Tortoise Cat:  Why did the Big One spoil my fun with Mousy last night?

Chameleon:  Mousy was exhausted...You were playing WAY too rough, WAY past long enough!  You might have killed your favorite little playmate!

Tortoise Cat:  I can't help that...I AM a CAT!

Chameleon:  Yes...And Mousy is NOT a toy, Tortoise Cat.  Luckily you woke the Big One with your antics.  The Big One thought Mousy was dead aleady but I whispered "Mousy is only pretend dead - so far - and exhausted...!"

Mousy:  If the Big One hadn't picked me up just then and lifted me back outside to my hideout I might have died, FOR REAL, Tortoise Cat!

Tortoise Cat:  So are we still friends, Mousy?

Chameleon:  Oh my goodness!!!        

Tortoise Cat:  I helped the Big One put nuts and seeds outside in the snow for Sparrow, Squirrel, and Bunny!

Chameleon:  Uh...OK.  Sure you did.  How wonderful!

Tortoise Cat:  But why do our critter buddies all scatter when I come out to play? 

Chameleon:  Play?  I thought you said you were helping the Big One!

Tortoise Cat:  Helping is play isn't it?

Chameleon:  What a beautiful outlook you have!  Helping is play.  I like that.

Tortoise Cat:  But why do Sparrow, Squirrel, and Rabbit dash and fly away when I show up?

Chameleon:  Well...I'll need to ponder that a while.  When I come up with a good answer I'll tell you.

Tortoise Cat:  Oh.  OK.  Oh look!  Everyone is back already, chowing down!  If I hide here at the door I can watch.

Chameleon:  Well from the way you are swishing your tail, it looks as if you'd be chasing them if you were out there!

Tortoise Cat:  Never!  Not I...These paws don't touch snow or ice!  Unless...

Tortoise Cat: I had to ride in one of those dangerous, menacing Big One contraptions FOREVER to get...HERE...wherever this is!  WOW-meeOW! WHERE ARE WE?  Chameleon!  Oh ChaMeeeOW-leon...Are you here?  Where IS here?  Chameleon...!

Chameleon:  Tortoise Cat I hear you calling, "Chameleon...!?  Oh ChaMeeeOW-leon...!"  You have such a sweet little mee-yowl.  I'm just not in the mood for blogging, except maybe a little linkblogging.

Tortoise Cat:  But we are falling further and further behind in the blogging.  It is embarrassing!

Chameleon:  AW common!  You're a CAT.  Cats don't get embarrassed.  We'll blog later, OK?

Tortoise Cat:  Might as well take another nap, then.  It's way too snowy outside to stroll the neighborhood territory with the Big One.   

The Tortoise Cat:  Why did the Big One bring me so many Goodies?

Chameleon:  It wasn't so very many.  But it was because of the Vet visiting for your check-up and shots.

The Tortoise Cat:  You mean the day the Big One tricked me?  I thought we were going for a stroll and found a VET in a BIG car outside the door.

Chameleon:  The Big One bought you those Goodies for being so good with the Vet.  And because the Vet said you are a mutant.

The Tortoise Cat:  Mew-tant?

Chameleon:  Yeah...sure.  Anyway the Big One just found out that you were born without teeth except for those perfectly sharp front fangs of yours - due to a random mutation.  And the Big One felt a bit foolish for never having noticed this weirdness before...and maybe a little sorry for you too, you strange mutant Critter.  It is amazing how you chew so well without teeth!

The Tortoise Cat:  Because of a random Mew-tation I am a MEW-tant!  And the Big One brought me many Goodies. 

Chameleon:  Only a few Goodies:  A high-tech comb, an edible catnip ball, a hanging scratch post, and a new kind of high-fiber dry munchies.  Oh - I guess you are right.  This adds up to one more than a few and for you that is called MANY.  Ha ha.

The Tortoise Cat:  Goodies are good.  But I like the extra attention the best! 

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  The Big One did not get my inner-voice right at all.  What a lame video!

Chameleon:  As the Big One told you, this is only a test video.  And...Ahem.  Maybe you could be of just a little more assistance with this project during the next tests. 

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  What is a test?

