The Zen Chipmunk (March 26, 2014)

I am a chipmunk, the Zen chipmunk, so the family in my backyard calls me. Every morning, I sit on the rail of the deck now that the weather is finally getting a bit friendly. I love to face the woods, observe the wakening of lives, and listen to the rising sounds that go along with the gradually brightening sunlight.

It is a miracle how the living has to sleep, eat, act and react on all sorts of things over and over again. Men, women, children, birds, deer, hares, or chipmunks (even squirrels) are all alike, from what I have seen. One just cannot break the circle of life. If you do, either you are sick, or will be sick soon and will not last long before dead. By the way, I don’t like squirrels even though we are supposed to be cousins, according to human standard. I will tell you the story later.

I love the family in my backyard. Let me put this straight first. I am not a pet. I don’t interact with them but we do notice each other. That is of course expected – we are neighbors living on the same land. I had a few close stares with Angie recently – that is the wife of the family. We did not really speak to each other but I felt we could connect on the spirit level, much closer than I had ever felt with any other chipmunks.

That’s how the husband and their girl started noticing me, which is fine. I am not bothered. They also have a teenager boy. Sometimes, I also saw their parents living in the house. My guess is they are Angie’s parents because occasionally Angie would behave like a sweet teen girl in front of that woman.

OK, I have said enough today. Time to find some food. It is still not so easy to find anything delicious. I miss fungi, just any fungi. Although snow has melted in the woods nothing interesting can be found. I still have a couple of nuts left. I am just seriously tired of the grass roots.