Chaos Critter Tails: Lost on the Snow Planet

Through an excerpt from his personal journal, Dante recounts saving Crokell when they were lost on the snow planet. And we ask the cool question, what food or drink warms you up?

Inspiration

Back in January, before the minor heat wave and the return of winter this week, Houston received actual snow. Turns out Dante had his own interpretation of those events.

---

Lost on the Snow Planet

Found in Dante's Top Secret Journal dated January this year...

I remember the snow planet.

The vast trackless waste.

No food.

Only frozen water.

And not a single toy in sight.

Only glaring white.

Something happened during the night. We lost our way and became stranded on a ball of sub-zero temperatures.

When I first saw the snow planet, I shook, starting from my nose and working my way through the black and white fur of my Miniature American Shepherd body. Tan tufts floofed out. The shake ended at my little stub of a tail.

I looked at my brother, Crokell. While I'm around 25 pounds, he's over a hundred. And he looked even bigger, cause of his long Newfie fur.

He smiled at me. "This is awesome! It's so cool."

I walked into the cold fluffy snow. "It's so soft!"

Crokell snorted. "It'll get wet after a while. It always does."

He flopped into the snow and stretched with a Newfie groan of pleasure. His black fur picked up a dust of white, making him almost a speckled gray. Like the horse to which many people compared him.

He shuffled to his feet, sneezing once. "Where are we going to get food?"

My nose was cold too, muffling the scents of the snow planet. "Never fear, my dear brother! We'll traverse the trackless wastes. I'm sure there's got to be kibble out there."

I watched large, soft, formless snowflakes flutter through the air. "I'm not sure where that will be though."

Crokell and I started walking. I broke path for him. The snow was over my knees! I jumped and leaped, making sure to leave holes large enough for his giant paws.

It was cold but nice. The more I jumped the nicer it was.

My brother was losing his will to go on though. His tail and ears drooped. He said he wanted to lay down, supposedly to enjoy the cold. So, I ran around and around him. Sometimes nipping his heels, sometimes chewing on his ears.

Without me, he would not have made it.

Instead, he would have laid down in the snow and been covered up with it - lost on the white snowy planet forever.

I saved my big brother's life.

We walked so far.

Even I had to rest.

For a minute.

But we went on and on.

I was forced to chew on Crokell again - to remove ice build-up from his fur. As I chewed, I tried to distract him.

"Did you know Newfies are why Saint Bernards have long fur? Aki was telling me about it yesterday."

"I don't know much about Saint Bernards.”

"You really don't want long fur in a snow dog, for exactly this reason. It collects ice. But the Saint Bernards only had one kennel, in a monastery. It had almost been wiped out, so they cross-bred with Newfies."

I left out the part where she said I was uneducated, and it was her duty as the princess to school me. Eventually Crokell perked up at the thought of meeting some nice, female Saint Bernards.

We continued the never-ending walk across the white wilderness of wonder and wandering.

Finally, in the distance I saw the monkeys. I ran to them, reassuring them all would be well. "I'll lead you home! I know you can't smell and always walk away from the house."

I led our pack through the soft snowy mess.

Finally, we found home den.

It was warm.

There was food.

And oh, so many toys.

Beleth was surprised I saved Crokell. His green Maine Coon cat eyes were so big and round.

Aki, the little Calico, was not impressed. She said knee deep on me is only five or six inches.

I decided, the important thing is that everyone survived thanks to my hard work herding them to the home den.

I am exhausted now. I must flop and nap until I am needed once again.

---

Chaos Tip of the Week

Always carry a thermos of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. You never know when you’ll be unexpectedly lost on a snow planet.

---

Critter’s Weekly Question

And our question this week is: when it is cold, what drink or food do you like to warm up with?

Take care!

-Anna and Tod