Oh, No, You Di'n't! 🫈

 

 
            Firewood was getting a little sparse on Ralph’s side of Highway 20. There is a limit to a season’s deadfall, and even with Jim’s help, the pickings in the Great Forest were getting pretty picked over.
            “Why don’t you take Jim and go across the highway and up that forest road over there?” said Ramona one morning. “Maeve and I think there should be lots. After all, loggers don't pick up branches off the ground.”
            “What a good idea,” said agreeable old Ralph. He knew his duty to the almost constantly burning fire, and to Ramona, of course.
            “First, I have to find him,” said Ralph. Finding Jim involved a stroll into the snowy small meadow, with a stop to see Bob and Suzy, to confer on the firewood situation. Uncle Bob said he’d like to come along. It was always more fun working with Ralph than alone.
            “Do you have a piece of rope?” said Ralph, “I have an idea, if Jim will go along with it.”
            “I do, Ralphie! Maurice gave it to me. It was in his house. It’s inside! Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
            “Well, we’ll have to see if Jim can swing with it. He might go on strike again,” said Ralph, laughing.
            They found Jim up by the road, digging through some snow and eating the grass he uncovered.
            “Good morning, Jim! Enjoying the grass?” inquired Ralph.
            “I’ll be glad when I don’t have to dig it up, but yeah, grass is good. Mama said so, and she was always right.”  He still looked like a mountain of dark fur with little gray eyes. Little billows of steam came from his nostrils in the frigid air.
            “We’re going to go across the highway, and go up the forest road over there to find some more firewood. The Firekeepers need a lot of firewood. Would you like to come along?” said Ralph.
            “I guess so. I’ve never been across the highway. What’s the rope for?” said Jim, eyeing the coil of rope on Ralph’s arm.
            “I have an idea, Jim. I thought since you don’t have hands and you walk on all of your four hooves, that maybe I could tie some firewood to your back, so that we can bring more home. What do you think about that?”
            “I don’t know. It would be a new thing. I don't do many new things, Ralph. I’ll have to think for a minute. It’s not eating grass, or roaming, or running. It’s not knocking over dead trees either,” said Jim. “But since it’s you, and you didn’t eat me, I guess I’ll try. I hope nobody sees me!” said Jim.
            “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that!” said Ralph, confidently.
            As Ralph, and Bob, and Jim walked back down by the Stump House, they collected Suzy so she could go spend some time with Ramona and Cherry.          

