Mikey, and his freckles, welcome you the month of March.
I was a good Mommy and gave Ralph a bath twice every week along with his course of antibiotics.
The first bath, he wouldn't get in the tub.
I had to pick him up and put him in there.
But, in true Ralph fashion, he soon decided that baths were really not that bad.
Especially when you get treats.
I'm not sure you know this, but Labrador Retrievers have a double-coat.
They have a top layer of long, wiry hair (Ralph's is NOT wiry - he's the softest retriever I have ever met) and a soft, fluffy under layer. The top coat repels water and the bottom coat helps to regulate their body temp.
Because of this, it takes FOREVER to get Ralph wet enough to soap him up.
And then, once he IS soaped up, I had to leave the soap on for 5-10 minutes.
"Are we done yet, Mommy?"
"Sorry, bud, 4 more minutes."
- INSERT GIANT DOG SIGH HERE -
We had some visitors.
While taking out the garbage, I noticed some rustling in the tree next to the corner of our house.
Turns out it was a racoon.
Maybe more than one.....
I named them Timmy and Tommy, after these guys.
March 5th marked one year of remote learning.
YAY?
I made them pose so I could mark the occasion.
They also got free special treats that evening to celebrate.
We decided to take a hike.
A bribe of a donut was used to illicit excitement about our adventure.
It didn't quite work.
It didn't help that we hiked about 15 minutes the wrong way.
Whoops.
Even Ralph was a little grumpy.
"Are they coming or what?"
"This is taking FOREVER. Can we go now?"
Finally, we got headed in the right direction.
Another 30 minutes and we were finally on the trail.
"YES!"
"'Let's go hiking,' they said. 'It'll be fun,' they said."
"Gimme my darn donut."
After a long hike uphill (it was only long because of all the whining), we made it to the top of the lookout.
And, typical for PNW hikes, it was foggy so we couldn't see the view.
It was snack time.
He came.
He saw.
He conquered.
She came.
She saw.
She wanted to leave.
I'm always on dog duty when we hike.
Which makes no sense, because Ralph just tries to be wherever Huzbend is the entire time.
Which is a benefit when going uphill - he pulls me up - but not so much going downhill.
Foggy, no view, eyes closed selfie with hikers in the background that I cropped out.
Hey, we try.
This marker was at the top of the hike.
We thought we were hiking up Cedar Butte....
But, must to Mikey's delight, the medallion said otherwise.
He proceeded to remind us that we, "hiked up a butt" the entire way down the hill.
Down we go!
Everyone gets poles to help get down.
I get a dog who I constantly remind to be "with me" and to "SLOW DOWN!"
SEE! It was Cedar Butte!
On the walk back to the car, I nearly stepped on this little dude.
I am VERY surprised that Ralph did not spot him and try to eat him.
Third quarter book project time!
This time, he chose a diorama and his book was about Master Chief (of Halo fame).
The diorama was done in steps.
There was a lot of painting, cardboard cutting and gluing.
He really took his time and did a good job.
On March 12th, the governor made an emergency proclamation that required all K-12 schools to provide in-person learning to their students.
Our district had already begun to bring K-5 kids back, but because of spacing issues, as well as the importance of maintaining the continuity of learning, had decided that middle and high schools would remain remote for the year.
Well, that all went out the window with the proclamation.
All schools had to have an in-person model by April 19th at the latest.
Because of the sheer number of students in our district - we're overcrowded - it was going to have to be a hybrid model. Hybrid meaning Group A went Mon/Tues, Wednesday was deep clean day with everyone home and Group B went Thurs/Friday.
There was also the choice to remain a remote student.
We chose to stay 100% remote.
It was hard to make that choice, but necessary.
Both kids were doing well with the online model and we weren't comfortable sending them back just yet.
March 14th was PI day and, this year, I was prepared.
I even found "everything free" whoopie pies!
Everyone got to try both.
It WAS a holiday after all.
As the days were getting sunnier, Ralph decided that he wanted to spend time on the deck.
In order to make him more comfortable, I pulled his bed out there.
