I know I know, I drew a big horned sheep before, but recently Dave was on spring break and went backpacking with a friend, and returned with a story that put me back in mind of them. (Sadly, our spring breaks were misaligned, so at the key moment I was probably sitting at this very computer, perhaps typing a blog post for this very comic. REALIGNED!)

They hiked through a very slender canyon – I think Aravaipa Canyon, and saw a fair amount of wild life – at one point, the slinky, disappearing tail of what was probably a mountain lion. Unsettling.

However, the best wildlife story was unquestionably the morning when Dave and his friend looked up from their hike-work – quiet padding along, a slight huffing of effort, perhaps conversation – and saw not ten feet from them three big horned sheep. The sheep were perched on a rock ledge above them, staring in unison, their bodies tilted at identical angles.

There was a contest of wills. Will you move? Will we move? And then Dave and Toby (sweaty and bedraggled as they no doubt appeared) were deemed Not A Threat, and the sheep went back to quietly cropping what mean sustenance they could find on the rocks.

I like the idea of this. It is a story-in-image instead of in action – I can so clearly picture the two startled persons and the three startled sheep, all of them peering, peering, peering into unknown intentions.

– Unrelated, speaking of knowing the unknown, have you seen this? Playing with the Scale of the Universe
– Unrelated #2: if you also like Buttercup Festival, have you yet taken a look at David Troupes’s new book of poems? No? Shame on you!
– Unrelated #3: Congratulations to Josh & Amelia on the new Baby Birch!