At 43 years old, the question of who I am is complex. Mostly I’m a father then a husband and then a software engineer. Probably because of my small town roots, I maintain a relatively small circle of friends in the physical world. In the last few years that circle has expanded to many friends I’ve met on the internet and people with whom I have reconnected on Facebook.

My mind still tends to be ruled by logic although I think I’ve grown more empathetic/sympathetic to those ruled by emotion. I like to think that I understand the world a little better than when we were young together, but that may well be an illusion. I’m also much better at handling the hurdles and setbacks that life gives me occasionally.

The smartest (and luckiest) thing I’ve ever done is marry my wife, Tina. She provides me such a great alternate view on reality! We are dissimilar in many ways but alike in our resolve to live a good life together and raise our boys to be great young men. She’s an artist with great talent that she has applied to painting, scrapbooking, movie-making and number of other endeavors. I am jealous of her ability and don’t tell her that often enough. If you remember what an ass I could be at 16-18, you’ll not be surprised that I was not much better when I met her at 25. That she stuck with me through that time is a testament both to her loyalty and her ability to see the potential I had. We’re happier and more content with each other now than we ever have been.

My mother, who was sitting beside me, told me Graham had stepped backwards off of the stage, which is three to four feet high. Later, Graham would tell us that his foot had been caught in the four inch gap between the stage proper and the curtain rod that extends all around the stage. After watching a few people walk down to the scene with medically-trained purpose, I decided I better investigate myself. Graham was still laying on his back, holding his head and crying a little. Someone was checking his eyes for dilation and asking him questions related to head concussions. He was sweating but it was sort of humid in the auditorium. I suggested to him that we go sit outside and get some fresh air. After a bit, he agreed and Tina took him outside while one of the medical people took me aside and told me about concussion symptoms we should watch for during the next 24 hours.

I returned to my seat next to my mom and watched Thomas play with the fifth grade orchestra (to help them keep the beat). Tina and Graham came back in after awhile and Graham reported that his side hurt. After some discussion, we decided that Tina would take Graham to the doctor or the emergency room after consulting with his doctor. The doctor recommended that she take him to the Emanuel ER because they have a pediatric ward. Four hours later the ER doctor told them that he had bruised ribs, some soft tissue damage to his ankle and a slight concussion. Graham is staying home for a couple of days and has a vicodin(!!) prescription for the pain. He still has a headache today and his ribs are sore. Also, he tells me he is bored.

Thomas’ portions of the concert went off much better and nobody was injured. Grandma Ring especially enjoyed Serenade for Strings by Mozart while I really liked hearing the Halo theme again. They finished with “Shrek’s Nightmare” which was really fun and involved screaming. Thomas played in both the Advanced 7th & 8th Grade Orchestra and in the prestigious Chamber Orchestra, for which he arrives an hour early to school every day.

Thomas has also been playing music at home quite a bit recently since we helped him buy an electric bass and amplifier. He picked the Epiphone Thunderbird and we got a 10 watt Acoustic amplifier. We should have waited until school was out because he’s been spending almost every waking moment downloading tablature from the internet and playing it on his bass. He’s helping to pay for the bass by mowing our lawn this summer, a task I’m very glad to delegate to him. Thomas continues to be active with Boy Scout Troop 820. For the second year in a row his troop captured the Top Troop award at the annual Camporee competition. We’re very glad for his participation and the great influence that the older boys have on him and his friends.

As I mentioned earlier, I invited my mother to visit so that she could see the boys play and the timing was also right for her to be here for Graham’s 10th birthday. After mulling his options, he chose to get a new bed for his birthday. He also shocked his Grandma by insisting that we eat at Sushiville for his birthday lunch. Grandma is not very fond of sushi but she was a good sport and even took us all (including Uncle Buddy) to see Up, the latest Pixar film, at Cinetopia. It was tremendous and one of the best stories I have ever seen with no dialog or narration for the first part of the movie. We’ve also been to see Terminator: Salvation and the new Star Trek movie in recent weeks. We don’t go to the movies very often so this will likely signal an upcoming drought of movies in the very near future.

