Home on the Range, Part Two Paws

[Wiley Jr]

This is a continuation of my story that began several full moons ago. My Human has been real busy doing human stuff and I've been snoozing in the heat or catching flies. (but we did go for a long ride in a place called 'Teneseeee' -is that how you spell it??)

Anycows, my Human is taking a nap so I figured this would be a good time to continue on with my story.

After we ate the big dead cow meat and drank that good cold bitter stuff, I rode on the bike with my Human and saw some of those BIG shaggy things! They're called 'bison', but sometimes I hear them called 'Buffalo'. I like the first one; less syllables and easier to say.

Anycows, they were everywhere! And there were baby bison all around, too! Those babies are lighter color, almost the same color as teenager deer (you know, that tender age when they almost lose their spots but they aren't adults yet. And yup, they are tender.) I wanted to play with them; they're short like me. There's one sleeping under its mommy, all curled up like a coyote pup.

Then there was this guy! Ohhhh doggy, he looked mean. And, boy, did he bellow. We were parked by the road and this big guy kept coming closer and closer. I've been chased by one of those big guys before when I was smaller; he made me nervous and those long horns made me quiver! I wasn't going to stay around and I jumped on the bike. Good thing my Human thought the same 'cause she was chased by a bull cow once, too, and she wasn't going to hang around and wait for it to be all nice and stuff. Uh uh, no siree.

Soon we were on the road again and stopped at this big huge cave where humans go in and out to learn about the mountains, animals, plants and other humans (that are dead now). I got to play with the animals!!!!! I don't get to do this outside of the cave 'cause either they would eat me, or I would eat them. So this was a fun experience!

I got to learn cat stalking! This guy's called 'Bob'. I like his spiked ears, his beard and spots; I wonder if he's a punker cat. He stalks differently than us coyotes do, but then he's shorter to the ground. He's kinda slinky; most of us just walk slow and then jump up and down. But we eat the same things, so we can share! Maybe.......

Then I saw this guy with big teeth! Ow! I wouldn't want to be in a fight with him; he could chew my tail off. It was hot outside and I wanted to cool off, so I went for a swim and watched this guy. He's call 'Beaver'. Why not call him something easier? Like Big Teeth. Or Beady Eyes. Oh, and look...fire flies on top of the water!!

I got out, climbed on a rock to dry and found one of my old buddies: Rocky!!! We thought we'd play like old times and see who could get that fish first. Well, he won! Buggers....

I was getting hungry, so I started hunting for food. Around a big rock I found.....Hey, another coyote!!!! Wooohoooo!!!!! We can hunt together like old times, like with my pack mates! Oh, and he's an Old One, so I have to be good. So, here we are. On the hunt.

Argh!!! We were hunting after a jack rabbit and it got away out from under my nose!! I've gotten too soft living with this human......

Whew. I was getting tired of all this visiting and playing with the other animals. I found another coyote (but he was a dark one) that looked like he was having fun. Probably jumping after a mouse or something. Then I noticed that he was frozen in jump. He didn't come down. I had to go check this out......

I got close and he wasn't even warm. I wondered why he was frozen, so I tried to see what he was jumping at. I couldn't see anything, but he sure was tall. Then my Human came over and told me he was a 'statue'. He's not real; he was made by humans to honor the coyote and their spirit: playful, inquisitive, and athletic. I liked that. I called him 'Dark Stone'. But he looks awfully skinny. They should have let him catch his food before they made him into stone.

Well, that was the end of the cave fun. It was time to leave and we were heading to a lake up on the prairie and near the mountains. So we drank lots of water, got rid of old water, and went back out into the heat. I'll show you around the lake with all the flowers, lizards and rocks in a bit.

 

[Jbay]

I find this strangely entertaining

 

[Wiley Jr]

Hi everybody! Back again after my nap.

So where were we...... oh yea, we went to a lake at the end of the refuge place and where hardly any other humans go.

It was pretty with all the wildflowers around, especially with the rocks and stuff.

I found me some cactus with flowers, too!! They were trying to hide from me, but I hunted them down. Some of them smell nice, but they make me sneeze.

​

I found a lizard that lives there. I like playing with lizards, so I walked real slow to get closer. He was purty!!!

We all walked to the other side of the lake, careful not to step on the cactus 'cause they can hurt. I got thorns stuck in me once. My Human had to pull them out. Ouch!!

