Wildlife

Well it’s been a pretty slow week at the ole’ home front but at least it hasn’t rained…yet. It’s been warm, but really overcast until the late afternoon sun would break through much like the earthquake weather in California.

There has been a lot of wildlife activity here and tree climbing seems to be the sport of choice for Fuji and Mooch.

 Jan and I had fun feeding this guy Triscuit crackers at about 11pm one night…maybe not the brightest idea.

 

 

This was Mooch’s first deer hunt, notice the perfect stalking form.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s Fuji undercover waiting to pounce on that elusive bug.

 

 

Here’s Mooch trying to eat all Fuji’s cover.

 

 

Fuji has started to find this wheelbarrow a comfortable place to rest.

 

 

But Fuji never gets too much time alone before…

 

 

Mooch loves to climb in this tree and this is one of her signature moves.

 

 

I just happened to walk in on one of the cat’s secrete club meetings…they were smoking cigars but I made them put it out.

 

 

Mooch has become quit addicted to the cat nip and will do all sorts of tricks to get it.

 

 

Mooch being Mooch.

 

 

Jan’s orange lilies have managed to stay almost a whole week in the yard without being eaten.

 

 

“If that bird would just come down five more feet…”

 

 

Sebastian keeping an eye on the girls below.

 

 

And the last bit of wildlife to enter our yard this week was our neighbor Rich in his “Trailer Trash” costume…there’s really not enough time to explain this one properly so I’ll just leave it at that.

 

 

 

 Signing off for this week,

 

 -Mike and Jan

The Arthurs Come to Eugene

True Love

 

 

Friday, Paul and Steph arrived around 5pm with the boys in tow and a new Honda Pilot (insert “ooh” and “ah” here). We ate my special pulled pork sandwiches with pineapple rum sauce, baked beans, and potato salad for dinner while Zach and Nate had homemade chicken nuggets, yogurt, and Haagen-Dazs bars.

 

Fuji was very tolerant of the boys and hung out and played with them while Mooch hid under the bed most of the time and Sebastian simply didn’t come home the whole weekend.

 

Zach and Nate having fun jumping on our bed.

 

 

Nate trying to coax Mooch out from under the bed.

 

 

 

Zach enjoyed playing with Fuji and the feather toy.

 

 

Our ten-foot Rhodie literally dwarfed Zach and Nate.

 

 

 

 

The ol’ Frisbee toss into the trees was a big hit with Zach.

 

 

We tried to get a shot of Jan’s lily before the deer could get it.

 

 

The big event for Zach and Nate was the trip to “Bounce” even though Zach got his big toe caught in the front door…ouch!  He still managed to jump on the trampoline for 45 minutes! What a trouper!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Afterwards we stopped at “Cornucopia” for lunch.

 

 

 

When we got home, Rich tried to sell me a pair of old shoes and socks…have a garage sale!

 

 

Later that day I signed Zach’s band-aid.

 

 

Paul and I enjoyed some very tasty rum and pineapple juice drinks.

 

 

Steph relaxed on the couch with her Kindle.

 

 

Sunday, we took the kids to Skinner Butte Park where Nate refused to get off the swings and Zach pretty much concentrated his time on the slide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mooch and Fuji expressed a sigh of relief after getting their house back.

 

 

Thanks Paul, Steph, Zach, and Nate for coming down and hangin’ out with Jan and I we had a blast!

 

-Mike and Jan

Memorial Day Weekend

 

We’ve been having beautiful weather here in Eugene so Thursday the top came off the Jeep without any fear it could possibly rain the next day.

 

Here’s a picture of Jan’s broken finger after being kicked in soccor.

 

 

Friday, Jan had dinner with Cynthia and Katy after work at Olive Garden for Cynthia’s pre-retirement party. It was girls only so I stayed home and made a dry rub for the country pork ribs and got them in the refrigerator. I also barbequed some various peppers, onions, corn, and squash.

 

Saturday, I traded my old tire chains at Les Schwab for cash then went to REI and picked up a pair of Solomon Techamphibian 2 Water Shoes for my sore feet.

 

 

Around noon, Paula and Sean picked us up and we went to Chateau Lorane for a wine tasting festival they were having on the lake. It was a great time of food, wine tasting, music and good friends.  The port wine was my favorite though I’m not much of a wine drinker.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Afterwards we went down the road to King Estates for more tasting.

 

 

Then we finished the day off with an awesome barbeque at Sean and Paula’s. Sean cooked up some chicken, pork, and hot dogs.  I tried all of it and can say it was delicious. We went to the park next door and Devon showed Scott the finer techniques of fly fishing while the kids wore us out on the merry-go-round.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday wasn’t as nice so I barbequed the four-hour country pork ribs with a fantastic pineapple rum sauce while Jan worked in the yard.

 

 

I finally finished painting and installing the cabinet doors for the spare bedroom. Mooch climbed a tree in the backyard and got stuck leaving her sitting out on a limb wondering what to do. Fuji saw her in distress and climbed up the tree right behind her then led her out of the tree by backing down. After Mooch saw that she promptly backed herself out and all was well in the cat world again.

 

Monday, Jan and I went on our offroad excursion that was about a half hour east of Cottage Grove and started across from the Rujanda campground. According to the fire ranger map this was a designated 4×4 road but I never even had to put it in 4-wheel drive which was pretty disappointing. We did traverse the ridges of June Mountain and saw some gorgeous countryside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once we looped back, Jan and I found a meadow to have a picnic and enjoyed our pork tacos and grapes for lunch.

 

 

It was a great weekend, thanks Sean and Paula.

 

-Mike and Jan