At the start of April, my employer decided that they would finally close the Vancouver office at the end of the month. If you recall, they laid nearly everyone in the office last August but held on to a couple of engineers to work from home. I was lucky enough to be one of those engineers. After the layoffs were finished, they kept my old boss on to work on a “short project” and continue providing support for our previously released products. Well, the short project went on for several months longer than projected and my boss continued working by himself in the Vancouver office. Once the project was finished and they decided to finally close the office, my VP called to tell me that I would be working in Vancouver until the office was closed. You see, part of my job description includes supporting our previously released products much like my old boss had been doing. During the month of April, he and I worked on current issues and he performed what is often described in the software business as a “knowledge dump” to me. I took pages and pages of notes and eventually transferred them to an internal wiki (I love wikis!).

Although I didn’t necessarily enjoy commuting to Vancouver every day again, the extended training session signaled that my employer is committed to my continued employment far into the future. I am now the only person in the company with the knowledge to support these older products and that is very reassuring to me, especially in the face of recent cost cutting measures that have been undertaken at the company. In addition, I’m also enjoying working as a Mac programmer again after having been away from “real” Mac programming since last fall. Management would like if I were able to spend a small portion of my time with these support issues but I don’t see that happening in the very near future.

At first I had some difficulty adjusting my schedule – i.e. getting up at 6:00 am to get the boys to school – but I’ve grown pretty used to it in the last couple of weeks. Discovering the coffee shop by Thomas’ school was also helpful in that area. Being able to work from home has certainly made this situation much easier for me, and my boss has been very understanding about taking time away from work when needed. Like most companies right now, EFI is under tremendous financial pressure and has seen a slowdown in sales in the last year. There have been layoffs because of that, but I have been lucky enough to avoid those so far.

Thomas turned 13 at the end of January and we had a low-key celebration for him. As usual he raked in a chunk of money and spent a couple of weeks planning how to spend it. He has been wanting a high quality set of headphones since before Christmas so I helped him pick out a pair by Audio-Technica which arrived in the mail today. He let us all try them out (or he showed them off) and they are very impressive. Much better than any headphones I have ever owned.

When I has a teenager, I felt lucky when my brother, Mark, loaned/gave me his Koss headphones which were very high quality at the time. They weighed about four pounds and all of the foam in the ear cups had mostly disintegrated. If I wore them for more than 15 minutes, they made my ears hurt but I still wore them for hours, probably much to my sister, Maridee’s, relief. Eventually, my brother, Kim, and I replaced the foam and rewired them. At some point, perhaps when I left for college, I decided that I didn’t need those headphones anymore and left them with Kim. I’m not sure if Mark ever got them back.

Graham had his Pinewood Derby last week but couldn’t go because he was sick. Thomas and I went in his stead and are hoping for the best when the results are made available during the Blue and Gold banquet this month. Once again we put off crafting it until a few weeks before weigh-in. Thomas and I were gluing his and Graham’s car just minutes before taking them to the weigh-in. Next year will be Graham’s last Pinewood Derby and we are determined to win it all then.

Graham has also become dissatisfied with his school. In previous years, he’s been able to attend advanced classes but our school district has had to cut their budget significantly this year and that option isn’t available now. He goes to a different school for their TAG (talented and gifted) program, but that’s only a couple of afternoons each week. He complains that he doesn’t feel challenged and is not learning anything because they are reviewing what he learned last year. I feel for him because I felt like that many times when I was in school. Still, it’s hard to convey to him how to be patient and just get through these things.

Thanks to all of you have kept us in your thoughts and prayers; sent gifts, flower and cards; or otherwise helped us out in our time of need. If nothing else, we’ve learned just how lucky we are.

