random thoughts – Day 1,505 – (Tuesday) – yard work

The view from
 the home desk.

While I worked inside at my desk today, there was a critter working hard outside. Chuck (or Chuckina), the resident groundhog(s), usually meanders the yard, sniffing and eating. Today, the woodchuck was on a mission of some sort, but I haven’t figured out yet what it is. 

The desk sits in front of the window facing the shed and the back yard. It's a small yard, but full of interesting birds, squirrels, neighborhood cats, brown bunnies, and woodchucks. The bunnies pass under the ramp to the shed. The woodchucks emerge from and disappear under the shed via the ramp and several openings in the ground at the sides of the shed. 

Today, instead of a casual wandering walk about the perimeter of the yard with pauses to eat grasses and greenery, Chuck was sprinting (in Dad-speak, "hauling ass") diagonally across the yard to and from under the shed and the general direction of the deck, with a load of dried leaves comically protruding from the mouth. The transport plan was unclear. 

Was there a spring cleaning taking place, with material being moved out from under the shed? Or is there a redecoration effort happening in the den? It was impossible to tell, as the woodchuck mouth was full of stuff in both directions of travel.

The timing of the leaf project is unfortunate for Chuck if more are needed. I started yard cleanup a week ago (finally), and the small mounds of dead leaves from the flower beds near the shed were the first to be cleared.

Chuck, two weeks ago,
without a face full of leaves.

The little bugger was on a serious mission and wasting no time. Usually, from the time of first spotting the woodchuck, I can grab my phone, pound in the passcode, open the camera, and get a couple photos. Not today. I had barely grabbed my phone a foot away and Chuck had already dashed across the yard and out of sight. I couldn’t see if the destination was the neighbor’s yard, under my deck, or someplace else. I was too busy working to take a break and visit the yard.

Instead of investigating the yard after work for clues in the mystery, I forgot about it and did my own dashing. To the gym. Then I continued to forget all about it until it was too dark to see anything in the yard. 

I may never solve the mystery of the woodchuck leaf transportation mission. I’ll be on high alert looking for the critter in search of the elusive photo. Until then, you’ll need to imagine a woodchuck with a reddish-brown coat, face stuffed full of a bouquet of dried brown leaves, racing across the greening lawn of uneven length.