Needed: Who's got a car?

I've got a set of giant squirrel statues I carved out of logs that need delivering to the Seat of the Squirrels. They are a commissioned work, paid for by the Emperor of Squirrels himself. They're mighty big, but there's only 4 of them. They'd fit in a truck, or a jeep.

@Pete the Girl? I hear you've got a truck. Also, @Pearline, I hear you've got a jeep. Anybody else out there? It's quite a haul up to the Seat of the Squirrels, so 4-wheel drive would be a good idea. I'd also be up for hearing from any flyers or teleporters, but it's strange country up there and it'd be safer to take it by land.

Thanks! And I'm sure the Emperor of Squirrels will make it worth your while.

Let me know online, or feel free to drop by my treehouse any time.

Aw, shucks. I busted the front axel on my rig running the BMX course on lower campus, so I'm outta commission for a bit here, @timberlina.

Hopefully @Pearline can take care of you. Her jeep looks sturdy enough!

I emptied my mail today.
Ads, ads, aha! A crisp white envelope, with a blotch of something amber. 4-22, Krezner. In normal handwriting.

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Bro! I need the TV back. Turns out we need to do some dumb history with a VCR tape that is about as old as the stuff we're learning about.
You know that chick I was talking about, the one-- Yeah, this is not for me. I resealed it and put it in the mail for 3-22 Krezner.

A brightly colored leaf, with pictures of happy people with sparks jumping out of their eyes.

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Do you need a place to work? Join the Union of Electrical Peoples! Help electric students find their place at PsyHigh.
-@Big Jim

Sorry Big Jim.
In a nice, sky-blue envelope:

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Hey, P!

I was going to ask you today in obscure chem but I didn't get a chance: you were already out the door! I have done a few commissions for the Squirrel Empire. Anyway, the statues are heavy and I need you to drive your Jeep up the hill to the Seat of the Squirrels.
Thanks!
-@timberlina

Most definitely, Timberlina! I'll meet you at the bottom of the hill. I hope it's not too late.
Anyway, I'm leaving tomorrow to see my sister before she moves here.

You better drive up to my treehouse, @Pearline, because these carvings are mighty heavy. Each one's man-sized. Drive on the logging road and it will take you right to me.

I might be in class, so if I'm not there feel free to just load them up and take them. They're right at the foot of my tree.

Thanks so much! I owe you one!

It is quite a trip up there, though. Hope you make it back by tomorrow! If not, I'm sure the squirrels will treat you right.

I was a wondering how the drop-off of the squirrel statues went, @Pearline, as I hadn't heard from you and wanted to make sure that everything went alright with that.

Oh! And to make sure the Emperor of the Squirrels gave you his special thing. You know, to acknowledge receipt of the art. It's an old squirrel custom, and I'm sure he would have made a big show of giving it to you. But it's kinda important that I have that, in case he comes a calling and wants to see it.

Let me know! Also, hope you had a good trip to see your folk.

And thanks again. I owe you a big one.

@timberlina-
Oh yeah. The piece of paper that he gave to me while making squeaklike noises? I have it in my drawer! Stop by Krezner 4-22, and I can give it to you! If you want to stay and have a mug of hot chocolate, that would be great! We can maybe discuss Arts and Crafts, too. I think there is a possibility that we could start an art club, if you've picked up the news lately.
-პ

Thanks for picking up that squirrel receipt, @Pearline. I'll drop by and pick it up, but I'm going to try and make it from my treehouse to your dorm without touching the ground. So I'll be from treetops to telephone poles to roofs with my belays and hitches and we'll see how it goes!

Funny thing happened on my way to @Pearline's. I was headed through what we call the Transitional Urban Canopy -- where you move from pure forest into telephone and powerlines to industrial and residential rooftops.

The weather's been cold and wet, so my lines were a bit stiff and slippery, but with my crampons and carbon fibre gloves it was fine. A good day to be out and about in the treeptops, really, and I could even catch glances of the hairy spindly legs of mighty World-Weavers weaving this world as they do.

But I also spotted a surprise -- another Timberjack. I could make out our trademark red and black and red flannel from across the wires and roofs from about half a mile. I took off after them but couldn't catch up, and didn't get a response to my standard Timberjack messaging protocols.

Never did make it to @Pearline's. Had to head to shop class.

Here's the entry from my old Timberjack manual:

================
Many, many winters ago, the first Timberjacks lived in the mighty World Tree, the largest tree in the largest forest of the land. And they called this tree Leonard.

Leonard was large, and grew larger by the century. Timberjack shanties hung like pine cones as high as the eye could see in its mighty boughs. Through time, pods of Timberjacks living near one another developed their own ways of sawing, climbing, and carving; and of yodeling and dancing as well. Each adapted their ways to their specific niche biomes of Leonard the World Tree.

As these groups of Timberjacks grew their own unique cultures, they began to grow different approaches to caring for Leonard, their host. Some advocated trimming, others vehemently opposed it. Some gathered the needles that fell to the forest floor, others put them back.

While the groups of Timberjacks squabbled among themselves, Leonard grew old. The Timberjacks grew more and more focused on their differences, and less and less on Leonard's state.

So when the mighty storm came, with its lightning wind, Leonard was struck down, sheared in half by the tempest.

Maybe Leonard was just old.

It was at that time that the Timberjacks were scattered to the four winds, and developed the original schools from which the ones we know are derived. These original schools include Western Juniper, Pond Cyprus, Limber Pine, the Larch... all the names you know from the Recitation of the Families we read at Yuletide.

While the modern schools have taken on different names, and examined the best forestry practices of the past, our squabbles remain. But we must recollect that Leonard really resides in all trees, that all trees are the World Tree, and in fact, the whole world really is just a tree, and if you climb up high enough you'll get to next week.

--- Blueberry Bob Henderson, from the introduction to The Timberjack Manual, 9th Edition, published by Timbertown Press, 1994

I spend a lot of time alone at the treehouse. And that's by design. Timberjacks are generally a solitary lot, though we are connected through our Schools. Yellow Birch School has its patch, and we look after each other, and are on good terms with our neighbors. But I left all that to come and be a part of this school, and my Timberjack brothers and sisters are far away.

So when I pulled out my saw the other night to play a few old Timberjack ballads, it almost brought me to tears when I heard another saw, plaintive, out in the distance over the woods, answering me back. Though we have different practices, all the Timberjack songs are derived from the same original melodies, so saw players from different schools can have a kind of dialogue through approaching the same melodies. It's like all of us each know a piece of the bigger song - the song we have forgotten. And when players from different schools play together, you get a glimpse of the bigger picture.

Out over the top of the forest I could see those hairy spindly arms of the World-Weavers, sewing up the woods with night.