesting spot to pick.”

I took a closer look. “Do you think it’s okay?” I looked over at both of them and had to admit what I’d just done. “I’d already filled this in the sink and I’ve watered half the plants before I noticed him dangling off of it.” I couldn’t help but cringe. “They just got put on the endangered species list.”

Steven and Alex looked at one another before Alex, who was standing next to me, patted me on the shoulder. “I’m sure it’s fine.”

“They live through storms.” Steven quickly added. “I’m sure being tipped a half a dozen times isn’t going to bother it.”

“Okay, well that makes me feel better.” I placed the watering can down on the porch. “But what am I supposed to use until the butterfly comes out?”

Steven pointed over to the hose on the side of our house. “What about using that?”

I crinkled my nose. “By the time you unravel it, drag it over to the porch and struggle with getting the kinks out of it it’s just easier to use a watering can.”

Alex went over to where I’d put the watering can and took a closer look. “Why don’t you unscrew the sprinkler part of it, put it in a safe place and just use the can?”

I went over to take a look and had to smile. “That’s a perfect solution!”

Steven came over to help. While I held the sprinkle head steady Steven began twisting the can until they were apart.

I held the white sprinkler head up and looked at the chrysalis. “Okay, now it’s time to find you a safe place to stay until you’re ready to become a butterfly!”

I went and got a small mesh butterfly cage and propped it up inside. “That should keep you safe until you’re ready to come out.” I zipped the top closed and placed it on the table.

I looked over at Steven and Alex. “Fingers crossed it’s going to be okay.” I held both hands up crossing my fingers.

Steven looked over the railing at our milkweed plants. “Just a heads up everyone. I see another fat caterpillar that’s going to be on the move soon.” Steven looked over at me and smiled. “Keep your eyes open!”

“No worries.” I sighed. “I’ve learned my lesson.”

My husband Steven went into the living room. “I heard the doorbell.” He called as he looked out the front window to see if anyone was still on the steps. “Who was at the front door?” He came into the kitchen where I was placing several cucumbers on our butcher block.

I pointed to them. “The kids from across the street brought them over!” I couldn’t help but smile. “When we went over in the spring to look at the garden they were putting in I had a feeling we were going to see some of the bounty coming our way.”

Steven sighed. “I really wanted to start our own garden this year.” He shook his head. “But I couldn’t seem to find the time.”

“Hey!” I pointed to the cucumbers again. “This is my kind of gardening! Someone rings my doorbell, hands me fresh produce and I didn’t have to do any of the work!” I shrugged my shoulders and held my hands up. “It’s a total win for me!”

“It was really nice of them to send them over.” Steven nodded in agreement. “But I’d love to be able to go out in my own garden and pick a fresh tomato for dinner. Maybe bring in a green pepper for our salad.” Steven looked over at me. “Wouldn’t that be nice?”

“Maybe for you but I already tried a garden and it was a complete and total disaster!”

Steven looked confused. “You mean the two cherry tomato plants you had on the porch a few years back?”

“Oh, yeah.” I nodded at the memory. “The ground hog snapped the vines and I Scotch taped them back together.” I shook my head and held my pointer finger up. “But, I was talking about the time I got a small patch in the community garden years ago.” I looked over at him and raised my eyebrows to see if he remembered.

“Oh, I do remember that.” Steven cringed. “After your first day there I swear you came home with heat stroke. I thought I was going to have to take you to the emergency room.”

I nodded in agreement. “I hated having to go over there every day to water and weed my sad little tomato plants.” I had to laugh. “The guy next to my garden, I’m absolutely positive he was a master gardener! He had ten different vegetables, a half a dozen herbs, and even some flowers!”

“I remember that garden.” Steven said as he leaned against the counter top. “I went over to water your garden one day.” He began nodding his head with the memory. “His was a nice one.”

“Yeah, and it made mine look all the more pathetic.” I shook my head again. “So that’s why I’m leaving my gardening up to the neighbors.” I smiled as I looked over at Steven. “You know, they put in way too many tomato plants, too.”

“How do you know that?” Steven looked confused.

“Because I can see their garden from the street.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I’ve been checking on it when Alex and I go for our walks.”

“Seriously?”

“Of course!” I reached past him to get a glass out of the cabinet. “You’ll be happy to know that we should be seeing some tomatoes in the very near future.” I filled the glass from the sink. “I can’t really see what else is coming in. It’s too far away.” I took a sip from the glass before putting it on the counter. “I guess we’ll just have to be surprised when the kids drop them off.”

Steven shook his head and laughed. “Gardening from a distance.”

“Exactly.”

I pulled up the leg of my pajama pants to revel two giant welts on the back of my calf.

My husband Steven looked over at me and cringed. “What happened to you?”

I had a large dollop of aloe vera cupped in the palm of my hand and began massaging it on the painful welts. “Stupid horsefly.” I mumbled as the cooling effect of the aloe vera began to make it feel better.

I dropped my pajama leg down and looked over at Steven. “I was sitting on the porch and the stupid thing got me three times!” I pointed to a small bump on my ankle. “Luckily he didn’t get me so badly there.”

