High winds and torrential rains this morning kept me off the stream so I opted to do some of the chores I had been putting off for a rainy day. Since I knew there’d a lot of walking through puddles of parking lots, I dug out my foul-weather shoes that I left in the garage to be cleaned—last August I think. Today’s rain would do the job I had neglected.
I’ve camped and lived in enough places where little critters—particularly those that can inflict disproportionate pain—get into shoes that have been unoccupied for more than 24 hours. As is my habit, I knocked the heel of the shoe on the garage floor before inserting my foot.
Ha! Somebody’s stash of sunflower seeds had found its way into my L.L. Bean shoes. Forty-eight seeds, still in the husk. A quick check of the right shoe revealed another 63 seeds.
So, the mystery: Whose seeds are these, how did the critter get into my garage, and will it come back? The answer to the first two questions is chipmunk. The answer to the third is, probably not. Those little clowns should be deep in their burrows now. The exceptionally warm weather has keep them above ground longer than usual, however, today, our first real taste of northeast Ohio winter, probably has some little guy dreaming of 100 or more seeds he hid somewhere, but just can’t remember where.
In winter, chipmunks and humans alike, seem to survive on dreams in our separate hibernations.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
The question that crosses my mind is "who" actually counts the number of seeds in each shoe? :-) You are a strange ... but interesting man Clyde!
A similar question (see richc comment) crossed my mind when I read the chipmunk story, then I recalled that ad men had made fortunes out of "who put those 8 great tomatoes in that little bitty can?) And who could forget the mantra of "two scoops of raisins in Raisin Bran"?
The loss of habitat observation has come home to roost...if you'll pardon the pun...with the regular visitation of a Downey woodpecker who has destroyed five panels of redwood siding on my house...I've replaced sections of three, only to discover that over the Thanksgiving weekend, the little bugger has drilled
through two of the new panels. My concern for bird life is being severly challenged at the moment.
Waldo451
Post a Comment