Smoke 'em if you've got 'em

Or..."Scooby plays a mean peanut".  

This is the garden chippie - he's built his vast network of tunnels under our garden hose stand in the garden next to the house.  His main entrance is under a huge rose mallow plant and I'm sure he's got some escape hatches around the garden too, in place I'm not able to find.  It remains to be seen if he'll winter here - in the past the garden chippies have just used their tunnels in the summer.  Scooby is wary and runs the minute I get too close, so this shot was taken from about 10 feet away - me sitting on the scorching hot patio, dripping sweat, waiting for Scooby to emerge from his nice cool den.  Hmph.  

What I really wanted to blip today was another garden resident who I've named Thor.  I met him quite unexpectedly this morning while I was planting some milkweed seedlings in the garden (and while my camera was inside - will I never learn?)  From the corner of my eye, I caught movement on the patio walkway, coming towards me - about the size of a chippie, so I didn't give it a lot of thought...until I realized it wasn't a chippie.  No, it was the biggest toad I have ever seen!  I mean, he was HUGE.  I tried to catch him (I have no idea why that seemed like a good idea) but he hopped quickly past me and into the hosta bed under the edge of the deck.  It's dark, cool, damp and buggy under there - perfect for a toad.  Anyway, that was exciting as I haven't seen a toad here in a few years and certainly never one this big.  

Today's blip is dedicated to all the people out there who aren't lucky enough to have chipmunks in their gardens, and especially to Simplemoments who has a very special bond with chipmunks.  

It's hot, hot, hot out today so after a few hours of yard work, Hubs and I called it quits and came inside where it's cool.  Out to dinner tonight with our neighbors and then another new week begins...

Three other pics on Flickr, starting HERE

Tomorrow I'll be posting my 1825th consecutive blip.  I posted my first blip on July 17, 2011, missed the 18th, then resumed on the 19th and haven't stopped since then.  Not sure what I'll post as my celebratory shot, but I'm sure something interesting will present itself...

Cheers!
Debbi