He Steps Forth

 

 
            Millicent Price, and all of her devoted readers of her columns in the Milltown paper, know that Ralph sings. He sings for pleasure and to please too. He sings as a form of prayer. Things really move when Ralph sings because he knows what’s what, and Who’s who.
            To the dwellers in the Great Forest, this is only natural, he is the one they look to, and he does his best to look after them. Ranger Rick probably hasn’t seen this in practice, but he wouldn’t be surprised after everything he has witnessed.
            A reader from Darrington, a cashier at the grocery, a little more up on things than most, sent a question in to the paper, directed to Ms. Price.
                        Dear Ms. Price:
                        As one of your most devoted readers, I felt free to send
                        you a simple question about your forest buddy, Ralph.
                        Does he dance too? I can only imagine.
                        Maybe you can elucidate?
                        Thanks, Emma T.
 
            “Well,” thought Milly, “If that’s not an opening, there isn’t any such thing!”
            As usual, enlisting Maeve, she set up an appointment to pick Ralph up for an interview. She had what she thought might be a fun idea for the meeting. She packed a big lunch. Deli Reubens, Gummi bears, obviously, bottled tea, Nanaimo bars too!
            Milly was pretty sure he would go for all of that.
            When she picked him up at the usual wide spot on highway 20 she said, “How about we have a picnic at the place we first met, Ralph? The beach on Camano island? Sound good?”
            “Sure, Milly. It’s been years. I’ve never been back. I wonder if it looks the same or if they built new park buildings or anything,” said Ralph.
            Ralph did that thing where he shrinks down a little to fit into the big green Escalade, put on a Cabela’s cap, and kinda looked a little obscure. He was thinking that a jacket might have been a good idea, but a jacket his size would have to be custom, and he didn’t want to bother Thaga about a jacket. Then he started paying attention to the ride, looking out of the window at the cool cloudy day passing by.
            Nobody was parked in the parking strip at the beach. A cool spring day with cloud cover doesn’t pull in the picnickers like a sunny one. An abandoned park was just what they wanted. Ralph noted that there were no new buildings. It was just as beat and shabby and comfortable as it had been the first time he had seen Milly.
            “I brought lunch!” said Milly, indicating a bag.
            “I know,” said Ralph. “I can smell it, looking forward to it!”
            The same picnic table waited for them in the same spot.
            Over lunch, Milly said, “I have a reader who wants to know if dancing is part of your repertoire. I got to thinking about it, and wondered myself. Do you dance? Why, if so? Do you sing to accompany yourself? I’ve heard about your singing, though I haven’t heard you, Ralph!”
            Still in his Cabela’s cap and in his smaller form, he was a very large presence across the table from Milly. He smiled. “Yes. In a word, sometimes I dance. I’m not sure it would look like dance to human people. There’s usually a good solid reason for it.
            “Like when I was setting up the Home Clearing. The Great Forest has always been there and always great, but I made it a little hard to find by certain steps. It’s such a physical thing that it’s hard to explain how it works. Thanks for the Gummi bears, by the way! Hard to beat a Gummi bear! And the sandwiches! And those bars, wow!
            “When I sing I try to square myself with what’s right, you know. I search for words to reveal truth, if that makes any sense. When I dance, it’s the same but maybe the postures seal the deal in my mind,” said Ralph, lapsing into silence, looking at Milly to see how she was taking all of this.
            “You know, Ralph. Maybe I’ll just tell the lady that yes, you do dance. I don’t feel like I could adequately explain what you just said. Or, I could tell her that it’s a form of prayer. How about that?” said Milly.
            “Pretty much covers it, in a word or two,” said he. “You know whatever you decide to say is fine with me!”
            “Some of them believe that I am writing about an actual person, but most of them don’t. They think it’s amusing fiction,” said Milly. “I think this lady knows something.”
            “Would you like a little lighthearted demonstration?” asked Ralph.
            “I think I could take it,” laughed Milly, but she looked a little tense.
            “OK, you watch me. I’ll do a little bit, and then you won’t have to drive me home. I don’t do this all the time, but it’s sure possible, if I want to,” he said, standing up. “See you next time, dear friend.”
            Ralph seemed to be humming a little bit, almost sub vocally. He winked, and began a little series of very smooth steps going backwards in the direction of the big Cadillac SUV. There was some arm action too. Soon between Ralph and Milly’s car there was a sort of shimmery area in the air like looking through rain spattered glass. It got more distinct and Ralph did his smooth stepping thing backwards right into it.
            Then he was gone. The beach was empty, except for Milly, her Escalade, and the leftovers from the picnic lunch, most just wrappings and a few Gummis in the bag lying on the table.
            “Wow,” said Milly to the air, the beach, and whichever gulls and such might be around. She stuck the remaining Gummis in her jacket pocket and walked the rest of it to the trash can.
            Then she drove back to Milltown with her mind full of wonder. She would tell Colin, but probably no one else.

🍀

Busy Kitten Days Continue

             The kids seem to be doing well. They run like crazy and then sleep a lot!
            They seem to be willing to eat anything edible, even cheese. I only gave them a sliver of white cheddar. I'm not sure it's good for baby cats.
            In low light it's difficult to tell them apart, but in good light Booker's face is lighter and he has stripes along his nose under his eyes, and Sweetie doesn't and his face is a little darker.

