Chip and Dale

 My new year began with finding out that we had two bushy tailed squirrels living in our backyard trees.  What a fun surprise.  Every morning and evening Neal and I watch those cute little critters jump from limb to limb and tree to tree.  They are extremely agile and very, very fast.  I had to name them so I chose Chip and Dale.  I know, not very original but those were the names that came to me so it had to be.  However I think one of them is probably a female so it could be Chip and Dalia or Chipalene and Dale!  I ran a bunch of errands yesterday and stopped at The Bird House in Sugarhouse and asked what they had for squirrels.  I ended up buying a feeder and a big bag of peanuts.  When I got home, Neal and I drove around to the back of the lot with boots, ladder and gloves.  Climbed the wall and up to the tree where we hung the feeder full of peanuts.  It has been such fun watching Chip and Dale figure out how to get the peanuts out of the feeder and then watch them shell and eat their treat.  

This is a picture of their entrance into their nest.  There are 5 different holes in this tree.  From what I've read, squirrels usually gain entrance to an old tree from what a woodpecker may have left behind.  I've seen Chip and Dale go in and out so I know they are nesting in there.

This was a picture I took at The Bird House place.  I had just closed the door in my car and happened to notice this happy little guy scrounging around for food.  I notice that the owners had hung a little nesting house for the squirrels up in a tree close by.  I'm sure they leave food for them every day.

They were very helpful to me when I went in the store and told them what I wanted to do.  Now I know where to go for more food and anything else I might need for my new friends.

So this is the feeder and the big bag of peanuts.  

Neal hanging the feeder just below their nesting area, but high enough so that we can easily see it from our windows.

It didn't take long for them to discover it and have already taken some peanuts out.  It is so fun to watch them figure out how to get the nuts out and then watch them as they sit on the branch and shell them and eat.  I'm sure when Spring comes and the leaves pop out, we won't have a clear visual of them but we will certainly enjoy them for as long as we can and will continue to feed them.