Rodents of Unusual Cuteness

Still haven't gotten a new camera yet... too busy getting ready for the big soap meeting, and now that it's over, have too many other things to catch up on. (I think every scrap of clothing in the house needs laundering.)

These pics are from Mother's Day at my mother's house.



Eastern Chipmunk, Tamias striatus. Did somebody change the spelling while I wasn't paying attention? I could've sworn he was a Chipmonk.

My Dad was constantly at war with them in the yard. Once he thought to burn them out of their tunnels with gasoline. I'm sorry I missed it -- the roaring whoosh of flame from the drainage grate was apparently something to see. As was the look on his face when he realized that the chipmunks could just as easily have tunneled under the house.



Melanistic Eastern Gray Squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis.

Melanistic = overabundant pigment
Leucistic = reduced pigment
Albinistic = no pigment



OK, not really a rodent, but my sister's unusually cute small dog, Elvis the Bichon Frisé. He was this small at Christmas.