🤍

February 19, 2026 - Open Thread

There's sunshine just down the road.

Spring is coming!

🌸

Getting Ranger Rick Into The Picture

  

            Those four wagon loads of sand lay in a nice pile right in the middle of the alder trees. The project never left Ralph’s mind, but he wasn’t one to push a thing out in front of its time. He’s pretty Zen that way.
            One morning he felt like seeing how his old friend Ranger Rick was getting on at the Ranger Station and maybe shooting the bull with him about things, things like the Alder Tree House and so on. Things like that.
            Ralph knew Rick would most likely be in his office since it was after 8AM, not that Ralph had any truck with clocks. He just kind of knew when Rick went to work. Rick was a very dependable fellow, and he often had doughnuts in the office kitchen nook. A visit was definitely in order.
            It was still pretty early in the morning when Ralph broke out of his forest domain into the Ranger Station parking lot. He noted with satisfaction that Rick’s truck was parked in its usual spot. Perfect.
            Ralph knocked on the office door, just to alert Rick, then opened it and stuck  his head into the room.
            “Hey, Rick, you in here?”
            “That you, Ralph? I’m in the kitchen. Sit! I’ll be right out,” shouted Rick. Then he came out with two mugs of coffee and a large Tupperware box of homemade chocolate chip cookies.
            For a pleasant quarter hour they drank coffee and ate cookies, talking about almost nothing, like the weather and the number of early spring campers in the camp ground.
            Finally, Rick said, “So why have you come out of hiding?”
            “By the way, how’s your new camp host working out?” said Ralph, as a delaying tactic.
            “She’s good. She’s not quite as tough as Marge was. But she does well with the campers,” said Rick. “I wonder where Marge is these days.”
            “Well, therein lies a tale, old buddy. By a round about way, that’s why I’m here this morning eating your cookies and drinking your coffee. Are you ready for this?” said Ralph.
            “Sure. I can take it. I think, no matter how out of this world it is,” said Rick, and he laughed.
            “Funny you should say that,” said Ralph.
            “OK. Tell me,” said Rick.
            “This is the short version. Marge was reborn as Leely, becoming sort of a Forest Woman. Ramona dipped her in the river and renamed her. This allowed her to marry Twigg. See you’ve missed a lot recently!” said Ralph.
            “Wow,” said Rick. “I didn’t know that was even possible.”
            “We didn’t really either. But it was to be. They had loved each other since they were kids, Rick,” continued Ralph.
            “I don’t know if you can handle this, but they are off planet having a long honeymoon on the planet of that Mak guy who shows up in a space-going vehicle once in a while. It’s quite a story but it’s a true one.
            “Before Twigg and Leely married, Twigg had been working on building his own house based on living saplings up in the meadow with their Gifting Stump. It was to be similar to the bee’s house he made, but a lot bigger of course. But once he was married and off on his honeymoon, we realized that the little sapling house he had in mind wouldn’t do for him and a wife, his own Fire Keeper to be,” said Ralph.
            “Oh man, Ralph. That’s a lot to take in! But, how does that bring you here this morning?” said Rick.
            “Oh, I’m not really sure. I just wanted to see what you thought I guess. After they were gone, I got an idea. I thought of making a house on the same general plan, but with full grown alders in the same general area. I located a likely group of trees and talked them into growing together at the top into a sort of dome. They’re doing that and it looks super.
            “Next, me and Ooog figured a way to make a floor in the house. We carried a lot of sand from the riverbank, and piled it in the middle of the trees. We figured on laying rocks into it to make a strong floor that wouldn’t rot or anything. I’ve been thinking about river rocks, but I don’t think they are the best idea. We need flat rocks.”
            “I can see that,” said Rick. “I wouldn’t want to lay a floor with river rocks either. Maybe it would be done, but shale would be a whole lot more stable, I think.”
            “Shale! That’s a new word for me,” said Ralph. “Nice flat stuff, is it?”
            “Nice flat stuff,” said Rick, beginning to smell the metaphorical coffee.
            “Does shale exist anywhere around here?” said Ralph.
            “Outside Darrington, where the river cuts through, on a forest road. Of course I will help you collect some shale, Ralph. I’ll take everything out of my truck, and we’ll fill it with river shale. How about that?” said Rick, folding his laptop. “Let’s do it now. I’ll put Dexter in charge for the day. Be good for  him.”
            Rick got on his phone and called Dexter, who was up at the camp host’s mobile checking things out with Hannah, for the second time already that morning. “Hey, Dexter,” he said, “Something has come up and I need to take off for a while. I want you to come down here and stay in the office until I get back.”
            “He’s doing better with this camp host than the last one,” said Rick, laughing a little.
            “Oh, good,” said Ralph.
            When Dexter came back, he and Rick unloaded all the stuff in the back of Rick’s truck into the office.
            “You can call her on your phone if you have to, but stay here,” Rick told Dexter. “We’re going to Darrington for a few hours.”
            Ralph squeezed into the passenger side seat, shrinking a bit because he really had to, and they drove out to Darrington, then they took the forest road Rick had mentioned. The road ran near a moderately sized mountain river. There was lots of shale lying around where it had fallen. It was easy to fill the back of Rick’s service vehicle with enough to cover a rather small floor such as in the Alder Tree House.
            Driving back to the Ranger Station, Rick said, “I’m only worried about one thing. How are you going to move this stuff out into the meadow? I can’t drive there.”
            “I have an idea,” said Ralph. “We can try it right now. If it doesn’t work, I’ll have to think of something else.”
            “OK, Ralph. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but OK.”
            “OK, Rick. Let’s try it! Park, then close your eyes, but hang onto the steering wheel,” said Ralph. “Keep ‘em closed until I tell you to open ‘em!”
            So, Rick parked on the verge beside the highway, grabbed the wheel with both hands and shut his eyes. Ralph began to hum a little. After a bit he sang a song about the meadow and the Gifting Stump and Twigg and Leely and the Alder Tree House. It took a good ten minutes. All the while Rick kept his eyes closed tightly and hung onto the wheel.
            Finally, Ralph said, “You can open your eyes now.”
            When he did, there they were, in the loaded truck, not parked along the highway, but in the meadow with the back end of the truck facing the Alder Tree House.
            “I’m afraid to believe this,” said Rick, still gripping the wheel.
            “Have I ever told you wrong, Rick,” said Ralph with a grin.
            “No…” said Rick, looking all around in amazement.
            “Let’s unload this shale, and get you home!” said Ralph, "the same way you got here!”    