“Are you sure they aren’t getting infected?” He looked concerned. “They look pretty bad.”

“They feel pretty bad.” I felt like I wanted to limp to prove how much it hurt but thought that might be a little too dramatic. “I’ll check it in the morning and see if it’s gotten any better.” I went over to my bedside table and picked up the glass of water I’d just placed there and took a sip. “But now I won’t be able to wear shorts until the welts go away.” I sighed as I put the glass back down.

Steven was by his closet getting ready to go to bed. He was silent for a moment then looked over at me with a confused look on his face. “What do you mean you won’t be able to wear shorts?” He shook his head. “You never wear shorts!”

I shrugged my shoulders. “You know what I mean.” I reasoned. “I’m not going to be able to wear anything that’s going to show the welts because they look horrible!”

“You wear pants all summer long.”

“First of all…” I’d placed my hands on my hips. “It’s always freezing in here.” I went over to the closet and got a sweatshirt to put over my pajama top to prove my point. “And secondly I wear capri pants, not pants, in the summer.”

“Okay.” Steven held his hands up. “You wear capri pants.”

“Exactly.” I grimaced as I felt the burning itch begin to flare up. “Man, he got me good.” I said as I pulled the pajama leg up again to get another look.

Steven took a closer look at the welts. “It doesn’t look good.” Steven agreed. “But, you keep saying he got you good.” He looked up at me. “Don’t you mean she got you good?”

“What?” I was only half paying attention to what he was saying because the urge to itch was so intense.

“It’s the females that are the ones that bite.” Steven shrugged his shoulders. “Not the males.”

That made me stop and look over at him. “Seriously.” I pointed to the welts. “That’s what you’re thinking about?”

“Well, I know you like to be accurate when you talk about these things.”

I stared at him until he finally went over to the bed and picked the the tube of aloe vera I’d dropped there earlier.

He smiled as he held up the tube like a peace offering.“Would you like some more of this?” He held out the tube for me to take. “It might make it feel better.”

I shook my head as I took the tube from him. “Yes, thank you. That would be very nice.”

He watched as I it put on the welts. “She sure got you good.”

I had to laugh as I shook my head. “Yeah, she sure did.”

“I don’t know.” I mumbled. “I kind of like it this way.”

My husband Steven and I were standing on our back porch looking at my rocking chair. “Are you kidding me?” he asked. “The paint’s peeling off. It looks awful!”

There was a crew of painters at our house to sand and stain our porch and Steven wanted to take the opportunity to have them sand, prime and repaint my rocking chair.

“I think it’s got a shabby chic kind of vibe going.”

“No it doesn’t.” Steven was shaking his head. “If you keep it this way, it’s going to end up with wood rot.” He looked over at me raising his eyebrows. “Is that what you want?”

The painters were busy taking the furniture off the porch and placing it in the yard.

“Well, of course not!” I cried. “I’ve had this rocking chair since before we were married!”

“I know.” Steven laughed. “It came with your dowry.”

I swatted his arm and laughed. “What are you from the 1800’s?”

I looked back at my beat up rocking chair and began to get nostalgic. “This rocking chair and I have seen a lot of love over the years.” I looked over at Steven. “Every night I rocked both boys to sleep in this chair. When they weren’t feeling good this is where we sat.”

Steven nodded his head.

“Then the boys grew up and we built the porch on the Riverside house and that’s when it became an outside rocker.” I looked over at Steven again. “That’s also when it got this coat of hunter green paint. Which, by the way I painted myself.” I looked back at the rocker. “And you know how much I hate to paint. So to me it looks well loved like this.”

“See, that’s where you and I see things differently.” Steven explained. “I see it needing a coat of paint…”

“While I see it as well loved.” I interrupted.

“You didn’t let me finish.” Steven said as he held up his pointer finger. “I’m just trying to protect the wood so you don’t lose it.”

“I know.” I sighed.

Steven looked at the painters as they were finishing clearing off the porch. “Okay, it’s time to make up your mind.” Steven said. “You’re either going to let them paint it now or your going to wait a few weeks, realize I was right, that it does need to be painted, and you’ll be painting it yourself.”

“Okay, you make a good point.” I took out my phone and stepped back to snap a picture.

Steven shook his head and laughed. “Why are you taking a picture?”

I put the phone back in my pocket. “Because I always want to remember the shabby chic well loved look it once had.” I patted my pocket with the phone. “This will help.”

Steven picked up the rocker and carried it off the porch. “Most people would be thrilled to get a new coat of paint on something.” He called over his shoulder.

“I’m not like most people.” I called back.

Luckily he was too far away for me to hear his response.

I was looking out my back door and noticed a hummingbird circling the two hummingbird feeders I had attached to the porch. He would dart in, but quickly back away, then move on to the other feeder doing the exact same thing before speeding off around the house.

“I wonder why he didn’t take a drink?” I said to myself as I opened the back door and went out to check the feeders.

I moved in closely and could see all the sugar water was missing. “I just filled both of these yesterday!” I cried as I took the feeders down and brought them into the house.

