One might suppose that a pre-adolescent kid like Rusty would not have the moxie to take a hike in a forest in the middle of the night, searching for an alien or a supposedly lost camper. Well, it ain’t necessarily so. Many years ago my youngest son, who was 10 at the time, had the crazy idea to sneak out in the middle of the night and spend it at a friend’s place. He actually wound up sleeping in that friend’s family car, which was parked on the street!

Rusty clearly has a “go it alone” attitude like Mark. But is it enough? Well, Rusty is smart enough to take along Andy, a dog with a history of facing down bears. So I reckon Rusty has some smarts, after all. Now, will they be able to sneak away from the house without getting caught? Maybe we’ll find out Saturday.

I am surprised that Andy’s yawning is making me yawn! It’s midnight as I write this, so I think it is time to post this and then plod upstairs. I hope tomorrow will not be as gray and rainy as it has been for several days.