All creatures, great and small

With all the bird feed we've been hauling in over the last few years, it's no wonder that we've developed quite a thriving little community of critters. This year, we seem to have a group of six or seven chipmunks who spend the days running to and fro, very busy with their own little agendas. If I have bird seed out, they're right on the feeders, filing up their little cheeks and running it back to their burroughs and holes. I guess, because they're not really disturbing my garden, I kind of like the little guys. They're cute and inquisitive and make for an interesting afternoon of watching.

So today, because the little guys have gotten so bold as to eat seed only a few feet from where we usually sit, I wanted to see if I could get one to eat out of my hand. Here's the set up which is how I sat for about an hour, with little piles of seeds leading ultimtely to my hand. Eventually, one of the little guys, who we named, wait for it....Chippy, finally came and found the motherload, a whole palmful of seeds just for him. He'd pack his cheeks, run off to hide them and then come back for more. Jeff was worried that either I'd get rabies or lice from the little thing and/or he'd bite my junk since I was doing this au naturale (as is our typical weekend state of dress). As far as I can tell, neither thing happened (though rabies does have an incubation period).

I can honestly say it was the best spent hour of the weekend.