The Diary of Belle Star

~ more stories from the old west ~

A Story I

My name is Belle Star and I would like to tell the story of an adventure that my love, Yosemite Sam, and I experienced.

We were visiting John, our foster mom's dad, at his country home. It is a joy to stay there as we receive excellent meals and treats and enjoy sleeping in a giant bed with John, our half sister Rose and John's boy Zorro. The best part of staying there, which led to our adventure, is the access to a vast area of ranchland with brush, tanks, creeks, and hills. There is an abundance of various critters to track, chase and dig up.

Our usual explorations are short forays into the nearby woods, but on occasion Sam and I go much farther. I say "Sam and I" as we are inseperable and have been that way for years, most of which were spent in an orphanage. Rose and Zorro aren't as interested in exploration as we are, as they have often seen the place for miles around and are satisfied to stay home.

I have this compulsion to follow Sam wherever he goes and don't know why, as he never follows me. This has led to problems finding our way home from our outings. He ignores my suggestions as to which way we should go and surely wouldn't follow me, even if I knew the way. Of course he's too proud to ask directions from anyone. We usually end up on a road that he assures me will lead homeward. Silly thing must think there is but one road that forms a great circle with home along the road, somewhere. His system works sometimes, but often he goes in the wrong direction on the "circle" and we are picked up hours later, sometimes after dark, by the others in a car.

Our adventure started early one morning as us kids rushed out to greet the day, which promised to be a bright and sunny one. Zorro and Rose went in, as they didn't want to miss breakfast. I wanted to eat too but had to stay with Sam as he was more interested in checking the place out. I was really suprised at his willingness to miss a meal as he is obsessed with eating, his 60# rotund figure will attest to that.

There was just no end to the new places to see, strange smelling critters to track and chase, as I've mentioned. So away we went, or rather Sam went, with me right behind him.

As the day wore on I grew weary and wanted to go home. My feet were sore and we had various thorns and stickers in our skin and briars in our hair. I was starved and I'm sure Sam was also, but he still wouldn't hear of going back, probably because he didn't know the way.

Finally it grew dark and we returned to the road on which we had occasionally travelled during the day. We plodded on and on as it became colder and even darker. There was no food to be had, and to make matters worse we encountered a skunk. Don't know how it sprayed me and missed big old Sam.

We kept going, hoping we would be picked up, as before, but it didn't happen. Finally we could go no farther and found shelter and some water in a "dry" creek bed. I was frightened by the various night sounds of coyotes yelping. Owls who-ing and wildcats screeching, but was comforted as I nestled next to Sam.

We started out again at daylight, traveling mostly on the road this time. It was very cold but the walking and rising sun helped warm us. We were threatened several times by big mean ranch dogs, and learned to avoid them. I couldn't figure out why we still hadn't been picked up by the folks or why the road never took us back to our starting place.

It was nearly noon when we met a ranching couple, checking their livestock. They led us (actually led Sam and I followed) back to their home. They gave us a biscuit breakfast and Sam even ate some cat food, ugh, while no one was watching. Something was said about the Trading Post and after several telephone calls, a little while later, the folks showed up! They had a lengthy talk about Sam and I and all were amazed that we had been gone 28 hours and were over six miles from home. Of course, that's as the crow flies, not as Sam plods.

The rest was anticlimax. I was so sore that I could hardly move the rest of the day and was unable to even follow Sam out to the gate to check the mail. Sam, for the most part, alternately lay in the sun and ate biscuits. We enjoyed a big dinner, with extra helpings, that evening and returned home afterwards. Mom spent the rest of the evening removing thorns from us.

We hardly stirred the following day but have since recovered. Sam and I will always remember our "adventure" and I'm sure I wouldn't want to repeat it. Sam never admitted that he had led us astray or that we were lost or in danger.

I'm sure Mom and John will also long remember the episode. They are good folks even though they walk around on only two of their legs...

A Story II

After our last adventure I wrote in A Story that I never wanted to repeat it. Well, it happened again!