Placing the feeders on the counter top I took a pot out of the drawer, put it on top of the burner, and went to the pantry to get the sugar.

My husband Steven came into the kitchen. “Morning!” He watched as I pulled a measuring cup from the drawer. “What are you up to this morning?”

I was filling the measuring cup with sugar. “Making hummingbird nectar.” I looked over at him as I poured the measuring cup of sugar into the pot and brought the pot over to the sink to get water. “Again!” I said with disgust.

Steven looked confused with my annoyance. “When did you make the last batch?”

“Yesterday!” I cried as I filled the pot with four cups of water and took it back to the stove and turned on the burner.

“They must be pretty hungry.” Steven reasoned.

“Oh, they’re not the ones drinking it all.” I pulled out a wooden spoon and began mixing it, helping to dissolve the sugar. “They did it the night before, too.”

“Who?” Steven was leaned back against the counter top watching me.

“Bats!” I cried.

Steven shook his head. “How do you know bats are drinking it?”

“Because I looked it up.”

Steven started to laugh. “What did you look up?”

I tapped the spoon against the rim of the pot and placed it on the counter top. “I looked up: ‘What’s emptying my hummingbird feeders at night?’ and it said a few things can be doing it.” I held up my thumb. “Bears, which is ridiculous one for around here. ” I held up my pointer finger. “Raccoons.” I shook my head and pointed out to the porch. “No raccoon is shimming up that post and licking the feeders until they’re empty.” So, I held up my index finger. “Which leaves bats!”

Steven shrugged his shoulders. “I thought you liked bats?”

“I did.” I shook my head. “I mean, I do. I just don’t want them up this close to the house drinking all the nectar every night!” I turned around and saw that the nectar on the stove had come to a boil. I turned the heat off and moved the pot to a cooler burner.

“You know, bats eat a lot of insects.” Steven reminded me.

“Clearly not here they don’t.” I held up the empty hummingbird feeder. “They seem to like sugar water on this property!”

Steven shrugged his shoulders again. “I guess you could bring the hummingbird feeders in every night?”

I shook my head and sighed. “I guess I’m going to have to now.” I looked over at Steven and shrugged my shoulders. “I’ll just have to add it to the list of things I’m supposed to remember to do everyday.”

Steven looked out on the porch where my basil was beginning to droop. “Like watering the plants?”

“Oh, geez.” I looked out the window and could see all my herbs could use some water. “I knew I forgot to do something!”

It was early on a weekday morning when I was waiting for the tea kettle to heat up when I heard a loud and repetitive noise coming from outside. Going to the dining room window I could see a chipmunk sitting by the side of our deck, its whole body straining as it made a loud chucking noise.

“You seem pretty annoyed.” I said as my son Alex came into the room.

“Who’s annoyed?” he asked.

I pointed to the chipmunk. “Him. They make that noise when there’s a predator or when they’re claiming their territory.” I looked around the yard. “I don’t see any predators so I’m thinking he’s decided our yard is his.”

Alex looked out the window. “How can something that little be so loud?”

I had to laugh. “The Napoleon Complex isn’t just for people.”

The water had boiled so I went back to making my tea.

“What are you planning to do with your day?” Alex asked as he went in the cabinet to get his coffee supplies.

I sighed as I poured the hot water in my cup. “Well, now that school is out I’m thinking about spending the entire day out on the porch.” I went to the refrigerator to get the milk. “Maybe read a book or call a few friends and catch up.” Pouring a splash in my cup I put the milk back in the refrigerator before scooping up my cup and heading for the back door. “If you’re looking for me I’ll be right there.” I said as I pointed to my rocking chair. “Enjoying my tea and the fact that I have no place to run off to.”

“When I’m finished making my coffee I’ll come out too.”

“Great. See you in a minute.”

I went and settled into my favorite chair and began taking small sips as I watched the birds at the feeders.

When Alex came out I noticed our little chipmunk scurrying around the deck. Climbing on the Adirondack chairs and weaving its way through my clay pots of herbs.

I looked over at Alex as he was sitting down and put my finger to my lips and pointed to the chipmunk.

I had to laugh as I whispered. “Isn’t he cute?”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “I’m pretty sure you think they’re cuter then I do.”

“Oh, come on!” I stage whispered. “He’s adorable!”

Just then the chipmunk climbed up the back of the Adirondack chair, hopped over to the railing, looked right at Alex and I, and began his loud chucking.

“You’ve got to be kidding!” I cried.

Alex started to laugh. “Oh, yeah. He’s adorable.”

“You’re not claiming the deck, little man.” I started to get up, hoping he’d get scared and scurry away.

Instead he backed up a few inches and continued yelling at us.

“I’m serious!” I cried. “You can have the yard but the deck is mine!”

He stopped yelling and quickly Spider-man crawled down the deck’s railing before hopping onto a clover patch.

“And that’s how I protect my territory!” I said as I sat back down in my rocking chair and picked up my cup of tea.

Alex looked over at me and started to laugh. “You chased off a chipmunk.”

“A trash talking chipmunk.” I reminded him.