A Monk in the House!
Posted on August 22, 2007
Filed Under Personal |
Well, actually a chip-monk in the house.
I know I was supposed to finish the ant story today, but here’s the deal.
We have a deck on the back of our house that overlooks the woods. My wife has the banister filled with wonderful flower pots, mostly geranium’s that have gorgeous blooms on them. The deck is off of our kitchen/dining area and we love to have the door open and enjoy the fresh Rocky Mountain air and the smell of the Ponderosa Pine.
However…
In the woods are creatures. I love them, and to a great extent, so does my wife…when they remain in the woods. We have a lot of squirrels, rabbits, sometimes we see deer and bear (those you want to keep in the woods as much as possible) and other creatures one would expect to see in the Black Forest at about 7200 feet.
Well, we also have chipmunks and they have become, let say, more bold as the summer months have progressed. One in particular is a brash dare-devil, with, most likely, quite a reputation in the chipmunk world. He loves to see how close he can get to our threshold, and just like the strong-willed child, “step” over the line. He will come up to the doorway, stop, sit up, look around, and then dart in and out, as if to say, “Ha! Nothing to it!”
But that got old and boring. He has now, of late, taken to inviting himself in. We have chased him out several times.
So, this morning I got up and went upstairs to our “work” room, only to find Mr. Chipmunk running around as if he had taken up residence. He startled me at first. I sat down at my computer and he darted across the desktop. I don’t know if he had been emailing his friends or not, but I have to admit, it caused me to jump just a little. (Okay, maybe a lot…I knocked over my chair.)
So, after finally identifying him as our chipmunk buddy and not a large rat or skunk or small grizzly bear (he was moving really, really fast and it was early in the morning), I calmly tried to get him to leave.
“Okay, thanks for coming over, but I have to leave for work soon and you probably ought to get back to your log or pile of rocks.”
He didn’t bother to come out from under whatever piece of furniture he had retreated to and give me a polite response. Some chipmunks are just rude.
So, I did what I knew I had to do next. Tell my wife.
She had been up late and was still in bed, so I carefully poked my head in the bedroom and said, “Honey, I hate to tell you this, but…” (that will wake anyone up.)
“What?” she responded with obvious concern…is someone hurt…a death in the family?
“Well…”, I wanted to put this as carefully as possible, “there is a chipmunk in the house and I have to leave for work.”
I don’t recall everything that was said next, but for sure part of it included instructions to shut the bedroom door. I did. I left for work. I felt terrible…kind of.
Anyway, my wife just called. I asked if our friend had departed. She said he was playing the piano at the moment. Now, upon further questioning, it was clear that he really wasn’t “playing” the piano, it was more like “plinking”. Anyway, she had set up barricades and opened the front door in hopes he would decide to go investigate what we call the “outdoors”.
I’m sure we will sleep with the bedroom door closed tonight.
Comments
5 Responses to “A Monk in the House!”
Leave a Reply
Comments are moderated and will not appear on deltackett.com until they've been approved. While we are eager to facilitate conversation by publishing most comments, we may withhold one from time to time if we deem it offensive, vulgar, overly personal, cynical, disrespectful, irrelevant, redundant or unnecessarily contentious. While we encourage you not to make others' misspellings and grammatical mistakes an issue of debate, please do your best to double-check your spelling, use correct capitalization, and use proper grammar.
Dr. Del Tackett is president of the Focus on the Family Institute and Senior Vice President to Focus on the Family. He is also the architect and chief spokesperson for Focus on the Family's The Truth Project--a nationwide initiative designed to bring the Christian worldview to the body of Christ.
Subscribe in a reader
© 2008 Focus on the Family. All rights reserved.
Oh my goodness, I cannot stop laughing. That is absolutely hysterical!! Laughter is medicine for the soul and you have provided that for us today. So much for being an empty-nester, Del. Now you have children with fur and even bigger appetites. Back to child (animal proofing) your house.
Thanks for the laughter. I love to start my day reading your adventures. God Bless you.
Our neighbor’s cat loves to eat chipmunks so maybe I should send her over. I am sure it will decide to leave upon hearing about this possibility!:)
OK Del, is the chipmunk still in the house? You know you must let us know the outcome.
That is too funny. I am catching your blogging! This made me laugh today!