It was in the afternoon and Mom drove off with Rose, leaving Sam and I with the cats for company. Mom has done this before, saying that they needed some quality time together. At first Rose was a little snippy with us, as she was used to having the place to herself before Sam and I were adopted... I'm getting along with Rose, better now, and sometimes we even play. I digress.

This time, though, they didn't return in a few hours, as they usually do. That evening one of Mom's friends came in and fed us, which was an ominous sign. When she left she turned the lights out, which reminded us of being alone in the dark during our grim years at the orphanage.

They didn't return that night or all the next day. But thank goodness! Mom, John, Rose and Zorro showed up late that evening to take us to John's place in his big old car. I enjoy riding in that car 'cause we have plenty of room to strech out. We munched biscuits on the way. Mom's pickup is fine but gets crowded with all of us in it, mostly because Sam takes up a lot of room.

We enjoyed a late but good supper and went to bed with full bellies. I especially like the sleeping arrangement, as I mentioned before, where all us kids snuggle together with John, in the big bed. I dreamt of sleeping with my seven brothers and sisters, next to our birth mom, as we did before we were seperated.

The next morning we had pancakes and eggs. Sam inhaled his meal as he usually does. The day was too cold and windy to stay out for long and we only made a few supervised expeditions to check the brush piles and underneath the buildings, all inside the fence. I say supervised because the folks were wary of Sam taking off with me following him ...again. I was glad of that as I have no desire to walk my paws off again. Of course, I must follow him.

The day was concluded with another fine meal, followed with an evening of play, conversation, TV and munching on rawhide strips and finally, a bedtime treat.

The following day was much the same, still cold and windy. We had more supervised outings, but around three in the afternoon Sam and I squeezed through the fence to join Rose and Zorro in the pursuit of a rabbit. Sam soon lost interest in their chase and started tracking a scent he wanted to follow. When he glues his nose to the ground and starts tracking he's oblivious to everything else, in this case the folks calling and my pleas to go back. Mom was even using a predator call she had been training us to respond to by giving us a treat as a reward for coming. It works fine at home, in the house, but not out here with that crazy beagle tracking something.

The rest of the journey was about the same as in our previous adventure. Sam ignoring the calls, cars going by and my begging him to go back. When he finally decided to get on the road and go home he was lost, again, and naturally, refused to ask anyone for directions. This time, though, he did turn around about four miles down the road and go back a mile or so. It was about seven, dark with freezing wind and snow flurries, then one of John's neighbors stopped and tried to get us into her car. Sam must have been too proud to admit we needed help, so he ducked into the brush. I'm much too shy to approach strangers so I stuck with Sam.

I must give him credit this time, though, as he found a cozy goat shed with lots of hay and even some sacks of some kind of feed and a water trough. He made up a bed in the straw as I opened a feed sack. We ate and then curled up in the hay. It was nice and warm and being next to Sam made me even warmer. I heard the cold wind whistling by outside and occasionally heard what must have been one of our pickups and the folks calling us. There was no rousing Sam, who by now was loudly wheezing and snoring.

At daybreak I'm sure I heard the truck passing by several times but was too sore and comfortable to get up. A short time later we awoke to Mom calling us, right outside! Sam was nonchalant as he strolled outside, streching and scratching himself. I was very glad to see her and provided a few tail wags.

When we got back home they were all excited to see us and must have thought we were starved, because we were given a big breakfast of oatmeal, eggs and weenies. It was much better than whatever that feed was, so we enjoyed it, especially Sam, the food fanatic.

It turned out that Mom had called the neighbor who had stopped for us. She didn't know that beagles visited here so hadn't notified the folks. But after learning of the sighting Mom figured out where we might be and found us.

As after the last odyssey, I was weak and sore and could hardly move. We were fortunate as there had only been four hours of daylight to travel in this time, unlike the last time when there was fourteen hours. I even had to be carried out to Mom's pickup when we departed later that morning.

As we drove away, Mom swore that she would never bring us back, but I'm sure she'll relent, in time.

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