Critter Moonshot

NASA has revived its moon landing space program. One aspiring chipmunk, Henry, applied to their astronaut program. Henry has advanced degrees in engineering and astronomy, and has his pilot's license. Sounds like great credentials. Not to mention he is about 150x lighter than the average human astronaut. Less weight is always a good thing for space flight. Sadly, his application was declined.

Henry wasn’t discouraged. He had a backup plan. He was bound and determined to be the first four legged critter to land on the moon. Using an astronomy app on his smartphone, he discovered that the crescent moon would rise directly behind the Woodpile. All he had to do was hop on. The timing would be tricky but not impossible.

Before my loyal fans started sending emails explaining the moon orbits the earth at a distance between 225,000 and 253,000 miles away and such a feat is impossible … please review the photographic evidence first. Us ‘munks are capable of some really amazing things.

Henry scouts out the best place to leap from the Woodpile to the moon.

 After waiting patiently the big moment has arrived.

But he discovers his calculations are off by two tail lengths and he needs to scramble to reposition himself.

 
It is now or never!

 

He has two paws on the moon but he hold on?

He has done it! “One small step for critter, one giant leap for critter kind.”

 

Five minutes later, Henry leaped off the moon and made a successful “splashdown” at the Woodpile.

 

Acorn Stuffing Contest

Millions of years ago, on the evolutionary tree of life, squirrels and chipmunks branched off as two separate species. Squirrels developed gray fur to better blend in with the gray bark of oak trees from which their favorite food acorns come from. We chipmunks developed brown fur with stripes to better blend in with the leaves. We became experts at gathering and hoarding seeds, especially sunflower seeds. Our taste for sunflower seeds has become encoded in our genes.

 Every once in a while, one of those ancient squirrel genes re-asserts itself. You will be walking along in woods, and pass by a critter gathering acorns. You will think to yourself, that critter seems a bit too small for a gray squirrel. I don’t recall squirrels having stripes. You take a better look and find a chipmunk ignoring the sunflower seeds and stuffing its cheeks with acorns!

I just found out recently that these acorn loving ‘munks have formed their own club called the Nutty’Munk. This year, the club decided to hold their annual fall acorn stuffing contest at the Woodpile. I thought I would share a few photos of the contest with my loyal readers.

Contestants have 30 seconds to stuff as many acorns as they can into their cheek pouches. A pile of Godiva sunflower seeds placed close by as a potential distraction.

Ready, set, …

“Is anyone going to say GO?”

The judges picked the biggest acorns they could find. This one is bigger than the poor ‘munk’s head!

In it goes

On to acorn #2

His cheek pouches are going to be sore at the end of the day.

Unfazed, he is working on #3

Unbelievable, he got it in without much effort.

Incredible this is #4.

                                                     Times up! Does halfway in count?

 

Here comes the second contestant. Wait a second, she isn't even a critter.

 

She is munching down all of those expensive Godiva sunflower seeds. The judges all got their whiskers in a tizzy as they yell “disqualified.” (Turns out to be a practical joke by the production staff)

 

 

No ‘munk managed to beat the first contestant. Here he is posing
for his winning photo for the newspaper.