0600:

iPhone alarm wakes me with “Sonar”. I get out of bed, put on yesterday’s clothes and check Thomas’ room. His alarm clock is rumbling but he is not in his room. I wander around the house looking for him until I find him in bed with his Grandma. I wake him. I take my iPhone into the Big TV Room where I check mail, Twitter and Facebook.

0615:

I confirm that Thomas is showering and then check Graham’s car to see if the glue has completely dried overnight. It has, so I sit down and apply a layer of wood putty to cover the shot pellets that will provide most of the car’s weight.

0650:

Thomas has eaten breakfast and has his lunch ready. I wake Graham and ask him if he needs a shower today. He replies that he doesn’t. Thomas and I depart for HB Lee middle school and I drop him off as his orchestra teacher arrives. On my way home I stop in for a large mocha but opt for only 3 shots instead of 4. Extra shots make me shaky.

0710:

I check on Graham when I get home and discover that he is still sleeping. When I wake him he is alarmed and says that he thought he could go back to sleep when I asked if he needed to shower. He gets up and has breakfast.

0725:

Graham and I drive to Margaret Scott Elementary. We beat the rush of dropoffs and I’m out of there in less than five minutes.

0730:

Shower, brush teeth and get dressed. Review daily to-do list, calendar, email and Tivo schedule.

0800:

Cued up a few episodes of Coverville and Drugmusic in iTunes. Started work.

1000:

Make breakfast: toast with sugar free jelly and a small glass of milk. Installed new stick of butter in butter dish from freezer for use tomorrow.

1100:

Sanded now-dry wood putty on Graham’s car.

1230:

Had Tina mask off the “neck” of Graham’s car and applied first coat of black paint to the top of the “body.”

1300:

Lunch. Leftover Papa Murphy’s from last night. Decided to eat it cold. Reddit and Digg reading while I ate.

1330:

Back to work.

1430:

Normally I would pick up Graham from the bus stop, but Tina decided that she wanted to walk there. It is several blocks away but she assures me she will be fine.

1500:

After a brief search for pinewood derby car painting rack, I made a new one (board, nail and hole in the back of the car). Applied second coat on top and first coat on the bottom. Set Graham to polishing axels and deburring the wheels.

1600:

Graham fell asleep in his bed. I peel the masking tape off the car and spray a coat of clear gloss finish. Thomas works on his axels and wheels before also falling asleep.

1700:

I finish Graham’s wheels and look for the graphite. Not finding it after a frenzied search, I start off for the hardware store to buy a new tube. Several blocks away I realize that I don’t have my wallet, although I swear I had it in my sweatshirt pocket. I return home and fail to find it in another frenzied search. I borrow $20 from Tina and head off to the hardware store again. Upon arriving at said store, I check on the floor of the back seat behind me and find wallet.

1800:

I painstakingly glue together the “pencil lead” weight that I bought at Joe’s the other day. These ideas always seem so much better before they are actually implemented. Graham is awake but feeling lousy. He won’t be attending weigh-in or school tomorrow.

1830:

Graham’s car could use another coat of glossy but there is no time: Weigh-in is from 1830 to 1930. Thomas and I glue on the axels and double-check weight. Graham’s car is over slightly so I clip off some of his “string” weight.

1900:

Thomas and I depart. I drop him off at his Boy Scout meeting and take both cars to the weigh-in. Thomas’ weighs in at 4.9 ounces (had been 4.95 on our scale) and Graham’s is a perfect 5.0. The glue is still wet but had dried enough so that the “strings” did not fall off when the scale guy flipped it upside down for the weighing.

1915:

I text Tina “I’m done” and head back to the Scout meeting. She calls and asks if I can pick up a thermometer. I drive to Walgreen’s and buy same before dropping back in on the Scouts.

2030:

Thomas and I return home from Scout meeting. I scrounge up dinner (I had missed spaghetti earlier while working on the car) and settle in for an hour of Rachel Maddow.

