Up, Up and Away! Maple Sugar Farm

The house and barn at Sugar Maple Farm were set into a grove of big old Sugar Maple trees at the top of a big hill. You could see for miles and miles in all directions.Especially if you were in the hayloft of the Farmer’s barn. TigerLily and her brothers and sisters played in the hayloft often because like most cats they were good at climbing.

Yeller wasn’t. He didn’t have the kind of claws kittens had that help them climb.

He got very frustrated when TigerLily clambered up a horse stall and peeked at him from the hayloft mewing giggles when they were playing tag.

It just wasn’t fair and he’d “Yelp” grumpily at her and go find a corner to sulk in. He really wanted to go up in that hay loft and look around.

One day when TigerLily was in the hayloft she saw something beautiful in the Farmer’s south pasture. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

She had to show this to Yeller so she scrambled down the hayloft ladder and scampered out the door streaking across the barn yard to where Yeller and his brothers and sisters were wrestling in one big furry ball of puppies.

She could hear Yeller yelping when his sister flipped him head over heels. It sounded like he was having a lot of fun.

Yeller saw TigerLily sitting safely on top of a fence post out of the way and trotted over yelling Hello as loud as his lungs would let him. Yeller made a lot of noise every where he went. TigerLily smiled a sweet kitten smile and purred softly.

She led the way to the top of the knoll where they could see the South pasture and Yeller could not believe his eyes. What were all those brightly colored things in his Farmer’s pretty green meadow? TigerLily shrugged her tiger striped shoulders and led the way down the hill.

“Oh Michael, look at this pretty little kitten. She’s adorable with these tiger stripes and that little nose the color of Tiger Lilies.” said a beautiful woman with pretty green eyes and a nice smile.

“She sure is a cute one, Kerryn, but take a look at this little yellow pup that’s following her. I’d sure like to have a dog like him someday. I wonder what they are doing out here together?”

He leaned down to scratch Yeller behind the ears which made Yeller so happy he almost wagged his tail right off! What a nice human! Kerryn scooped TigerLily up and petted her until she purred louder than Yeller had ever heard her purr. He liked these people almost as much as he liked his Farmer and the Farmer’s Wife.

Kerryn was holding some colorful silky cloth up. Flames shot from a cannister that stood near Michael who was holding the opening of the big silky bag near it, letting the air inside get hot. As it billowed and filled with air they would gather more and hold it up and let the air take it as it filled up like a balloon. But it was so big. It couldn’t be a balloon could it?

Yes, it could! A hot air balloon. But the best part was yet to come!

Yeller and TigerLily sat down in the shade of a bush near the young couple to watch the people filling their balloons with air. They could scarcely sit still with excitement at all the beautiful colors and designs. Once in awhile they could see their Farmer and his Wife and their children moving through the meadow talking to the people filling the big balloons with air.

Suddenly all the balloons were full of air and towering over the meadow. Yeller and TigerLily raced back up the hill to watch the balloons. The Farmer and his family were already there watching the balloons taking off into the blue sky.  What a pretty sight!

Yeller barked and yelled as loud as he could to say Goodbye to the magnificent balloons as one by one they left lifted up in the air and left Maple Sugar Farm.

Then they heard familiar voices calling “Goodbye! Goodbye, Maple Sugar Farm! Goodbye little kitten! Goodbye Puppy!” It was the handsome young man and the beautiful young woman who had petted and played with them earlier.  They were rising up in a wicker basket attached to the most beautiful balloon of all.

Yeller danced around yelping his excitement! TigerLily weaved in and out between theFarmer’s legs purring her soft purr. The farmer’s son, Gabe scooped up Yeller and his daughter, Rose, gently lifted TigerLily up in her arms. They all waved goodbye to Michael and Kerryn.

