Toots and Suzy Hit the Dusty Trail

 

 
            It was November everywhere, a rather soggy month in many places, especially this year. But, of course, that fact doesn’t affect those who travel the fitful winds of time. Why, with time travel a person can get right out of the rain, if they want to..
 
            “Suzy, Tiny Toes, are you there? Are you getting this?” sent Toots one day recently. “How is every little thing down there under the desk?”
            Suzy woke and looked all around before she realized who was talking.
            “I do have very small toes, Toots. You remembered!” said Suzy.
            “How could I forget? Anything exciting going on down there? You know, I can see you!” said Toots. “I see a half-eaten bowl of cat soup, a little empty kibble bowl, and not much else besides you and a box of alabaster pieces.”
            “The only thing happening down here is that I am getting quite round, and I have to hiss at those big goofs a few times a day, Toots. That’s about it. I am too nervous to be held by P very long. I feel exposed,” mewed Suzy.
            “We have some research to complete. Remember? The old West?” reminded Toots.
            “Sounds better than hanging out under the desk, though I must say it’s quite comfy, if a little boring,” said Suzy, yawning and stretching.
            “I think that if we are going to check on cats in the old west, that the most reasonable place to go back to would be a ranch. I hear that cats practically ran those places! This I gotta see, since we are both in protective custody,” miffed Toots, with a glance out of her window. Her tail twitched a few times, then she spoke.
            “In those days, cats were allowed to take their chances, to range freely. To have a home all they had to do was hunt for those who despoil the grain, or whatever. Right? Rats and mice, the usual culprits.”
            “Uh, right,” said Suzy.
            “We need to end up in the same place together," said Toots, "so I’ve picked a place. We can branch out from there. The year is 1881. The place is the Gooding, ID train depot. So, on the count of meow, when I say one, two, meow, just think Gooding train depot real hard. OK?”
            “1881.Gooding train depot, right,” said Suzy.
            “OK, here goes. One. Two. Meow!” said Toots, with her eyes squinched shut and using all of her powers of concentration. Suzy was concentrating too….
            …When the girls opened their virtual eyes, they found themselves standing on the platform of an old-fashioned wooden structure. It was a sunny day, but not too hot. Train tracks ran alongside the platform. No one was about.
            Apparently, location and year worked well enough, but picking a particular day wouldn’t have been a bad idea. But at least they were together. That’s the main thing!
            A dusty road ran past the station on the other side of the tracks. It made a sharp turn in among some fields of beans on one side and sugar beets on the other side.
            “Wow, it’s like looking into a book or a movie, but it’s real,” said Suzy.
            “I think we can find a farm around here somewhere and they probably have at least one cat, but if they have one cat, they probably have more cats,” said Toots, also gazing about. “Lets wander down this little road, Suzy, and see what’s over that little rise.”
            Locomotion methods while time traveling in virtual form are a little unclear to this writer, but nevertheless, our little explorers set off down the narrow country road. Maybe it was all in their minds.
            Before they knew it, a small farm appeared on the right side of the road. A canal ran under a bridge right before the farm.
            “That must be for watering their beans,” said Toots. “Let’s take a look!”
            Into the small dusty farmyard they wandered as if in a dream. No one was walking around right there. No human that is.
            A flock of red and also white and black speckled hens walked about picking at this and that and making chicken chat among themselves. A much larger red rooster strode among them, watching them carefully and making acerbic chicken remarks.
            “Very useful on a farm,” said Toots. “They eat bugs, which is disgusting, but then they are chickens, who eat bugs.”
             There was a metal granary a bit further back near a sort of barn/garage type building.
            “If there is a cat, she will probably be near the granary or in that building,” said Toots.
            “I don’t see her out here,” said Suzy, “Let’s go inside and see if she is in there.”
            The building was low and shady. It was full of all kinds of tools, shovels and such. There were many things the girls couldn’t identify.
            “I hear something,” said Suzy. “Up in the rafters.”
            “I hear mewing!” said Toots. “Bingo!”
            Up in the rafters, there was a structure holding some long boards. On these boards there was a wooden box, which had once held oranges from California. Inside the box there was a lot of straw and some old cloth rags. On the rags lay a black and white mother. At her outstretched bosom were four kits. One was gray, two were black and white, and the fourth, a small Tom, was striped orange.
            “Oh, look, she has kittens!” said Suzy. “I’ve never known any kitten except those two big bruisers at home!”
            “What a beautiful way to live,” said Toots, in admiration. “She is free, and she has children to come after her!”
            They watched the family for a few moments, purring at the purrfection of the moment.
            The mother picked up her head, “I can hear you, you know,” she said, “though I can’t quite see you. Come closer, maybe I will see you then.”
            “How can she hear us?” whispered Suzy.
            “I don’t know,” said Toots.
            “Where are you from?” said the mother, looking right at them!
            “How can you see us? We’re not here,” said Toots. “We’re in the future. Just doing a little exploring.”
            “My name is Minerva. I see ghosts all the time,” said Minerva, sitting up in the orange box with her children around her. “Why did you come here, Ghosts?”
            “We’re really not ghosts, Minerva. We’re totally alive, just not alive here or your now,” said Suzy. “We’re curious.”
            “We wanted to see how cats get along in the old west, and here we find you, free, alive, and rearing kittens. In the future, it’s a rare sight to see among cats,” said Toots.
            “I will admit that most ghosts aren’t rational,” said Minerva. “Perhaps I believe you.”
            “Do you have a message for the cats of the future?”  asked Toots.
            Minerva thought for a moment, then said, “Remember who you are. All the wild world is yours. May your children be many, and prosper.” Then she lay back down among her children.
            “We will tell them, Minerva,” said Toots.
            Evening was coming. Shadows were growing long in the farmyard. The chickens had found places to rest, and the girls could see a man walking toward the house from down in the near fields. He walked with a weary step, turning for a moment to assess his surroundings.
            “It seems to me that cats in the old west were doing well,” said Toots.
            “At least here,” said Suzy.
            “I’m glad we met her,” said Toots. “Let’s go home. She was a fine example for us all!”
            Just before they left the farm, a whippoorwill called, and the wind sighed.

