Complete Mystery

I haven't seen Murphy (the cat) since Thursday night. He hasn't been begging for food, laying on my bed, on top of my clean laundry, at his normal post on the back of the couch... he has simply been no where to be found. Both Turtle and Murphy like to think they are outdoor cats. They will spend an hour or two, and sometimes longer outside enjoying "freedom." But one glance at another cat, or a simple hunger/thrust pain, and they are back at the door howling to be let back in. We've had another terrible thunder storm Friday night and it rained till nearly noon today. When he didn't come home after all that, I decided it was time to put up signs and call the animal shelter to see if someone had turned him in. But this evening when we were getting ready for family prayer, Murphy waltzed in to the girls room.

I have no idea where he has been, or how he got in the house. Friday we were total home bodies... the kids played inside most of the day... only going out in the evening for a hour or so, that night we ran errands until late, and today we did afternoon birthday parties and dinner at Diane's. So it's not like the kids were going in and out giving him lots of opportunity to come and go (which he loves to do)... and I locked the front door, so it's not like the neighbor just let him in for us (which she has done in the past)...

It's a total mystery to me where he has been, but we're glad he's back. Of the two cats, Murphy would definitely be the grater loss... he's got the best temperament!

New Wheels

For Christmas we purchased “big bikes” for the girls… they didn’t know we purchased them until one of the first warm Saturday’s when there was time to assemble the bikes AND get helmets.

For as much as they begged for big bikes, I’ve been surprised at how long it has taken them to get comfortable riding their bikes this spring. One fall and they are done with the bike for weeks.

For the last couple of Saturday’s Rebecca has asked if we could go to the store and purchase me a ‘big bike.’ When this topic first came up, GR suggested I go to the bike shop and purchase a bike there.

“What?! I don’t need a $400 bike, I need a $50 bike. Heck, I’d be happy to repurpose a used one. I need a very basic bike, nothing fancy, nothing expensive.”

Since we don’t get the paper and the only time I read the want ads is when I’m at the in-laws on Sundays, I’ve been looking at Wal-mart and Target. Both stores had what I felt was a pretty good selection and I was comfortable with their price range. The least expensive was around $50 and they went up from there, none of them being more than $200.

We started at Wal-Mart, and ended up purchasing at Target. GR was hoping to find me a bike that was more of a road bike than a mountain bike, and he was also interested in the number of gears it had. Most of the bikes at W/T are mountain-ish bikes… meaning they have wider tires with deeper treads.

We went riding for FHE tonight and Rebecca seems very determined to get rid of the training wheels. GR has told her when she’s ready to take off the training wheels she can get a basket and a horn for her bike, and she is very excited for that to happen. Emily is still in her processing mode. She isn’t very happy that her training wheels aren’t level with the ground (one is slightly higher than the other) causing her to feel less stable on the bike. After a minor tip, she was done, but I managed to get her to stick with it and not quit. She spent a good 15 minutes riding around the cul-de-sac with no major mishaps. I think with more good rides like this she’ll be well on her way to getting a basket and a horn, as well.

Postscript

Okay so reference was made in the comments to yesterday’s haircut post about Daddy's "Michael Landen" hair (at least this is how Mutti and I refer to it). Sam's hair was very 'Grandpa Art/Michael Landen' like before his first haircut back in December. I cut his hair on December 8th, and the Sunday before (when the picture on the left was taken) I got a lot of flack for letting it be so long. At the time it didn't seem long, but now looking back at its wildness...



For those looking for pictures of the Michael Landen hair trip to Utah... that was the same Summer Daddy, Grandpa, Joe and I went in the truck up the mountain to try and locate some land. There is an equally great picture documenting 'the hair' from on top of the mountain taken by Grandpa. I'm thinking it was 1990/1991, because in 1992 I was in MD working for Mike and Connie and that was the summer of the canoe trip to Canada... so it must have been before all that.