"That settles it!" Pa proclaimed. A cheer rose from the spirited family members....excitement and electricity filled the air! That very day they started preparations for their western adventure....selling off the livestock, putting the land and cabin up for sale, and collecting needed tools, food and firearms for the journey. They were lucky to obtain many of their needed food supplies from the friendliness of neighbors. Hardworking and generous homesteading ladies like Lynn, Karen and Sherry donated dried fruits, canned goods, flour and coffee. Now Pa wanted to travel light.... just saddlebags, soogans, the bare essentials, a few pack animals and a remuda of fresh horses. Ma had a different idea....she wanted a wagon to carry the accumulated necessities and memories of a 25-year marriage. Needless to say, Ma won the battle of wills...Pa figured she was the one who'd sacrifice the most by this move to the West....so if she wanted a wagon to carry her beloved possessions, so be it. Since it was already late in the Spring, and Pa was not a man for doing things slow, he decided to use a six-horse hitch on that wagon so it would move right along.
Since a wagon was going to become part of the travelling family band, each of the young adult children wanted to bring along some of their own prized treasures as well. "Thar's only room for one item for each o' you youngin's, so mek it a special one!" Pa declared. Jay decided to bring a few sapling fruit trees and his favorite wine-making crock. There was no way that Trina could leave her four big dogs behind! Nanaboo brought her spinning trendle and knitting needles; Grizz his construction tools. Susan would not be separated from her prize collection of Indian arrowheads and relics that she patiently collected over the years…she loved to hunt for ancient artifacts. The family made quite a sight to passerbys....seven outriders, one six-hitch wagon and a remuda of horses trailing behind. Most people that saw them from a distance thought they were all men....this is what Pa wanted people, and potential outlaws, to think. Like the boys and Pa, the women wore canvas pants, big homespun shirts, boots and spurs, flamboyant neckerchiefs, large hats with neck-straps, some wore vests and Nanaboo, who was in charge of the horses, wore chaps. All eight of the party wore their own side-iron and cartridge belt, each had a Winchester is their saddle scabbard.
Occasionally, they would venture into towns along the way to pick up needed supplies. Normally they would leave the wagon and hobbled remuda at their camp and all eight would canter into town. It was almost like a parade, eight proud riders sitting tall in the saddle, bodies bouncing up and down to the rhythm of the loping horses, musical spurs a jingling. People would stop whatever they were doing and stare in amazement as they rode through town. They rode in a V-shaped formation, with Pa and Ma side-by-side at the apex and the six young adults in trailing left and right flanks that stretched from boardwalk to boardwalk. Yes, they rode in V-formation, like...like....well, just like a flock of wild, noisy Canadian geese flying North to their summer homes.
One evening before twilight, Grizz, the inquisitive one, was snooping around, just outside of their camp. He noticed something that confused him and as usual, made him curious. "Pa, will ya come with me to see these critters, they seem to be actin' mighty strange, " he asked. Pa and Grizz walked a couple hundred feet down the shore of the small pond they were camped on and Grizz pointed it out. Ma trailed behind the two men, she was curious, too...she wanted to know what Grizz had found. As she approached the two from behind, Pa called out, "Is that you, my love, sneakin' up behind us?" "No, my heart, it's a forest nymph ready ta bounce on you!" she answered back as she quickly ran to hug him from behind. She placed her cheek on his shoulder and her hand slid around the crook of his arm....she was content in the strength of her man. Pa felt her body next to his, her warmth and softness pressed against his arm and side gave him a wonderful feeling...a feeling he felt deep in his loins...deep to his very core and soul. The three of them gazed at the site Grizz had found. It was a nest containing eight cracked eggs and the bloody, broken body of a dead Canadian goose. Draped over the dead carcass was the long neck of a second goose that was still alive...but barely. Pa answered Grizz’s question about the site they saw, "Grizz, that thar is a pair of Canadian geese and their nest. It appears thet some critter found the nest of eggs, maybe t'was a fox or coon, or even a weasel. Seems to me like maybe the goose fought with the critter, protectin' her family and all, and lost her life in the process. I'm suspectin' that the gander was gone during the fight to feed and then came back to find the tragic scene. Bewildered Grizz asked, "Pa, why then doesn't thet gander jes take off and start a new family somewheres else? Why's he just layin' thar with his neck stretched over the dead goose?" "Well, ya see, Grizz," answered Pa, "Canadian geese mate fer life...thets the way God planned it. Nanaboo larned me thet baldy-headed eagles are another critter thet does that too. I reckon thet forlorned gander will jes pine away thar....sooner or later the elements will git him...or maybe thet varmint will come back and finish him off. One thang ya kin be sure of....he will never leave her side." To be continued.....

-- Cabin Fever (cabinfever_mn@yahoo.com), February 05, 2002

Answers

I look pretty darn good in chaps too! Grizz did I tell you I was a Posse member?

I finally got to read II last night and was rolling around laughing my kid wanted to know what was so funny. I tried to explain but they just don't understand. That's o.k. it's my fun!

Susan

-- Susan in Minnesota (nanaboo@paulbunyan.net), February 06, 2002.

Could you please name one of the horses after me? Thank you.

-- Susan in Northern Michigan (cobwoman@yahoo.com), February 06, 2002.