🍀

A Conference With Suzy

 

Booker

            She seems to be experiencing some anxiety today. Rather than guessing, I figure I had better just ask her why she’s so clingy and/or stand offish. Here goes:
 
            “You obviously have something going on up there beneath the ears, Suzy,” I said. “You may as well admit it.”
            “Monsters..” she whispered.
            “Oh?” I said. “Please elucidate!”
            “They look somewhat like cats, but there’s something wrong with them. I don’t think they can really be cats. I think you got bamboozled by that slick hillbilly. You paid a lot of money for some little gnomes or something!” she blurted out in a rush. “They might even be some kind of Fae loosely based on a cat’s form.”
            “Have you ever met a kitten, Suzy?” I asked her. I knew she hadn’t.
            “I can’t remember,” she prevaricated.
            “You’ve been a kitten! But of course, you can’t remember how silly you were either,” I said.
            “I never felt silly. I did everything as well as I could! Willie was silly though,” she said. “I watch those two little things. They don’t seem to know anything at all!”
            “Examples?” I said.
            “Cats should know certain things, you know, and they don’t! Also, they don’t have proper respect. I think they can’t be cats,” she said. “They must be something else.”
            “Maybe, Suzy, they need your help. Did that ever occur to you?” I asked her. “Hey, you can help name them! How about that?”
            “Me? They need me?” said Suzy.
            “Yeah! You’ll  help them turn into smart cats!” I said.
            “OK. I’ll do it!” she said.
           
            Things are looking up in cat world! I’ll keep you posted!

Sweety

🧡

 

Um, Dateline, Feb. 15, 2026. It's a Kitten Thing..

             It's not a very good video, but I managed to wrassle it from my text messages to my computer and into Blogger.

            This is the litter of Bengals in question. He says I can have my pick, $400 for two of the small beasts. The reason the price is low is because he has 8 other Bengals! WTH?

            BW and I are most likely going to go meet him at the Walmart in Smokey Point, just up the freeway later today.

            I'll let you know what happened and how it all went down. Possibly this is crazy!

Home and resting, next the nice box apartment!

😹😻😸😹
🧡

"So, Get This, Ramona!"

 