Huzbend told me I was crazy and that he wouldn't use it.
Huzbend was right.
Sometimes, post-bath Ralph is just too cute.
The kids were still playing D&D twice a week.
Here is a picture of their party - The Death Guard.
Katie's character (Talos) is in the back to the right of the dragon.
Mikey's guy (Infernius) is also to the right holding the giant flaming sword.
On St. Patrick's Day I attempted to make Irish soda bread that everyone could enjoy.
I made both of them gluten and dairy free, but one was without eggs (Mikey can't eat them) and one was with eggs (Katie can).
Before....
And, after.
(In case you were wondering, the one with eggs was better)
That weekend, we once again volunteered with Whale Scout to remove invasive weeds and mulch around trees at a local park.
This time it was a bit rough.
We had to clear out a bunch of invasive Himalayan blackberry plants.
OW.
So. Many. THORNS!
They stick into everything, even your jacket.
There was lots of wildlife viewing this time around.
We watched an eagle land on a tree.
I guess he was too heavy for the branch that he had landed on as it broke off as soon as he touched it.
Then, he took off flying with this giant branch in his talons.
It was pretty funny and impressive.
Sorry I didn't get a picture of the eagle.
But, I did get a picture of the humans watching him.
As we were clearing the weeds and blackberry vines, a little mouse scampered about.
We found his little hidey hole in the long grass.
The kids were put on transportation of blackberry vines/mulch duty.
Pulling out the blackberries was just too painful.
So, they walked back and forth to the pile with their buckets.
Here's what we accomplished.
Check out the pile of blackberry vines and weeds.
Not too shabby.
This is the type of thing that your dog unknowingly carries into your house when you live in the PNW.
As we were getting close to the end of March, Mikey's community services hours were coming due for National Junior Honor Society.
Because of COVID, they had relaxed the rules a bit and allowed the kids to get their hours doing things in their neighborhoods and around their houses.
Mikey helped out by doing some yardwork.
Speaking of eagles....
We had two visit our neighbors yard.
They were pretty noisy.
I'm not sure what they were doing. Fighting? Flirting? Not sure.
Here is one of them.
The other one was obscured by branches and was below this guy.
Very regal.
This one took some time out for a little grooming, and then they were gone.
I just realized that I never showed you Mikey's finished diorama!
We walked over to the school to see what we would find there.
Mikey was disconcerted to see that trash was located literally three feet from the trashcan.
And, as we returned to our house, he found this trash in our yard.
"DAMMIT!!"
His back was sore at the end of the walk from all the trash he picked up.
But, he was now DONE with community service!
All he had to do was send in a picture with his application....
Sigh.....
Finally.
Endoscopy time!
As we worked our way through foods to determine what was causing the kids issues, they had to have follow up endoscopies to have biopsies taken from their esophagi.
This time, we were able to schedule the procedures back to back on the same day.
Katie went first.
And then, Mikey.
He enjoys the hair net that he has to wear.
30+ minutes later and Katie was done.
She said it was all worth it for the anesthesia induced sleep and for the popsicle.
This is actually a new popsicle.
I heard that she dropped the first one on the floor.
Ooops.
30 minutes after that, Mikey also came back out with a popsicle.
Both procedures were successful with no issues.
Now, we just had to wait for the biopsy results.
While spying on the current resident bunny in our yard, we discovered that we also had a baby bunny that had taken up residence under our deck bridge.
And, he was The Cutest.
The last weekend in March was best suited for cake pops.
Yum.
The chocolate was deemed yummier than the vanilla.
One last third quarter school project, this time it was a popsicle stick catapult for a tech class.
He had to design and build a catapult with the materials provided.
Here's the beginning of his design....
And, here is the finished product.
I think the farthest it shot was about 30 inches.
Not bad.
We continued to be amused by the super cute baby bunny who had managed (so far) to avoid being eaten by our dog.
HE'S SO FLUFFY, I'M GONNA DIE!
We were also entertained by the still cute, if not so fluffy, adult bunny, who nibbled our flowers.
Someone else was not amused or entertained.
Just hungry.