We could see the sky in the lake! I thought I was looking at the sky on the other side of the world, or maybe the sky fell into the water. My Human told me it was a 'reflection' and it only happens when the light from the sky is right, at a certain angle or something. Whatever that means.....

Then we walked along a big weird block of rock called a 'dam'. She said it was made by humans to stop the water from flowing down the creek and hold it in like a big pond. It had this big circle metal thing that opens a gate to let water out. I wanted to climb on it, but my Human wouldn't let me. She said I might fall in.

On the other side of the dam was no water! It was a lot of air! but there was a creek way down below. It was weird having water nearly up to my paws on one side and nothing but air on the other side. It made me dizzy. My human explained to me that is because the two sides of my brain are confused. One eye sees one thing and the other eye sees another, and the messages in my brain get all confused and I feel like I'm going to fall down.

While we walked back to the hill where the two-wheeled things were, we saw more Big Shaggy things.

A baby Bison was there, too! I wanted to take one home with me so I could have someone to play with, but my Human said we didn't have any room on the Two-wheels to put it. She wanted one, too.

We saw another human hunting for fish in the lake. He doesn't go in the water like I do and try to catch fish with his teeth or paws, he uses a long pole with a string on it. I don't know why fish like that string and he has to wait a long time. I like my way better, and I was told by my pack Elders that bears hunt fish like we do. Humans are weird.

We saw this bird circling around above us. I know that bird 'cause we coyotes have to fight them off our food. They tease us while we eat and we growl at them. But we leave them some food when we are done eating all the good stuff; they are like janitors and clean up the kitchen.

​

When we got to the top of the hill we saw Big Shaggy Things everywhere!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[wanabeguru]

Nice report. Great pictures. Thanks for taking us along!

 

[Wiley Jr]

The Humans and I trotted up the hill to watch the Big Shaggy Things below. They were everywhere! Even on that hard ground where all the wheels and their boxes go. I yipped watching how the Big Shaggy Things walked onto that hard ground and stood still so that the wheeled boxes had to stop and stand still.

And lots of Baby Shaggy Things were there, too. They were with their Moms, but I can't tell which are Moms and Dads; not this far away. I still want a little Shaggy Thing for a play buddy at home.

After we watched them and giggled, we went back to our Two-Wheels and went for a ride.

I kinda hated to leave that place with the big water; I liked it there. But the sun was moving to the side and shadows were getting bigger.

I howled when I saw a bunch of little yummy things off the side of the hard ground. I wanted to stop and hunt! So my Human pulled off the road.

These are tasty little things and hard to catch sometimes. They bob up and down from holes in the ground (they live in the ground!), but they are sorta slow, too.

Looks like this place had babies everywhere, 'cause even these had babies! The mommas share their food with their babies, kinda like my mamma used to share her food with us when we were pups. 'Cept my mamma had too many of us and we wrestled each other for the food. I wonder if they wrestled, too. But I still wonder why they sit on their butts and stand up. Do they think they are trying to be like humans??? They sure can't run away from us very fast that way.

There there was this big guy!! Wow, did he have a long neck! I wonder if he got his neck caught in something and stretched it out while trying to get away.

I hid behind a dead tree for a while and watched him. But then he saw me.

Then another one came! And he called me names! But I didn't understand what he said. I could tell by his noise and the way he moved himself. Then started coming closer.

I decided I didn't want to play with those guys, so I got off the dead tree and wandered around. I was looking for another dead tree so I could do my thing..... Then saw another Two-wheels with humans coming!

Then I noticed we were losing sun. It was time to think about finding food (they wouldn't let me pounce on those doggies -they called them 'prairie doggies').

We rode the Two-wheels back to our camp and ate some food. Then I had some time to play with my new buddy! A little Big Shaggy Thing!!!!!!!!!! We shared toddies.

​

I guess I fell a sleep around my camp fire.

Next thing I knew I woke up in my hammock in the tent and the humans were packing stuff up to go back to where we live.

I was sad to leave; I want to live there....... But I'll go back to visit my buddies again.

On the way, we stopped to visit two neat places: one is where old things are stored and another place is where an ancient Old One is buried in the ground. Although, when we talked to a chief that happened to be there at the same time, he told us the story of how the Old One is not really buried there. But that is another story later. Now it is time to eat!

 

[shootergal]

I find this strangely entertaining

ME TOO!!! Can't wait for Wiley's next trip!

 

[ctoons]

I find this strangely entertaining

ME TOO!!! Can't wait for Wiley's next trip!

+1

 

[Bob the Pie 'Dillo]

Tell it, Wiley!