Charlotte’s Web

Dear Robynn,

One day, not very different from any other, the rat named Jelly woke up and thought she heard something from outside of her cage.

She peered out of the door, cautious at first. She wanted to see what it was that she had heard.

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There didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary. She was just about to go back inside when she thought she heard the sound again. She cautiously stepped out and tried to listen but it was all quiet again.

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Jelly thought that she should go and investigate to make sure. She held her head up high and sniffed the air carefully. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but she knew she had heard something. It had been the quietest tapping sound so that only her sharp ears could pick it up.

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She went back into the cage and woke up Cricket. “Come out with me, I heard something and I am too scared to be alone.”

So Cricket and Jelly ventured out together, both sniffing the air and
looking around. Cricket was braver than Jelly and took the lead as they searched.

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All was still and quiet in the house.

But then all of a sudden Jelly saw it.

And her eyes widened.

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It was a plump, long legged, slightly hairy Spider! Jelly squeaked and jumped, and ran back into her cage. But Cricket was not scared right away. She approached the spider cautiously. Very cautiously because not all spiders were friendly.

“Are you a nice spider, or a mean spider?” Cricket said. And the spider uncurled it’s long legs and said, “I am just trying to find a home. I do not like it in here, I want to be outside where I can build my web. But I do not know how to get outside.”

“You can hop onto my back and I will take you outside.” Cricket said. Cricket called Jelly back out of the cage.

With Jelly’s help, Cricket took the spider outside and into the back yard. There was a lovely wine barrel planter in the back yard that the Rice family had given to the Banta-Smith residence and Jelly and Cricket showed the spider the planter. The spider was very please and she built her web there.

The spider’s name is Charlotte, and she built a beautiful web above my strawberry garden.

Leap of Faith

Dear Robynn,

One day Jelly Bean the dumbo rat and Cricket the fancy rat were out playing on the dinning room table. They were having lots of fun playing tag together around and around their cage.   Jelly and Cricket were having alot of fun, but they felt that something was missing. It had been awhile since they had played tag with their daddy, and they decided they wanted to go and play with him.

Their daddy, RJ, was studying hard that day at his desk, and did not realize that Jelly and Cricket wanted to play tag with him. He had lots of homework to get through. The great and mighty Wizard of Java Script had given him a challenging assignment that he needed to complete before he could advance in the academy. Jelly wanted to go and visit him, but she was stuck up on the table and it was quite a long way to get down to the ground. “What shall we do?” Jelly asked Cricket.

Cricket peered over the edge of the table.

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“That is much too great a distance to jump.” Cricket said. But Jelly was not so
convinced. She also looked over the table and realized that Cricket was right,
it was a long way down.

But then Jelly had an idea. While the distance down was too great for her, the distance across was not so far.  She went back to Cricket “I think that if I get a running start I will be able to jump the distance from the table to the desk, because it is not so far.” Cricket was skeptical at first. She knew how far it was from the table to the desk.

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Could Jelly really do it?

Jelly was determined to find out.

Jelly gathered up both feet under her, and leaned over the edge.

“Don’t jump Jelly!” Cricket said, but too late.

With all her might she sprung forward.

But it didn’t work! Jelly fell straight down to the carpeted floor and landed with a little thud. She was a bit shook up, but not hurt. Her daddy saw that she had fallen and he scooped her up.

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He took a break from his studies and played a game of tag with Jelly and Cricket then. He also made sure to tell Jelly not to do that again.

“Be Good Jelly!” He said.

And most of the time, she is.

Summer Nights

Dear Robynn,

One day, Jelly Bean the dumbo rat and Cricket the fancy rat had a very big day. “I am so happy and tired from our race, we should take a nap.” Jelly said.

“We can sleep right here in this nice potted house plant.” Cricket said, “Because it is high and safe.”  They tried to nap in the potted plant in the living room. Cricket circled the pot several times to find a comfortable place. They dug a little hole in the dirt and nestled together. But Jelly couldn’t sleep! She felt something poking her side. It was a root from the plant. Jelly and Cricket could not nap here, there were too many roots.

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“We need someplace soft to sleep,” Said Jelly. “We should try to find some soft clothing.” said Cricket. Next they crawled into my bathrobe. They crawled into the sleeves and nestled down. But Jelly could not sleep. She was feeling much too hot inside the bathrobe. The fuzzy robe was too warm on a summer day. Jelly and Cricket could not nap here, the robe was too hot.

The story behind the picture

 

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“We need someplace cool to sleep.” Jelly said. “We will try this cardboard box.” said Cricket. “It is shady and cool in there.” They settled down in the instant Macaroni and Cheese noodle box, but Jelly could not sleep. The box was very hard and no matter how many times Jelly shifted she could not find a comfortable place. Jelly and Cricket could not sleep here, the box was much to hard. 

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“We should go back home.” Cricket said, “To our cage where there are no roots, and it is nice and cool, and we have soft bedding to lay on.” Jelly and Cricket cuddled down together on their shelf and fell fast asleep.

Jelly was finally able to sleep here, and so could Cricket.

The End