It is that time of year again, for the Thanksgiving Day feast and the Big Game. We at the Woodpile have much to be thankful for. We have had a bountiful seed harvest, Tomato Bob had the best tomato harvest of his life, he opened a pizzeria, we got a fresh load of wood to spruce up the Woodpile, and my investment in a toilet paper company stocks has paid off handsomely.
I have been asked to prepare my signature dish for Thanksgiving meal: raw pumpkin seeds in the pulp. It is the equivalent of what you humans call oysters on the half shell. (Once you try it once, you will never go back to pumpkin pie again). The real trick to preparing this exquisite treat is to find a pumpkin at the peak of ripeness that hasn’t turn into mush yet. It sometimes takes me days of checking all the pumpkins used as decoration around the neighborhood to find the perfect one to “liberate.” It helps to have a discriminating sniffer. I have learned to pick out the best pumpkin by smell.
The perfect pumpkin it scored 99 out a 100 for ripeness.
The kids couldn’t wait for dinner and got into the pumpkins seeds for breakfast.
Almost ready to be served.
The second I served it, Bushy pounced on the tray. Squirrels are ravenously hungry at this time of year. Evolution programmed them to put on as much weight as they could for the winter. Obviously today with seed marts and modern storage units, it is totally unnecessary. Bushy likes to use it as an excuse to stuff his face with his favorite foods.
Having stuffed out ourselves with ten pounds of pumpkin seeds it was time to watch the Big Game at the stadium. In recent years the Woodpile has tried to host a different type of game each year. We opted for a “Football” game. No not American football but European Football, I think you call it soccer. The Woodpile Council couldn’t find enough cash in the budget to build a regulation soccer field, so they chose to rent a soccer field. They checked out a bunch of human size fields and realized it would take 90 minutes for a player to get the ball down the length of the field. My cousin Vinnie suggested they get a miniature field from an arcade. It would be the perfect size for critters. As a bonus it came with two teams. The Woodpile Mayor made the arrangements. The rental field was delivered Thanksgiving Day.
The referee explained the rules of the game. After fifteen minutes of listening to the ref, the crowd grew inpatient and started tossing sunflower seeds onto the field. The ref wrapped things up real quick, saying the idea was to get the ball into the opposing team’s goal. (Why couldn’t he have just said that 15 minutes ago!)
Chipmunks have a unique advantage when it comes to playing the goalie position. We can stretch out of bodies to fill up nearly the entire goal. Although this fella has left a gap in the upper right corner.
The guest team's goalie ran out to grab the ball but missed and watched helplessly as …
… Chippy Jr. took advantage of an unguarded goal and sneaked through the yellow defenders to score!
The referee is on the lookout for rule breakers. It doesn’t take him long to find one.
A member of the guest team is distracted by a spectator
“offering” free beer and the ball rolls right past him.
The guest team has the ball and a member of the Woodpile team is ready to stop them.
Woodpile goalie sits on top of the net for a better view.
Unfortunately, the guest team’s best player makes an amazing move and scores. The game is all tied up.
The spectators are on the edge of their logs with only minutes left in the game.
In desperation the Woodpile coach signals “straight shot.” One of Woodpile teams dribbles the ball straight down the field.
The spectators cheer him on
He slips through a small gap in the defenders line to score!
In classic chipmunk fashion, he does the puffed cheek victory dance.
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