one morning, when all the animals of the house had finally quieted down from their endless play throughout the night, enough for jon to fall asleep... a man came to our neighbourhood and decided to flush out the fire hydrant in front of our bedroom window:



Margie invited her new friend Piper (Tim's pup) over and showed her her favorite toy ball to play with in the backyard:


Piper begged Margie to show her how to play:


So, Margie brought the ball to Susan, to which Susan said, "Drop it!" and Margie did so. The Susan threw the ball all the way across the yard and Margie began to chase after it... Piper saw the chasing and decided to race Margie:


The exhilerating thrill of running... Piper ran...


and ran...


and ran...


To which Margie said, "That's not how we play the ball game."


So, Piper asked Susan if she could help her with gardening, to which Susan said, "no, get out of the dirt!"


So, Piper ran through the sprinkler, biting at the water sprays, and Susan again said, "No!" And Piper cried, "I was only trying to help."


So, Piper went back to Margie's ball, and Margie growled... so she got put in the kennel. But Piper, loyal to their new friendship, went into the cell as well to show her support:


The next day, Margie showed Piper how to play the play fighting game and said, "If you want to be a true Boxer, you need to learn to fight right!"


To which Piper replied, "Look - Predator attacking Godzilla!" and with her distraction techniques and quick lightness of her feet, won the fight.


Then they all went inside for some treats and lied down for a long nap. The only trouble was, by then, it was night, and Jon's sleeping time was long gone.

balloon animals

jon recently turned brenden and raisa into his marionette zombies, pretending he had friends for the afternoon:



then... signs of life appeared outside after an unbelievably long winter:


tulips that susan planted six inches underground last fall serendipitously one day before the first november snow.


iris plants reaching for the first april sun and sending their prayers to heaven for the end of the six-month glacial weather.

if only susan could have hibernated along with nature all winter. if only. (only 2 more months of feeling like a balloon animal, twisted, stretched, pulled, poked at, thrown up and down, withering over time, used up, and tossed in the trash. hooray!).