Checkin in from the Alien Ranch

Mom and dog....just a typical day. This explains a lot.......


Gypsy, my 9 year old English Pointer, and I watched the sunrise through the lacy leaves of the trees in the woods. For some reason we felt this would be an unusual day. The branches looked black against the orange glow of the first light. It was very still. There was a mysterious chill in the air that made the steam slithering up from my mug of expresso visable. Ruben, the black and brown, long haired dachshund that lives next door was barking. Why didn't the little, yellow school bus come today? Why were the birds not singing? The Girls, two donkeys who live nextdoor, were making a strange screaming sound. We scanned the feeding area with our morning eyes looking for visitors? The only thing moving was the sunlight as it wrought ghost like figures across the floor of the woods. Where were all our visitors? Why was Gypsy digging holes and burying things? Why did I have a sense of impending doom?
We shook off these uncommon events of the day, and decided to do some outside work. The previous owners had left a huge pile of beautiful rocks. Many I could just pick up and move, the rest I would move with my new dolly. The cairns I would build with them, would mark the perimeter of our driveway, our flower beds and our alien self parking area. Gloves on my hands, pulling the dolly behind me, I headed for the rock pile. As I lifted the rocks, small critters scurried for a deeper spot to hide. It wasn't long before I was uncovering scorpions, centipedes and snakes. All of them were acting strangely. I tried to build some cairns and couldn't because something was disturbing my ability to balance them. I decided to take a break and sit on the cabin porch with Gypsy. We noticed how different the clouds looked today. They were very unusual. Then, off to the southwest we noticed a series of very mysterious looking clouds. They resembled the cap on a mushroom. They were white, but, looked like they had a dark gray center. They were all sizes, but, they kept the cap like shape. It occured to us they looked like space ships. Then, we decided they were space ships, disguised to look like clouds. They were probably on a secret, surveilance mission. Hiding in the clouds, they would not be noticed except by those of us who look for them. Perfect. As we pondered this, we decided there was a chance one might land here at the Alien Ranch. Gypsy and I watched and listened, but, the cloud shrouded ships drifted on by. Perhaps, they would return another time. Perhaps, they would only land in the cover of darkness. Gypsy hurriedly buried all of her chew bones and checked to be sure the gate to her cedar post, rabbit fence was securely locked. She wondered if they would bring dogs with them? She hoped they would not bring cats. Rabbits and squirrels would be be fine. She stayed close to me for the rest of the day. As the sun was setting, she was in the cabin securing her toys and food dish. It was not that she was worried that aliens might arrive after dark, she just wanted to be prepared. She told me she thought if they came to the cabin they would be nice and bring her some of her favorite biscuits. She said they might even bring her chickens to chase, like the ones our neighbor Joe has in his yard. I noticed as she crawled into her pink, sheepskin lined bed, on her navy, blue leather sofa, she left one ear uncovered. She slept with her paws over her eyes. She wondered if tonight, here at the cabin, the visitors in the woods would be more exciting than the visitors in her dreams. As we drifted off to sleep in the eerie, dark quiet of our woods, we listen for the unknown sounds space ships make when landing and for the rustling of small feet through the fallen leaves on the floor of the woods. Are we alone? Probably not. Here at the Alien Ranch we are watching, waiting a listening, not for if they come, but, when.