Another visit from Chuck

Guess who I saw nonchalantly munching away next to our driveway one day?

Yep, it was Mr. Woodchuck. He almost seemed to pose for photos.

And then he decided just to be safe, he should meander off.....

As you may have guessed, the violet blooms had disappeared again. He must not like the yellow ones... or maybe hadn't discovered them. They're still blooming like crazy.

Not quite a turkey hunter, but....

I don't know if Autumn qualifies as a ninja yet, but she seems to be a pretty mighty hunter to me. Just look!

Nope, she didn't attack that woodchuck. It's a good thing, 'cause she'd have lost. Ha.

Now if you want to know the REAL story... I actually took the photos in the reverse order of what they're posted here. So if you scroll back up, you'll see how she's actually backing away. Heheh. 

It made for some fun pics, anyway. I'd just seen her sitting there listening and waiting, and I thought it was cute so I grabbed the camera. I was VERY surprised when the woodchuck stuck his head out!

Yes, my violet blooms are disappearing. :(

Woodchuck

I almost forgot to show you the visitor I had a couple weeks ago. I glanced out the living room window and saw this:

I had to hurry with the camera, for fear it'd get away, so these shots aren't very good, but here it is a little closer:

Yep, it's a woodchuck. It was probably about to eat the blooms off the wild violets in front of the house, which they really seem to like a lot. Every year when those flowers disappear, I figure there's a woodchuck around somewhere.

Incidentally, I did manage to get an Easy-Macro shot of a violet before the woodchuck got to it!

Did you ever realize there's so much detail in those plain-looking little flowers?

Déjà vu

Hmmm... seems I've seen this scene before. Like here. Remember?

I think he's checking out my violets, to see if they're blooming yet so he can eat the flowers off. Yep, they are!

Lookin' right tasty!

I can always tell when there's a woodchuck around, because the violets have no blooms.

He disappeared inside the culvert after I got the first shot at him, but I wandered around with my camera and took pictures of the maple leaves I showed you yesterday, and lo and behold, when I got done, he was back, peeking out of the other end of the culvert! So nosy! So I got another shot at him. Quite successfully, I'd say!

A new critter

Well, new to my blog, anyway. Certainly not new to our farm.

Meet Chuck:

Woodchuck, that is.

He sure was nosey.

This is right out in front of our house, mind you. I first saw him heading across the driveway, looking like he was going down into the ditch. Suddenly he changed his mind and headed back toward the house and went under the deck (probably to eat the flowers off the violets... I think they're his favorite). I grabbed the camera and headed out, determined to shoot him.

He ran a ways away and stopped, so I got the first photo. Then he ducked into the culvert under the driveway, so I waited. Sure enough, he poked his head out the other end. We watched each other a long time. :-)

A woodchuck is also known as a groundhog, did you know that? I wonder if he's related to Phil.