            Ralph had been up to the meadow inspecting the progress of the Alder Tree House. He was happy to see that the growth of the group was toward each other and that the branches were beginning to interlace into a dome shape. It was looking good. The floor was looking good too.
            But that’s a story for another day. Ralph smiled at the memory.
            His big old cedar log lay between where he had come from and where he was going. So, since it was there and he was there too, he decided to lie down just to see if it still fit. It was a dry day, good for lying on a log and just pondering.
            Soon, down at the Fire Circle, Ramona could hear him snoring. Campground visitors thought what they were hearing was a remote landslide, possibly. Or maybe, one thought, it was possible to have a bit of thunder way up the mountain, even without clouds.
            He started hearing a familiar voice. Someone was speaking to him.
            “Boss! Boss!” said the voice.
            “Huh?” said Ralph. “I’m awake. I think. What’s up?”
            “There’s a hippie with a camera up in the Alder Tree House. She. A she hippie. She’s putting it all on camera and talking like she’s in charge!” said Maeve, nervously.    
            “Oh. I better go talk to her,” yawned Ralph, not nervously at all. “I think I better do something about the perimeter of the meadow, huh?”
            “Yeah, but she’s got it all on camera now!” croaked Maeve.
            “I’m going!” said Ralph. “Want to come along, Birdie?”
            “Yeah! You might need a witness, Boss!” said Maeve.
            So, Raven on shoulder, Ralph walked back up into the meadow, past the Gifting Stump and out to the growing Alder Tree House. He saw that; indeed, someone was there. In fact she was inside the structure recording the floor. She seemed pretty excited.
            “The most evolved structure I’ve ever seen….” The voice inside the building could be heard to say.           
            “I just wiped her GoPro, Birdie. But she might still be able to come back,” murmured Ralph, “Unless I do something.” He stood by the door, considering his next move.
            Right then, the girl popped out of the doorway of the ‘structure,’ got a load of Ralph and Maeve and ran back into the interior. In a couple of minutes, she peeked out from behind one of the alder trunks. She blinked a couple of times.
            “Hey,” said Ralph. “Howdeedo? Anything I can do to  help?”
            “Um. Well. Did you make this structure? I’ve never seen anything like it,” said the girl. “I’ve never heard a Sasquatch speak English either.”
            “With help, I did. I learned English so I could talk to humans. It seemed useful,” said Ralph.
            “But, why did you build it? I’ve never seen anything like it anywhere,” she insisted.
            “It’s a gift. You gotta name? I’m Ralph. This is Maeve.”
            “Ashley,” she said. “I make videos for YouTube. I don’t suppose you know YouTube?”
            “Sure do! Ranger Rick, over at the Ranger Station and I watch videos sometimes. He has this foldup computer thing,” Ralph said. “So, um, what kind of videos do you make, Ashley?”
            “I do short programs to help people know how to approach the forest with the right intentions. It’s almost a Zen thing I teach. Like how a human shouldn’t come out looking for Forest People with a bunch of electronic equipment and a pushy, demanding manner, you know? You must know!” said Ashley. “It’s sort of like establishing relationship with the forest and everything that is there!”
            “That sounds pretty good. But I notice that you are here with a camera!” Ralph raised his eyebrows.
            “But I have to! How else can I get the message out? I need my camera,” said Ashley, coming out from behind the alder trunk.
            “I think your heart is in the right place, Kiddo. But we are a reserved people. Most video about us is so goofy that it would never lead to our discovery-unless we wished it. But, you might be on to something. Hm. You know, you have nothing on your GoPro? It won’t work out here,” said Ralph. “I made sure of that. Sorry, Ashley.”
            “Are you like the chief or clan leader or something?” said a rather stunned Ashley, who was checking her camera as she spoke.
            “Something like that. Others look to me. I judge baby contests and cut cakes, and stuff like that,” giggled Ralph.
            “Oh, come on, baby contests?” said Ashley.
            “It could happen,” said Ralph.
            “Then I can’t put your structure on YouTube?” she said at last.
            “No. Think about it. We would have the world out here wanting to see it, even if you didn’t disclose its exact location.”
            “That doesn’t sound good,” admitted Ashley.
            “Evermore,” intoned Maeve.
            “It talks too!” said Ashley.
            “She. She speaks English too. She’s a lady Raven. My confidant,” said Ralph.
            “Is this place magic?” whispered Ashley.
            “You could say that,” said Ralph. “It’s like a dream. When you get home you will remember us like a dream, Ashley.” He hummed a little tuneless tune.
            “A dream?” the girl murmured sleepily. Then she began walking toward the Ranger Station where her car waited.
            “I left the meadow ‘open’ when Marge was visiting here, but it’s in the Great Forest now, Birdie,” said Ralph. “If she tries to find it again, it won’t work.”
            “In a way, it’s too bad,” sighed Maeve.
            “Ashley will be alright, Birdie. Let’s go tell Mona all about it!”

💚

Happy Valentine's Day Open Thread!

 

I hope you receive a 5lb box of Chocolates
and mushy cards from the whole class!

And roses!

With a mushy love song!

💌

Collected Some Other February 13th

            Since, once again, I ran out of time and didn't write anything, I searched through my photos for something to make an open thread with. I came upon these old photos of an Alaska native of some kind and his bear.
            Goodness sakes alive! Look at the beast. No wonder they go gunned up and fear those creatures. Now, I don't know what in the world he could be planning to do with the body. Maybe he got a nice rug from the pelt?

            In this case, it most definitely was a bear! A quite terrifying bear!

            I have always been impressed with the serene look on his face, the man, not the bear. He also looks tired and maybe a little shocky. I read his story but don't remember it, except I think I remember that he didn't go out looking for a bear to shoot. It came upon him.

            What a paw! What a story that must have been, now years ago. I collected the photo in 2004. I think it was a fairly recent story.

🤎

Sleepy Purrsday Greetings

 

Ms. Charley Cat sends her best!

She hopes that your every moment is sweet.

Now.

And always.

Now.

Blessed.

Forever.

Now!

🤍🖤🤍

The Girls vs Cat Food, And Then There is Butter!

 

 