🍃💚🥬

November 9, Morning Greeting & Open Thread. Meow! 😻

 

The photo was taken in March of 2023.

If you look carefully, you can see the corndog my giggling daughter

threw out there for some wandering Squatch to find.

She was laughing so hard she nearly fell in a snow-filled ditch

and didn't do much of a pitch.

💚

🐈‍⬛An Exercise in Essential Cautiousness™🐈‍⬛

             OK, Catfurday was the day. It was their first outing on leash. I suspected that they would be Cautious™.  And so, in fact, they were. They did not run eagerly out of the back door.

            Here we are staring out of the open door. Hm. Didn't expect that.

            Booker's preferred location. Under the bench.

            With encouragement from BW, he climbed the handrail. Check out the claws.

            Find the kitty! It's Sweetie down in the gravel, checking it out. He yelled a lot!

            Basically, he wanted back in the house! Did I mention he yelled a lot?

            There wasn't a lot of exploration, though Sweetie did get kind of stuck up in the pear tree. I didn't get a shot of that. I think they were just kind of overwhelmed by the out of doors. Booker did a lot of sniffing once he consented to touch the ground.

            Sweetie mostly yelled and stared at everything.

            He has not been running to jump through doors. Interesting. They seem thoughtful, if cats can be thoughtful, and somewhat subdued.

            I knew that teaching them to stroll along would be a process. They're just big babies.

M'WOW!

❤️

Happy Catfurday from Ralph & Ramona & All

 

A scene on the Rez.

Oh, he was out there of course, but darn elusive.

I happen to know that he vanquished a shapshifter that one time,

And had a swim in Tulalip Bay!

It's an open thread of course.

No different from any other day!

Photo shot by BW on October 8th.

A most blessed day to you!

🦬💛🫈

He Dreamed of The Mountain

       The mountain always has snow on it, in patches, lying in shadows, even in the center of summer. But in summer the bones of the mountain show through what’s left of the snow. It’s a good time to visit the mountain, if you’re not going there to ski. There are things to see.

