Who can blame Kabuki, the psycho kitty, for taking the tempting opening placed before her? When her family left her for a week vacation in Idaho and left the boys' bedroom window gaping wide open, what formal feral kitty wouldn't leap at the chance for freedom and jump out the window despite the two storey drop?? Then why not enjoy that new found freedom for oh, let's just say, about a month & a half, causing the aforementioned careless family to give you up for dead. Then let's say after the freshness of the all night partying has worn off and you are feeling a little bit hungry you decide to head for home. Wouldn't you know, some would-be good Samaritan finds you just outside your family's house with your leg stuck through your collar looking like a concentration camp kitty and decides to turn you into an emergency animal shelter. There some kindly attendant notices that the collar, which formerly had your leg stuck through it, has a tag with your name & phone number on it. She calls the family after 10pm at night to let them know you have been found. The message for one reason or another is not received until later. At 7am the next morning your contrite owner picks you up from the shelter and is given the advice that perhaps you should be taken to your regular vet. Given your emaciated, flea-covered condition, your owner wishes you had a regular vet to be taken to. However, seeings how you didn't, she takes you to the one closest to home.
Now your life hangs in the balance. Resusitating you will be $$$, so mom tries to call dad for advice. Luckily for you, dad is not available and mom just doesn't have the heart to approve termination. So you get to have vet care and I.V.s for two days. Even after all that your prospects are still somewhat iffy. You come home painfully thin and barely able to stand. How you progress over the Labor Day weekend will determine your longterm life prospects. But so far, Kabuki the psycho kitty seems to be getting better each day.
As for the Trooper, that's Tucker's car. He took it on a camping trip with friends to the Oregon coast this past week where it peacefully succumbed to transmission failure. Sadly, it now rests-in-peace in a junk dealer's "lot" in Lincoln City, OR. (That's the short version of the story). The free car turned out to be not such a great deal after all.
This week will go down in history as the week of Kitty & Car Trauma!
Tucker next to his third vehicle in a year, through no fault of his own as past posting attest. This time around he is driving a 5-speed (which he loves) Honda Civic. Seems like it will be a nice reliable car for him. Although not as cool as the Trooper of course, the gas mileage is waaaay better which beats cool any day. He has already started adding stickers to the back window.
Spencer turned 14 on September 11. Mom & Dad chauffered by Roberta came up for the occasion. We had a birthday dinner on Friday night (pot roast, mashed potatoes and butterschotch pie) which was ready just in time for their arrival. He opened presents and this next picture is a picture of his list (he prepares one every birthday and Christmas) with the top item clearly crossed out with a big "No". What was that top item? you might ask. That would be the lap top that Dennis said "No way in ... was he going to get" What's that right next him? Why that would be the laptop that Dennis got for free from work! We added some ram and a video drive and we now have one very happy 14 year old!
Here's Cooper on the first day of school. I was not there to take the picture (how sad is that) because I had to go into school early. Spencer took his picture and Tucker took Spencer's. Tucker doesn't start school (community college) until the 29th so no one took his picture. Cooper rode his bike by himself to school that day and has pretty much done the same thing every day so far. Pretty independent kid.
Here's a few from our visit to the Cupcake Cabin over Labor Day. We were going to go to a resort near Mt. Hood but due to the unplanned rescue of Tucker after his Trooper broke down and the return of the half-dead cat, we postponed it until another tim
e. Luckily for us our friends, the Roches were still game to have us visit the Cupcake Cabin. We went up Saturday morning and stayed until Sunday afternoon. The weather was iffy, but a few games of killer croquet were still played, as well as Perudo and other card games. It was nice to get away even overnight. We are planning another visit the first weekend in October. 
