Mother Nature's Sense of Humor

This weekend, it pretty much stormed constantly, so outdoor activities were ruled out. The kids are in California with grandparents and cousins, so what did I do? I put a lot of my ideas on Dal's blog in an attempt to put some new thoughts out there.

If you want to see what I wrote, it was mostly on Seeker's story about abstract thinking. And some on The Nine Clues.

Diggin Gypsy and her sister, Sweet Tea, also posted their story.  During their search they found an urn in what was basically a snake pit. The urn was a simple white container with the word "Doc" on it. Was it someone's beloved dog? Or as someone pointed out, could it have been a DOCument? As Forrest said, "Sometimes it's wise for the fox to dress as the hound." And he did say that whoever found it had to EARN it. The urn they found looks sorta like this:

The real pic is on Dal's blog. It's a fun story...you should check it out!

Diggin and ST didn't open it, but they shook it before they were attacked by snakes. Personally, I don't think they were being attacked. Maybe the snakes were just answering the door. Maybe they would have invited them inside for cookies. Or maybe they were wanting to kill them. Who knows with snakes?

Anyway, they shook it, and said it sounded like ashes, so they didn't peek inside. I think they need to go back and peek. I don't think Doc would mind. You can find the story on Dal's blog under the title "Snakes Galore."

But the ashes got me to thinking...and the more I thought, the more it became clear that the poem might be about life. Why does Forrest refer to and hint at ashes so much? Because of the phrase, "Ashes to ashes and dust to dust?" We came from dust and return to dust. When we are just ashes, we are "leftovers of time," right? "To the dirt we are Caliph, and to the Caliph we are dirt." Just another instance of the idea that what is one man's trash is another man's treasure.

Not to be insensitive, but Olga and her father and Skippy, when they died, became ashes. Ashes aren't worth anything to most people, but to their loved ones, ashes are treasure. It's all that remains, something tangible, of someone who impacted their life in a big way.

And I really am starting to think that you do have to start the blaze to find the chest. A definition of found is start, and if you've brought the suggested flashlight (a lighter or match or even a literal flashlight--there's a handy Boy Scout trick where you can use a flashlight to start a fire), you have what you need. After the blaze has kooled quickly down, what remains are ashes. Forrest said that a part of him is inside the chest. So, when you lift the chest, Forrest, like the Phoenix, will also rise from the ashes.

I'd be surprised if I looked down and saw a chest that wasn't there a couple minutes ago. I would definitely have a marvel gaze.

The thing is, the place to start the fire would have to be safe. You can't just go lighting fires everywhere. Smokey is a bear, and he would not be happy, and you are not supposed to poke bears. So, where could you safely start a fire? A fireplace. A well. A cistern. A smelter. A kiln. Maybe those are the kinds of places we need to look. There are lots of abandoned free standing fireplaces and kilns all over the Rockies, and fireplaces are often the only leftovers of a home that once sheltered a family.

And didn't Forrest say in TFTW that his home on Main Street burned down? And I might be wrong on this, but didn't he say it burned down twice?

Maybe to find the chest, we have to first reduce the poem to ashes, then go to the spot, and again reduce what we find to ashes.

Maybe I'm right. Maybe I'm not. But I think I'm going to use my red letter theory to see what I can pull from the ashes. I already have a good idea of where it is, but I need positive proof. Somehow, the poem reduces to a location. Not coordinates or numbers, but a name. And I think I know it.

We will see!