Better chipmunk video

Next thing you know, he'll (she'll?) be eating out of our hands!

The Esteemed One (whose feet appear in the video clip) and I enjoyed watching the little critter fetch peanuts. What was especially funny was the chipmunk's desire to carry two peanuts at once. He could not do that. Being a creature that runs on four feet, not two, he could carry only one peanut in his mouth. Still, he'd seize upon a second and try to figure out how to scamper away while still clutching his feast.

My husband wondered why it didn't occur to the chipmunk to put down the smaller peanut in favor of the larger one, but of course, the chipmunk plans to get all of them, regardless of size. It's a windy but otherwise gorgeous day. You can see the peanuts blowing around on the deck. Probably the wind is the reason Mr. Chipmunk wasn't as nervous around us as he might otherwise have been. Our sounds and scents were likely to be dispersed.

Soon it will be time to cook supper. Nothing fancy for us tonight, just ground beef and rice and corn. That's how my spouse likes to eat. For those of you who want to eat the lazy less-than-greasy way, here's what I do: I brown a pound of really lean ground beef and drain the fat. Then I add a package of Beefy Onion Lipton soup mix, a can of beef broth, a can of water, and some pepper and other seasonings to taste (like Worcestershire Sauce). (I don't add salt.) I bring that mix to boiling and toss in a cup of uncooked rice and stir. I do this in my giant skillet with the heavy lid because once the rice/meat/broth mix is boiling, I put on the lid and turn the heat to low. Half an hour later, voila! While the rice is steaming in the skillet, I heat a can of creamed corn in a saucepan with a dab of margarine and some pepper. There's something about the sweetness of the creamed corn, and it's liquidity, that complements the somewhat dry meat/rice mix. Now you have learned how to have a quick white-trash po' folk meal. If I have them, I'll slice some tomatoes as a side dish.

As we white-trash folk say, "Yum. Them's good eatin'!" (But hey, I don't have a recipe for chipmunk and peanuts!)