When Newmarket's Sue Cullen and Ralph Waine noticed they had a lot of chipmunks visiting their backyard, they decided to make the little critters feel more at home.
“We sit outside a lot in the backyard, especially because of COVID, and we noticed that we had a lot of chipmunks that would come to eat the peanuts out of our hands and then I thought, (Ralph) does a lot of woodworking, and I said ‘make me a tiki hut,’” Cullen said.
Earlier in the summer, she created the design and began sourcing items on Facebook Marketplace to refurbish the tiki bar.
They added grass on the bottom, hung up solar lights, and even built a bar with mini rum bottles and called it the Nut Bar.
For Halloween, they replaced the tiki bar with an old circular fan that resembled a spider web, a mini Scooby-Doo bus and a treasure chest filled with peanuts.
Cullen said the chipmunks have embraced the sets they have built for them.
“We have the chipmunks every morning waiting for us at 7:30 a.m.,” she said.
In the morning, if she sees families walking by on their way to school, she’ll invite them back to watch the chipmunks eating breakfast.
Even delivery drivers and people she does Facebook Marketplace deals with have stopped to take pictures, Cullen said.
For the couple though, this pandemic project is about more than just seeing cute animals.
Waine, who is deaf, uses sign language to communicate and Cullen said it has been very difficult for her to learn, but this project has helped.
“With us building these things together, as he touches something like the hammer, the wood, or whatever, I’m learning the words that way, too, so it’s been a project that we could do together to spend time together but also I could practise my ASL as we’re building,” she said.
She said through this endeavour she has learned how to sign words like chipmunk, birds, various tools and other words that aren’t part of normal conversations.
It has also allowed them to spend time together, painting and building on the weekends and watching the chipmunks coming by.
“I can see my boyfriend out there signing away and I’m like ‘who are you talking to?’ Chipmunks, and he’s signing away and they’re looking at him,” Cullen said.
They have set up a webcam so they can check out what’s happening in their backyard — and they have seen raccoons, skunks, birds and even a black cat visiting along with the chipmunks.
“It’s been a great experience, we’re very happy about it,” she said.
Next year, the couple is planning to go bigger and better.
“I want a condo series,” Cullen said. “We’re going to do different themed ones.”
She said Waine will build the stairs to the different units and she plans to have a fairytale themed one, a Marvel-inspired space, and more.
The couple will continue working on the chipmunk community over the winter.