Chameleon:  Hmmm...I would say that testing  - for most Big Ones - is like playing around...but usually somewhat less fun.

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  Being outside with the Big One today wasn't as much fun as usual.  But it was OK.  I hope we stop testing soon and get back to playing!

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  Chameleon, am I cute or what?

Chameleon:  Cooter you are Cuteness Itself!

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  Really?  The Big One often resists my cuteness....

Chameleon:  But just barely.  Don't worry.

Chameleon: Cooter, the Big One asked me to have a little informal talk with you about a delicate matter...so listen up, ok?

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  Uh Oh.  Now what?

Chameleon:  Well...You know, when you snuggle up on the Big One's chest every night...?

Cooter:  Oh...It's just for a little while!  That's non-negotiable, by the way.

Chameleon:  No, no, that's wonderful...It's just that...well...the Big One was wondering if it would be too much to ask...

Cooter:  So why doesn't the Big One just ask?

Chameleon:  Well, the Big One has been attempting to communicate this to you for quite a while now...is what I understand, so...

Cooter:  Ok, ok...Just tell me!

Chameleon:  Well here it is then.  Could you graciously keep your...uh...rear end out of the Big One's face, from now on, during the bedtime snuggles...by any chance?

Cooter:  Aw...common.  Cat companions pile up that way naturally.  Everyone knows that!  The Big One didn't seem to mind 'tail to nose' arrangements back when I was tiny...you know...back when we all lived in that big, cushy, dark, box...and snuggled lots and lots.  

Chameleon:  But Cooter, back then...that first Big One was...a cat!

Cooter:  You're kidding, right?!

Chameleon:  Well I told the Big One I would talk to you about this.  So I did.  So now just go play in the bamboo bush.

Cooter:  All the Big One had to do is ask plainly...but OK...maybe.    

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  Why did you change the name of our adventures here?

Chameleon:  Raccoon Daddy greeted me after waking up again yesterday morning and remarked "That Cooter The Tortoise Cat is still untamed, even though she walks on a string with the Big One!"  And I replied, "Cooter expresses the veritable Untamed Gnosis of LIFE itself, just as well as you do Companion Alley Raccoon!"  And I meant it too!

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  OK.  But WHAT did you mean by it?

Chameleon:  Oh...well...ahem.  It's deep...deeper than the deepest hole and higher than the highest tree top.  The exact meaning is almost impossible to express in ordinary conversation.

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  OWW!

Chameleon:  Did you mean WOW!?

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  The meaning of OWW! cannot be expressed in ordinary conversation either. 

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  I found the sidewalks dry this afternoon and I could feel sunshine!  But all the plants are still asleep, covered with snow.

Chameleon:  Why not play in the snow, Cooter?

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  Big Ones can walk on the snow because they wear extra 'skins' or 'furrs' on their feet.

Chameleon:  I'm sure the Big One would be happy to provide you with cat-shoes. 

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  Oh no.

Chameleon:  Why?  The Raccoons tread through melting snow, and many of the Doggies frolick in it...and the Squirrels dig in it...And many nights you watch the neighborhood Gray Cat pouncing through snow drifts...And all of them go bare pawed all winter!

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  I have never met a bear so I know nothing about going bear-pawed! 

Chameleon:  Cooter those are some wild, beautiful, green leafy, rainbowy blossoming little Spring-ing dreams you are circulating!

Cooter:  SHHHHHHH.  Let me dream on...Don't wake me now!

Chameleon:  OK.  Dream on Cooter.  But we're about to have a visitor and I know you will wake up for customary greetings then.

Cooter:  SHHHHHH I tell you!  Whenever something wake-worthy happens it happens, ok?

Chameleon:  OK, Little Cooter, dream on for just a few more moments.

Cooter:  I can fly with flocks of wide-winged gleaming birds and scramble the tallest sparkly trees and wildest budding gardens with dozens of the boldest flee-bitten squirrels in any given few more dreaming moments.  Now SHHHHH please.

Chameleon:  OK, OK, OK.

Chameleon:  We enjoyed many sunny days in the garden this autumn...and last night the Raccoons were wide awake because it was warm again.

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  Warm?!

Chameleon:  OK...Warmer.  The snow and ice was melting already.

