2026, July 13-19

We have just hit the Dog Days, but our dog has been feeling the heat for a while. Landon and Jocie came up for a visit, various deer let us fairly close, Eliza took to the trails, and we finished watching a wild World Cup. 

Now that Eliza has her e-bike, she has been going out a couple of times a day. On Monday while Mike was at lunch, she called and got to come join him and his coworker John. Mike made sure Hallie knew the girl was safe and fed. 

The heat really has been quite excessive this week. Poor puppy went out to play catch and spent the rest of the afternoon recovering. 

When she isn't riding or watching police dash cam videos on YouTube, Eliza has spent a fair amount of time playing video games. She and Landon have stayed in touch that way. 

Eliza also got a trail ride in this week. The riders got close to a moose cow up Pattee Canyon. 

Mike enhanced the little bee character he drew a while back. Eliza thinks we should name him Haaland (after the blonde Norwegian footballer). Landon and Jocie suggested Bumblefight. Hallie doesn't have a name for the bee. If you have any ideas, pass them along. 

Ferg continues mending, and he's now able to walk on all four limbs. Hallie caught this shot of him with his favorite human. 

Kai just loves to play. Hallie is taking at least one picture a day of him while we still have him. As of Sunday it is 24 days until Kai returns to Utah for good.     

We caught sight of deer from the local herd several early evenings this week once the shade started. We saw four does all in a row one day. 

Argentina played a hard-fought semifinal game against England to make it to the final. Mike got out his flag and good vibes. 

Eliza got herself a treat from Dairy Queen on her rounds about town. 

She and Mike are going to California next week. Ferg decided he might want to come along. 

Another "play with me!" pic from Kai. 

Along with the four does, we saw a pair of fawns later in the week. 

And then we saw three young bucks on another day. Someone online said that the deer get hot just like people do. 

Argentina has had a habit of late come-from-behind victories. We joked with Miguel and Priscilla that he had at least three heart attacks over the last week or so. 

Another Kai pic. Sleeping Beauty. 

Happy to be here. 

Landon and Jocie arrived on Thursday night. We got some Asian fusion from a local food truck, and Eliza decided to act a little goofy. 

On Friday, Hallie and the kids joined Mike and John at the Lodge. 

Hallie found the fawns with their mama on a walk later in the day. 

One of Mike's heraldry friends sent him a 3D-printed rendition of his arms all the way from Michigan! 

The girls ran a few errands over the weekend. They kept Jocie's parents up to date on their goings-on. 

Hello again, little fawns! 

On Saturday morning before the heat got too much, we walked over to the farmers market at Caras Park. Mike got his sweetheart some blooms.

Eliza took to the road, this time riding up Pattee Canyon all by herself. Unfortunately, on Sunday her battery died while she was on the trail, and Mom and Jocie had to come to her rescue. 

But that was Sunday. On Saturday, the kids went floating down the Clark Fork. They got caught in a little thunderstorm that cooled things down for a little bit. They chose to take cover under a bridge overpass for a bit until the rain let up.

Guess what? More deer! This time we saw them in the alley a couple of houses down while enjoying the cool breeze in our backyard. 

Kai (who was unleashed) thought he needed to take a closer look. 

Jocie caught a shot seconds before the dog sent the deer scampering. Silly puppy. 

Argentina faced Spain in the World Cup final. Unfortunately for Argentina, Spain played an excellent game and won in extra time. 

Hallie looks like she's ready for a month's worth of soccer games to be done. Mike held out the vain hope that Argentina would wake up and not bank on last minute hijinks, to no avail. 

Sad to see the GOAT not get another Cup, but the better team of the day won. Congratulations, Spain! Well played. 

While Mike finished watching soccer, Hallie took the kids shopping. Landon hates shopping, but he was the one who needed some shoes and clothes. So we went to Famous Footwear, TJ Maxx, and Kohls and then grabbed pizza at Front Street Pizzeria on the way home. Hallie said she is leaning towards Front Street being her pizza joint of choice from the ones they have tried so far. Mike thinks he agrees.  

2026, July 6-12

Fergus continues to heal, Eliza continues to ride, and Mike continues to hope for Argentina to earn back-to-back World Cup titles. Meanwhile, Hallie just wants the heat to go away. 

Let's not forget about Kai Puppy! He's with Hallie. We took him out back to play catch a couple of days this week, and he plays so hard that we have to remember to monitor him so he doesn't overheat. He was hanging out watching soccer with us. Dang, he is so cute!

Mike and Eliza went to a couple of local shops to try to figure out Eliza's tire situation and then Hallie took Eliza to another shop to buy a new inner tube. After work, Mike helped Eliza replace her front tire and get back on the road. Eliza has really taken the reins on learning what she needs to do to get her bike back up and running. 

Summer has arrived in town, and as we don't have air conditioning, we have to get creative in order to stay cool. Fergus continued healing, and early in the week it looked like his treatment was working and he would be back on all four feet. 

World Cup Round of 16 games knocked out several worthy adversaries. The US didn't make the cut, falling to Belgium, but Argentina squeaked by Egypt in a 10-minute turnaround for the ages. 

We have looked into getting a second A/C unit to address the afternoon heat. On Sunday, Mike put cardboard from our packing boxes in our east-facing windows to block the morning sun. It helped. A little. Hallie is grateful that he is creative.

The emergency vet directed us to take Ferg back to his regular vet in 7 to 10 days from his visit last week. The truth is that at 13, he's an elderly dude who isn't bouncing back from these run-ins as quickly as he used to.  

We spent a number of afternoons and evenings glued to our seats watching WC matches and chatting with the Melos. Hallie and the animals were waiting for Mike to get home as the game was beginning to start. 

A cake decorator at the local Walmart has gained a bit of local fame by making humorous "unhinged" cake designs. 

We got one. If you're not familiar with the sacabambaspis, check out the link.

On her Walmart trip, Hallie also got a plate frame to help with her bedroom decor. Three of the four things came from Priscilla and needed to have a special home.

A random UM sign popped up on Thursday near the Business Building. Kai decided he needed to pose in front of it. By Friday evening, the sign was gone. 

Eliza has enjoyed her new-found freedom. She makes jaunts to local stores and events. She even made a couple of videos of herself trail riding. 

Here is a pic Hallie sneaked of Mike about to experience his third heart attack of the week watching Argentina wait until the last few minutes of extra time to beat Switzerland and advance to the semis. 

When Mike took Ferg back to the vet on Friday, the vet gave the kitty a new round of antibiotics. We're continuing to give him pain meds and will get blood work back next week to see whether we can give him different meds, possibly including monthly shots for arthritis. It's hard to see Fergus hobbling along on three good legs, but the sad truth is that he's getting older and he probably won't fully recover to where he was at before getting hurt. 

Mike finally saw the pair of fawns we have in the neighborhood up close! 

Speaking of babies, Diamond, Caleb, and Baby Katara got to return to Oklahoma. They've sent pictures daily, and she's already growing so quickly!