Oh, the fox went out on a chase one night, Prayed for the moon to give him light, He’d many a mile to go that night, before he reached the town-o… Huh.  I guess it’s “Chilly Night” but but we always sang “Chase one night…”

Well, I’m certainly glad that we have that all sorted… at least now we know that the work on the reservation will be sanctioned…

But let’s meet the furry little ferret…

Cute little guy, but apparently hell on earth for prairie dogs…

That’s what happens when you go from the clip-art drawer, panel two, to having to actually draw Mark, panel three.

Couldn’t agree more with the recent comments.  Lots of twine to ball up here, and now we have to endure a “little fishing” with the shape-shifting Rusty?  Or is this a tease like in days of yore?  Recall that Rusty actually got to go fishing on this blogger’s watch- in August of 2013- literally a first…

And it’s showing on Doc’s face!  In the last 10 minutes, Trail Time, Doc has aged back to and beyond where he was at the beginning of this story… And Mark looks more and more like Rusty! Eek!

Run, rodent, run!  Or you won’t ever get to star in a JLE production!

Now Mark has endorsement deals with Camera Companies?  Sort of like Andre Agassi with the Canon Rebel??

And yes!  AndysOwner is correct- Doc is looking like Benjamin Button– Aging in reverse… Aside from the white hair around the dome perimeter, his face is looking downright youthful… not the lock-jawed countenance that we have come to know!

That should only takes us a couple of months to endure…

And as Cherry turns her Precious Moments Big  Eyes on Mark, we see that they have little effect on him.  By the last panel, Cherry is wearing a scowl that would be Cruella DeVille blush…

Oh Doc, you are such a card… as you continue to throw logs on your daughter Cherry’s anxiety fire…  A Real Deathtrap!  Ha!  You are funny as a crutch…

Or the ghost-town could be full of ghosts!  We’ll have to find out…

Mark needs to get his high cheekbones and chiseled chin the hell away from Lost Forest, alone this time.  Like GEICO saving you 15% on car insurance, it’s what he does.  It’s what his readers want…

Whoa… now you just wait a minute, there, Doc.  We call you “Doc” because you are a VET, not an MD… can you even be legally administering a tetanus shot to a human being?  Why don’t you just go ahead and layer on a vaccine for Rabies and Distemper while you are at it? And unless the Bear stepped on a rusty nail, then what’s the point?  I guess we’ll find out tomorrow, unless we do a quick cut to Dirty Dyer on an airplane, crammed into coach, with his Safari hat lowered down over his face…

So much for Johnny Dangerous, I mean Dirty Dyer…  or Lee “the Huntress” Hunter.  Our story teller is going all Tarantino on us- asymmetrical plot lines that go back and forth in time and finally meet at a point.  OK, I can handle that.

So as Mark returns to the quote- scene of the crime -unquote, in SD, home of the Johnny Lone Elk ranch and (apparently) Tornado weather, he will be armed (or bogged down by) his NOAA Weather Radio just in case they can’t see the tornado coming at them from miles across the open prairie.  And Cherry will be left behind… muahahahaha!  MUAHAHAHA!!

Yes, I think we ought to be very careful in applying that label… Considering the magnitude of disasters lately.  Not much will compare to an island blowing up, after all… even if that wasn’t Mark’s fault.  And with regard to the “Water-World disaster,” Mark is once again considering the “All’s Well that Ends Well” defense… despite some apparent car damage… But what were the two of them doing at a theme park in the first place?  Maybe it was Mark’s Bachelor Party before he finally tied the knot with Cherry…

Mr. Owl sure look annoyed, as if he can hear and understand every word being spoken…But not half as annoyed as Mark Trail’s readership if we don’t start moving this one along a bit…

Girls Gone Wild?

By the look on Mark’s face, he’s had just-about-enough of all this discussion about whether he gets to go hang out with Johnny Lone Elk in South Dakota!   Even though he’s never actually said whether or not he’s going!  But it sure seems like he is…

And by “disaster” Mark, are we talking natural or man-made?  And what could possibly have happened at Wally World that has perhaps gotten you banned for life, at least in Cherry’s mind??

I am not even sure one could call this “Foreshadowing…” More like, “Look at my hand! I’ve got a Full House, Aces over Kings!”

Well, I still like Mark’s chances better than I do that poor rodent, who is about to become a meal, bones and all, for the owl.  Ever seen owl scat?  It’s fascinating.  If you are into that sort of thing.  Seriously, it’s comprised of hair, bones, feathers and everything that didn’t dissolve in the owl’s stomach acids…

So c’mon, Cherry, let the guy go!  He needs to go punch a tornado or something…