I  love chipmunks and squirrels! Thankfully, there are lots of them at Birchwood. For more than nine years, I have spent many afternoons barking and chasing the little critters, but I’ve never been able to catch one. Not one! They love to hide in the stone fences. I know they are there but, alas, they know I’m there, too. Nuts!

Since it is quite well known among my friends that I love bushy tails, my friend Amy gave me a stuffed squirrel. It was so realistic that guests often did a double-take!

Once I took the squirrel with me to an innkeeping conference, but in all of the excitement, I left it behind. No problem, Jim, the inn’s assistant innkeeper at the time, called the hotel. “Mrs. Chenaux seems to have left a squirrel in her room,” said Jim with a straight face. The hotel employee at the other end did not miss a beat and asked, “Sir, could you please describe the squirrel?”

Maybe we’re nuts but the squirrel did make it home eventually.