As the cold weather arrives, I know the chipmunks will mostly disappear. We see them in the woodshed sometimes in the winter, but almost never past Christmas.

I’ve gotten to know chipmunks in my years here. They are ground-dwelling members of the squirrel family known for their burrowing habits and love of nuts and seeds. Despite their size, chipmunks can cause significant damage to homes, yards, and farms.

They are homebodies and rarely venture more than a few hundred yards from their shallow burrows, where they seek refuge (from dogs like Bud) during the day.

At night, they retire to sleep in deeper and complex tunnels and burrows. These deeper burrows are where they nest, store food and spend most of the winter months.

Chip was still up and around this morning, I saw Bud charge in between the pasture fence and the apple tree I thought I saw Chip scurrying up the far side, there are plenty of holes and places to hide in the tree.

But chipmunks don’t next in trees, they prefer holes in the ground. He probably just rushed up there to get away from our marauding terrier.

Bud was barking and circling the tree for a long time, I didn’t see Chip again, a few more hard frosts and I may not see him for months. This will be a disappointment to Bud, but I know something he doesn’t. There are mice and moles and squirrels around all year.

He’ll be busy.

Chip is a worthy opponent, he’s been running circles around Bud.  I think he’ll be around for a few weeks at least, but then he’ll just vanish, deep into the ground to wait for Spring.

I wonder if he’ll be back next year.