11) The Smartest Chipmunk

Yesterday my dad and I had an adventure. We went for a walk without Gracie out back. About 50 yards or so there is a pond that has shrunk down into it's muddy shore. The cows, deer, and birds stop occasionally to drink. Left over remnants of lost artifacts long lost remained on the north end of the shore. An old buggy wheel rim, a coal burning stove, a laundry ringer, and many rusty metal buckets. There was an old mailbox and it's flag I found about 15 feet from where the box was partially buried. My father was telling me about the uses of some of the things we found there when I stopped him.

"Look! Dad look at the chipmunk!"

Closer to the pond where you almost had to step in the mud, there was a crushed, rusty metal bin, and just on top was a little head with tiny ears poked up from the rubble. A small chipmunk. He was just looking at us, still as can be. My dad went over to the pile of scrap, and decided he would shake the vermin out. He lifted the browned tin, and we watched for the little rodent to scurry, wondering which way he would go. I was intent on watching for the chipmunk, I was really curious why he hadn't run away from the rubbish, until dad cried out, "Bees!" As he stepped backward, there was a large mogul topped with grass behind him, and he toppled over down to the ground. I was surprised and asked dad to get up so we could get away from the suddenly startled bees. He said he wanted to rest a moment.

I looked to where I thought the bees would be swarming which should have been all over us. And there were only a few. "They're cold", Dad said. "That's their babies in the white stuff." The bees had begun to move around a little more, and I thought it might be a smart idea for us to leave. Neither one of us was stung once, and dad simply has a sore hip from falling. I'm grateful that nothing serious happened. I didn't have a phone with me, and if the bees had been warmer, I would have had to leave him in the bees to get help. I'm glad nothing serious came of this, but next time I'll have my eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary.

One question though, how was the chipmunk able to live in there with the bees and not get stung either?