          So, it was that one August Ralph began to dream about the mountain. It was a persistent dream. It rose in his mind, implacable and silent, and yet beckoning.

          That morning, after a cup of cowboy coffee and a few hazelnut cakes, he kissed Ramona, placed his hand in blessing on Cherry’s head, told the animals to watch out for his girls, and he started walking. As the Maeve flies, it’s not a great distance, but on foot it’s a number of miles.

          When it was convenient, he walked the highways, when it wasn’t he went cross country. He was walking up a steep hillside when he heard a voice above and behind himself.

          “Boss!”

          “Greetings, Birdy!” said Ralph, looking up into the sky. “What brings you here so far from home?”

          “Ramona said you were going to the mountain,” she called, plopping down on his shoulder. "I’m coming with you.”

          “You’re always welcome. I’ve been dreaming of the mountain and I don’t know why. So, I decided to go there and maybe I will discover the meaning of the dream.”

          “It’s good,” she nodded.

          At last, they came to the foot of the mountain.

          “I’m looking for a landslide,” said Ralph. “It’s by a river.”

          “I will look,” said Maeve, and off she flew, up into the mountain.

          In the meantime, rather than just waiting for Maeve to return, he followed the narrow two-lane road which leads to the ski area. There was an occasional car, so as not to give anyone a great story to tell their mama, or their buddies, he stuck to the trees beside the road. But there aren’t many trees there, so cover was scarce.

          Just at the right moment Maeve reappeared and landed in her usual spot.

          “I’ve seen the place,” she said. “Will you come up with me?”

          “I will, Birdy!” he said.

          “Remember the feather I gave you, and trust me,” Maeve said.

          “I do, and I will,” Ralph said.

          Together they rose into the air. No one saw them, either because no one looks up, or because the impossible is hard to see. They circled the great mountain, passing over granite, small valleys full of last winter's snow, and small groupings of firs. At last, there was the river and on the west side of the river, the landslide.

          “It looks just as it did in my dreams,” Ralph shouted as they landed. All around were tumbled rocks which had been exposed by the landslide. Some of the rocks held mysterious markings.

          The wind came rushing through, and in a playful way, it blew Ralph’s deep brown hair upward. It blew his beard up over his eyes, and flew away laughing. Ralph laughed too, and rubbed his eyes.

          When he opened his eyes, he was standing in a jungle clearing. The air was warm and very humid. Ralph looked all around himself. There were palms, not as tall as Douglas firs, but very tall and lush. There were ferns, as tall as his waist. He touched them softly to see if they were real. When he looked at his hand, it was covered with yellow pollen.

          Large shining insect-like creatures whirred and darted about. Strange vines climbed the palms and each other in great heaving mounds. At some distance he could see a stretch of blue water, as if it were an ocean. He trembled.

          “Is this the dream, Boss?” called Maeve from overhead, stark against the misty sky.

          “Yes, Birdy, this is the dream.”

          “What does it mean?” she said, near to his ear, from his shoulder.

          “It is time. Time is deep and long. Things change. The world rolls along. Who can know it? It’s a mystery,” said Ralph.

          He sighed and closed his eyes, perhaps to consider for a moment. When his eyes were opened again, he saw that the jungle was gone. Once more he stood on granite, and the wind blew cold. The small river ran downhill, pretending to be always present, murmuring.

          As he began to take a step, he stubbed his toe on a flat piece of stone. Imprinted in the stone was the impression of a palm’s fan-like leaf. Of course, he picked it up to take home to show Ramona and Cherry.

          “Shall we go home now, Boss?” said Maeve.

          “Yeah,” said Ralph.

💚🌴💚

Interdimensional Sweetie

 

It's pretty obvious who is who here!

            The Scouts were lolling about one day recently, in that sketchy littoral between sleep and waking. They were just chatting about this and that, and life, and stuff, because they had reached the Age of Reflection.

            “So, Man, you know I started my research into portals a while back,” said Sweetie. “It started with cupboards and the cold box, right? You came along a few times, right?”

