I saw something that threw me for a loop the other day.

[proteus_lives]

I was walking up to my apt building's door when I saw the most curious thing in the store-window of the art shop next to my building.

A chipmunk!

Inside the closed store. Was it a pet? A shopper? But seriously, they keep the door open all day and I can imagine a critter running in there.

It was just chilling in the storefront window. Gave me a chuckle, I need to go there tomorrow and ask them about it.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear proteus_lives!

Maybe it's a pet? Or maybe they're feeding it?

Sounds like a pretty fearless chipmunk!

:hi:

[MiddleFingerMom]

2. Probably 4 years old in Connecticut...

.
...and it was late at night and I'm watching this bird fly around my
darkened bedroom.
.
MiddleFingerMomMom and my brother MiddleFingerMomTom are in
the kitchen talking. I call down to them about the bird flying around
my bedroom.
.
A night owl from birth, I NEVER wanted to go to bed, so this was seen
as just another ploy to get them upstairs and delay my inevitable sleep.
.
"You're full of bird soup. GO TO BED!!!!!"
.
I remember that line to this day.
.
I wouldn't quit, so MiddleFingerMomMom sent my brother up to tell me
face-to-face to STFU (OK, not in so many words). I was vindicated in a
MOST satisfying way when "my" bat (NOT a bird) chose THAT very moment
to fly out my door and down the stairwell, strafing MiddleFingerMomTom's
head on the way by.
.
Even at four years of age, I was smart enough to live off their guilt
for just AGES.
.
.
.
.
.
I gotcher bird soup right HERE!!!!!
.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. My dear MiddleFingerMom!

What a great story!

You done good, sweetie...

:yourock:

[MiddleFingerMom]

4. My dear CaliforniaPeggy!

.
Thank you!!!
.
.
I don't have a LOT of early childhood memories, but that is a STRONG one.
.
.
AND I remember the hilarity that ensued when MiddleFingerMomDad and
my brother armed themselves with brooms to chase that bat out of the house.
.
.
INCREDIBLE and unbelievably funny theater, indeed -- all three "contestants"
scared shitless and just wanting it to be over ASAP!!!!
.
And me laughing and clapping and cheering every time my "bird" escaped its
tormentors.
.
I'm not sure I slept a wink that night.
.

[sarge43]

5. Chippies are fearless and arrogant.

We have to be careful to keep the outside doors shut else the little freaks are in house, cleaning out the fridge, using the phone, hacking the 'puters.

"The world belongs to us."

[femmocrat]

6. Not a very good pet!

I had one in my classroom and we all thought it was soooo cute. It pooped and peed all over the place and chewed up tons of paper and cloth. It made a "nest" in a box of paint shirts and I had to throw them all out.

We had had a pet food drive for the local animal shelter and it was attracted by the bags of dry dog food in the hall.

We also have them at our house, but outdoors where they belong.

[Demoiselle]

7. Chipmunks ARE fearless!

One of my cats (the one who hasn't a clue how to administer a death bite after she catches an animal) came prancing across the yard about a year ago crowing mightily about the chipmunk she was carrying in her mouth.
I grabbed the cat, and she let go of the chipmunk. And the chipmunk, very much alive, stood straight up on its haunches, chattered furiously and made boxing motions with its tiny front paws. And only THEN, after about 5 seconds, did it skitter off. I thought I was caught in a Warner Brothers cartoon. Cat just stared.
I keep my cats inside exclusively, but the feline in question used to make a break for it once in a while. Why she felt any need to go outside, I'll never know. She can't catch anything and she's actually been dive bombed by birds. (She had the puncture wound to prove it.)

I grew up on a farm, and I have fond and hysterical memories of my father wearing a raincoat and a hat and wielding a tennis racket to clear a bat out of a bedroom. More than once.

[JohnnyLib2]

8. Aw jeez, there goes the stash of junk food.

Voice of experience, here.

[applegrove]

9. I was on the phone years ago with my sister on a friday evening. She was at her office.

She heard a noise and went to investigate. An cleaner got themselves locked into the office somewhere and my sister was her last best chance to get out before the weekend.