PLEASE, SIR, MAY I HAVE MORE?

Chipmunks near my home in the Colorado Rockies take full

advantage of the black oil sunflower seeds I feed the birds on my upper deck. Seeds fall below and they scramble from their dens in the rocks and gather their stores.  I love watching them scamper around, dine on grasses, and chatter in their sweet chirrups.


Last summer I had an unforgettable experience with one of them.

My dog had recently had surgery and wasn't allowed to jump up on furniture. I knew he would jump on my bed and hurt himself, so I took the bed apart, launched it over my deck railing, and threw it away (I'm certain if any neighbors could see me they questioned my sanity). Every morning I opened my large deck door to let in the cool morning breezes. One day I was up very early, opened the door, and returned to my bed on the floor. 

A little while later I felt someone staring at me and very slowly opened my eyes. There he was. A chipmunk was perched on my left shoulder staring right into my eyes as I lay sleeping on my side. I quietly said "hello little guy" to him and very gingerly began to sit up. Amazingly, he didn't run away from fear. He just ran down my arm to the floor in front of me and looked straight into my eyes. I continued talking to him while placing a blanket over my dog so he wouldn't awaken and scare the little guy. I gently sat up and stood up. He never moved.

Once I was standing, he chirruped and looked at me and went several feet to my bedroom door. I followed as he went a few more feet, turned and looked at me again. I followed him all the way out of the house to my upper deck where he jumped on the railing, looked up at the bird feeder, and proceeded to tell me that it needed to be refilled!

What a brave and intelligent little guy! 

I filled the bird feeder and he scampered below to graze. Several more times that summer he entered my house, found me, and told me the feeder was empty. I named him "Oliver" because he seemed to keep saying, "Please, sir, may I have more?"

The chipmunks have emerged once more and I look forward to seeing my little friend, Oliver, again.

To BEE or Not To BEE

Hello Fellow Gurus,

As children we learned from Winnie-the-Pooh that bees made honey and loved the cute animated bees swarming about his head. Sadly, many of us grew to fear bees and as more pesticides have been used globally, their numbers have greatly diminished. But all is not lost...read on:
 
Recently, I met a friend of my cousin and in conversation she shared a wonderful experience. She and her husband noticed that a hive of bumble bees had taken up residence in one of the old tree stumps on their property. Being animal lovers and knowing the importance of bees, they left it alone to thrive. One day she was moving some manure in her truck and accidentally backed into the tree and the hive! Hundreds of bees launched out of the stump and flew around in a frenzy. When she realized what she had done, she pulled forward, jumped out of the truck and grabbed the teetering stump and righted it back to its normal resting position. It took her several minutes to position it, and during this process she noticed a single bee hovering around her. It seemed to be watching her.

When she had finished "fixing" the stump she looked over at the frenzy of bees. They had all gathered together and began to fly directly toward her, angry that she had disturbed their home. When she realized that they were preparing for attack, this bee-loving lady actually became worried and frightened. But just as she was staring at the swarm, she noticed that the single bee that had been watching her closely flew in between her and the angry mob. The entire mob stopped and hovered as the bee danced back and forth, up and down, and to her amazement the swarm returned to the hive. The single bee flew up to her face and buzzed her before also returning to the hive. That single bee knew that she had been helping them and told the hive. What an AMAZING and wonderful testament to the intelligence and understanding of bees!