Meet our Cute Kids: they are furry, have racing stripes, four legs and chubby cheeks!

• there are 25 species of chipmunks, 24 are found from Canada to Mexico
• average life span in the wild is 2 to 3 years
• chipmunks will start to emerge from hibernation during the first warm days of March, sometimes burrowing up through a metre of snow
• the gestation, or pregnancy, period is about 30 days
• baby chipmunks do not open their eyes until 31 to 33 days of age
• they use their front paws and sharp teeth to prepare food for storage
• they feed on insects, nuts, berries, seeds, fruit, and grain which they stuff into their generous cheek pouches and carry to their burrow or nest to store
• throughout the spring, summer, and autumn, the chipmunk's diet is supplemented with insects, earthworms, flowers, berries, cherry and plum pits, mushrooms, and occasionally eggs or flesh of dead animals

Ok, so let's get this straight, "Chippy" is actually "Mrs. Chippy" because we had already named her when we found out he was a she * chuckle *.

She has been around the longest, we've been feeding her for 5 years now. Her home is in the middle of our front yard. That's right, smack in the middle of our yard, it's not hidden, there's no structure to hide her entrance, just right out there! LOL

She absolutely adores Rick and always comes running when he calls her!

Yes, yes, I know, when chipmunks are feeding, they all have chubby cheeks.

But seriously, what do you expect from someone who named their other chipmunk, "Chippy"!

Early spring 2009 (why the lawn looks so brown and dull), Rick decided Chippy was in need of a night light by the entrance to her home, you know, in case she got scared in the middle of the night.

And what do chippies love to do? Stand or sit on top of anything and everything (see insert)!

We laughed so much at seeing her sitting up on her light in the front yard every morning LOL

Sometimes when they are feeding, the Blue Jays and Black Birds will go after them and attack them for the peanuts they are munching on. So to protect our little fella's, we built them this condo unit! Of course LOL This is in our back yard and closest to the majority of other chipmunks (only Chippy lives in the front).

Pictured in the condo is "TrashCan" and he has been a regular for around 4 years.

It was built as a maze, and has all kinds of levels, and nooks and crannies that they can fit into. We made this with left over pieces of lumber when we were building our garage.

Another reason for this is it gives all the chipmunks a place to hide when the neighbourhood cats sneak in the backyard.

We also built an above ground tunnel for them in one spot, but that is a whole other set of pictures and story LOL

We do everything we can to protect our chipmunks!

At least TrashCan has a typical home, it's in the brush behind our trash pile and very well hidden, as they should be.

So obviously TrashCan was given his name for where he lived. Although really not a trash pile, it is more a junk pile (spare lumber, gardening supplies and equipment, decoys, etc) tucked away behind our garage, but TrashCan sounded far better than JunkCan LOL.

We used to have an old car sitting in the laneway waiting to decide what to do with it. "Chippy" and her babies decided that they absolutely loved hanging out in it. They often peeked out from under the front hood.

What was hilarious is when friends came by, they would have this shocked look on their face and turn to us and say "hey, did you know you have a chipmunk looking out of your car?"

Kind of like our own living hood ornament! LOL After awhile, everyone got used to them, but it sure was funny to see!

Here is one of the babies, sitting on the tire, yes, waiting to be fed! We often left peanuts up there for them, out of sight from the birds.

"Chippy" will often sit on the trailer ball of our truck, and sing (that's chirping in chipmunk language) non-stop, looking for Rick. When she does this, she is actually expecting him to come out, immediately please, and give her some peanuts.

And yes ..... he usually does!

I was actually feeding all three chipmunks at the same time, and one of the very few times they weren't fighting with each other. While one was taking seeds from my hand, the other two were running around me, waiting their turn, it was so cute!

Not the best picture, but this is our first picture of the babies from Chippy this summer. The young ones are so much fun to watch! They are so afraid of you, and everything else, for a couple of days, and then they are bouncing all over the place.

All three came out of the hole at once, to visit with Rick, and it was funny to see them stepping all over each other.

Oh yes, their names, we called the first one "Chip", the second one "N" and the third one "Dale".... you got it, for Chip 'n Dale LOL

I've often seen our guys nibbling on the young sprouts from the uneaten sunflower seeds we throw on the ground (for both birds and chippies). I think this must be a very delicate treat for them.

"It does work ....... I prayed for a strawberry and it magically appeared!"

Chippy looks like she is saying "it's my strawberry, and you can't have it".

And on a funny note, we were at the store and the strawberries looked so nice. I turned to Rick and said "let's get some strawberries for the chippies" and Rick replied "hey, I like strawberries too you know". The produce manager overheard this and I could see him trying not to laugh LOL

Looks like they will all be fighting for them!

Huh? What happened? I must have had too much of that fermented applejuice last night, cuz I sure don't know how I ended up in jail.

Editors note: For explanation, play video below LOL

March 17 - There has been a chipmunk sighting today! We are not sure who it is, a completely different hole (by the tree at the front of the property by the rock garden where you see the hydro pole). We immediately put out nice fresh peanuts. Pictures will definitely be coming soon!

We were a little surprised to see one already as it is a little colder than the same time last year as well as much more snow still on the ground.

..... stay tuned!

This is TrashCan sitting on top of the plastic owl in the backyard, one of his favorite places to overlook the ponderosa! LOL The snow is finally starting to disappear! Oh wait ..........

What can I say, but .... Poor Chippy. She's not too sure what to think of this two days of flurries.

Spaz is actually one of the Chip'n'Dales babies from last year, but he's so ummm, dumb, we renamed his Spaz. What can I say, we love them cuz they're cute, not cuz they're smart LOL

Below is a picture of poor Spaz who was chased up a tree. He was feeding at the back condo and TrashCan didn't take too kindly to it. Even though TrashCan has his own feeding station, he thinks the whole back yard is his. He really puts the boots to Spaz and after a long chase, Spaz was so scared, he went up a tree to hide for awhile. Poor thing.