Tortoise Cat wags her tail waiting for a squirrel

"Squirrel went in there," meowed Tortoise Cat, "But I can wait a while and wag!"

Tortoise Cat: Why did the link list disappear on our blog, Chameleon?

Chameleon: The Big One explained Blogrolling.com might be linking by mistake to a bad website that could cause computer problems for our visitors. The Big One removed the blogroll until that problem is fixed.

Tortoise Cat: Could we link-blog another way?

Chameleon: The Big One is looking into it. You might have to open another Web 2.0 account somewhere, start all over and do it yourself, Tortoise Cat.

Tortoise Cat: EYOW! I would rather stroll and play with that squirrel who keeps hiding stuff in the rock garden.

Chameleon: I was kidding.

Tortoise Cat: Let's go out for a while before it gets dark! Look, that squirrel is hiding stuff in the Big One's trash bag!

Chameleon: It happens. OK, let's stroll.

Tortoise Cat wonders why the raccoons stopped visiting

Tortoise Cat in the Courtyard Garden Savoring Autumn Breezes and Sunrays

Tortoise Cat: Other cats prowling keep me up all night, asserting my territorial rights. I would rather greet the raccoons.

Chameleon: Those raccoons steer clear of you lately, Tortoise Cat, probably because of the terrible names, terms and threats you howled at the family when they trotted by a while ago. What a rumpus it was!

Tortoise Cat: How strange! I simply do not recall emitting a single tone that night, Chameleon. Well, anyway the flowery and breezy smells are preoccupying me now.

Chameleon: You are indeed much mellower most mornings, Tortoise Cat, especially after you simply stretch, stroll and nibble your favorite cat-grasses. 

Tortoise Cat dreads the end of Cat Grass Season

Tortoise Cat and the Next Generation of Thistles

Tortoise Cat: Chameleon, I smell hints of colder days blowing in soon. My paws and whiskers can feel the dark, snowy, icy season that I refuse to acknowledge by granting it a nick-name stealthily, steadily creeping up on us!

Chameleon: Oh, play on, Tortoise Cat. This year's Cat Grass Season will last some fun whiles longer. Weeds and grasses are renewing and thriving in our home territory, though our tree neighbors are shedding their leaves early.

Tortoise Cat: Does Cat-Grass Season last longer in the Central Valley of California, where the Big One wants to go and mark new territory?

Chameleon: Grasses grow through the darker, rainy days there, but need extra water during stretches of longer, hotter days.

Tortoise Cat Hastening Home in the Wind

Tortoise Cat: You know how much I dislike wind gusts and rain storms, Chameleon, but let us pack and go anyhow—before the first snow falls and all the puddles freeze over.

Tortoise Cat's muggy August afternoon

Tortoise Cat in the Rock Garden on a moist, muggy August afternoon

Tortoise Cat: My new favorite seat in our Rock Garden is the old red cushion the Big One almost threw away.

Chameleon: Good save, Tortoise Cat. It's too hot for your fur-suited, warm-blooded body to stroll, let alone prowl or play, so nap and dream on.

Tortoise Cat: My custom cat-grass patches are thriving within reach, so I'm content.

Chameleon: I'm appreciating the brighter, vivider colors and oders the dampness is bringing out.

Moving to another territory far way, some day

Tortoise Cat rests in a favorite territorial garden nook.

Tortoise Cat: The Big One mentioned moving to another territory! Why?

Chameleon: The rumpus of city life...? Winter snow impeding progress...? I don't know, Tortoise Cat. It must be an old longing for the first home territory.

Tortoise Cat: What do you mean, first home territory?

Chameleon: It's wherever one is when exploring and marking beings, like your first place with the Big One, two blocks westward.

Tortoise Cat: Where is the Big One's first home territory, Chameleon?

Chameleon: It's in a land called Central Valley, where summers are hot but dry with cool night ocean breezes. The way big ones reckon distances, it's much closer to my own home territory called Point Reyes Seashore.

Tortoise Cat: How?

Chameleon: I will shape-shift into a dragon and fly, Tortoise Cat. But you and the Big One will pack a van and roll along.

Tortoise Cat: A van? What is that? Must we roll dangerously fast like we did to and from the Big One's folk's territory during snow-season, way too far westward, but wonderful when we arrived?

Chameleon: A van is much bigger than the car you rode to the folk's place in and it will roll slightly slower. But, you will roll much farther westward and arriving will be...wondrously amazing. The ride to the Central Valley will take about five days.

Tortoise Cat: EYOW! What is "five"...?

Chameleon: Five is just one of the many, many words the big ones use to say "some"...but as cats count, the ride will take some days and nights.

Tortoise Cat: More than one and more than two, is too, too long a ride, Chameleon. When?

Chameleon: Next year, probably. And that's too long from now to keep on conversing about today, Tortoise Cat.

Tortoise Cat: Is next year after cat-grass season? Because this cat-grass season might never end.

Chameleon: It won't happen before the next cat-grass season, Tortoise Cat.

Tortoise Cat: OK, Chameleon.  Let us play, nap and dream through every day of this perfect cat-grass season that might last forever.

Tortoise Cat and Chameleon sunbathe then begin blogging anew

Tortoise Cat Foot Bath in the Rock Garden

Tortoise Cat: Why did the Big One delete our other blog so swiftly, Chameleon?

Chameleon: If Blog-City isn't going host individual bloggers anymore after a year or so, why stay on? Now is always the best moment for a new beginning!

Tortoise Cat: When will the Big One turn our old blog into an ebook?

Chameleon: We must keep pestering the Big One for it to happen sooner rather than later!

Tortoise Cat: ...Because the Big One isn't so swift, usually!

Welcome to the Tortoise Cat's new blog home

Image by Shamanic Shift via Flickr

We've started getting things set up here to leave our old blogging territory and start over, ASAP.

So check back for more, soon!

The Big One backed-up our old, longstanding weblog for future publication as an ebook, then deleted the site.

Maybe we can re-publish some favorite posts.

We apologize for broken links. Stand-by.