Four little chipmunks were skittering hither and yon, playing. They scurried through the potted mints, which are emerging. They zipped into and out of pots that had held annuals. They scaled the scrawny Leland Cypresses that I'd better plant this year, or else. One darted out from beneath an astilbe that situated itself in the garden wall. Another ran around like his tail was on fire.
I watched all this with delight - they really are cute, even though they are Dr. Destructo in the garden. I laughed so hard my sides ached. I've seen one or two here and there, but never four. One of them likes to sun himself on a clay tile that came from the old Matthiessen & Hegeler Zinc Co. in LaSalle. He's pictured above.
Four of them chasing one another, however is a circus! They were having a gay old time.
Then I noticed that two of them were wrestling and tumbling around in the pot that holds a blooming rosemary. I laughed even harder. About then my eyes bugged out - one had mounted the other and was doing the nasty, right there in my rosemary! It didn't last long - the bottom one turned around and then reversed roles! That's when I really started laughing! They broke it up, wrestled a little more, nastied, chased each other around the pot, nastied again.
I'm telling you, it was the funniest thing I'd seen in my garden in ages!
Laughing that hard has an effect on old ladies and I repaired to the flamingo room, still laughing. I really wish I had had the presence of mind to snap a picture of that. Doris always has such great wildlife shots that I'm always jealous. But the one I did manage to get was through a window, so I guess the idea of catching a pair of chipmunks in flagrate delicto was a bit off the radar. I cannot wait to relate this to Big Kitty. His dry wisecracks are stellar.
For my part, I had no idea rosemary was an aphrodisiac!