            “Toots! Calling Toots! Are you there, Honey?” said Suzy one night, gazing into the sliding glass door. “It’s been a long time! Are you there?”
            Feeling something on the air, Toots hopped up to her window perch, gazing into the glass. She had to squint pretty good because there was light behind her. “Is that you, Suzy? I have been thinking about you too!” she said. “So what’s up with you? Everything nice and sleepy there?”
            “I have some stuff to tell you. It’s just me and the Fluffbag now. Willie left us. He Went On™, leaving me in charge,” said Suzy, seriously.
            “Well, that’s a step up, but I’m sure you would prefer to be under his paw, of course,” said Toots.
            “I had no idea that being First Cat carried so many responsibilities! It makes my head swim sometimes, Toots.”
            “I quite understand,” said Toots. “First of all is the whole matter of Cat Food. Very serious! One must be so careful not to acquiesce to a substandard food!”
            “I had no idea! I always just let Willie decide which was acceptable on any certain day! It’s hard because a few weeks ago, she got the notion, from a podcast, no less, that what we had eaten since we got here was suddenly ‘bad and dangerous.’
            “Oh, really,” Toots laughed. “We had a little of that here too! ‘Change for the better!’”
            “Well, who’s to decide what’s better? Shouldn’t we be taken into consideration? I’ve had to impose a little discipline! Somebody has to take a hand, er, paw in this. This is just part of it,” said Suzy.
            “It takes nerve and determination to refuse a weird cat food!” agreed Toots. “But there’s no other way!”
            “Then, there’s that whole butter thing! What’s that about?” asked Suzy.
            “It’s that MEOW blog. They all decided that cats love butter. Gotta have it. Well, some do, some don’t. They did it out of an excess of kindness, Sweetie,” said Toots. “Sammie loves the stuff. Not me! But I can’t really complain.”
            “I don’t think any of us wanted butter. Bless their hearts,” Suzy laughed again.
            “The next order of business, my dear, is much more serious even than weird cat food,” whispered Suzy. “She is looking at kittens! I don’t know what to think! What if she loves the kitten or kittens more than she loves me?”
            “Oh, Suzy, Honey, I think we better Purr™ about this. Two things come to mind. One, that she will get the right kittens! Two, that you know, all the way from your whiskers to the tip of your tail, that no kitten will ever replace you! That your spot in the sun and at the dish is secure and permanent!” said Toots.
            “OK,” said Suzy, with a little mew in her voice.
            So, though separated in space, they closed their eyes, bowed their heads and Purred™ until everything was right in their hearts. This kind of faded into a nap, but of course it did. After all, Toots and Suzy are kitties, and kitties sleep a lot.

🧡

Knitting and The Book of Knowledge

 

            I think that it’s useful sometimes to take a look back at how things came to be, to examine one’s own history. It’s easy not to. Maybe it’s just my nature. I like to look at the germ of things. Maybe it’s just to enjoy the contemplation.
            I have thought frequently of early esthetic experiences, or  what looked pretty to my child’s eye. One of the first that I can remember was the ruched, or gathered, red cellophane Christmas rope for the tree that I could see lights through. Beauty, to my mind! Red was my color from the beginning.
            Now, way back in American history, beginning in 1870, there was a children’s encyclopedia published by the Grolier company called The Book of Knowledge. It was an adaptation of a British encyclopedia meant for children. My parents bought a set sometime in the late 1950s from a salesman who came to the door completely cold. It was immediately consumed by me and to some degree by the younger sibs.
            That’s all very well, but what I am getting to is that the germ of my determined and dedicated push to knit started with an illustrated article about knitting in a volume. Typically, it was the drawing that caught me. The simple, but well drawn, illustration made me want to go and do that too. It was the drawing.
            I didn’t have knitting needles of course. No problem. I whittled some out of some kind of wood stock around the place, got some yarn somehow. Probably it was purchased for me. And I began to practice the stiches. I still  have those little sticks in my chest of historical stuff.
            I also became a relentless nuisance to a couple of neighborhood women that I knew and who knew how to knit. I hope they got a little bit of a giggle out of the obsessed kid! I would not be denied, they had knowledge, and I wanted some of that.
            I have always intended, now that it would be no problem, to reproduce the sweater in the illustration. I haven’t done it quite, but I did make a pullover version much like the cardigan in the drawing.
            Why does one kid go nuts for cars, another horses, another skating, or whatever? Well, that’s just it. I think it’s something built in, part of the child’s makeup responding to a fertilizing image or experience.
            No one exactly introduced me to knitting or drawing or painting or sewing, but somehow we found each other!

📕

About That Floor

 

