Bonny Portland

Olivia has entered the Oregon's Bounty Cuisinternship contest. Here is her entry. Soon, there will be a people's choice award vote. Please keep your eyes open and help her WIN!

Dion caught his first mouse, EVER, today!!! Congratulations Dion!!

I knew that my years of preaching to him that it was his one job, one that if called upon he better do well, would lead to this day. I always thought it would be Beenie, but Dion proved himself!!

The Story:
We are outside eating dinner. I had just grilled an arm roast from our 1/8th of a cow. It turned out great. Olivia and I each hear a sound. I ask her if there is anything the cats could get into. She says she thought she heard something, I say you definitely heard something. She walks into the house. "Come here! Come here! Dion caught a mouse."

I come up the stairs to see Dion with the mouse in his mouth and Olivia very excitedly worried. Olivia does not like mice. She acts like those cartoons you've seen, short of standing on the chair. She is not happy with me when I run to get the camera to save the moment. Eventually we get the cats locked in a room with the mouse. Olivia is very upset I'm trying to get a picture and tells me not to use the flash because it'll spook Dion. Dion is protecting his catch from his sister, growling when she gets close.

Unfortunately for Olivia, Dion (and Beenie) really don't have the idea to kill the mouse, they want to play with it. I'm enjoying the whole scene, knowing that the mouse can't survive such play. Olivia is worried it will escape and get away. After letting the cats have some fun, I get the mostly dead mouse in a paper bag and take it out of the house.

All in all, a great evening!

Darby O'Gill and the Little people is a cherished Disney picture about Ireland, its Leprechauns, stars Sean Connery and happens to be one of Olivia's favorite films. We watched it (again) on a train from Dublin -> Galway.



If you haven't seen the film, the important parts for this post is how afraid King Brian (King of the Leprechauns) is of cats.

Now, when we travel we like to bring back a Beenie baby sized souvenir for Athena (aka Beenie), one of Olivia's cats. (Don't worry Dion fans, he gets to play with it too and sometimes gets treats or something.)

The other item to note is that Beenie likes to carry them around, treat them like kittens, and generally allow them to live long fruitful toy lives. First trip to Ireland we brought her back Lambie. Her faithful lamb friend that still enjoys the house today. After the wedding, we brought her King Brian.

Unfortunately, we didn't take any pics of King Brian BEFORE.

Now look at the poor guy after 4 months.




Be afraid, indeed.

Enjoy the 4th, we will be grilling on a brand new Weber Grill that Erica helped arrive in time for the holiday.

I'll try to post some pictures after its done.