Pendleton + the Raccoon

Pendleton decided to go swimming today (or rather, Megan tossed him into the birdbath) in order to fully appreciate the last day of summer.

He walked around and around the birdbath until he discovered the raccoon. Now they are best friends. And isn't that just lovely?

Happy Labor Day!

Pendleton + Molly (+ Jasper)

Megan and I decided to introduce Molly the kitten (or Mrs. Weasley as we call her because we are more formal, obviously) to Pendleton. We let them see each other for a few minutes inside and then, because I didn't really like the lighting, we decided to take them outside to the front porch where Jasper the wonder dog (who now lives outside in the back yard and is loving it) couldn't hear us (we thought).

The kitty and hedgehog seemed to get along just fine once Molly realized that pouncing on him wasn't a very smart idea.

We were receiving some spectacular glares from her when this happened:

The brute jumped over the temporary side fence and almost knocked me over in his rush to get to the kitten who he just wants to love. Unfortunately, she does not share his feelings, not even a tiny bit. The poor fellow had quite a scratched up nose for a while. 

Meanwhile, Pendleton just smooshed his face down into the ground because if he can't see them, they can't see him, obviously.

Mrs. Weasley glared at Jasper some more and then decided he was not worth her time.

 Jasper still loves her.

Jasper + Pendleton

We've been working kind of hard to get Jasper (pup) and Pendleton (hedgehog) to exist in the same room together without a)Pendleton having a heart attack or b)Jasper ending up with a mouthful of quills.

Jasper just gets SO excited whenever he discovers that hedgehog in the room. He bounces around sniffing excitedly while Pendleton turns into a ball of really sharp points and hisses ferociously. Inevitably, Jasper gets too close with his sniffing and receives a poke in the nose. By then he has usually had it with all the excitement and starts barking at this frustrating little ball that won't stop hissing at him or hurting him when he tries to play. He's actually kind of terrified of the hedgehog.

Meanwhile, Pendleton wonders why he keeps being prodded (and occasionally licked) and why won't this gigantic nose stop bothering him.

I mean, it's Megan's fault, really. She bought Pendleton a little hedgehog friend stuffed animal when she first got him, which he ignored completely. Eventually it was passed down to Jasper in his early puppyhood. And who would blame him when he tried to pick up his toy which actually happened to be a real live hedgehog?

Thus began the Jasper/Pendleton relationship.

So we decided to try again a few times and finally accomplished something when we managed to have Jasper lay quietly until Pendleton got used to him.

To be fair, Pendleton isn't actually a very nice hedgehog friend to Jasper. When Jasper wasn't paying attention to him, he tried to crawl on him and/or poke him on purpose. This sent Jasper two feet into the air and it was actually really hilarious, but it doesn't really do much for mutual trust, if you know what I mean.

Then Jasper got real protective of his rawhide bone.

At one point, Jasper was actually chasing Pendleton around the room barking. Generally the second Pendleton hears a loud noise, he rolls into a ball, so this was real progress. 

This hedgehog knows who's in charge around here.

Happy Valentine's Day! Love, Pendleton

Pendleton and I wish you a very happy Valentine's Day!

Last Month

Driving across the country is time consuming business.

In the last month we have driven over 3,500 miles, looked at 15 or more trucks (still no luck), attended the SEC championship football game (and won!), met our nephew for the first time, and celebrated two major holidays! Well, three, if you count my birthday. Somehow no one ever does.

We also visited the Grand Canyon!

So we're in Washington State now. Finally.

If you're wondering how in the world we made it across the country without purchasing a vehicle, I'll tell you.

I happen to have the very best grandparents in the entire universe, that's how. 

My Papa lent us his beloved F150 and even kissed it goodbye. He kissed me goodbye too, but there were probably more tears for the truck. 

So we packed that sucker up to the brim. It took several hours, a lot of cargo straps, and one of us almost died at one point trying to load a lawn mower. Related: never try to drive a lawn mower up ramps into a pickup truck. You will probably get stuck and flip over. I'll just let you guess who tried that one but his name sounds a lot like a large group of trees and he's only alive today because his pretty wife caught him and saved him from becoming a pancake. 

We had a lot of Forrest's old possessions to move plus our Black Friday deals and all of our luggage. We are still living out of the same luggage on account of our new room at my parents' has only one small dresser and I have three drawers and Forrest has one. Funny how that works out, but I guess I'm just a quicker draw and that Forrest is lucky I saved him a drawer at all. It's just the nice type of person I am is all. But there is still an awful lot of clothing in the suitcases (and in my case on the floor because I got sick of walking around four suitcases) And I am way off subject.

Maybe I should have kept up with blogging more this past month and then I wouldn't talk Forrest's ear off every night when he's trying to sleep. 

Anyway, one month later and all I really wanted to do was post some really cute pictures I took yesterday of Pendleton the hedgehog. 

His Christmas photos!

Photogenic, no? He doesn't smile very much, however. 

But we do!

Merry Christmas from us a day late!