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Northwind said:
My mother-in-law used to sit quietly so the chipmunks would come up and take peanuts from her. This of course delighted her grandkids. She taught them how to do that too. I'm not sure if they came into the cottage or not.
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Yeah, I don't recall them ever being a problem that way. We would get mice coming in (which drove our dog nuts the odd time) but never chippies.
 
paradox3 said:
Chipmunks can easily get too tame and become a problem. Do you really want them climbing up your legs or chairs? Just saying.

They will get inside, too searching for those peanuts they know you have in there.
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When staying at a place for a few days at a time - I think many of the visitors enjoyed their tameness. The company owners maybe not so much. It was the 80s. Don't feed the bears, yes. Don't feed ducks, geese, chipmunks, etc. wasn't much of a thing back then.
 
ChemGal said:
When staying at a place for a few days at a time - I think many of the visitors enjoyed their tameness. The company owners maybe not so much. It was the 80s. Don't feed the bears, yes. Don't feed ducks, geese, chipmunks, etc. wasn't much of a thing back then.
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We used to, rather stupidly, feed the coons. That eventually stopped. They hardly need help with finding food being as they are omnivorous scavengers.
 
ChemGal said:
None of those here yet, but they are slowly making their way.
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They're native around here. I have had them in my garage, and one even climbed the kitchen window screen one day, to the horror of my wife and son (this was years ago). I much prefer the skunks, myself. Keep your distance and keep your animals out of their way and they are actually less of a nuisance than coons, who are prone to trashcan raids and such.
 
Racoon got into our garbage bin once. I think it was a raccoon that ate or chewed on all of our small top of corn this summer. They are strong, smart, and determined. I am always glad when I see a dead racoon at the side of the road.
 
Mendalla said:
I have been admiring our squirrels. They are well and truly fattened up for winter this year and the grey who visits my deck just looks so plump and healthy.
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I saw a 'fluffy' grey squirrel on my way home with the dog this afternoon, and I thought that very thing about it. Might be a good year for some kind of high-fat nut or seed, or too many people like me who put out peanuts...

jimkenney12 said:
They are strong, smart, and determined.
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I have heard it hypothesized that if homo sapiens were to become extinct, a successor might be raccoons. Apparently, all of our efforts at raccoon-proofing containers of food they figure is their right, have increased the intelligence of city raccoons over their country cousins by a measurable extent. I tend not to get them in my yard due to the dog (she has treed a couple, and I think the local families have spread the word), but they don't bother me. The only thing that bugs me is if they're having sex in your vicinity. It's quite loud and screamy.
 
ChemGal said:
Chipmunks I always think of as being much nicer than squirrels.
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I thought so too (squirrels are just plain evil!) until the day I saw a chipmunk scamper by with a baby bird in its clutches - yes - they are nest robbers!!! My vision of inocent Chip & Dale type chipmunks was dashed forever.
 
Carolla said:
I thought so too (squirrels are just plain evil!) until the day I saw a chipmunk scamper by with a baby bird in its clutches - yes - they are nest robbers!!! My vision of inocent Chip & Dale type chipmunks was dashed forever.
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You saw a chipmunk that grew up on the wrong side of the forest. Probably joined a chipmunk gang as a teenager and made chipmunk hooch with rotten apples. It's sad what happens when a chipmunk runs with the wrong crowd.
 
Carolla said:
My vision of inocent Chip & Dale type chipmunks was dashed forever.
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The murder that was perpetrated on every single sunflower plant I attempted this summer (straight from seed outside, nurtured seedlings from inside at the second leaf stage, quite large plants started early by my gardening witch friend) was eaten by chipmunks. Too smart to dig up the seeds. Wait until they sprout into a tender delicacy.
 
I'm sad to know that one of my online Scrabble buddies and a friend who I met in Brownies or Girl Guides has died of cancer. I knew she was going into hospice. I don't know details, just that people are posting RIP messages on her FB feed. I've been checking there recently. We went to the same elementary school and high school. We were at university at the same time. We've kept in touch over the years. Such sad news. f*** cancer.
 
Nephew 2 is out sick now too. He had a minor illness for a while but was doing better. Not today.
No testing but there is a huge RSV outbreak. Health system is considering symptoms that differ from the flu + household tests negative for covid to be RSV. Seems like all of areas just north of the city are hit hard. One town has all schools on outbreak status.
 
Good morning! Covid continues, backyard wildlife stories and observations abound, weather happens, passing of old friends and acquaintances marked, etc. Busy day here in the room around the cart. The coffee cart has been restocked, all is ready. Welcome as we begin a new month (Sigh. Where does the time go?).

C(_)/ c(_) c\_/ c[_]
 
Rodents include cows, rats, etc. some with fanciful tails for add on ... all prone to brain worms ... it is a deep gnawing sensation ... as they try and escape what we might have believed to be human! Perhaps not ... if you observe from a stand off point ... weird pinnacles!
 
Morning. My sleep patterns have gotten weird of late. Some days I follow my old, regular pattern of awake and up 6:30 or 6:45. Others I am sleeping in until 7:30. Today is an old pattern day. I actually feel better on that 6:30 wakeup. Bedtime, by the way, remains fairly constant at 10:30 or so, sometimes a bit earlier or later.
 
he dark periods shift ... the ancients set up temples to observe how the shadow drifted with the season ... dt's?

These are said to be imaginary abstracts ...
 
To add to the chipmunk conversation....What I called 'Chippy' in our backyard turned out to be a whole chipmunk family. But they seem to have disappeared. A stray cat wanders around our yards (front and back) and the neighbour's yard, and the walk of that cat is definitely a hunting stalk, so I'm wondering.....It's quite a big, lanky cat, and runs if it thinks people are around.
 
ChemGal said:
Nephew 2 is out sick now too. He had a minor illness for a while but was doing better. Not today.
No testing but there is a huge RSV outbreak. Health system is considering symptoms that differ from the flu + household tests negative for covid to be RSV. Seems like all of areas just north of the city are hit hard. One town has all schools on outbreak status.
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Sorry to hear about your nephews.
Does make me wonder though, has RSV become a symptom of Covid in kids?
 
Waterfall said:
Sorry to hear about your nephews.
Does make me wonder though, has RSV become a symptom of Covid in kids?
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No. The name means "Respiratory syncytial virus", i.e. it's a whole other viral infection caused by a whole different virus. My understanding is that the whole isolation and masking thing meant kids weren't getting exposed to things like this like they normally do so now these viruses are coming back with a vengeance. So, there's a link to COVID, but RSV is a different disease.
 
Waterfall said:
Sorry to hear about your nephews.
Does make me wonder though, has RSV become a symptom of Covid in kids?
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No. It's not a symptom. Oops missed Mendalla's post covering that already.

In these areas some of the cases have been confirmed by testing. I don't know about immune response specifically to RSV but I think it's likely it's so much worse by numbers as so few were exposed in 2020 and likely reduced 2021 as well. Individually not a bad thing, but population wise it adds up. Sort of like a double cohort year.
 
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