10.17.11 It's that time of year: as I walked through woods populated with many robust red oak and beech in varying stages of vigor, the ground was littered with acorn caps and the prickly burs of beechnuts, many opened in their three-part symmetry. I was thoroughly scolded by a tail-shaking gray squirrel that skittered back and forth on a high branch of a white pine. A chipmunk peered from the hole in a dead beech where it was storing nuts. We observed each other for several unblinking minutes as it tried to sneak away to get on with business. As soon as my gaze shifted, the chipmunk was gone. This beech snag is host to Tinder polypore, (Fomes fomentarius) the gray hoof-like fungus and a number of other fungi, in addition to providing a storage chamber for this chipmunk.