Baking

Despite the heat of summer, we learned a new bread for our dinner made of French-inspired dishes.  We have been traveling to all countries of the world for dinner as part of a challenge put forth by the kids. 

This is not an apple fritter. 

It is a potato from our garden.  

Hmmm. 

And kitchen time nearly needs a schedule these days, since the girls have decided to make dog biscuits and sell them. 

They better start selling them because this guy has become supremely spoiled in the test kitchen phase.

And their eyes were opened by the pricing lesson, which included learning that flour and peanut butter isn't free from the pantry. 

And we've taught ourselves regulations and labeling requirements over the last month or so. 

And I'll entertain all such endeavors because we could have spent all of 2020 like this, but we haven't.  And we won't.

Covid Animals

As the weather warms and the dog lays out in the sun, the cat finds more house to herself. 

And other than getting new accessories from bored girls, the dog is completely unaffected. 

Costuming

Jack the Lion. 

Man, he's a good sport.

He finally just gave up attempting to snatch this thing off his head and resigned himself to his fate. 

My Dog is Bigger Than My Daughter

Twelve years and still half the size of the dog.

Good friends to the end.

The Cat Escapes

 

I dropped the children at school during one of the last days of the year, and I returned to discover the back door had been left open.  The cat had seized her moment and escaped.  I spent the whole day while they were in school searching with no results (putting in about 10 miles that day), calling the chip tracking people with negative results (discovering the chip had never been activated by the adoption agency), and welcoming Patric home for Memorial weekend with a strategy talk on how to tell Elaine. Elaine cried for a minute, then got up and decided to search.  She took a walk around the block, walked in the house, and announced she had found the cat. She was hidden under the stairs to the back door.  The cat had gone all of 1 foot that day.  After failing to be coaxed out, Patric had to rip a stair out to get to her.

 

And all was well with the world.

 

The dog.  We welcome his ventures outside, particularly in the new house where there is space to chase the birds and any car driving by on the other side of the fence.

Unlikely Friends

The cat shows up in his room sometimes, at 3 in the morning to bat his face and ask for food.  And he says he hates it, but we kind of know that he loves it.

 

And in the new house, there is a little more room for the cat to move about between within the West Wing of the house.  The dog waits patiently for his turn to make friends.  The cat is not ready for that.

 

This Dog

Vicious

 

he is not

Benjamin, Please

Benjamin.

Seen here getting a pre-flu shot pinch from his brother as practice for the main event.

We love you. 

We enjoy your sense of humor and your ability to embrace whatever you are doing--no matter how much you protested doing whatever it was to begin with.  The day you threw a fit over going to the park for an hour to play knockerball, you were the last one off the field and the fullest of smiles. When we go on a walk that you never wanted to take, you generally find yourself rolling through the leaves and jumping and exploring and having a better time than any of us.

 

Please son, stop leaving your socks around the house.

You know the dog likes to eat them.  And you know he is going to throw them back up. And we all know, you will not be volunteering for the clean up.

One random Thursday evening

I'm not sure whether the dog enjoyed better the attempted kill of the skunk outside our door

or the bath that came after.

 

He had the thing in his mouth.

It sprayed 

It played dead.

It scampered off.

 

This all happened within about five seconds of Patric and I walking out into the night to take him on a short walk before bed, chattering away with each other for the first time the entire day as the leash flew from Patric's hand. 

 

 Brother, never a break.

The Dog

Is settling in.

A little more inside time.

A lot less freedom to run.

Getting used to walks on a leash.

But he will always want more popcorn.

Why so serious?

He just doesn't look as generally amused as she does.

UP a Tree

What do you have up the tree that you won't stop barking at during my meeting?

 

Oh, whatever that is.  yikes.

 

Oh, you got it.

But when it disappeared, where did it go? 

Am I going to run across this somewhere soon?

Watchdog

Watching

 

Stalking

Naptime

Perfection.

 

When I made the dog go to bed while we watched a movie the other night because he was not so relaxed, Alida pulled up a picture of him on her tablet, made a mock of his body with a blanket and snuggled in with her fake dog.  Not the same, but still pretty cute.

Care

Oh, we found a tick.

 

We'll just push you over here, so we can get that out.

 

 

Well, maybe we'll just push and pull you over.

 

 

 

Maybe it is a lost cause.

 

 

Maybe we'll just go at it this way.

 

I love the tenacity of a 9-year-old. 

 

Tactics

When subtlety doesn't work,

try a more direct approach.

Settled In

And after hitting the buffet on a Saturday afternoon, there is nothing better than settling in for a movie with the brood. I spent more time watching these two than I did the movie most of the time.

Homemade Pizza

 

Even the dog wanted a piece of vegetable pizza.

It was good.

 

 

Brother

Our Vicious Guard Dog

Yes of course the delivery man should be terrified to get out of his car.