            Spring continued to unfold. The snow was gone. Sunlight came earlier every day. Every day there was more birdsong in the Great Forest, not just the harsh calls of crows, or the knocks of common ravens.
            One morning when Ralph opened his eyes, the Project came to mind. He reviewed their progress, his and Ooog’s, so far. Those alder trees were cooperating well. It had been a couple of months since he had sung to them, asking them to grow together at their tops and interlace their branches. Every time he went out to check on their progress the dome effect was stronger. Even Ralph was amazed. He really needn’t have been.
            As he lay there, dozing beside Ramona and her delicate snores, he thought, “We are going to need a lot of sand, and a lot of nice flat rocks!” This was manifestly true.
            Another pleasant thought that came to his mind was Ooog’s garden wagon. Why, the plan was forming up in his mind as he lay there! Ralph smiled, there in the morning darkness.
            “Da! Are you awake too,” whispered Cherry from further back in the cave. Blue raised her head and made an inquisitory wuff.
            “Well, yes I am. I’m thinking about the floor in the Alder Tree House,” said Ralph.
            “Can I help?” whispered Cherry.
            “I’m not sure what you will do, but yes, you may help,” said her father. “Something will come up I am sure.” He sat up and yawned.
            Ramona woke. She said, “Are you going to work on the floor today?”
            “I’m going to go talk to Ooog about his garden wagon,” said Ralph.
            “I see,” said Ramona. “Well, you better eat first, so I’m getting up.”
            Bob and Berry woke and came down from their ledge, and all of them went out to see what kind of morning it was and to have a little something to eat. It turned out to be boiled potatoes from Ooog’s last year’s garden and butter, which makes a very nice breakfast if you’re fond of spuds.
            It was the kind of morning that makes a person want to Do Things. Gardeners start thinking of spading soil, that sort of thing. The out of doors people always get subtly excited in early spring. It's like the whole year is spreading its wares before their eyes and their minds.
            The family and beasts in the Home Clearing felt that same tug. It was like a scent in the air. “Nice,” said Bob. “Yes,” said Berry. They all felt the same way.
            Right on schedule Maeve appeared for some potatoes and butter. Evermore!
            “Why don’t we all go see Ooog and Thaga?” said Ralph. “I want to talk about moving sand from the river banks to the Alder Tree House.” It was always fun to visit there, so everyone was eager to go.
            “Birdie,” said Ralph, “Will you go warn them that we’re coming?”
            “You got it, Boss,” she said, and blasted off for the stone cottage.
            So, like a bunch of players in a fairytale, Ralph and his Ramona, Cherry and Blue, with Bob and Berry all set off for the short walk to the Neanderthal’s cottage. It was a magical trek through the awakening meadow. All along the path were tender new leaves, and the freshest grass. Soon there would be shy young blooms. Crows came to see what was up and to make commentary among themselves.
            When everyone got to the cottage, Thaga and Maeve were standing by the open door, with Harold the big tabby Tom cat. “Meow,” remarked Harold, and everyone crowded into Thaga’s kitchen where Ooog was sitting at the head of the table eating biscuits with butter and blackberry jam and drinking hot tea.
            “It’s about that time, Ralph, isn’t it?” said Ooog, once he had swallowed his current bite.
            “Woke this morning thinking about moving sand, and I remembered your big garden wagon,” said Ralph, as they were all getting seated, people on chairs and creatures on the floor.
            “Only reasonable,” said Ooog. “I wonder how many loads of sand we will need.”
            “Four!” said Cherry. Blue looked as if she believed her.
            “You’re probably right,” said Ooog. He was smiling, but seemed to really think so.
            Everybody had some of Thaga’s biscuits. But they ran out and she had to quickly make another batch. Fortunately it doesn’t take long at all to make biscuits.
            When all the biscuit eating was over, and everyone’s tummy’s were quite full, Ramona and Maeve decided to stay with Thaga, and Cherry with her dad and Ooog went out to take a look at the wagon. Ooog had two shovels, so they threw those into the wagon and Ralph pulled it back up through the Home Clearing and out to the riverbank.
            When they arrived at the shining, silver river, whispering its way along between the banks and the stones, Ralph and Ooog cleared an area, setting the stones aside for possible use later. Then they filled the wagon with sand. It was heavy now, but no problem for Ralph. He pulled it back through the Home Clearing and up into the meadow to the alder trees. They shoveled the sand into the center of the trees. They did this three more times, just as Cherry had said.
            “I think that’s enough,” said Ooog, the builder, as he was.
            “We can spread it out later. I think we should build a little stone wall among the tree trunks to hold the sand,” said Ralph. “Before we do more we will need to bring in loads of stones.”
            Ooog looked up at his friend Ralph. He smiled a tired but happy smile. “That’s enough working today.”
“Yes. That’s enough,” said Ralph. “It’s going to be great, a floor built like a beach!” Even Cherry was tired, just from floating along and watching every step of the work. Blue was tired from watching too.
            Ooog nodded, then they took the wagon and the shovels back to Ooog’s house.
            Dinner was ready when Ralph, Ooog, and Cherry, and Blue, got to the house. Ramona and Thaga and Maeve had talked about everything they could think of during the day, and worked on dinner. It was a big pan of sausages baked with onions, and apples, and sauerkraut. There was milk for Cherry, and coffee for the adults. The cats and the wolf drank water and had plain baked turkey for dinner because they wouldn’t have liked the sauerkraut dish.
            “Another day, Ooog?” said Ralph.
            “Another day, Ralph,” said Ooog.
            Since evening was just about there, Ralph and his family walked on home to the Home Clearing to sleep in the cave behind the clever green door.
            And all during the night, the wind and the stars spoke mysteries.

🌿🍀🍃

Suz Reporting & Open Thread

 

Greetings
Meow!

            She said she was busy, though I doubt it, so that I should write something. Alright. I'll try. My toes don't reach the keys very well. It's kind of a dance of the toes. Here and then there. One key, then another!

            Oh, I'm sorry. I got distracted.

            The question of the day is a question of kittens. I'm still considering the wisdom of the whole thing. I mean, I just assumed leadership around here and now a usurper may appear!

            I expect that she will return to her regular schedule today. 

            

Suzy Q.

🐾

Happy Catfurday Open Thread!

             It was a lovely gloomy PNW day, Feb. 8, 2020, when my Navigator took this shot of some flooded farm fields up in the Skagit valley.
            We didn't see much snow that year either!

            Flooding is just a part of life around here in February!

🍁

What's A Girl To Do?

 Meow Alert!

Danger!

    

            Behold the nest of kittens that temptation has thrown in my way. Temptation by none other than my granddaughter!

            The one in the center at the bottom is talking to me, or maybe the big one with the spots who is looking the other way.

            Right now, they are located at Smokey Point, which is too close to me! 

            

🤍🤍🤍🤍

It's Always Bears!

 

Bears come in all kinds, styles, and configurations. But you may be assured,

That it’s always a bear!

