Free Falling

Stu had some short-lived thoughts about NOT letting go.

One last look into the eyes of the huge spider sent him on his way... continuing his descent into the chasm...

Free

Stu managed to wiggle free of the web and hung on.

He wondered if what he was about to do was really the right thing...

One try only

Stu knew he had only one try... one try only... so he hurled the handful of sand into the spiders eyes as hard as he could. This would buy him some time to try to wiggle free from the web.

Cave Sand

From all his crawling around... his pockets were full of sand from the floor of the cave.

This gave him a great idea... just like in the movies.

:)

Pockets

Stu quickly checked his pockets for something useful that could help in this situation.

Nothing but pocket fluff... no wait...

What a tangled web we weave...

Stu knew that landing in the web was better than falling to his death... but was beginning to have second thoughts.

Merry Christmas!

My cockatiel Maya wishes to express a feathery Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

God Bless You Everyone.

Net?

What an incredible stroke of luck... someone had conveniently placed some sort of net across the opening!

It was extremely sticky and strong, but it had broken his fall none the less!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Stu clutched tightly the useless rock fragments and screamed at the top of his lungs.

He was falling into complete darkness...

Woof

Stu flew thru the air with the greatest of ease... and then landed NOT exactly on the other side of the chasm.

His feet had nothing to step on for support and his little fingers were beginning to cramp!

"Oh my gosh!", he said as his grip on the rocks began to slip.

Francis!!!

The vine snapped when Stu was fully NOT ready for it to snap.

Instinct told him what to do next... flail and SCREAM, maybe even brace for impact?!

Rebel Yell

Lemmings aren't much for making noise... but it seemed like the appropriate thing to do before swinging on a vine over a bottomless pit!

Chasm

After exploring all the tunnels [which incidentally all looped back to the main entry],

Stu came to the last possible path thru the mountain... but it was impassable.

Dead Ends

Many of the dead-end tunnels in the cave were littered with bones...

perhaps of those that were less fortunate in finding their way in the labyrinth.

Cave Bear

It wasn't long before Stu discovered who's cave it was!

He tiptoed very carefully past a HUGE cave bear.

Snowballs

Meanwhile... back in the cave.

Stu, being a very resourceful lemming... found tons of good packing snow for marking the trail.

He didn't have to worry about them thawing either... until spring.

Joey

Here is another sketch of Joey the young rambunctious kangaroo.

He's looking out a window from his pouch-bedroom.

:)

Wormy Apple

Here's a worm that was in the apple I was munching on.

You know what's worse don't you... HALF a worm.

:)

Deloris

The loris climbed down near where I was sketching.

Looked like this....

Loris

I know this creature looks somewhat malnourished... but it showed up on my sketch pad.

I think it's a Loris. If it sticks around for any length of time... I'll sketch it more.

Kangaroo

A switch in the action to show you a sketch I did of a kangaroo.

I KNOW you are deeply involved with the adventures of Stu... [how very narcissistic of me]

...but I wanted to post this.

:)

Tunnels upon Tunnels

It was a veritable lemming wonderland... tunnels all over the place.

The biggest problem was going to be NOT GETTING LOST.

Had he dug these tunnels, he would know them all... but this could be dangerous.

He needed a plan... a map or a way to mark the trail.

A Tight Squeeze

Stu finally broke thru the cave opening.

From what he could see, the cave was fairly large and mostly dry... except for the snow he pushed in.

Diggin' It

Stu couldn't fit thru the tiny opening of the cave.

He worked up a good sweat digging out enough snow for him to fit thru.

Hidden Cave

Stu needed a dry warm place to get out of the bitter winter cold.

He barely spotted the entrance to a cave... the snow was nearly covering the opening.

Dive for Safety

When the iceberg drifted close enough to shore that he figured he could make it... Stu dove for it.

He gave it everthing he had... it was all or nothing!

Meltdown

Iceberg riding is only fun until the sun comes out.

Stu found himself in a real pickle and shore was waaaaaay too far off.

Sharks

The whole adventure of catching an iceberg for a lift suddenly became a BAD idea.

Iceberg

Stu came to the edge of the sea and spotted an iceberg.

He hopped on and wondered where it was headed.

Walking backwards

Stu had a great time walking backwards to hide his direction of travel.

He snickered out loud as he carefully balanced himself.

Anyone following the tracks would find that they end right at the home of a cave bear!

Snow Blanket

Stu was chilled to the bone.

He never expected to wake up with a blanket of snow covering everything.

He needed to find a nice warm cave to sleep in... this was just rediculous.

Ooogh!

Eating bugs wouldn't be so bad if you didn't have to see their little faces.

The squirmy legs don't help much either!

Thank God they don't make much noise!

Eating Bugs

Stu's rations ran thin and he found himself supplementing with some grubs.

This old log was full of squirmy little grubs that all scrambled for safety when Stu pulled back the bark. He kinda wished they all would escape... but his tummy wanted some.

Ancient Rudimentary Tools

Stu was exploring one day and happened upon what seemed to be some ancient rudimentary tools.

Early tools like these were used by primitives in early stages of development.

Amazing.

Thanksgiving

There is certainly much to be thankful for.

Stu could only imagine the size of bird this must have been!

:)

Stealth

Stu practices up on his stealth-mode by cleverly hiding behind a sapling.

Dead End

Stu figured this was the way out of the cave... up, up and out.

But only found that the vertical shaft got smaller and smaller and then... ended.

He dreaded the slow climb back down...

Low Spot

Stu knew the going was to be tough... but never expected it would be so tight.

This spot in the cave was so low he got sand in his face and pockets.

Trail Marker

There are tell-tail signs that a path has been recently traveled.

Stu sees an obvious marking, and wonders what or who walked this way.

Are they just around the next bend or miles ahead?... only time will tell.

Packing for a trip

I tell ya, packing for a long journey always has me second guessing whether I have forgotten anything or not. Stu's doing the same thing. Standing staring into his backpack, his mind runs thru all the stuff he might need for the journey ahead.

Fall has fallen behind

It's SNOWING in places and yet fall has just arrived here in Sunny Virginia, USA.

It won't be long before we will need to break out the rakes... while others are busy with snow shovels.

Things you Forget

We're supposed to learn from our experiences... good or bad.

Stu had forgotten how absolutely slippery banana peels really are.

Stu meets Dali

Does anyone really know what time it is?

Does anyone really care?

Does anyone think there's a song in there some place?

:)

Screwed

This is a bit of a departure from my typical sketches, but hey, there aren't any rules here.

A friend of mine from Venezuela broke his ankle and had to get two screws put in yesterday.

I think it looks a bit like this...

Tooth

Stu was looking at what appeared to be a giant tooth embedded in the roof of the cave.

You ever get that feeling like you're about to get eaten alive?

Earth

You know, when you step back and look at it... the earth isn't really all that big.

I'm not saying I would want to paint it or anything.... it's just that in the big scheme of things...

we're pretty tiny.

Outline

Stu stopped in this tracks. He had never see anything like this before.

He hasn't sure... but it appeared to be an outline tracing of himself.

Matrix Revolutions

Stu finds himself helplessly connected to the Matrix regardless of all the bad reviews.

He does find the need to unplug every now and again... but only for short periods of time.

Blustery Day

Wind sure is kicking up here today... it's the first REALLY windy day and of course it's the first day this week I decided NOT to wear my wind-breaker. Crazy.

I think I can make it rain too.

:)

Sail Duck

This was the last thing I saw yesterday in the intersection...

... just before the light turned from red to green.

I thought I would share it with you since it's still in my head too.

I really hate it when this kind of stuff happens.