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  There aren't any shadows today...so did you make it into this image some other way?

Chameleon:  It is difficult for most folks to see a chameleon hiding among red leaves...but if you look carefully...closely...!

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  Hey...I'm beginning to suppose you're pulling my leg!

Chameleon:  Not quite...almost...But I wouldn't do that!

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  I meant...as Big Ones say it now and then...I'm beginning to smell a rat! 

Chameleon:  Oh...really?

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  How come you don't show up in any of these strange shadow-box images the Big One captures of our strolls?  You always go along!

Chameleon:  Ahem...Yes...Well my vibrations cannot be captured the same way as your's and the Big One's by that ordinary device.  So...I often show up as an extra shadow...or something else.  Look.  See the extra bulge on the tree's shadow in the photo below?  I show up on the upper left side there.

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  Uh...hmmm...uh...well.  I don't quite...Oh!  Ok!  I see now.  How tricky!  How fun!

Chameleon:  What a wonderful afternoon we shared!

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  But where are you in the picture at the top?

Chameleon:  You find me!

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  Also, what did those window watcher cats mean when they hissed that I'm 'too Big One oriented' for catkind?  And they expressed 'Big One' differently.  What's 'Servant' supposed to mean?  And they are very anti-string.  What harm is there in taking the Big One out on a string like the doggy-folk do?

Chameleon:  Ah...Well.  You nevermind about any of that Cooter.  There are many many pronunciations of 'Big One' among the many kinds of critterkind!  Just be your own self...with your own part-doggy and parts-of-otherkinds soul.

Chameleon:  Cooter, you didn't!

Cooter:  What?!

Chameleon:  Tell me you didn't really eat Beta-Fish's special food!

Cooter:  Oh but I ate only two by mistake while I lapped a drink right after the Big One dropped them in.

Chameleon:  By mistake?  Really?  Beta-Fish only gets two or three of those a day you know!

Cooter:  Beta-Fish could complain to the Big One and get more treats.

Chameleon:  Oh my goodness!  Cooter it is almost impossible for Fish Folk to complain so Big Ones can hear them!  And those aren't treats - those are the main course.

Cooter:  Don't worry...The Big One saw me slurp up those itty-bitty treats and already dropped two more in for Companion Beta-Fish.

Chameleon:  Remember, Beta-Fish is your special responsibility....You agreed to watch over Beta-Fish and make sure everything is A-ok in that fish bowl all day every day!

Cooter:  So am I sort of like a Big One to Beta-Fish?

Chameleon:  Well...maybe you are more like a 'bigger one' or the Big One's assistant.

Cooter:  Doesn't associate sound better?  I like the title Associate Big One better.

Chameleon:  Ok, fine.  I mean wonderful.  Really. 

Cooter:  So what are those tiny treats made of?

Chameleon:  I tell you another day.

Cooter:  You mean you don't know?

Chameleon:  I mean I do know but I am not telling right now! 

Cooter:  Why?

Chameleon:  You just ate....I don't want you to throw up.

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  Oh! How purrrfect! 

Chameleon:  Cooter!  The Big One wants you to look towards the camera!

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  I already looked at that crazy Big One contraption but it didn't do anything.

Chameleon:  The Big One wants you to look at the camera again, Cooter!

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  I'm busy now greeting all these favorite smelly springing flowers.   

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  There is nothing to do but lie around inside again.  The outside territories are getting thundered upon and even our front steps are wet and cold!

Chameleon:  Did you see the water creatures in the Big One's work screen?  You can watch fish and whales in Monterey Bay live all day with that gadget!  You can even watch Penguins and Otters.

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  Those water critters are huge...And I never dreamed so many would decide to live under water!

Chameleon:  That webcam only shows one tiny piece of all the wild edges of the deep wide seas of Earth!

Cooter The Toroise Cat:  Oh no one of those raging droning yellow monsters with the blinking rotating amber eye is turning onto our street!  They must love the rain.  Hurry and hide - it's coming this way!

Chameleon:  That's just another one of those Big One things - it won't hurt you.

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  Quick, help me hide!

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  I dreamed the garden was fat leafed and fresh smelly like the last 'warm days' and all the plants were wide awake and I had wings and I was flying underwater through secret territories in the holes I found behind the rocks way over in the corner!