 
 
            That was Ranger Rick, of the Mt. B.S.N.F.’s story,, and he was stickin’ to it. This bear, putative or not, was going to solve all of his troubles on this very annoying day.
            After talking the situation over with Ralph, on the sly in his truck, Rick had gone back into his office, and was setting up a new pot of coffee, when Hannah Tucker arrived to discuss the situation with her boss. She had a cute little wrinkle between her eyebrows.
            Rick had been getting ready to write up a requisition for the repair of the restroom doors. A delay was welcome, though iffy.
            “Rick,” she said, “I’m worried. What are we going to do? Something very large was on that roof, heavy enough to break through the stuff up there. I thought this job was supposed to be safe!”
            “I’ll tell you what, Hannah. When the handyman comes to fix the roof, tomorrow, I called him, I’ll have him level out that little berm of earth behind your mobile. I am sure that’s how that bear was able to get up there! It must have been a pretty big bear! I’d like to have seen him!” said Rick. “It won’t happen again.”
            “OK, Rick. If you say so. But if it does happen again, I’m outta here for good,” she said firmly. “Nobody said anything about great fat bears out here!”
            “It’ll be fine, Hannah,” said Rick, as she gathered herself up and went back out of the office door just as Dexter was coming in.
            Dexter held the door for her and watched her go. His cheeks were pink.
            “I told her it was a bear up on her roof. Did you get the tarp up there?” said Rick.
            “Um, yeah. I weighted it down with some rocks. It looks tacky as heck,” said Dexter.
            “You know it wasn’t a bear, right?” said Rick. But he was smiling. “But I had to say that because the truth would clear this place out, even though the problem has been solved.”
            “What are you talking about,” said a confused Dexter.
            “Ralph took care of it. Now all I have to do is smooth the troubled waters and set everyone’s heart at ease,” said Rick.
            “Ralph took care of what, Rick? Something killed a fancy pet dog. Something tore the doors off the restrooms, and something walked on Hannah’s roof. What was it?” said Dexter. “Yeah, and that guy in the tent swears he saw a big thing like a werewolf in the parking lot up there during the night! Are you going to tell me, or not?”
            “Well, truthfully, I didn’t see it. I don’t really know what it was. Ralph said it won’t be coming back, so it was a bear. A really big bear. That’s all anyone, including you, needs to know.”
            “Alright, Rick. You’re the boss. What are you going to do about the people whose dog met this bear? Last time I saw that guy he was talking about getting the Sheriff up here, and suing the National Forest,” said Dexter.
            “He can try to sue the National Forest, but no one is stupid enough to take the case. There is no guarantee that a dog on the loose won’t get into trouble in the forest. I’m pretty sure the Sheriff will tell him the same thing,” said Rick, looking hopeful.
            “I wonder what Ralph did,” said Dexter.
            “He didn’t say,” said Rick. “There’s coffee in there. And some chocolate chip cookies my wife made for us. Help yourself, Trainee.”
            Everything was peaceful in the office for about five minutes.
            There was a very timid knocking on the door, and someone turned the doorknob, but couldn’t seem to push the door open. Both men watched the door.
            Finally, Dexter went to the door and pulled it all the way open.
            “Oh!” said the little old woman standing there. She was about five foot, nothing. She had white hair cut off like a boy’s. She was dressed like a child in jeans, jacket and like size 5 high top tennies. Blue. She went maybe 95 pounds.
            “Hello, Ma’am,” said Dexter. “How can we help you?”
            “Um, hello, Mister. He said to come here,” she said. “He said people were looking for me.”
            “Madam, would you care to come in and take a seat?” said Rick, getting up from his chair and coming around his desk. “Would you care for a cup of coffee, while we talk?” He still had his mug in his hand.
            “Yes, Sir,” she said. “Please, yes, I would like coffee. Plain, please.” She settled down in the chair where Dexter had been seated. He went out to the kitchen to fetch one of the mugs kept for guests for her.
            “What’s your name, first?” said Rick, trying not to loom over her by going back behind his desk.
            “Maggie White,” Maggie said dutifully. She accepted the mug from Dexter, took a little sip and set the mug down on the desk. She sighed and blinked.
            “Ms. White, Maggie, who told you to come here because people were looking for you?” asked Rick, sensing upcoming drama.
            “A big bear found me in the forest. I was lost. Bob and Carla are lost too, I think,” said Maggie.
            “What?” said Rick. Dexter rolled his eyes at no one in particular.
            “He was very kind, and he spoke good English, for a bear. He took my hand in his, which was the biggest hand I ever saw, and he led me to your parking lot and told me to come in here because they were looking for me,” said Maggie, getting a little teary.
            “Oh! I see,” said Rick. But before he could think of what to say next, the office door slammed open and a man and a woman ran into the room. Rick hoped that they were Bob and Carla.
            “Maggie!” said the man. Bob for sure!
            “Mom!” said Carla. “Where were you! You scared us to death!”
            “I took a little walk in the forest and then I couldn’t find you,” said Maggie. “But a nice big bear brought me here and told me that you were looking for me.”
            Carla hugged her mother, saying, “Thank God!”
            Bob walked around the desk to have a word with Rick. “She has a little dementia. Not too badly, but she does tend to wander and takes notions that make no sense sometimes. Thanks for hanging on to her for us!”
            “Um, of course,” said Rick. “I’m glad you all got here about the same time she did. Solves a lot of problems for all of us!”
            So, Carla took her mother by the hand and Bob opened the door and they all left together.
            “Some bear!” said Dexter, giggling like a kid.
            “Yup. He is some kinda bear!” said Rick. “I bet that big raven found her wandering in the woods.”
            “Makes sense,” agreed Dexter.