2200:

Bedtime

They are going to attempt to perform the procedure vaginally in order to reduce recovery time. However, if there are complications (details of which were explained to us but I cannot remember), they will make an incision for a laparotomy. They are equally prepared for either.

Tina’s mom arrived last night and will be helping out over the next week or so as Tina recovers. Since I’m working from home, I’ll also be able to help more than if I weren’t. We are lucky.

Update (13:00 PST): Tina is out of recovery and resting in her room. Pain medication is making her drowsy but she’ll probably be up for calls and visitors this evening. She’s in room 2406 at Adventist.

Update (14:00 PST): The doctor reported that the surgery went well. She called it an “assisted laparotomy”, I think. As I understand it, they made two small incisions to assist in the removal via vagina. Also, that last sentence is all kinds of wrong.

• Stanton to 162nd
• 162nd to I-84 bike path
• Bike path to Fairview Parkway
• Fairview Parkway to Sandy
• Sandy to 223rd
• 223rd to Marine Drive
• Marine Drive to 185th Ave
• 185th to Airport Way
• Airport Way to 158th
• 158th to Fremont
• Fremont to 156th
• 156th to home

Here’s my beautiful wife last weekend when she, Graham and I attended a wedding reception for my good friend Erik Rogers and his new bride, Rhonda. She even offered to drive home if I cared to take advantage of the open bar.

• Through the neighborhood to 158th and Sandy Blvd
• 158th to Marine Drive bike path
• Bike path past 205 several miles (turnaround)
• Bike path back to 205
• I-205 bike path to Fremont
• Fremont to 122nd
• 122nd to I-84 bike path
• Bike path to 162nd
• 162nd to Stanton
• Stanton to home

I hurt my back while at our neighbor’s BBQ over the weekend and spend all day Sunday laying flat on my back hoping for the best. It no longer hurt to stand up on Monday morning but it still feels a little “tight” at times. I have to be careful not to strain it any further. As I’ve mentioned before I heal much more slowly since I turned forty.

After the BBQ on Saturday, we drove downtown to see the annual Sand in the City sand sculpture contest at Pioneer Courthouse Square. Last year we arrived as they were cleaning up and Graham got to drop the bucket from a large skidloader onto one of the sculptures. This year was considerably less exciting but we enjoyed walking around looking at all the sculptures. After we had seen them all, the boys wanted to try their hand at a sandbox that had been set up nearby with some simple molds and wet sand. Tina and I sat on the steps nearby, talked and enjoyed the ambiance of “Portland’s living room.” We were only there a few minutes before Tina jumped up and yelled excitedly, “Grammy!” She had spotted some friends in the crowd whom she hadn’t seen for quite some time. They came over and talked for awhile and their daughter, who is almost exactly the same age as Thomas, joined the boys in their molding endeavors. After they left a little girl came over and said “Graham?” She recognized him from school and also tried her hand with the sand for a little while.

As the sun started to set, Tina and I convinced the boys to leave by promising them a Hawaiian ice. Although the sign promised “real Hawaiian shaved ice”, the vendor could only offer finely ground ice. We ate them on the steps while we soaked in a few more minutes of quintessential Portland before departing for home. It was a good day.

On Tuesday, we left Portland and drove up the Gorge into Washington, headed north to Spokane and then on through Coeur d’Alene. Although we weren’t able to use our new bike rack because of unexpected clearance issues with the Scion, another Scout family had plenty of room for our bikes in their gigantic flatbed trailer. We spent the first two nights at the Blue Anchor RV Park in Osburn.

On Wednesday, we took the long car journey to the head of the Route of the Hiawatha rail trail. Along the way, one of our vehicles suffered a flat tire and one of the boys found a .38 revolver on the side of the road while we waited for the tire change. Eventually we found our way to the trailhead and embarked on the most magical bike ride I’ve ever had in my life. The route is only 15 miles long and entirely downhill. We rode down at a leisurely pace and made many stops to read about the history and enjoy the spectacular views. I can’t recommend this trail enough. It takes very little effort and the payoff is unbelievable.

