How Many Nuts Are Enough?

Dear Miss Fifi: 

My partner, Dale, joined the snowbirds heading for Florida this year, but I decided to stay home. Now I'm lost because I'm not quite sure how many nuts are enough for the winter. Got any advice? 

- Chip, Holly Springs 

~~~ 

Dear Chip: 

Well, seems to me like you squirrelly chipmunk critters have an internal clock that should have alerted you last month, as the days began to shorten, to begin putting away nuts and seeds. I've seen some pretty hefty squirrels in our yard lately, which tells Miss Fifi that we're going to have a bad winter. It's pretty amazing how attuned wild animals are to Mother Nature—and how lucky I am to have my humans providing for me. 

Since there isn't really a right way to calculate the amount of food you'll need over the winter, like no body mass index ratio to fat calories, make sure you stash food whenever you come across it. Food should be pretty abundant for you now with the fall, so be on the lookout over the next couple of weeks, and until the temperatures drive you into hibernation.