            She was tickled to have a visit with Ramona.
            Ramona and Cherry were likewise happy to have Suzy for the morning or however long it took before they saw the firewood gatherers again.
            They came out of the Forest at the wide spot where Millicent parks. No one was around. There was packed snow on both sides of the highway, and sort of a bare frozen trail going each direction on the highway. Leafless trees trees and dark firs lined the highway.  No traffic was in sight. The wind blew some snow down on their backs.
            “Let’s go,” said Ralph, and he led the way. Then came Uncle Bob, and last in line was Jim.
            But just as this convoy was crossing the northbound lane a late model Honda Civic with a college girl at the helm drove right up on them, and slammed on her brakes. She frowned in disbelief and stared through the windshield. She was too dumbfounded to be scared.
            Ralph didn’t know what else to do, so he grinned and winked at the girl, then he kept going. Then Uncle Bob proceeded in front of the Honda, followed in a couple of seconds by Jim.
            When they got to the other side, Jim said, “I knew that would happen.”
            The girl, Renee, got her wits about her all of a sudden, and remembered that the whole world would like to see a photo of this. But by the time she had her phone ready the boys were just about gone up the forest road. She tried anyhow, but it came out blurry. She must have been shaking or something.
            Then she sat there right in the middle of the highway and called the Milltown paper. The lady on the phone put Renee through to Millicent. Millicent laughed and said, “Tell me about it!”
            Renee realized where she was then, and backed into the wide spot.
            So, Renee described the big Sasquatch, followed by the shorter one, and then the big brown bison following them.
            “He winked at me!” yelled Renee at last.
            “Oh, come now!” said Millicent. “Is this a prank? I’m a busy woman. Do you have a photo?”
            Renee looked at her phone, and said, “No. They got away.”
            “That’s not news, Ma’am,” said Millicent. “That’s hearsay. Good morning!” And she hung up. The only mystery to her was the part about the bison. “Bison?” she said to herself. She hoped that Ralph knew what he was doing and shook her head.
            As it happened, Ramona’s notion that there must be more deadfall across the highway was correct. There was plenty. In addition, Jim knocked down a couple of small firs who had been shaded to death by bigger firs.
            Jim allowed himself to be loaded with quite a lot of dry branches and to have the rope tied about his body so that he could carry them back to Ramona and Suzy. Ralph and Bob each dragged a dead fir.
            There was more traffic on the highway on the way back, so they waited until Ralph thought it might be OK to cross over. Then he proceeded into the southbound lane, dragging his tree, followed by Bob, with his tree, and Jim with his huge load of branches.
            It looked like they might make it, but then a delivery van coming from Darrington, heading to Milltown came barreling down the highway.
            The guy skidded to a stop and stared with his mouth hanging open. His smoke dropped onto the floorboards, and he flat out boggled. He blinked, and rubbed his eyes.
            “You don’t see us,” said Ralph. “We’re not real!”
            The guy fainted right there in the southbound lane of Highway 20. When he came to there was a line of three vehicles behind him, and somebody was honking. Frowning, he started up the engine, which he had killed when he slammed to a panicked stop. He continued his trip.
            He wasn’t sure what he had seen, and he didn’t dare tell anyone about it either.
            “I knew that would happen,” said Jim, shaking his big head.
            “Nobody will believe it,” said Ralph.
            And he was right, as always.
            The ladies were pleased to see all the firewood. Jim was unloaded, then he wandered back up into the meadow looking for grass.
            There were fried fish for lunch, and coffee. Jim had excused himself because he was hungry and he never ate fish, he said.

❄️🤎❄️

Greetings from The Skagit in November!

 

These birds paddling around in the mud are swans.

There are also huge flocks of snow geese.

A November scene around here.

I don't know where they're going.

It's just a layover, soon they will take off.

A blessed, serene Tootsday to you!

🦢💙🦢

A Week Or So Went By 🐈🐈

 

            Toots was enjoying fall. It was so nice and cool at night and just barely warm during the day. It was just the kind of weather to set a girl to thinking busy and deep thoughts. Toots is nothing if not a deep thinker!

            So, she got to thinking about her buddy, Suzy, who lives in isolation underneath the old DOD desk in Milltown. She hadn’t heard from the girl in several days and feared she could be malingering down there.

            Toots decided to ring her up by TeleMrrrp™, just to see what gives, and all like that. She was still intrigued by the idea of traveling in time too. Goodness, who wouldn’t be? There was also the question of a newly discovered planet, named ED138, of all things.

 

            “Suzy, can you hear me?” Toots sent, and waited.

            The thought waves were silent.

            “Are you asleep?” said Toots. “Time to wakey-wakey!”

            “Maybe. Not much to do down here. It all kind of blends together, you know?” said Suzy.

            “What you need is a fresh POV, Suzy. You need something to think about besides those two big kids!” Toots assured her.

            “Easy to say, hard to do!” returned Suzy, somewhat petulantly.

            “Easy for me to say, but think about it. You know how they jump into every opening, the fridge when it’s open, cupboards, boxes, anything? Well, essentially, you are hiding in just the right kind of place for them to want to get into. Maybe it’s not entirely because you are in there?”

            “I’ll think about it,” said Suzy.

            “Meanwhile, have you given any further consideration to visiting the Old West?

            “Gosh, Toots, Sure, but can you narrow it down a little? Where? When?” said Suzy.

            “There’s also a new planet way out there? What do you think?” said Toots. “It would be completely terra incognito! We’d go where no Earthling, let alone cat, had ever gone before!”

