[A broad forest clearing, lined with pinyon and juniper trees. The ground is bare in some places, and covered by low grasses in others.]
I had the whole day to get home after al-Barran’s Champions event last September, & I drove right through the Carson National Forest to get home, so naturally I stopped for a while. Not quite a full-on Woods Day, but it still helped a bunch.
Tom, of course, was exceptionally pleased to be back in familiar woods.
[Major Tom, a big grey tabby wearing a purple harness, is flopped on his side on the ground, which is mostly dirt with a sprinkling of rocks and branches. His forepaws are held in front of him and slightly tucked, hindpaws resting on the ground, and his tail, as it often is, is caught midlash. His eyes are lightly closed, his whiskers perked forwards; he is blissful.]
There was a lot more flailing around than this, but most of it wound up blurry.
[Tom’s rolled a bit further over on to his back. His eyes are open, and he’s looking upwards and to the right; one forepaw is still lightly tucked, and the other is stretched out in the same direction he’s looking. There’s a whole lot of pale belly going on.]
Loiosh followed me doggedly through the woods, at least until he got tired of it & started yowling at me to cut that out, he’s an old man & shouldn’t be required to walk all day & all night.
(I don’t make them follow me. They just … follow me. & sometimes they get mad about it. Cats!)
[Loiosh, an orange tabby, is walking through low sagebrush and sparse grasses towards the camera from perhaps five feet away. In the background, half-hidden by trees, is the van.]
He follows me more slowly than he used to, but he still follows me.
[He’s still walking through grass and sagebrush, but he’s a lot closer to the camera now. His ears and whiskers are perked forwards, and his gaze is intent.]
I found a poof!
[A very close view of a round white mushroom in the grass. It has tiny brown spots on it, as if it’s dusty.]
Also deer poop, but I’m sparing you that picture.
I harvested a bunch of piñon resin, which I’d been getting low on, so that was nice. Also some cones, but the nuts had long since been eaten by the local critters.
[A reed basket holds lumps of brown to golden-brown pinyon resin, and a bunch of small pine cones.]
& then we drove home, because I was p00ped.
