A medley of poems

PIPPI

Cuddly, furry

beautiful and nice

brown fur, green eyes

KITTY

Buoyant

Ocean

Apple

Terrific

Kool

Amazing

No nonsense

State

Apples

Sodas

Terrific

Understanding

Fabulous

Fantastic

Yellow eyes

Smart Tuffy

Over generations the collar has been passed down. It was made in Egypt by the Pharaoh himself. Then it was traded and brought over to England and from there went to Germany. By then the style was out of fashion so it was really cheap. Nobody wanted it except for one family. And that is how it came into the possession of the Estabrooks.

Only three of the owners have known this and the secret was lost in the third generation. In 2004 the Estabrooks got a small puppy. Great Uncle Jim Estabrook saw in our Christmas letter that year the little brown dog named Tuffy. Because he did not have a dog he sent it as a Christmas present. Jim did not know that the collar enhanced a dogs intelligence.

We put the collar on Tuffy at Christmas and three days later he became as smart as a human. He thought his mission is to protect the good and defeat the evil.

Fast forward to 2009.

During the day while the family was on a bike ride Tuffy and his friend QQ the cat were wrestling when a cat came to the window. The cat meowed to be let in and said she had information. Tuffy unlocked the sliding porch door and pushed it open. When she was in she said that she had heard from another cat and did not know if this was true that a cat had seen a fisherman loading boxes onto his boat that did not smell like bait. The cat said she did know the smell of bait when she smells it.

Tuffy decided it was time to let the cat back out and hoped the family wasn't at the jetty. He ran to the jetty and talked to some sea lions about this. They confirmed that those boxes weren't food.

Tuffy decided to set up watch to find out what was happening. Because he had to go back to the house and QQ had to stay inside most of the time he employed a couple of stray cats and the local sea lions to find out what was there. Three days later his messenger out of the stray cats came back to him and reported that it was electronics. So Tuffy decided to put the site under maximum surveillance. The stray cats weren't in it this time but all the sea lions were employed to watch out for the boat although only 18 of them were required to be around the site.

When the family was out he decided to go and ask the sea lions if they had seen anything. They had got the name of the boat and the license number plate of the van delivering the electronics. The name of the boat was The Swordfish. The license plate number was WFE 523. He looked up the license plate number on the computer and found out that it belonged to a man in Corvallis with a record of stolen electronics. He turned on the TV to find out if the news reported a streak of burgularies in the valley. There was, especially in computers and televisions.

The sea lions came back to him with a keyboard that had dropped out of a box. They reported that this had come out of the van.

He ran to the police station to talk to the police dogs. At the end they came to the conclusion that the dogs would smell out the van and then go chase it. Hopefully the police officers would chase them and then catch the crooks.

The dogs chased the van and the police officers chased the dogs. The dogs and the police officers got to the docks at the right time. The police officers caught them unloading the stolen goods. The crooks names were Bob and Sam.

The End

Space Cats

"Wow, Loo, you and QQ are going to be space cats," said Hailey. "It's so exciting. I will make your space suits."

Ding Dong!

"I will get it," said Hailey. "Are you the space guy?"

"Yes, I am," said the space guy, Mr. Space Omlet.

"Wow! I am so, so, so glad to see you! My cats have been waiting so long. They are so excited!"

"Meow mow mow mow meyow," said Loo.

"He said it is very exciting to see you," translated Hailey.

"Meyow mow mow mow meow," said QQ.

"And he said he is so excited."

As much as QQ and Loo wanted to go to space, after 3 days their suits were ready and they grew to the size of tigers and because their suits were magic they still fit.

Via teleportation, Mia, QQ's sister, arrived in time to join the crew. "Ding dong!" she shouted. They were finally ready to go.

"50...49...48..." counted down Mr. Space Omlet.

"We, QQ, Loo, Mia, and Hailey are in SPACESHIPS!" shouted Hailey.

"Meeeeoooow, I in the rocket!" shouted QQ.

"?Donde estas el bano?" asked Loo.

"In principio erat VERBUM!" Mia shouted.

Mr. Space Omlet, the rocket person, counted down. When he got to "down," the rocket engines exploded!

"Watch out, QQ, we are going down!!!!" shouted Loo. Aaaaaaa! Boom! The windows popped open and everyone ran out the window and the rocket crashed.

"Are you okay, Loo?" asked QQ. They all asked each other if they were OK. "You? You? You?"

"Oh, look, a rescue team!" shouted Loo. An emergency rescue spaceship named Ice Cream came to rescue them from the crash.

"We are saved!!!! Hip-Hip Hurray!!!!! I am so happy to see you guys again." shouted QQ.

"Us, too," said Mia and Hailey.

My Cat is the Size of a Tiger

My cat is the size of a tiger. His name is QQ. He's 10 feet long and weighs 660 pounds. I ride QQ to school.

One day QQ decided to run to school. It was hard to hold on. I could not control him. Mr. Capshaw and Mrs. Rau told me that I couldn't ride QQ to school anymore. I had to take him home and I was excused from school for the day. Not expelled. Not suspended. Excused, because I had a cat the size of a tiger and they were practically paying me to take him away. Seriously, Myrna, the secretary, gave me $10 if I took him away in the the next 10 seconds. My friend Desi thought it was cool.

When we were on the way home, QQ started accelerating and accelerating. He went 60 MPH and we were home in about 3 seconds. We ran right past the house and did a U-turn and went straight to Nye Beach. The tourists started running and screaming and I yelled, "I can't control this thing!" QQ decided he didn't need to swim over the jetty. He could just leap. I laid down and used my arms and feet to grip around him. I didn't fall off, but I swung around until I was clinging to his stomach. It was even freakier than falling off.

QQ went down the beach to California. We saw the Redwood Forest and then we went straight back home. It only took 4 hours round trip.

We were home before my parents got home. My parents knew I was excused and about my $10. They did not know I went to California. The school called and said they wanted me to bring QQ back. A class wanted to see a tiger and there was no money for a school field trip. I said, "Okay! I'll have him there in 3 seconds if you want." Myrna said, "We'll see him tomorrow."

By then I swear that QQ was bigger than a tiger.

A Day In My Life, by La Paz the Lizard

The day ended like every other, I hunted my crickets. They were slow and easy to catch. A few minutes later the lights turned off.

As I fell asleep, I started growing. I grew until I was two feet long. I flew into the cool night air. It was a cold December night, but not too cold. I turned to look at my cage. I had pushed aside the lid to escape. I was free at last.

Dad was letting Tuffy out. I paddled frantically. Gas Pedal. Whoosh, 60mph, 70, 80, 90. Whoosh. Outside, 100mph, 120, 130, 140, 150, straight up. Great view. I could see the whole block! "Wee Beasties here I come." 300mph. I see it, I see it. Whoosh. Windy. Whoosh. (turn) Whoosh. (turn) Inside! "Hi Mom, hi Dad." La Paz told his parents that he had a new friend, QQ the cat. He also pushed his brothers' cage open and then released the crickets and his Mom and Dad and aunt and uncle and other big cricket eating lizards. He did not release Spot or the other Savanah monitor lizards. Too dangerous. They finish as the sun starts rising. I have to go home. 300mph. I'm there. I take a nap under the rock.

I read the newspaper on the cage floor. "I'm not the only one who knows where I went."