            “Sounds like Star Trek,” laughed Suzy.

            “What?”

            “Never mind. Old story. Hey, so where are you thinking of in the Old West?” said Suzy.

            “I’ve heard of a place called New Meowico! Hot and dry, and full of Indians!” said Toots, all excited.

            “Let’s just do the planet. Does it have a pretty name? How will we find it?” asked Suzy.

            “Not so much, Honey. We’ll just have to concentrate on ED138, and see what happens. But sure, we can do the planet! I hope it works!”

            So, they both shut their eyes and concentrated together, murmuring, “ED138, ED138, ED138,” several times. They didn’t peek for a while, until they felt their minds lifted up into planetary space.

            “This is further out than we’ve ever gone before, Toots,” said Suzy. “Earth looks like a little blue, cloudy marble from here!”

            “That must be ED138,” said Toots, pointing out a little rock, roughly round in shape.

            “Well, what are we waiting for, let’s take a look!” said Suzy.

            It wasn’t a pretty planet. It wasn’t round like Earth or even the moon. It looked like it had been through some kind of epic space CATastrophe! There were deep holes all over it.

            “Looks like it bumped into something bigger!” said Toots.

            “Let’s go to the surface!” said Suzy.

            It seemed to them like orbiting would allow them a better look at the whole planet. They’d done this before on Phobos. It gives a good overview.

            Two things stuck out. One was signs of recent volcanic activity.

            The second was a sort of hovering cubic object, but turned on one of its corners. It shone with a dull blue light. From what they could tell it was about the size of a large human building, so not that terribly large. It just floated there.

            “I don’t see any doors or windows,” said Toots.

            “I wonder who lives there?” said Suzy.

            “I wonder if they still live there, or if it is something else?” said Toots. “It could be a ship, or something else that we never heard of!”

            “Let’s look,” said Suzy.

            But when they got closer, the thing lit up brighter and became transparent.

            “How does it know we’re here?” said Suzy.

            “A good question,” said Toots. “Look, it’s empty! I wonder if it’s waiting for someone who has been gone for a very long time? Or, maybe, they’re about to come back right now, Suzy!”

            “Maybe it thinks we’re who it’s waiting for!” said Suzy.

            “I wonder what the cube people called this little planet? It needs a better name than ED138,” said Toots. “I say we call it Bluette! In honor of the waiting thing!”

            “How will we tell the world?” said Suzy.

            “Maybe we already have,” said Toots, with a virtual giggle.

            “Bluette! That’s a pretty name for a tiny beat-up planet,” said Suzy. “I’m ready to go home. Are you?”

            “I think naming this place is what we came here for, our work here is done. Let’s go home!” said Toots.

            It only took one instance of saying ‘There’s no place like home,” and there they were, just like they had never left.

            Suzy opened her eyes under the desk, still considering coming out more.

            Toots found that she was up in her window, that the evening was coming on outside. The sun was setting and everything was peaceful.

 

MEOW!

💙

November 1, 2026🍂 Good Morning! 🧡

 November

No sun - no moon!
No morn - no noon -
No dawn - no dusk - no proper time of day.
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member -
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! -
November!

By Thomas Hood, who it must be admitted, was a bit of a humorist, writing during the Victorian era. He was English, of course.

What November tends to look like here.

   

         I think he was kidding. Maybe he was kidding, but admitting that it can get a bit that way during the month of November.

            I think November has its own style. It's a change for sure. It's subdued, dreamlike. Often dim, and gray. A lot of life moves indoors. Well, here during the rainy season, it does, except for the fact that we of the PNW don't really hate or avoid rain completely. Heck, I remember swimming in Tulalip Bay with rain falling all around, making little splooshes on the surface of the water.

            When I think of November, I remember an old man I used to see walking in Seattle's Ballard district every day. I guess some people must take their doctor's advice seriously. He was always out there, rain or shine, in a bright yellow raincoat, like the kind fishermen used to wear, and a sou'wester hat. He pushed a wheelchair, for stability I would guess. I named him November. 

