Have You Seen the Whistle Pigs?

"I woke up with a song in my head Bren and it is to
the tune of "Have You Seen the Muffin Man."
I started singing in my goofy, robust voice,
"Have you seen the whistle pigs, the whistle pigs,
the whistle pigs, oh, have you seen the whistle pigs
that live on Boullion King?"
She looked at me across the kitchen table and smiled
and said, "If that's really what you want to do in
Ouray, let's go."
We hiked up from a trail called Falling Rocks
to about 9,000 feet in the glorious Colorado sunshine
and I began to whistle my chickadee call, followed by
my quail and pheasant calls.
"Look!" She shouted, "There they are! Tom
was wrong, they do come down below the tree line.
They came down because you called them."
I stared at the two fat groundhogs about 500 feet
away with surprise and happiness.
It was a tough two day drive from Seattle at 1,200 miles
in the blazing August sun but she needed her car
and when it comes to loyalty, I spell it with a capital L.
Earlier the previous day we got lucky in Toppenish
and the McDonald's counter girl told me the town was famous for murals,
so when Bren took a wrong turn going back to the highway
and I got to see over fifty really cool murals.
When we stopped in Ontario Oregon for lunch
I asked the waitress where Idaho was and she said,
"You're looking at it. Right on the other side of the bridge."
She smiled and said, "You'll like Idaho 'cause our speed limit is 80."
More like ninety the way we were driving to make it to
Ogden for the night. Tough work for Bladder Day Saints
determined to hit every rest stop in Washington, Idaho,
Oregon and Utah. It was getting dark a few hundred miles of
outside Twin Falls Idaho and we were getting nervous.
I suggested Bren call AAA and she did and the lady
told us we'd better stop at Trementon Utah for the night.
We got the last room and popped up at seven and cruised
through Salt Lake City and down down down to Ouray.
Coming into Ouray we stopped at the "natural" hot springs
for a rest break and after looking at the sunbathers
I decided humans could use a cute fur coat like dogs
to be a bit more attractive in their birthday suits.

"Here's A Dead Branch Honey"

I was thinking to myself,
"Why do weeds grow twice as fast as
my flowers?" as I sat on my little
plastic garden stool which has wheels
digging out dandylions along the road in
front of my house. I noticed two older ladies
walking down my road having a nice chat.
"We were just looking at those pretty purple
flowers yesterday." Said the shorter lady.
"Feel free to pick them anytime." I said
and stood up and smiled at them.
"Would you like to see my bird sanctuary?"
They replied that they did so I led them around
to mummy's wheelchair ramp so they could see
the birds bathing in my old Tupperware chip tray
behind the lattice under my fir trees.
We walked back down and I led them to the other
side where I had built a large brush pile
and added two more birdbaths with milk gallon
drips and a bird swing-set.
"My dog-walking friend Camille gave me
her daughter's old "Birds and Blooms"
magazines which taught me how to make my
yard appealing to birds." I said.
The ladies smiled and were delighted and
the taller one reached up and pulled a branch
from my hedge and handed it to me and said,
"Here's a dead branch Honey."
My eyebrows went up in astonishment but
I recovered quickly and said, "Thank you."
I had just put that dead branch there yesterday.