On Thursday we dropped off the bikers and a few of us drove all the equipment here (to the Wolf Lodge) where we settled in for the rest of the trip. The bikers (including Tina and Thomas) rode another 30 miles on another rail trail from Mullan to Cataldo. That night we celebrated one of the Scout mother’s birthday with chocolate cake, ice cream and homemade dutch oven cobblers. It was a sublime moment of comraderie and fellowship.

On our last day of biking, we drove out to Harrison for an “out and back” ride to Plummer along Lake Coeur d’Alene. Graham only wanted to go 12 miles so we turned around after 6 miles, but Tina and Thomas rode the full 32 miles, giving them a total of about 79 miles for the three days. Because of our slower pace, however, Graham and I were able to observe the local flora and fauna better than the hardcore bikers.

Today is probably the highlight for all the kids as they ride the rafts and rollercoasters. I volunteered to watch over the bicycles and the dog. I’m enjoying the solitude, though, and have been wanting to write about our trip since the second day. Tomorrow we pack it all up and drive home. We’ve been on many scouting campouts before but I think this one has been the best for getting to know the other parents. I’m very glad that we came and I’m quite certain that we’ll be back.

Route:

• I-84 bike path to NE Fairview Parkway
• Fairview Parkway to Sandy Boulevard
• Sandy to 223rd Ave
• 223rd to Blue Lake Road
• Blue Lake Road to Blue Lake Park
• Rode trails in Blue Lake Park
• Marine Drive to 158th Ave
• 158th through subdivision to Fremont
• Fremont to 156th Ave
• 156th to home via “the private drive”

After the three of us finished breakfast, we retired to the living room to watch Saturday Night Live on the Tivo from the night before. Tina and I became drowsy and drifted off to slumber. Thomas was still sleeping so Graham was the only one in the house awake for awhile. A couple of hours later we woke to find Graham watching Mary Poppins as it was recording on the Tivo. We watched about half of the movie before deciding that we should rouse Thomas and get ready for lunch at one of the three restaurants with which I had made reservations the night before. As we waited for everyone to finish showering and dressing, Graham retrieved our Mother’s Day gift from my office and presented it to Tina. She has long wanted a GPS and I found a great deal on a TomTom a few weeks ago. She was very surprised and delighted.

After reviewing the basics of GPS navigation, we set course for a 1:00 reservation at Newport Bay which has a delicious Sunday brunch buffet. Although it was very busy and the service was a bit slow, we were not disappointed. After we ate more than our fill, we visited our nearby Bike Gallery location to shop for a new bike for Tina. Since Tina broke her tailbone a couple of years ago, she has not been able to ride her mountain bike comfortably. When Thomas outgrew the bike we bought him a couple of years ago, he was glad to get Tina’s old bike. Graham inherited Thomas’ bike but Tina was left bikeless.

We had already looked at several bikes in the cruiser style, but we were both pretty partial to the Trek 7000 series for women. Simon, our helpful Bike Gallery salesman, put the 2007 model of the 7300 up on a trainer and fitted it for her. She really likes the upright position which doesn’t force her to stretch out her painful tailbone injury. After a little deliberation, we decided to buy the 2008 model since it has RapidFire shifters (instead of the grip-twist shifters). They didn’t have the 2008 7300 in the size and color (light blue) we needed but the Bike Gallery in Hollywood (another area in Portland not too far from our house) had it.

We stopped briefly at home to switch vehicles and then The Doctor (Tina’s name for her TomTom) plotted our course to the Hollywood Bike Gallery. After a quick checkup by the service staff and a minor seat adjustment, we rolled it out of the store and loaded it into the van. We were all amazed at how light it was as we lifted it into the van. It’s also much shorter than my bike so it fit quite easily into the back of the van.