            It's a time of reckoning the year, and drawing close with a festive holiday. 

            Not a bad time at all.

            I hope you have a lovely Suzday, no matter what the weather does today!

🍂💙🍂

            

🍁October 31, 2026 Greetings!🍁🍂

May all of your pumpkin spice wishes come true!

Happy Halloween!

Boo!

Love, P

🧡

❄️For The Joy of It All!❄️

 

            Ralph likes all kinds of weather, it’s true, but he really likes snow.
            It was one of those perfect days in winter. The sky was as blue as an angel’s eye. The snow lay deep and perfect. Both meadows were covered in a couple of feet of the stuff, creating strange exotic shapes where it lay over the brush and grasses. Even the Silver River was dressed for winter with snow decked on both banks. The wind blew up from the Sound all along the riverbanks and way up to the north. Some minute crystals of snow followed along, flashing tiny rainbows.
            One reason he really digs deep snow is that he can practice his slippy-hippy glide thing. It’s almost like cross country skiing! Sloosh, sloosh, sloosh, unless he wants to be silent. It’s a choice.
            Overhead, Maeve, stark black, precise and emphatic flew in great sweeping circles. Seen from above she would have perhaps reminded a person of Japanese brush strokes, seemingly careless and yet correct.
            She allowed herself a controlled fall, to within calling distance of Ralph, then righted herself and spread her wings to break the fall.
            “Hey, Boss,” she called.
            “Hey, Birdy! That was pretty cool!” he called back, laughing at her rapid descent and correction.
            “Where are you going this morning so early?” she said.
            “Maybe out by Bob’s place!” said he, gliding as he spoke.
            “Me too!” said Maeve.
            “Maybe clear up to the road to town!” he called up into the air.
            When they got to the Stump House, all was quiet. No smoke rose from the fire place. The snow was unbroken all around. Bob and Suzy had to be sleeping in. He didn’t wake them. When they finally got up, they would see his tracks and know that he had been by earlier. Maybe he would see them on his way back to Ramona.
            Ralph and Maeve continued past the Stump. The untouched snow gave way to a sort of trampled path. He was pretty sure where that path would lead, or more precisely, who was at the end of it.
            He was right. About halfway to the road, he found Jim. He looked like a hillock of dark brown fur. His great hard head was still. His eyes were closed. Only tiny puffs of steam came from his nostrils.
            “Are you dead, Jim?’ said Ralph. Maeve came in for a landing on his shoulder to get a better look.
            Jim made a rude noise and kept his eyes shut. He was in the middle of a big trampled circle of dug up snow.
            “What’s the matter with you? Do you have a stomach ache, or does your big head hurt?” said Ralph. Maeve, kept her peace, but she was thinking. Her black eyes glittered in the bright sunlight.
            Jim opened the eye nearest Ralph, stuck his tongue out and emitted a long miserable bellow. “I’m bored.”
            “That’s it?” said Ralph, surprised.
            “It’s the worst thing in the world. My head feels like a stump. A bored stump. There are no pictures in it!” said Jim.
            “Have you been eating grass?” said Ralph.
            “Yes, though I have to dig it up. It’s boring.”
            “Have you been roaming in the meadow here?” said Ralph.
            “Meh,” said Jim.
            “First thing to do is stand up,” said Ralph.
            “Yeah? Make me.”
            “Oh, Jim! If you don’t, we’ll have to eat you!” said Ralph. Maeve chuckled under breath.
            This caught Jim’s attention a little.
             “Aw, come on, Man! Don’t eat me! I’ll get up,” said Jim, struggling to his feet. He had been sitting there for some time. Muddy snow was frozen to his dark coat all along where it had been touching the ground. His tail was frozen to his backside.
            “OK, let’s go for a walk. Moving wakes up your head, Jim,” said Ralph. “Now, what did your Mama tell you to do?”
            “Mama said to eat grass, because grass is good. And to run!” said Jim, his breath coming faster as he remembered his Mama’s teaching.
            “Look up, Jim! What do you see?”
            “I see the sky! I never noticed it before,” his mouth hung open. His eyes rolled upward.
            “Let’s run, Jim, you and me together!” said Ralph.
            So, they ran together, Ralph gliding like a cross country skier, and Jim like a one bison thundering herd. They ran all the way to the country road that ends up in Milltown if you go far enough. Maeve flew above them.
            “Hey,” said Jim, “I’ll race you down to Bob’s Stump!”
            They wheeled around and ran full bore down to the Stump House. Suzy was just coming out to start her fire. Bob was still inside, until he heard Jim and Ralph thundering along. He had to come out to see what it was all about.
            “Oh, man, Suzy! You probably need some wood, don’t you?” said Jim, like it was a brand-new notion to him.
            “Hi, Jim. Sure, that would be nice,” said Suzy.
            Jim took off for the tree line, to find something suitable to knock down for firewood.
            “Hi, Ralphie,” Uncle Bob yawned. “What’s up?”
            “Oh, I was just helping Jim to not be bored. I guess we better follow him and drag whatever he knocks down over here,” said Ralph.
            “I don’t get bored,” said Uncle Bob. “I think up songs, and hunt and find firewood. Then I sleep.”
            “That’s right, Bob, for the joy of it all,” said Ralph, as they headed out to follow Jim to the tree line to see what he had knocked down.