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The Maple Sugar Farm Flood

This is a short story I wrote for my Grandson Gabriel based on a greeting card with the picture of a kitten and puppy sleeping in a basket. He’s seven. I hope he likes it. I really need to find a car with a big old ugly bug on it and write a story about that. He likes bugs best of all. <heh>

This is a story about a dog and cat but really it’s the story of before they became a dog and cat. It’s the story of when they were wee babies, a puppy and a kitten.The puppy’s name was Yeller because he was yellow like the sun and because when he was hungry he would yell in his funny squeaky puppy voice for his Mama to feed him her good milk. He yelled louder than all his puppy brothers and sisters.

The kitten’s name was TigerLily because she had tiger stripes but she was pretty like the summer Lilies. She had a  chin that was very white like Easter Lilies but an orange nose like the Tiger Lilies. TigerLily was very gentle and sweet. She did not yell. She mewed so quietly her Mama could hardly hear her.

Yeller and TigerLily were very happy with their Mamas and their brothers and sisters. Their Mamas loved them very much and took very good care of them. It was lots of fun to play with their brothers and sisters.

They lived on a big farm called the Maple Sugar Farm by a beautiful river named The Crawfish River with a very nice Farmer, his Wife, and thier family of little boys and girls. Life was very good for puppies and kittens growing up there.

Then one day it began to rain. It rained very hard. It rained very hard the next day too. The river got very full and TigerLily’s Mama got very worried. Her hiding place for her kittens was getting soggy. She decided to move her babies.

Mama Kitties have to move their babies one by one with their mouths so TigerLily’s Mama Kitty hurried because she had five babies. She decided she would wait to move TigerLily last because TigerLily was the smallest baby and Mama Kitty knew she was going to be very tired after moving four babies.

It was raining so hard it was hard to find a dry place but Mama Kitty found a place in the barn near where Yeller and his family lived. Yeller was very excited about getting new neighbors! He watched Mama Kitty move all her other babies and he could see she was getting so very tired when she went back to get TigerLily.

He ran to the barn door and almost fell over his puppy feet with excitement to watch her make that last trip to her hiding place to get TigerLily. It was still raining very very hard. The ground was all muddy and the river was beginning to flood the farmer’s fields. Yeller could tell the Farmer was worried but he didn’t know why.

Yeller was just excited and he yelled. “Yelp, Yelp, Yelp!”

Then he saw Mama Kitty coming across the barnyard carrying little TigerLily in her mouth. The rain was coming down in great big drops and it was thundering and lightening. BOOM! CRACKLE! BOOM!

Mama Kitty was up to her knees in mud and the wind was blowing her ears against her head. She was so tired she could barely pick up her leg to take a step.

Oh my… Yeller was scared for Mama Kitty and TigerLily. He could see they were in trouble. What could he do?

He did the only thing he could. He did the thing he did best.  He yelled. “Yelp! Yelp! Yelp! YELP! YELP!”

He yelled louder than he ever yelled. Then Mama kitty dropped TigerLily in a mud puddle and she meowed with fright! “Meow! Meow!”  Her poor baby kitten!

TigerLily was scared and she mewed too. It was a tiny scared “mewwww!” The rain was coming down in such big drops they were almost as big as her head. The puddle was getting deeper!

Yeller yelled some more. He yelled as loud as his little puppy voice would yell “YELLLUP! YELLLUP! YELLUP!”

The farmer turned to look at him and said “What are you yelling at Yeller?”

And Yeller danced on his little puppy feet with excitement until he fell on his head. But he kept yelping while he watched Mama Kitty struggle to pull TigerLily out of the mud puddle. The Farmer looked where Yeller was looking and ran out to help Mama Kitty save TigerLily just in time.

The Farmer’s Wife cleaned poor little TigerLily up and put her on a heating pad in a little basket to warm her up. They let Yeller come in to visit so he would stop yelling.

He fell asleep snuggled up with TigerLily to help keep her warm. Soon TigerLily was just fine and the Farmer’s Wife took them both back to the barn.

It stopped raining the next day and the river stopped flooding. Pretty soon the mud dried up and the Sugar Maple Farm went back to normal.

Yeller and TigerLily became very good friends and had wonderful adventures on the Maple Sugar Farm by the Crawfish River.

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