Peanuts at the Antler Emporium

One morning last week I walked in our woods just behind the house. I was shooting autumn leaves' when I stumbled upon an Eastern White Tailed Deer antler. It had been cleanly shed and was lying amongst the lush myrtle grown cover, tips up. When I picked it up I noticed that small rodents had been sharpening their teeth on all the tips. I grew up running free, playing in these woods and never found anything like it. I was excited as an adult and imagined my little girl self with such a treasure.

I have a reindeer antler that I picked up in the Arctic Tundra on a summer hiking/canoeing adventure in 1980 with my Swedish friend, Suzanne. We were hiking with a group just below the Arctic Circle. That antler had been shorn manually by the Sami reindeer herders as they moved through the tundra with their herd. It was such a fascinating landscape above the tree line and witnessing the herding of reindeer along with the scenery was fantastic. I strapped that antler to my backpack and hiked and traveled by train with it all through Sweden, Norway and Finland. It now sits on our large copper topped coffee table in the living room.

It was time to change up the easy peanut feeding this morning, I thought I'd make my friends Fyra and Edith chipmunk work for their breakfast at the Antler Emporium. They did just as I wished, providing some fun shots. The nut collecting is beginning to reach a fever pitch as the colder weather begins to make an entrance(not today or yesterday). They will be above ground until it gets really cold, then tuck in for a semi hibernation below ground, feasting on our peanuts.

Dropped one!

Conk!

Nice bloomers!

For the Record,
This day came in cloudy, warm and humid. Heavy rain is on the way, we need it, obviously but not all at once. 

All hands healthy