❄️🤎❄️

👻Just One Last Time! 🎃

 

 
            Floyd, I kid you not, and Ricky, were both 13 years old. It took some convincing, but they managed to talk both sets of parents into the idea that it would be OK one more time. They wanted to do the thing one last time. In some cultures, 13-year-old boys are officially men, and they knew that. Men don’t go trick or treating.
            Darkness comes early at the end of October. It was a rainy fall too. When Floyd came to pick up Ricky at his house, the wind blew up the road. Big cold drops of rain hit them full in the face.
            “You sure you want to do this?” said Ricky, zipping up his jacket and shivering. His plastic bag was in his pocket. His costume was his dad’s beret and a mustache made of eye makeup.
            “Last chance, Ricky. We better make the best of it,” said Floyd, who was shivering a little too. His costume was a red bandana over his mouth and nose, like a bandit in a cowboy movie. His blond hair was back in a stubby ponytail. He had twenty pounds and four inches on his friend.
            “We don’t have to stay out all night. Some people might even tell us to go away,” laughed Floyd.
            Ricky lived at the edge of the sticks. Floyd had to hike from his development, clear out there to pick Ricky up. Once they were out on the road the night felt wild. From time to time the rain let up, and the moon granted them a little pale light.
            No other kids were out there.
            “Do you want to walk back to my street and start there, or here?” said Floyd, glancing up and down the road. “Does anybody live here?”
            “We do. There’s one other place. I don’t know them, but there is a long driveway into the trees, and there is a house down there. We could try there,” said Ricky. “We just walk back the way you came, and turn in by the mailbox.”
            In about a quarter of a mile the mailbox appeared on the right side and beyond it was a dark driveway leading off into a stand of firs and alders. No light was apparent from the road.
            “OK, remember this was your idea,” said Floyd.
            They could hear their own steps squishing through fallen leaves and muddy gravel. It was a long driveway. When they were about halfway down to the house it felt like the forest closed in around them.
            Eventually, a small old house appeared. There were two dull lights. One on each side of the door. This place looked like somebody had built it himself in the 1950s or something. It had one single story, a corrugated metal roof, and a two-step porch made of lumber.
            There was a window on either side of the door. Each was comprised of two horizonal panes. There seemed to be a light deep inside the house somewhere.
            “I don’t know,” said Ricky.
            “Their porch lights are on. They must expect kids,” said Floyd.
            Floyd stepped up first and knocked. They waited for like two minutes, feeling slightly foolish, like someone would laugh at them for this.
            The door opened slowly. An older lady in a terrycloth bathrobe stood before them. Her salt and pepper hair was in curlers, not that either kid knew what those things in her hair were. Her robe was red. She had homemade knitted slippers with pompoms on her feet. She looked surprised. Her eyes were black, like maybe she was Italian or something.
            “Trick or treat!” said Floyd cheerfully. Ricky grimaced.
            “Oh!” said the lady. “Wait here.”
            Three more minutes passed. “Maybe we should go,” whispered Ricky.
            But she came back. She had a Tupperware box in her hand. In it were pink and chocolate cupcakes, wrapped in saranwrap, and some big pieces of fudge, also wrapped in saranwrap. She held the box toward them.
            “Help yourselves,” she said. “I made them today.”
            This was not how Floyd and Ricky had expected Halloween to go, but they each took a cupcake and a piece of fudge and put them in their plastic bags.
            “Thank you, ma’am,” said Floyd. “Happy Halloween!” As they turned to step down, she winked, and slowly closed the door.
            Neither spoke as they walked back down the driveway. Halfway back to the road, Ricky said, “I don’t know, man. Do you think we should eat this stuff?” But he was laughing, and they both got the giggles. 