Chameleon:  So you were a flying water-cat.  How splendid and wonderful.  You must be part flying-fish too!  Your ancient ancestors must have been amazing super-beings.

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  I was chasing amazing super-things but they all got away!

Happy Little Cooter & Catnip Mouse!

Chameleon:  Cooter!  Oh COO-OOO-TER!  Hey COOTER!

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  Purr...Purr...Purr...What?  I say WHAT?

Chameleon:  I was just checking to make sure you are quite comfortable this wonderful midwinter spring afternoon.

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  Oh yes, quite...Purr...Purr...Purr...Purr...Purr...(back to the dreaming).

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  I was running up the stairs as fast as I could but the Big One still caught me right away!  What does 'allergic to cats' mean?  The Big One says I cannot go running through the building like we do outside because some of the other Big Ones inside here are allergic to cats!

Chameleon:  I have noted over the years that many Big One therapists and doctors are indeed allergic to many kinds of beings and things.  Allergic means suddenly stricken with an unpleasant reaction from deep within...Big Ones with allergies just suddenly start sneezing and get runny noses and eyes or worse, even wheeze and have trouble breathing and swell up inside and out from allergic reactions...whenever they enounter certain other kinds of beings than human beings - I mean than other Big Ones...even in their imaginations.  It's almost entirely a human being - I mean Big One - 'thing' or complaint...nothing you or I can do about it.

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  Tiger Man sneezes and snorts when he's happy!  I miss the doggies and warm afternoons!  What does 'deep within' mean?

Chameleon:  It won't be so long before the longer, warmer days are here, Cooter!

Cooter The Tortose Cat:  But...what...?

Chameleon:  Cooter, just take a little nap...Then you will go deep within!   

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  The Big One carried me most of the way today when we strolled outside.  Almost all my favorite plants were asleep!  The smelliest plants stayed green and are still wide awake.  And the littlest birds were hiding in the snowiest branches singing away.  I could hardly wait to get back inside!

Chameleon:  Cooter, why don't you just curl up by the lamp and take another little nap?  Your dreams might be evergreen!

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  I took a bath with the Big One and I am already dry again!

Chameleon:  You did not!  You just fell in.

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  I did that on purpose...I have been dreaming of it a long while!

Chameleon:  You jumped out fast enough!

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  Both feet and my tail were under the water I tell you...and I lingered a little.  And I didn't just run away or shake!  Quite calmly I let the lamp light dry my fur as I savored this adventure on the window sill.

Chameleon:  Cooter that is amazing!

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  Some naps I dream of being a water cat!

Chameleon:  You told me you dreamed of wings!

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  I dream many dreams during many naps. 

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  Why doesn't the Big One just follow me?

Chameleon:  Well...The Big One goes along by a mysterious concept called Reasons.  But the Big One may also be caught up what is called the force of Habit.    

Cooter The Tortoise Cat:  I do not understand what I can do about it!  On some walks the Big One is easier to handle but on others the Big One seems crazy.

Chameleon:  Just keep tugging....Everything will be ok no matter what.

White Horse:  Walk the ways in a straight line.

The Tink:  Go ahead and lie down in the grass so the Big One will carry you home.

Black Horse:  I carry the Big One...Its fun.

Tigerman:  Keep pulling the Big One over to everything and anything interesting....Gobble the most interesting stuff before the Big One stops you!

Little Lucy:  I rarely use a string...The Big One follows me everywhere without any string attatched.

Frenchy the Dog:  If the Big One stops to bark at other Big Ones I begin loud howling.

Yellow Horse:   I use the string to communicate with the Big One as I pull a cartload of Big Ones along....I heard that kitty cats can't do that.

Cooter:  I have to stop and look around every several steps...I simply must.

Chameleon:  The Big One would go farther from home and stay out longer Cooter if you walked straighter and didn't stop so often.

Cooter:  Why go out if you do not stop to snif and nibble the plants along the ways?  

Orange Tabby:  I have never walked a Big One on a string in my life and I advise against the practice.  By the way...I stay out all night whever I want to.

Chameleon:  I bet you stop and look around every several steps!