I Didn't Want to Follow Hankie Week with Just Anything

The goal yesterday for Scott and me was to get out of Phoenix and its noise and heat and pavement and hang out somewhere scenic. We drove up to a beautiful lake near Payson, Arizona.

It rained like the world was ending as we got near the place. But when the rain finally stopped, we got out of the truck and listened to the extreme quiet, interrupted only by the skittering, yes, I said skittering, of a dozen chipmunks nearby.

They made it quite clear that they were tame enough to take food from us. In fact, they very nearly insisted on it. I sat on a rock and fed them cracker bites for twenty minutes. As soon as one left with his/her cracker, another one ran up. They were polite. They even seemed to stand in line sometimes.

Look cute.
Lean in to take cracker.
Scrape tiny claws across human finger while pushing away.
Run three feet away from human.
Eat cracker with loud chomping sounds.
Return to cracker source.
Repeat.

Scott patiently sat right beside me and my handful of gourmet crackers, with his camera. As quietly as he could, he provided an early warning system for me by saying things like "Here comes one from the right. No, make that three."