Sunday, November 1, 2015

October 31


October at an end, and many signs point to the transition to early winter.

The chipmunks have been busy on the back porch, and it is amusing to watch them at work. One sits in an old toy wagon we keep near the feeders, where Sarah casts a handful of seed each morning after filling the tubes. During the summer, the ground feeding birds and gray squirrels would jump into the wagon to retrieve the easy pickings.

Now the chipmunks are monopolizing the pile, knowing it as an easy source for their winter granaries. They hop gingerly into the small wagon bed and stuff their pouches full, stopping every so often to raise their head and look about for signs of trouble before resuming their work.

It’s a wonder they don’t tip forward when they leave the porch, bound for dens somewhere in the yard, mouth bulging on both sides from the gluttony of gathering. They are simply endearing to watch, and we know that soon they will enter their holes for good, until spring.

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