The heat wave eased up, and I exited the house briefly; Zip and I resumed our afternoon meeting and Chipmunk watch. I’m starting to look forward to it.

Once again, Alvin outsmarted Zip and chirped loudly when Zip crept up on a chipmunk walking too far out in the pasture. The warning was clear; the chipmunk disappeared, and Alvin vanished into one of his tunnels. Zip may not be one of the brightest bulbs in the shed. Alvin is pretty sharp.

Alvin’s new trick is sounding a loud, chirping alarm when Zip gets close. He stands before Zip as Zip gets close, looks him straight in the eye as if they dare him, and then vanishes, probably into a tunnel. I’ve seen him save four or five fellow chipmunks with his warning call. He’s thwarted  Bud, I think, also.

I’ve learned to stay inside when heat warnings come, and I see Zip doing the same thing. He is a winter barn cat; he loves to hunt and wander all night in the cold and heavy snow.  We only saw him use the heated cat house once, and that was in the morning. He has his heated barn cat house and a dozen snug spots on the hay loft and wood shed, but no matter when we looked outside, he was racing around the snow looking for mice and moles who build tunnels under the snow.