Friday, November 27, 2020

CHIPMUNKS IN THE GRAND TETONS AUGUST 2007

For those of you who celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday, I hope your day was a wonderful one.  Ours, unusually and for the first time in years, was just the two of us but we were in touch with family and friends throughout our day, and that made it extra special. I am thinking of you all out there, especially those who have had to deal with so much.  I pray that 2021 will bring good health, keep you safe and bring you peace.  Hopefully my post today will give you a smile or two.
The Chipmunk

My friends all know that I am shy,
But the chipmunk is twice and shy than I.
He moves with flickering indecision
Like stripes across the television.
He's like the shadow of a cloud,
Or Emily Dickinson read aloud.

~Ogden Nash~
1902 – 1971
I am continuing with our vacation/road trip to the Grand Tetons National Park in August 2007. On one occasion I met these darling critters along the banks of Snake River, near Jackson Lake Lodge, Wyoming.  Gregg and I had been told by some fellow travelers at the Lodge, to not miss going to the Jackson Lake Dam, where apparently we would be sure to see moose and other wildlife.  I only got a couple of photos of the dam itself and they didn't turn out very well, but you can see what it looks like here.  I remember the roar of the water and watching a fisherman casting out his line not far from it.  
We walked up and down for half an hour, quietly enjoying our surroundings and looking for moose, but there were no immediate sightings (we did later and those photos I shared in my other post here if you missed it). I suggested to Gregg we sit down for a while and see what happened, that it would be good to relax and enjoy watching the river. Ten minutes later Gregg had gone off to explore but I was content to stare across the water, looking at the occasional duck family swimming by. The solitary fisherman was by this time several hundred yards away, but there was no one else in sight. I loved the peace and tranquility of it all, it was heavenly.
It was then that I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. When I turned my head ever so slowly, there was a little chipmunk looking up at me a few feet away. We have chipmunks back home but I rarely see them, and when I do they are very skittish and fly off at great speed.  This one seemed happy to enjoy my company as much as I was enjoying his. So here we were 3,000 miles away from home and I am sitting right next to one practically nose to nose. I watched him for a while and I thought him adorable, then I remembered my camera. I thought I may startle the little chap, but took a chance and moved very slowly.  I wanted so badly to capture this moment.  He stayed and posed for me and then ran from spot to spot to find his dinner. I was totally mesmerized and lost in the moment when Gregg touched my arm and as I looked at his face, he was staring in the distance pointing down the river. That's when we spotted our moose mum with her calf. But that was yesterday's story. This one is about my little chipmunk which I fell in love with on the spot.  Not too long after he was joined by his mate.
"CHIP, CHIP, CHIP," he sang loud and clear.
"Hey, you other chipmunks, stay away from here.
He sat beside his doorway and loudly sang his song,
Protecting food he'd gathered to eat all winter long....
~Author Unknown~

What could be better than one chipmunk, but two?
They eventually disappeared into the bush where their home must have been, a burrow just out of sight. I didn't want to leave them but the call of the Moose was too strong, and off we went to take photos of yet another most beautiful family, Mother Moose and Calf.

These are more lovely memories for me of our first trip to the Grand Teton National Park.  I hope I get there again one day.  The two maps show its location on the US map.
A closer version showing the actual park.


Enjoy  your day and 
thank you for stopping by.




42 comments:

  1. NOTHING could be better than this Chipmunk. I so wish we had some around here. I have loved them since I was a young child. They lived in the back of our house, along with squirrels. We could get the squirrels to take peanuts from our hands, but the Chipmunks were too shy. But once in a rare while, one would dash up and grab the nut. I wish we had some around here, but I really never see ANY.

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    1. A lovely memory Ginny. Thank you for sharing that :)

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  2. We don't have them here, i wish we did as they are i am sure such fun to watch.

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  3. Thank you for sharing these precious memories - and the glorious photos.

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  4. Our Christmas will be the same just the two of us. Love chipmunks so cute. Have a good weekend, Diane

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    1. Ours may be the same. Thank you Diane and I wish you a good weekend also :)

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  5. You already know that I love anything that has four legs and fur and these Chipmunks are just perfect. I would love to see them I have never seen a chipmunk in real life there are even cuter than squirrels we entertain ourselves watching the squirrels and if we had Chipmunks I'd be sitting out there watching them all the time.

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  6. Now I'm in love with those little chipmunks too, so cute!

