They Call Him Mr. Inski

Until I moved here and got a daily glimpse of one, I never realized how much of a busybody a chipmunk can be. Of all the animals that come into my backyard, this furry little rodent is possibly the snoopiest. Whenever I fill up the basket hanging from the tree trunk, POOF, he appears within minutes of my walking away. When I finish watering or working on the flowers under the kitchen window, POOF, he comes over to investigate as soon as I’m at a safe distance. If I’m filling up the bird feeders, POOF, he’s sitting on the fence watching me. Even if I’m just sitting on the deck reading a book or having a coffee, POOF, he will climb up the stairs, get as close to me as he dares and check me out. I can just hear those wheels turning in his little head: “What’s she doing? Any goodies around? Has she added anything new?” I swear he must be watching my house with binoculars from his place, just waiting for me to step outside.


I enjoy watching this ball of energy that is highly entertaining and overly inquisitive. He darts through the birds as they’re eating and scares them to death. He runs across the fence at an impressive speed to get to the goodies I offer. He dashes across the lawn to reach the feeding areas first. He sniffs everything. Investigates everything. And eats everything. This frenzied critter is in constant motion, always in search of food, all over the place and into everything. There’s no doubt that he’s a nuisance to all the other backyard visitors by constantly getting in their way or under their feet (or wings).

And because of all that, my husband announced during one of our evening walks that he’d decided to name our chipmunk “Mr. Inski”

“Mr. Inski?” I asked.

“Yeah” He said with a smile. “First name butt”

Mr. Butt Inski. :~)

Har har har... You gotta love a man with this type of sense of humour.

And for those of you unfamiliar with this term, here’s an explanation:

(Definition of buttinski: a person (or in this case animal) that is constantly butting in or meddling in the affairs of other people (or in this case animals).

Yup, that sounds just like our backyard buttinski.

That's Mr. Butt Inski