Nathlie's best friend

 
So this is just an odd cat. We knew that he would be, he is a special breed of cat so we knew his personality to be incredibly different. We didnt expect him to be such a good playmate for a little girl, he plays her games for hours. She can set up a chess board and I swear, he plays chess with her! I know his moves are just knocking over his pieces, but it makes her happy. He loves boxes and baskets, she has some shoe boxes from baby shoes that cannot possibly fit his big self, and so he lays 1/3 of his body in the little box. Every time she sets up a basket with his blanket (the afghan pictured) he jumps right in.  She is playing a little doll violin for him here.
  ;
I do not know what his obsession is with boxes. I have a flat box that we used to set little planters in, it is soggy and gross laying on the ground in the garden area and I regularly catch him lounging in it. I should throw it away, this is part of what makes us the trashy neighbors... In this photo, you can see a tiny stuffed penguin peeking out-Nathalie shares her stuffed animals with him until he begins to beat them up. Which is often. 
   
I caught them watching something out the window this morning.They were up early (yes it is early-it is light almost 24 hrs a day here) and had breakfast together, did the chores outside together (yes-he truly goes out to chores with her, following her from chickens, goats, geese and bunnies) and were now watching something. 
   
She has never had a close relationship with our pets, she loved our Evil kitty but Evil was Frank's pet, or he was hers. We got a male cat this time, hoping that he wouldnt become quite as attached to Frank as Evil did. She had severe separation issues from him, she struggled with deployments more than you would expect a pet to. Kitten is very attached to Frank despite these wishes, but I think his favorite person is Nathalie. 
   
Side view of Kitten, he is so happy playing with her. Yesterday he spent an hour playing with her in the side yard. She has a box of what we call little (junk) toys, old things she has collected, some are not toys. They are things like an acorn from Sc, a walnut from Ks, a broken tiny tea cup. She uses these along with 3 ragged doll house people and some miniature animals to play her "games" and Kitten always plays with her. He will seek her out in the yard and climb into the box/basket that she brought the toys out in, and he is assigned a role in the game. She carries the toys in when she is done, they are used outside and inside whenever she has play time. Kitten seems to know when her break is about to occur and he prepares to follow or meet her. Its an odd relationship, seems more human than cat.  

Mama's mountains

 
These are mom's photos, I have many more to post. My computer is really screwing up where pictures are concerned, something is wrong with the folder organization and I cannot figure it out yet. I will work on it later, I am going out to build a chicken coop. 

Facts

My girl just paid her brother to do her chores that involved animal poop. He was glad to make the money.

My girl sorted meal worms with me, while eating her lunch.

My girl just informed me, also over lunch, that the live mouse running under the stove was large. Which is reasonable because he was.

My girl just told me that if she could, she would solve world hunger. As she is inadequate to perform that task at this date (her exact words), she will instead clean her bedroom. Which is also total reasonable, as we clean house completely on Fridays.

My boy punk just found some photos in an old wallet and came to show me how Nathalie was "an adorable baby and it seems like yesterday that she was tiny!" (she is 4 in the photo...)

My boy told me that he is probably going to have about 6 baby girls of his own, and they will be spoiled rotten just like Nathalie is by daddy, and he will love being the one to spoil them. He also said he cannot wait to have his own babies as he wants to be a daddy.

My boy told me he misses his best friends. He misses his girl, he misses Andrew. That is all that he listed at this time. I am glad his attachments are so real. He also adds that Nathalie is his best friend too.

My girl told me that Tad now tells her "I love you Nathalie" every Friday, just in case she needs to hear that from him specifically in order to help her form appropriate bonds as an older girl. His words. I guess that is appropriate on house cleaning day.

I miss my mama, she left me after being here for a month. Most of the people I love are in Tn, my best friend just moved there. My brothers are there or will be soon (one of them) my sisters are there, my other best friend is in Ks-not a far drive. I feel like I am late for a family reunion which causes me confusion because I love Alaska.

My husband is my best friend and sometimes my heart beat hurts from loving him so much, and not understanding how I can love one person more every day.

That is all for now. I am going to finish cleaning the house.

Moose Baby

 
This was a young moose that we saw in the yard, Frank went outside and photographed him. We think it was a him, no antlers yet but he was young. They often seem to stay with their mothers through her next calving. She will have 1-2 new babies, and her older baby(ies) are still hanging out with her. 
   
Here he is walking into the woodline, there are many tasty things to eat in there. 
   
Goats are always interested in other large animals, they do seem to know that this animal, like themselves, poses no danger. They are afraid of dogs that come to their pen (neighbor dogs) even if the dog isnt jumping and running about. The dog can just be in the area and they seem frightened. 
   
Here he is on the other side of the house, he went back and forth. Frank didnt photo the kids, but they are on the back side of the property by the woodpile. The pictures of the mama moose didnt come out well, but she does not like for people to be near her baby so the kids know to go behind something during the period in which she is in the yard. If they stand quietly behind something, just watching her she will not bother them.
   
Here the baby moose has realized that his mother is gone! Note the ears are back here, where in the previous picture they were forward. Just like goats, their ears are highly expressive. Their ear positioning means the same emotion that it does for goats as well, so we can easily note fear, worry, anger, or curiosity. The forward ears are curious and even friendly.

People on tour trips that we have taken are so astounded by these mammals, and I admit I think they are wonderful. However, we dont usually try to take pictures of them on tours anymore as we cannot get as close as we do in our own yard. We went to Denali with mom, she took photos which I will post later. I have not had time, and today is her last day. We went on an all day tour bus and saw grizzlies, dall sheep, caribou, different types of birds, and moose. She got good photos of all of these and I will post them later. I think we are going on a trip down to the Kenai peninsula (we have been there 2 times) again and will go on a fishing trip there. We plan on doing as much touring as we can, Alaska is a once in a life-time place to be.

Football

 
 I caught the impromptu start of a football game-kids against daddy. Oh and the geese are in there somewhere. I took a lot of pictures, have only put about 1/4 of them here.



 
 






 
 






 
 The chicken coops are added obstacles. You see the geese up there? They are starting to freak out.

 
 Again-goose (this one being Guard) is letting yard know that something is terribly amiss. 








 
 
 
"See Yard? I told you these people are out to get us! They are going to run us down and hit us with a green foamy-thing!"
 
 
"Save yourself Yard!"
 
 
"Oh, ok well I guess they changed their mind about eating us. Let us go on with our lunch."


   
   
   
   
   
   
   
Touch down for daddy! Instead of getting the ball, he carried Tad AND the ball to his in zone. (is that what it is called in football?)
   
   
   
   
Being dumped into the in zone, insisting that this isnt following the rules. Frank told them they do not know football rules so its all fair. 
   
The kick!
   
Running for the ball, you can see it landed on the ground. There is no other way, though I do not have a photo of that. 
   

   
"Run Tad! I've got him!"
   
"Um no you dont Nathalie! I am throwing it, you catch it!"
   
She got it! She picked it up off the ground, unsure on the rules again here and she is guarding it from daddy. 
 
 
She still has it... 
   
She really is hanging on pretty well!
   
Still got it... Not going to work out though. 
   
"Oh, baby, I am sorry. You didnt want to give me the ball? That is how it works though. You want to keep it anyway?"
   
"Aw whats wrong Nathalie, did daddy TAKE it from you? Did he make you drop it?"
   
"Well, baby girl, you can have it ok? You can keep it for a little bit."
   
"See, here you can have it. I was just kidding."
   
"We will back up now and give you a head start."
   
 And now she throws it to both of them...dog eat dog world. 
   
 




 
 












 
 My children are rotten!