🐻

A Bad Morning in the Mt. B.S.N.F. Campground

 

            Normally, Rick lived a pretty serene life as a National Forest Ranger. He had Dexter for annoying trainee tasks, and a new camp host to help the campers with problems which were beneath his dignity.
            But now, Rick had a problem. It was a doozy.
            There had been actual bloodshed. Not deep in the forest hidden from campers. No!
            Nor was this death the death of a mere deer. It was a camper’s fancy pet German Shepherd. Max. By now, Rick knew that name well, and it made him cringe inside.
            Max had been let out of Richard and Magda’s camper to go potty early in the morning of a spring day. A lovely morning. When Max didn’t return, Richard went looking and calling for him. Oh, he found him all right. There had been Max, in an empty parking spot, eviscerated and quite horribly dead.
            Richard was talking about getting the sheriff’s dept. involved. Magda wept. They mentioned suing the National Forest. Rick didn’t even know if that was possible, but he didn’t relish them trying.
            “There is no way some bear did that!” insisted Richard. “It must have been a person with a knife!” Honestly, that’s how it looked.
            They wrapped their poor dog in a blanket, put him in the back of the camper and left, promising that it wouldn’t be the last Rick heard from them.
            A guy named Fred walked down to the station to file a report. He wasn’t happy either. Fred said that the night before Max had died that he had seen something lurking in the campground.
            “Now this is silly,” said Fred. “I don’t believe in cryptids. But tell me, what looks like a dog, but is seven feet tall, all black and walks on two hind legs like a man? Are you sure you don’t have a crazy person running around in a werewolf costume? A very tall madman?”
            “There are no cryptids,” said Rick, weakly. “They don’t really exist.”
            “I know,” said Fred. “So, it’s your problem. What was it? You don’t want the news up here looking around do you?”
            Rick most sincerely did not want that!
            The next marble to drop was Hannah Tucker, his new camp host. She had been working out fine. No problems. No drama. She liked the job, though it didn’t pay much. He could see her, from the kitchen nook window, all bundled up like it was deep winter, heading for his door. Maybe she had baked something good, he hoped. She did that sometimes.
            But no.
            “Good morning, Rick,” Hannah said when she got inside the office, just getting warmed up. “Or it would be a good morning except that I had visitor last night. Nobody you know, I hope! Something that weighed about a ton was walking all over the roof of that tin box I live in up there and now there’s a leak in the bathroom ceiling!” She stood looking a him, waiting for an answer.
            “Do you have a bucket?” Rick said, feeling cornered and outmaneuvered by circumstances.
            While Hannah was still looking at him, Dexter showed up. He’d been checking things out as he always did in the morning. He had more bad news.
            “The doors are ripped off of the restrooms. Both of them!” he said, looking stunned. “They weren’t locked. Why would anybody do that?” said Dexter.
            “Dear children,” said Rick, “That is the question of the day. Why would any of this happen?”
            He sent Dexter to town to buy a blue tarp for the mobile roof.
            He told Hannah he would get someone up there to repair her roof in a day or so. He said he would put a camera up there in case anything like that happened again. He promised to keep any eye out for strangely behaving animals. There really wasn’t much more he could say.
            When they all went away and left him alone he went out to the parking lot and sat in his truck honking out SOS on his horn. Rick was unsure whether Ralph knew Morse Code, but it seemed appropriate.
            Soon Ralph loomed by Rick’s open driver’s side window. He didn’t appear surprised.
            “Good morning, Rick?” said Ralph. He wasn’t grinning.
            “Can you sit in the other side of this thing?” said Rick.
            “I’ll make it happen,” said Ralph, and he did. It’s a thing he does. Rick knew that too.
            So when they were sitting there together in the front of the National Forest Service truck, Ralph said, “You look like it’s been a bad day, and day just got started. What can I do for you?”
            “Something that looked like a werewolf, according to one camper, cut open a prize dog belonging to a litigious couple of other campers, and something scared Hannah the new camp host by stomping around on the mobile roof, causing a roof leak.
            “I don’t believe in Dogman, Ralph. Tell me there is no Dogman!” said Rick, piteously.
            “Well, Rick,” said Ralph, “Yes, there was a Dogman in your camp. I’m sorry he made such a mess for you. I really don’t like those guys!”
            “Was? What do you mean was?” said Rick.
            “Was, because something happened to him,” said Ralph. This was not the jolly old Ralph Rick knew. This was something else. Something implacable and regal. For a moment Ralph looked terrifying, dark and feral.
            “There was, but is not anymore?” said Rick, rather shaken.
            Ralph nodded, looking more like himself.
            “I gotta say it. You’re the man, Ralph! You are the man!” said Rick.
            “That’s what they say, some of them at least,” said Ralph. “But thanks!”
            “No, thank you!” insisted Rick.
            “Now all you have to do is to make everybody happy again!” Ralph laughed. “Better you than me, old boy!”
            The sun came out, shining a hopeful light on everything, and Rick started think about how he was going to do that very thing. “No problem!” he told himself happily.

🐺