Mark Twin would have had a great time serving up comments about the weather we’ve had the past week. It has caused all kinds of changes and problems. Power companies don’t usually need to worry about capacity output until way into the summer season. Shoppers were suddenly “knee deep” at the deli counters, ordering cold cuts and potato salad. Stores were selling bathing suits – a product not usually popular until Memorial Day. Dame Nature once more shows us all who is really in charge.

I have been much interested in the small, lone chipmunk who stayed late in the fall and early winter before going to stay awhile in his den. I checked some of the chapters in the books of John Burroughs, the Naturalist, who often spoke about the small, friendly creatures. I had forgotten that their tunnel from the surface of the ground to their den is twenty to thirty feet long, sloping to a depth of four feet.

These small housekeepers build a den in which they have a storage room for their seeds and nuts. They build a side room for a nesting place and one to store their trash.

Their apartment also has several other escape routes to the surface in case the entrance to the main tunnel is clogged. To be safe from predators who might find the entry to their underground routes, the chippies carefully scoop away the mounds of dirt and carefully hide the entrance hole.

There are seasons when the chipmunk population is greater than usual due to favorable winter weather, etc. They appear in early March, and have at least two and sometimes three litters of two to five offspring. They make a shrill call which is a way of communicating with their friends. And they will become quite tame if humans provide a regular handout of peanuts or popcorn or other tidbits.

If you admire these little sociable critters, be prepared to have them dine on your tulip bulbs and even climb the stems of a flower and nibble on the petals. If you want their friendly company in your yard, you must be prepared to accept a certain amount of damage to your garden.

Wendy was here Saturday to do the weekly shopping for me. She also made a batch of hummingbird syrup and got out the little red feeder and filled it.

She hung out the feeder and left to go home. Before she had time to get to her car in the parking lot, a hummingbird was on the feeder, having a snack. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it arrive. Since then at least three different ones have stopped by to sample the syrup, but I think they may be migrating ones – they don’t stay long.

The quote from last week’s column was by Franklin P. Jones.

Who said, “Men build bridges and throw railroads across deserts and yet they contend successfully that the job of sewing on buttons is beyond them”?