The Turnquist Family: 08/01/2007

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Sailing on Lake Tahoe

We went sailing today on Lake Tahoe. The weather was perfect - just enough wind and the perfect temperature!

We really love this place. It's just gorgeous.

Friday, August 10, 2007

To be fair, I thought I'd post a picture of our other cat, Two-Face. This is one of my favorite pictures of her. If we knew what her personality would have been like once she was full-grown, we would have either named her Marge (like from the Simpsons) - because she makes Marge-like sounds when you get her attention - or G.G. - short for Gentle Giant (she's a big girl but so sweet!).

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Sightseeing in Reno

Today we had to go into Reno for a Costco visit, so we decided to do something fun on the way. We stopped at the Wilbur D. May Center and learned about this famous man born in 1898 who was a pilot, an artist, a musical composer, and an African big-game hunter (as you can see from the pictures of his collection). He founded May Department Store and donated a lot of money to children's organizations. He passed away in 1983 (I believe). It was a small museum but kind of neat.

There was a chart on the wall identifying the animals. There were a lot I had never heard of.

How would you like to crawl into bed with that thing?

Monday, August 6, 2007

Vader Is a Maniac

A few nights ago I was driving home from a chocolate party (see my healthy chocolate links to the right). It was 10:00 at night and when I pulled into the driveway I saw this black cat walking around the corner of the house towards the front door. I had never seen a black cat wandering the neighborhood, so I was surprised to see it. As I got closer, I noticed it had a pink collar on. Sure enough it was our Vader. I picked her up and carried her inside, ready to let Mark have it for leaving the door open too long while watering the grass. I found him asleep in the bedroom which was frustrating because I'd have to wait until morning to do it. Then I looked at the living room window and noticed it was open and the screen had partially popped out (so it wasn't Mark's fault)!

So last night I opened the window for Vader, but only 1/3 of the way and I pushed on the screen to make sure there was no way she could get out. Well, when we were busy, she made it happen. Mark was getting ready to feed her when he noticed the screen was popped out again and she was nowhere to be found. It was about 9:30 and I was so panicked I couldn't remember where the flashlight was. I finally remembered where it was and we went out looking in the dark for a black cat! We looked for a long time with no luck. I said a mental prayer and was about to start driving around when Mark saw her run from the neighbor's house toward our house. Then she disappeared again. It was bizarre. I finally did get in my car and drive around, in tears. As I turned the second corner I saw what looked like a coyote wander behind some bushes. Just great. I saw a neighbor outside down the street and asked him if he had seen a black cat. He hadn't, but he recommended going home, calling for her and making a lot of noise to scare the big animals (coyotes and bears) away and help her find her way back.

So that's what I did. I'm sure all our neighbors could hear me calling for her. I finally saw something move under the back deck. Our house is on a steep incline and the ground under the deck is not level. She was hiding under the deck at the highest point of the ground so it was hard to see her in there. When she knew I found her she creeped out and walked up to the front door. She has now lost all open window priveleges!

Today she was pawing at the front door with an obnoxious meow as if she now has the right to be an outside cat. We really miss the Florida room from the Garden City house. That was Vader's favorite place.