            “Wow!” said Floyd. He glanced back down toward the house. But now, he saw only night down there. No porchlights shone in the darkness. Like the place had never even existed.
            “Hey, look, she turned out the lights!” said Floyd. He had a funny feeling in his stomach.
            “No! Look!” said Ricky. “There’s a light or something.” And there was. Right behind them, hanging in the air, a dull orange sphere, casting no light, glowered silently. Softball sized.
            “I’m done. I don’t need this!” said Floyd. “Time to go!”
            But as Floyd and Ricky turned back to the business of getting to the paved road, it seemed as if some presence paced them, just a bit off into the trees. Heavy footsteps walked when they walked, and stopped when they stopped.
            “Somebody’s messing with us,” said Floyd, quickening his steps.
            “You hope. I’ve heard some stuff,” said Ricky, walking just as quickly.
            “Nah, don’t start that, Ricky!” said Floyd, as they broke out onto the road by the mailbox, which, by the way, had no name or number on it.
            Things went better in Floyd’s neighborhood. Nice square blocks were full of Halloween decorations, brightly lit porches, laughing groups of kids. There were little kids with parents. Dogs barked here and there. The rain quit, and it turned into a very nice night.
            Ricky enjoyed Floyd’s neighborhood, and they each got a disgraceful amount of candy. Neither gave a thought to the saran wrapped cupcake and fudge getting smashed in the bottom of their bags.
            It was after eleven when Floyd and Ricky walked back to Ricky’s place. Floyd was going to spend the night with Ricky at his house.
            Once more they walked the dark country road. No one was out there. The clouds closed back in and the wind came up again. Both guys were tired, sick of candy, and glad to get into Ricky’s nice warm house with bright lights and cheerful parents.
            “So, where did you go?” said Lucy, the mom. “Get lots? Let’s see! Oh no! That’s ridiculous!” she laughed.
            “The first place we went was weird,” said Ricky. “It was right down the road on the right side down a real long driveway.”
            “You should have seen the lady!” said Floyd. “She had things in her hair, and was wearing a bathrobe.” He was giggling again. “She was real old and scraggly!”
            “Where do you mean, Ricky?” said Lucy, quietly.
            “By the mailbox, just down there a little way,” said Ricky. But he didn’t look happy.
            “Ricky, honey, nobody has lived in the old Lambert place for twenty years. I don’t know what you mean,” said Lucy. “Nobody could have been there. The house isn’t even inhabitable.”
            “No, really, mom. She gave us cupcakes and fudge,” said Ricky. “I’ll show you.”
            So, both guys dumped their bags out on the kitchen table, and there at the bottom were the squashed, saran wrapped cupcakes and fudge.
            “I wouldn’t eat them even if they weren’t squashed,” said Floyd.
            “Me neither,” said Ricky.
            With a shudder, Lucy unwrapped the cupcakes and the fudge and put them down the garbage disposal.
            Neither kid mentioned the footsteps in the dark driveway.

💚🎃💚