            “Yeah. But nuthin’ much happened. We go in, she makes us come out. The towel cupboard, none of it, was a passage to anything. We got to the back of the cupboard or the cold place. That’s is, Bruh,” said Booker, indolently.

            “But you have to keep pushing, right?” said Sweetie, opening his eyes and rolling over onto his belly.

            “What are you looking for?” Booker mrrr’d.

            “Reality, really. That’s all. I know this single floor can’t be everything!”

            “What’s wrong with this single floor?” yawned Booker.

            “Oh, nothing. But did you ever notice that they go out of portals, er doors, and come back? They have to be going somewhere. They don’t just cease to exist until they re-exist somehow. It’s not logical. There has to be more, and I believe that I have demonstrated that fact,” said Sweetie.

            “You disappeared today. I saw you slip away between her legs and vanish!” said Booker, looking a little shocked. “Did you find another universe?”

            “I don’t think it is a whole universe. But, Man, it’s different there. I think that it’s kind of an enclosed dimensional section of reality. It was solid just like a regular place, but weird. Do you know what I mean?”

            “No. How is it weird there?”

            “Well, it’s below here, which is weird enough. There is a structure built of stepped levels that you travel down. It’s darker, you can’t see that stuff outside the windows at all! There are strange machines down there. Big square white machines, and a ton of strange equipment.

            “There are colored lights in strings. But I didn’t find any food down there. That wasn’t cool,” he told Booker.

            “Was there prey?” asked Booker.

            “I wasn’t there long enough to find out!”

            “Yeah, you came back darn quick. How did that happen?”

            “The other lady, who lives in that subterranean dimension sometimes, grabbed me, and thrust me back here! But now I KNOW where that place is, and I’m going to go down there again, just watch me!”

            Booker started giggling and rolling around.

            “What’s the matter with you?” said Sweetie.

            “So, tell me about the great adventure day before yesterday, dear Bro!” Booker managed to say when he had calmed down a little. “You were in a state when you reappeared! M’WOWOWO!”

            “Mama stepped out into that front portal to get a package. And I saw my chance! I zoomed right out onto the landing and discovered more stepped structures. Now, I already knew how those worked, so, down them I went!

            “Oh, Maaaan, my eyes were opened, but it wasn’t fun! There was space such as we have never seen here on this plane! There was no ceiling, Booker, none at all! There was no top! Just topless distance. I saw grass. I saw other houses! I had no idea they were real! Other houses, can you dig it?

            “Then a noisy big machine ran by and I lost it! I screamed, and I screamed, and again. She came down the stepped things after me and caught me after I fell off of wooden thing and was running. She grabbed me! But I was still out of my mind with fear such as I have never felt before! But I fought because, well because I was afraid. I had no way to process what I had found,” said Sweetie.

            “How did you get back in here,” asked Booker.

            “I broke free when I saw the back of the portal and ran to it! Then the second lady opened the door and I ran in!”

            “Would you go out into that open place again?” asked Booker.

            “Dimensions are freaky, Bookie*! I don’t know, Man. I want to, you know, but M’Wow, mind blowing!”

            “Your tail was totally fluffed out and you were still screaming, I saw you!” said Booker. “I was a little jealous. I had no idea your tail could fluff out like that, Bro!”

            “Every time I’m just about to discover something some lady grabs me and pulls me back in here! What the heck?” growled Sweetie. “I was pretty mad for a while.”

            “But you said,” said Booker.

            “Yeah, I know. I was so scared I couldn’t think. So, I decided to forgive her for pouncing on me and stuffing me back into this ho hum plane of existence,” said Sweetie.

            “There’s no place like home?” said Booker.

            “But maybe, home is more than just this plane? You know? Think about it, Bro,” he sighed.

            “Do you know why she grabbed you, and fought you to get you back?” asked Booker.

            “Love. I know,” sighed Sweetie.

            “Yep,” said Booker, “Crazy love,” and he laughed.

 

M’WOW!

❤️

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.

❄️🤎❄️