Roamin' Fergus and the Big Fight

Maybe it’s because former residents of our home used to own dogs, or maybe it’s because of the amazing weather. Whatever the reason, Fergus will not stay in the house. Most of the time he behaves himself pretty well, except when he doesn’t. This week he almost got into more trouble than he was worth.

Grandma and Grandpa B. tolerate his presence in their backyard, but he knows better than to stick around too long.

So, he goes a-roamin’ down the street into other backyards, leaving “gifts” which we would be happy to clean up if we knew where he left them. Early in the week, a lady down the street asked us to deal with him or she would have to contact animal control. We totally agree that he needs to keep his collar on (somehow he’s removed each of the ones we’ve put on him), but short of locking the kids in the house, the cat’s going to escape. We’ve made our peace with it, and we don’t expect the lady down the street to be happy about it, so we’ll have to make our peace with whatever actions she might decide to take.

Fergus has gotten into a couple of fights with a black cat in the neighborhood. On Thursday morning he came home looking pretty beat up and acting like he was in a lot of pain. Poor baby crawled into a corner and just crashed.

He even put up with Eliza's efforts to make him comfortable. 

We didn’t know the cause and hoped it wasn’t something caused by human action, especially considering our neighbor's complaints. After a call to Granny O. for suggestions, we took Fergus on a run to the kitty emergency room at the Central Avenue Animal Clinic. After an examination (which included a bit of a shave), Dr. Hanser confirmed that he’d gotten into a kitty fight, the punk. We sincerely hope the other cat got the worse of it, considering what it cost us to get him on the road back to full health. We got off easy, and we’re grateful to Dr. Hanser and that it wasn’t any worse. No more late nights, Ferg.

Pine away all you like, champ.

In other news, we enjoyed breezy warm weather that cooled over the week. Eliza and Mike went kite flying on Monday.

Hallie went to the dentist Tuesday and couldn’t resist getting Krispy Kreme donuts for Super Hero Day to give to some heroes we know.

Hey, Michigan and Canadian friends! Hallie found Sanders chocolate caramels and SunRype Fruitsource bars (we first discovered these on our 2006 trip to Newfoundland) at WinCo in Ventura. Yum!

Mike was able to stick around a little longer after volunteering at Landon’s school, and he got to watch the boy play some street ball with the other first graders. He holds his own on the court.

We had the missionaries over for dinner, and Elder Bailey entertained us with a unique display of talent.

The kids offered to show off some talents of their own.

Mom has taken to letting Eliza paint her own nails. The results are not at all surprising.

Eliza has started drawing (sort of) recognizable people.

She enjoys accompanying Mike and Landon on their trips up to school. On the way home, they like to stop to smell the flowers. These ones are particularly fragrant this time of year.

Eliza is a bit of a performer. Her she is as she cleans her room. Always the princess (congrats to the Royals, by the way).

While Mike worked on Saturday, Hallie took the kids and cousin Cru to the Home Depot to build garden-themed Mother’s Day frames.

Later in the day, Hillary and Sarah brought the kids treats and baubles. The kids sure love getting these little love tokens, and they'll miss their aunties when they move. Our neighbors are really moving, and soon! :-(

Party poppers, away!

As Mike didn't have meetings before church, the kids and he took advantage and rode their bikes to church. It's gotten to a point where not even the missionaries ride to church anymore, so we're a bit of an anachronism. But with the clear blue skies, warm sun, and cool breezes, what could be better than a casual jaunt among the blooming trees and flowers? On the way home, we even caught a view of a crimson World War I-era biplane as it buzzed overhead on the way down to the airport.

We celebrated seven years of Landon being part of our forever family. Hard to believe he was once this little.

Thanks again to Stacy Young from Three Winks Studio!