This shelter-in-burrow business is really putting a crimp in
my usual adventures. There is only so much de-cluttering and tidying up one can
do. I even tried counting all the seeds in the storage units. I lost count
after ten thousand. The family has over a year’s supply of food. Mom, our human
caretaker, mentioned she is taking walks at different places (while practicing
social distancing.) I hopped on the internet to look up places to take the
family. I found the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary run by Massachusetts
Audubon. These humans have such quaint notions – a “wildlife sanctuary” – we
critters have been living a civilized life for hundreds of years.
We hitched a ride with Mom. When we got there, I grabbed a
trail map. There was something called the “Rockery” which got the kids all
excited. I had never heard the term before. It is some fancy Victorian word for
a rock garden. A rockery is no ordinary “rock garden.” It is a gargantuan
man-made pile of rocks with tunnels, rustic stairs and lookout area on the top.
Originally it would have been planted with flowering vines and plants, shrubs
and trees. Today it is part of the forest. The kids went crazy playing tag and
hide & seek. They climbed over the rocks with reckless abandon. I was quite
proud of their climbing skills but pretended to be terrified after I saw the
look on the wife’s face and the scolding she gave the kids.
At the Woodpile we have the humans well trained to feed us
chipmunks, squirrels and birds. I was a bit surprised and annoyed to discover
the humans visiting the sanctuary paid absolutely no attention to us four pawed
furry critters. Instead they brought huge bags of sunflower seeds and shelled peanuts
for the birds. Yes, you heard me right, they were feeding the birds. The birds
have the humans so well trained that the humans would put out their hands full
of seed and the birds would land on their hands to select the best seeds and
nuts. The local four pawed critters were stuck with the few scraps that
inadvertently fell to the ground.
Last year, I introduced you to Bushy’s teenage daughter Georgina or “Red” to her friends. She is one that likes
to dye her fur red. Well, we ran into her at the sanctuary. Turns our she is interning
there as part of an environmental science program. She is learning about how to
reduce the negative impacts humans are having on the natural world.
The kids voted this the best playground ever
There were tunnels to explore for pirate treasure …
Rustics stair to follow …
Uncharted paths to wander …
Strange rocks from Mars (at least according to the
kids)
Georgina was
surprised to see us.
She asked us to take a couple of pictures for her
facebook page
I asked were all the chipmunks lived at the sanctuary.
Apparently there is just one ‘munk known as the hermit. For a hermit he turned
out to be a talkative fellow. Apparently we are the first chipmunk visitors he
has seen in a year.
The birds at the sanctuary live a life of luxury and opulence.
The humans hand feed them.
It is the middle of the afternoon and this pair of
Canadian geese are taking a nap.
We were walking along the boardwalk when I saw some dropped
peanuts ahead. I was about to run ahead to get the family a snack when this Redwing blackbird started squawking at me.
The Redwing blackbird then swooped down gobbled up all
the peanuts! Hey, I saw them first!
I complained to the local constable that I had been
robbed "butt" all he did was made a rude gesture.
Now I understand why it is called a “wildlife”
sanctuary, the residents have absolutely no manners!
