Back home after an emotionally harrowing two weeks. My Mother is finally put to rest, may the Gods bless her soul. Due to an eight hour time difference, I was wide awake at 4AM, by the the time first rays of light appeared on the horizon, I was out the door walking Boo.
I kept her on the leash, as we have some new people staying on site and didn't want her bounding over  to them, not very likely at this time in the morning. She hates being on the lead and was pulling like a Tasmanian Devil. When finally I could take no more and released her, she darted in to a nearby thicket from where a huge bull Elk stampeded out of the other side . The Elk charged past me careering through the dark forest, followed by Boo in hot pursuit.
So the Elk was being chased by Boo and I was chasing both of them trying to get control of the dog. They were both out of sight in no time and all I could do was follow the clatter and crash of snapping foliage. I ran like this for maybe ten minutes, then suddenly it all went deftly quiet, not a sound, complete silence. I called to Boo and whistled loudly, not a thing. It was then that I looked up and saw the most monolithic of trees. This tree was completely dead, it was burnt from the inside out and totally hollow, with an entrance facing me. I peered in and looked up to the grey morning sky, then down, a deep dark cavern of a hole, an entrance to another realm, a gateway.
I bowed my head to the spirits that dwelt there, I could feel them watching me. I knocked three times on the outside of the tree and asked to come back and journey at this place. A woodpecker tapped out a beat on the bark of an adjacent Douglas Fir. I took this as confirmation and planned to make a special visit to this place on my own, then continued my search for Boo.
After a good hour of calling and whistling I decided to head back to the house. I knew Tara would be pissed If I told her I had lost the dog but if she was meant to get lost it was just her orlog. For some reason I felt like the Elk had led me to the tree and that Boo would be OK. As I turned the corner where the house comes into view, there she was. Covered in crap and panting like a crazy thing. She sat up as if to say " Where have you been?"