The Horrifying Case of Chippy the Chipmunk

For about 3 months now, we have entertained a chipmunk who thought our home was his. We have encountered a handful of sightings. At first the only person who saw it was my 4 year old son. He’s not prone to lie but when you hear your child say there is a chipmunk in your house, you don’t tend to believe him. I quickly realized the truth when I saw the cute little disgusting rodent scurry from the bathroom to the kitchen.

I would say that I am a pretty brave person. Doing a one and a half off of a spring board…no sweat, getting bucked off horses…a breeze, giving birth 4 times…been there, done that. But when I see that furry little creature in my house, you better believe I was on top of the closest chair in 3 seconds flat!

I feel ashamed to say that I had my husband put out Decon. I am the first one to teach my kids about taking care of God’s creatures, I promise. But the thing was in my house, scurrying about while we weren’t home or asleep. Say it with me “eeeewwww!” For all you PETA people, don’t fret. Evidently chipmunks are smarter than mice because it didn’t touch the Decon. And I thought it got the hint too because we didn’t see it for a long time….until this last weekend that is.

It all started while we were lounging around on Sunday afternoon minding our own business. We were watching football when my son (same four year old) screams, “Chipmunk! I saw it again!” It ran from the computer room to the t.v. room.  By that time, I had become accustom to random Chippy sightings so I didn’t freak out too bad. Standing up on our recliner isn’t freaking out…it is, um, just being cautious. Anyway, it ran back into the computer room. We were safe. Or so we thought.

About an hour later. Brad screams "Ok, everyone in here! We need to catch this chipmunk! It just ran to the middle of the t.v. room while I was sitting on the couch!" I've never been on a battlefield before, but I have a feeling it was a lot like our living room that night. The couch was upturned and a barrier was formed in between the computer room and the t.v. room by using anything we could find. Kasey stood behind the barrier to make sure it stood strong. MyKaila sat on top of the piano (I don't know what her job was), Keagen and MyKenzie were in the computer room ready to capture the thing when Brad scared it out of the corner. I courageously stationed myself on top of the sidetable in the t.v. room holding the lid to a trinket box. I'm sure we were a sight to see; all of us in our jammies and in our shoes (mine were lovely dress shoes) because we didn't want the chipmunk to run across our bare feet.

Brad shooed the horrific creature out of the corner and thus began the battle. He ran to the barrier, we screamed. He ran toward the piano, Kaila screamed, he ran towards Brad and the kids, they screamed (don't let him tell you any different either!). Around and around he went until he ran back into the corner. About that time my brother-in-law, Jeff, walked into our dining room....and I screamed! Apparently we didn't hear him knocking because we were screaming so loud. Jeff thought someone was being murdered so he walked into the house to investigate. Little did he know, he was walking into the crusade of the century! He probably thought I was crazy because all I could do was look at him and half laugh, half cry, "I can't do this, I can't do this!" General Brad boldly told me to pull myself together and man my station.

About that time the terrifying monster decided to come out of hiding again. The screaming resumed. Finally, our dog decided to join up and do her part. She jumped in the middle of our barricade and grabbed the beast and stunned it! Meanwhile, MyKenzie let her cat in and she immediately grabbed it and took off with it. MORE SCREAMING! Although, I had thought about killing the thing in the past, I really didn't want it to die, especially a cruel death of consumption...I promise!  The cat was not going to give up her dinner and the only thing I could do at that point was to shoo her outside. Sadly, the poor chipmunk didn't make it. And even more sadly, we didn't capture the whole ordeal on video...we would have taken the cake on AFV for sure.

Usually my blog contains a provoking thought or a lesson learned, so here it goes... beware all you chipmunks. You don't wanna mess with this family! And if you find yourself scurrying about in my house....be afraid, be VERY afraid!