Anxious to try out her new bike, we all mounted up our bikes when we got home and went for a short ride on the bike trail that parallels Interstate 84 near our home. Graham was cranky and refused to go faster than 7 mph because he was afraid of wiping out like he did a few weeks ago. He also said he was uncomfortable with the rest of us riding behind and in front of him. Clearly, we still have some work to do with Graham’s bike riding instruction.

After we got home we watched some more of Mary Poppins before we realized it was late and the boys would soon be hungry for dinner. We all piled back into the Scion and asked the Doctor for a list of nearby restaurants. After an instructive but unproductive foray into a nearby subdivision of which we were previously unaware, we headed east on Sandy and watched as the Doctor’s list of restaurants changed. Eventually, Tina came up with the excellent idea of eating at The Truffle Hunter, a fixture of fine dining in Gresham for many years. We hadn’t been there in years but it had recently re-entered our consciousness when we had to drive by it to find dryer parts. We had remembered that they served giant sandwiches, but we had forgotten just how big those sandwiches were. Everybody ate half of their sandwich or less and then we all indulged in a delicious dessert.

All in all, it was a pretty good day for everyone and Tina is certainly glad to be a mom today.

Thomas rode Tina’s mountain bike, Tina borrowed a friend’s single-speed “cruiser bike“, Graham rode his single-speed 20″ dirt bike and I rode my trusty commuter/mountain bike. My achilles tendon had loosened up since my excursions from and to work earlier in the week but my butt was still plenty sore. It didn’t matter much, though, because I spent more time walking my bike than riding it. At least it seemed that way.

I had expected the path to be relatively flat but I was very wrong. Tina and I hung back with Graham and Zack, one of the Boy Scouts. They both had a lot of trouble with the hills and had to resort to walking fairly often. After we finally reached the summit, we were all glad to tear effortlessly down the path. Graham pulled out ahead of us and I noticed that his steering was rather unsteady. Fearing the worst, I caught up with him to give him some tips on what to do when going fast. The first thing I told him was, “Keep your eyes straight ahead. Don’t look at me. Look straight ahead.”

He did look at me when I said that but I had expected that. I didn’t expect that his attention would be drawn by an island in the middle of the Columbia that we had been looking at from the top of the hill a few minutes earlier. He said something about the island and then noticed that in turning his head, he had also turned his handlebars. He quickly turned them back the other way, but predictably overcompensated and steered right off the path. There was a slight drop from the paved path to the dirt and rock shoulder and I think that’s what started him into his tumble. He soon met with one of the head-sized volcanic rocks that were all over the side of the path and came to a sudden stop.

All of this happened about 4 feet away from me as we rolled down the hill at about 18 mph. I was able to stop about 6 feet down the path and hurried back to him. Tina was further up the hill but had seen what had happened and was racing toward us. He was quiet when I first got to him but he soon began wailing. I made him lie down and I asked him where it hurt. He said his stomach hurt and his knees hurt. His knees were both road-burned even though he had on jeans and I think he got the wind knocked out of him. I felt for broken bones but he had none. His right leg had gotten wrapped inside the bike frame and the odd angle had pulled off his shoe. The look in his eyes was one of abject fear. Graham is a brave little boy and I have never seen him that scared.

He cried for awhile and then started to calm down. I went ahead to see what the rest of the party was doing and found them lunching. Much to my surprise, Graham came over the horizon a short time later and began describing his crash in the most grandiose and impressive terms possible. I took the opportunity to reiterate that he needed to keep his eyes pointed forward and he chimed in that he had been riding too close to the edge. He also said that he needed to “focus” more. On the way back, I rode behind him on the downhill and he did very well. He’s still a little wobbly with the steering but he maintained focus and kept the perfect distance from the edge.

