My Northern Chipmunk Friend

As I've already explained, there was a certain chipmunk that I got along with quite well when I was up in Kenebeek.  Here's a pic of him

At first, he would only eat seeds if I gave them to him in the manner seen above, but with time, he grew to trust me enough that he would eat out of my hand.  Eventually, he would put his front two paws on my hand.  Then he would sometimes go into my hand with three paws, but keep the other one aground.  Eventually, he trusted me enough to sit on my hand with all four paws.

 And eventually, he trusted me enough to lift him off the ground, albeit not very far.  Only about four inches or so.  It might be hard to tell from the pic, but he is above ground in this one.

 He had a chipmunk friend, that I never managed to get all that close to.  Here she is.  I'm calling her a she, but I've no clue.  They used to scramble all over each other in the most mesmerizing way.  At first I wondered if they were mating, but that definitely wasn't it.  Maybe they were courting, or just playing.  They would chase each other around, too.  Here's a pic of my chipmunk's friend.

Before I had a reason to start typing "chipmunk", I always thought the "munk" part was spelled "monk", as in "the monk of chips".  The animal kingdom's furry little spiritual leader.