Happy 4th of July, All!

Please not that the grass is finally mowed. It took six hours.

Toivo's Kitchen Perch

Is it the flowers? or the squirrels? or the bunnies? or the birds? or the butterflies?

Squirrel Still Life

While Dad and I were talking today, I noticed a squirrel in the trees - not at all unusual, of course, except that this squirrel stayed absolutely still for at least 15 minutes. I mentioned it to Dad, he says that squirrels do sleep along limbs like that.

Lady Butters Up the Mailman

Lady sprints to the front every time she hears the mail truck pull up. The Mail Carrier is also a Treat Carrier and Lady wiggles and waits in anticipation, watching as he approaches, house to house, from a few blocks away.

A Good Time Was Had By All

Dear Alex,

Thank you for coming to visit while your Dad was in Iowa. I had a great week with you, getting to know the young man you are so quickly becoming. You have a sweet generous spirit. I really appreciate how you take such good care of Lady, how you keep Toivo entertained, how you 'go along' even when some times, you'd rather not. Plus it was fun teaching you how to make salad dressing. So I'll forgive you for beating me at Cat-opoly and (some times) Chickenfoot! Next time we're together, we'll do the 12s and then take a late-night walk around the neighborhood!

I love you, Alex!

A Big Bear Hug to You,

Auntie Al

The Wicked Mulch Is Dead

It took us nearly all day but we killed the mulch pile, finally! Alex was a really hard worker today, shoveling and hauling, spreading and flattening. And the front yard looks so good now, all neat and tidy. And no mulch pile in the driveway!

Cat Tails

Toivo got more attention from Alex than anyone, ever! Mostly, she chased a string on a pole with Alex's hand at the far end, all over the house, up and down, over and around: a great cat game.

And here she says 'Thank you, Alex!' by getting all close and cuddly.

A Zoo Day

It was an amazing day at the zoo. Because the weather was cool, all the animals were out and active. Here we're watching two of the Asian elephants, the new baby Jade who was just born in February is around the corner.



Alex got one of the grizzly bears on his phone, they were SO close!



Here, everyone was wishing for fishin' poles! That's some catfish!

After walking around, we met Mz Ann and Stefanie for a Zoo Boogie concert, then came home for leftover pizza and salad ... and more chickenfoot!

Alex & Lady Are Buddies

Alex and Lady are real buds this week. Both are getting A+s for behavior and taking good care of each other.

It's Not About the Food

... even if, for breakfast, we did have a lot of fun making omelets in a bag, it worked perfectly and the omelets were quite tasty. But you see the Cat-Opoly? We played a mad round (with more Chickenfoot outside where it was a last beautiful cool evening), only giving up at 10pm when it was too much work to figure out how many "litter boxes" (houses) to sell back and how many "cats" (properties) to mortgage for Alex to pay $1200 in rent. Very fun.

We also made great headway on the gumballs, though it did take Alex an hour to get the first half bucket, one gumball at a time, thrown from four feet away. But he's newly inspired: the neighbor says he pays $20 a bucket and so he's done the math and figures he'll make a lot of money, enough to be able to afford a big house and a couple of kids. Cool!

Tuesday: "The Park" & Chickenfoot!

We can't remember why Alex turned but no matter. We have great memories of our Tuesday together -- oh no! our last Tuesday this trip. We took a long walk with Lady at Forest Park, learning all about the 1904 World's Fair and the luxury of a shady spot with a breeze, even on a rare 80 degree June day. We caught an outside table at the Boathouse (where dogs are allowed again, who'd think they wouldn't be ...) and ate pizza and salad. Later we came home and played chickenfoot until dark, our second day. Alex ended up with about 500 points, Auntie Al with 300 -- but after 10 of 12 rounds Auntie Al only had 15 points so Alex really truly had a chance to win out in the end, if only there'd been one or two more rounds. The big news of the day: Alex really truly does like beets!