It turned into a good learning experience with only slight injuries. The next day I adjusted the pedals, handlebars and seat on Thomas’ “old” mountain bike and Graham enthusiastically hopped aboard to learn about shifting and hand-braking. He’s looking forward to our next ride so we’re going to try to get out this week some evening. I don’t think we have to worry about him giving up on biking anymore.

Unfortunately, after using it for just a couple of days, the boys turned it on and it had the Red Ring of Death again. We tried to have it serviced by Microsoft ourselves, but the serial number is already registered to our friend so he had to apply for the repair. The good news is that he has already received the box for shipping and all we have to do is pick it up sometime.

We have been trying for several years to get Graham to embrace the idea of bike riding, but every time he crashes, he swears it off forever. The last time he tried it, he swerved off the sidewalk and knocked over our mailbox. I don’t think he would hurt himself during these falls as much as he would be frustrated that he wasn’t very good at it. We’ve been trying to “sell” him on the idea for a long time but it really became a sore point with him. Finally, last night Tina convinced him to try again and he finally “got it.” He fell down numerous times, usually when he was turning, but each time he got up and went again. When it started to get dark and was near his bedtime, we practically had to drag him into the house. The first thing he asked me this morning was whether he could ride some more tonight. I think he only needs a little practice before we switch him from the little 20″ BMX he’s riding now to Thomas’ 24″ mountain bike. Thomas has taken possession of Tina’s old 26″ mountain bike and we need to find a new bike for Tina soon.

Graham’s “conversion” came none too soon because we have several bike rides planned with Thomas’ Boy Scout troop this year. Next weekend we’re taking a short 10 mile ride in the Gorge and then a few weeks later we’ll be riding 14 miles out to Oxbow Park. This summer we’re going on a 4-day, 80 mile bike ride in Idaho. We’ll really looking forward to all of them. I need to get back in bike shape!

Aside from that, it’s been a very nice weekend here. The sun has been out and we even left our windows open last night. We spent this morning doing some yard work and then we let the kittens out but not for very long. It’s too hard tracking all three at the same time!

Thanks to Kathy Sue, we also have been enjoying a Starz Preview Weekend on DirecTV. My Tivo is overflowing with movies now and I’ve made most of them green (“Keep Until I Delete”) so we’ll need to watch some movies this week. We’ve already watched several including a really scary one with Luke Wilson called Vacancy. Tina kept squeezing my fingers when we were watching it and then claiming that I was squeezing hers!

Me: what?

Me: mouse?

Me: we should set traps again

Me: haha

I was able to guess the answer easily because this is the second we have found this year. The first we took from one of the kittens more than a week ago after they had eaten the guts out of it.

After I got home last night, I went into the bathroom and grabbed the towel in question. I took it out into the garage and put it into the garbage can, which is conveniently full to the top. I unwrapped the folds and found a positively live mouse looking at me inquisitively. There was no sign of blood and the little fellow look quite healthy. I quickly refolded the towel and went back into the house. “That mouse is still alive,” I whispered to Tina. The range of emotions that passed over her face was pretty amusing.

I found a plastic container in the recycling and dumped a little baking soda in it and returned to the garage with the intent of gassing the critter. I put the container on the floor and began to unfold the towel to dump the mouse into the container. Unfortunately, he landed right next to the container and took off under the car. Baby, who just happened to be in the garage with me at that moment, immediately pursued the new toy under the car. I assumed that he would emerge with mouse in mouth, but I was wrong. Soon he was digging around behind some shelves where his brother joined him, but they never caught the bugger.

When Graham got wind of the situation, he refused to go to bed. We eventually talked him into it, but I think that the presence of his nightly companion reassured him that he would be safe from any rogue rodents that might trespass into his bedroom.

Rory spent most of the evening camped in front of the stove intently looking underneath it. Since that was a prime spot for catching mice last year, I’ll put a couple of traps under there tonight as well as one by the cat food and one under the dishwasher.