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  7. I'm glad you had a nice Thanksgiving although I imagine so different from normal. We continue with strict restrictions and unlikely to have a family Christmas. The chipmunks are cute. We have a grey squirrel coming to visit us in the neighbourhood gardens. It scurries along the top of our hedge and up the big trees. I would like to see the red squirrels, but they're rare and live in protected zones. Have a good weekend.

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    1. Hello Linda :) Yes, very different but still very nice, we made it special. My family and friends over your way have been telling me what it's like. I'm hoping one of these days we will see the light at the end of the tunnel for everyone's sake. The description of your neighborhood squirrel made me smile, thank you for sharing that. A good weekend to you also :)

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  8. Hello Denise,

    Love the cute chipmunk photos. They are adorable. Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons are my favorite parks to visit. I would like a road trip across the country. Hubby and I enjoyed a quiet Thanksgiving. Take care, enjoy your day! Happy weekend!

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    1. That's another thing we have in common Eileen, those are my two favorite parks. Just love them! I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for your road trip next year. So glad you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving. You take care also and I wish you the same for the weekend :)

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  9. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving. Ours was good, too. Blessings, Denise.

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    1. We did, thank you Gigi, and I am so glad yours was too. I wish you the same :)

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  10. Cute munks. The tails are a lot longer than the ones here.

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    1. That's interesting William. I don't think I ever saw one when we were in Canada, but then perhaps if I had stayed in one place long enough :) Next time!

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  11. Thank you for your lovely Wishes!

    Chippies are so very cute! But guess one would not like to have them, in one's house. -smile-

    ✨🎄😊🎄✨

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    1. Oh yes, lovely outside! Thank you BB :) Smiles to you also and cute little Christmas decorations. Thank you for those.

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  12. When I saw this lovely squirrel, I smiled so sweet. Interesting post. Have a nice weekend:)

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    1. Thank you Lucyna, so glad :) I wish you a nice weekend also!

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  13. So pleased that you had a nice Thanksgiving.
    With Covid still around both Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations will be different this year, but we will deal with it and come through it to hopefully a better 2021.

    Enjoy your weekend.

    All the best Jan

    PS Lovely to see the chipmunk photographs.

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    1. Thank you Jan and for the upbeat words. Enjoy your weekend also, and all the best to you too :)

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  14. Glad you had a good if small Thanksgiving, thanks for sharing these cute memories.

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    1. You are very welcome Christine, happy you enjoyed my post :)

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  15. We also celebrated Turkey day with a party of only two in our home. Despite everything being amiss now, we made the best of the day and cooked a full dinner with leftovers. I am sure many households celebrated like you and did, Denise. Chipmunks are such fun animals to watch.

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    1. That’s great Dorothy :) and yes, chipmunks are fun.

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  16. It's good you had a nice day.
    They look so cute but I do know they cause havoc at times.
    Take care.

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    1. Thank you Margaret :) Fortunately we have never had any problems ourselves but I have heard stories. Lovely to see them in their natural habitat though.

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  17. Hi Denise,
    Thanks for the kind words, I think we all deserve a better year. pleasing to read your thanksgiving went quiet but well and both you and Gregg had an enjoyable day. Wonderful images of the Chipmunk and lovely words. You watched a fisherman doing exactly what I used to do, doesn't look it but its very calming and so peaceful by a beautiful River.
    You stay safe and well,
    John

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    1. You are very welcome and thank you John :) we certainly do. I remember when my father used to go fishing. It was always very relaxing to be with him. I wish you the same :)

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  18. beautiful critters....love the color combines.
    Unfortunately, I never saw this critter in the nature.... just a lot of squirrels in the backyard.

    Have great weekend

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    1. Thank you Tanza :) I wish you a great weekend also.

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  19. Happy to read you celebrated with the two of you and were in touch with many loved ones. Those chipmunks are cute critters to watch but we became aware of how their nesting can be a little annoying as one decided to nest in the glove compartment of our secondary car that we drive occasionally. Ha! What a mess. Happy Advent season to you!

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    1. Thank you Ellen. Invading chipmunks, now that would not be such a good thing. I know when mice get in they can chew on wires and that would not be very good at all. Happy Advent season to you too :)

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  20. How sweet! I love chipmunks but like you, I usually glimpse them as they scurry away.

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    1. Thanks Linda, they are super fast aren't they? :)

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