Article in Issaquah Press

City worker, neighbor rescue dog from mud
January 12, 2009

“She wasn’t whimpering. She wasn’t moving,” said Ed McCormack, who along with a city worker helped dig the a golden retriever/collie mix out. “If that had been a darker dog, then that would have been a dead dog, because nobody would have seen her.”

Nobody was more thankful for the act of heroism than Jordan’s owner and her family, who now get to spend a little more time with their beloved pet. Jordan has a tumor growing on her nose, and Averill said she likely only has a couple of months before she dies of cancer.

“She has two kids who love her,” Averill said referring to her 4- and 6-year-old children. “And the neighbors love her.”

Jordan was let out of the house to play with McCormack’s dog, but she landed in the thick mud and sunk in until she couldn’t move.

“She doesn’t have any muscle or anything. She’s an old dog, just skin and bones,” said McCormack, who lives next door to Averill. “It was like quicksand — liquid mud.”

Three city workers were in the area clearing mud from the streets when one of them saw Jordan’s golden head sticking out of the mud. When he saw that she was stuck, he told the family.

The mud had risen up Jordan’s chest and to her muzzle, which lay on the surface.

McCormack and the city worker spent several minutes setting Jordan free from the mud, struggling not to fall in as well. McCormack said he never found out the name of that city worker.

McCormack washed Jordan, and the old dog is now starting to fully recover from the experience.

“Her muscles are tired from all that work to get out of the mud,” Averill said. “We’re just really grateful, and we’d love to say thank you to the city workers who helped her.”

The Protector

I've noticed a change lately in Kenzie. She is taking her job as Big Sister much more seriously. She pats him on the head, comes up behind him and wraps her arms around him, gives him gentle coaching (and sometimes not so gentle), and really tries to teach him whatever she can.

Then tonight I found this picture. They're on their bars outside. Look how little he is! But she's telling him, "don't wory [sic] little broth!" (And of course she's in a full-length dress...that she never wears.)

Habitat reduction

We're gonna miss these little guys...hopefully soon. The water level is going down. (This is our back yard!) The mud stays behind, however. And, you know you have good friends when...they give up a Saturday to shovel muck. Thanks Gabe and Taj!

Cindy and I are off to New York! Good luck (and continued thanks) to both sets of grandparents! :)

Land of Mud

Grampy was watching the kids today, but both were at school when he heard the knock on the door. The guy from the city asked if we had a Golden Retriever who might be stuck in the mud. Sure enough, our 13 year-old Jordan was up to her neck in our fresh river bed sludge/quicksand that covers our neighborhood like extra-thick chocolate frosting. She had been there so long that she had given up and tried to lay down in it. It took four guys to get her out, then put her in a wheelbarrow where our awesome neighbor Ed washed her with the warm water from his camper, using a whole bottle of shampoo to get that gross sticky silt off of her. She is getting extra special attention tonight and has finally stopped shaking. :(

P.S., you can see in this picture that her nose is sore...we think she has cancer. Poor old girl!

Waterfront property

We've always wanted to live on a lake, and today we got our wish. Both Cindy and I had to stay home from work as we couldn't get the car out due to the high water level. The creek continued to rise until some time this morning. Much of it has gone down, but the ducks are still swimming in the meadow. They brought a couple of friends, so there are now six.

These pictures below were taken earlier today. We no longer have a current running through our property, just some standing water/mud. The garage has an inch of sludge, but we feel fortunate to have suffered no real damage. We'll have to go retrieve some of the kids toys that floated to the fence. And return the neighbor's wheelbarrow. And the other neighbor's boat.

Tooth #2

Okay, I don't plan to blog every lost tooth, but had to do #2, especially because it happened while I was out of town! She is showing no signs of questioning the existence of the Tooth Fairy, even though she no longer believes in Santa. I almost told her that the Tooth Fairy lives in the North Pole with Santa (but didn't, don't worry). I think she's milking it now for fear of not receiving the $2 per tooth prize.

Anybody got an ark?

Snow, then sun, then rain = flood. We are fine. The road to our house is a river, but it never made it to our house. But, our neighbors are pumping water. This picture was taken while you could still see grass. Notice that a couple of mallards found a new home.

Science Center

We went to see an IMAX movie with Grammy, Grampy and Jackie. The movie was called "Mystery of the Nile." It was a documentary of the first team that traveled the Nile from source to sea. They braved the elements, kayaked, explored, and...faced crocodiles. Kenzie loved the whole movie. All Mason cared about was finding more crocodiles.

We bought an annual membership (for the first time) and spent most of the afternoon with Jackie hanging out and playing with the science gadgets.

Lights out

I thought he would let me video tape a story for the blog...we didn't quite get there.

Butterfly

This is classic Mason behavior. We are enjoying the beautiful butterflies at the Science Center... the sign says, "Please let us fly." Not "Please HELP us fly."

A break

The last few weeks have been rather out of character. We've had snow about seven of the days, plus Christmas and New Years, so we're definitely out of our routine. As I type it seems that we're getting a new batch of snow, with about an inch on the ground so far!

Last Monday Grammy took Kenzie to see the Pacific Northwest Ballet's Nutcracker. They had given her the book, so we read it the night before. I was barely following the strange storyline, with seven-headed mice and a dungeon of rats, but Kenzie kept right up and was ready for the show. Cindy drove them in so they could avoid parking (and, let's face it, directional) challenges. After the performance they hopped the monorail over to Westlake, where I met up with them and drove them home. (I do think the monorail was a highlight of the day.) On the way home Grammy offered to take both kids through the New Year (three nights!). Before she could change her mind we had their bags packed.

I can't really tell you how those three days went, other than to say that every time I called I heard the same story, "they're perfect angels." I know that they are many things, but perfect angels are not a description that could be held of them for three straight days. So, unless Grammy or Grampy confesses, I can't fully report. But I have heard them say things like, "Mason never stops," "boundless energy," and "Mason, what do we throw in the house? You know this...only paper airplanes."

It seems that our routine will continue to be challenged. I am heading out of town for a couple of days this week, then again most of next week. Thank God for grandparents who continue to pitch in to help us keep our streak going of only paying for one babysitter, ever. Grandma (June) has been with them several weeks while Cindy has been working. Grampy is coming up tomorrow, then back to Grandma on Tuesday!

Conspiracy Exposed

I heard Cindy tell Kenzie, "go talk to mommy. Just go talk to her. She's in the other room, go talk to her." I know what that means. She's brought up a tough subject, one that Cindy doesn't want to have with her.

Kenzie found me and in her most serious voice, looked me in the eyes and said, "Mom, I need to know. Is there really a Santa Claus or was it just you guys? It was you guys, right? Is Santa Claus REAL?"

I have told her that I would never lie to her, which made this question particularly awkward because, in fact, I have been lying to her for the last six years on this subject. I have been very nervous about this moment because learning that there was no Santa was, for me, a defining moment in my life. It was when I learned that adults were not perfect and the world isn't as it seems.

So, expecting the worst, I looked her in the eyes and said, "Kenz, Santa is like a dream. He's not a real person, but he's something that kids can believe in, kind of like magic."

The wheels started to turn. Her eyes went to a distance, and then back to me, "but what about all those people? Everyone talks about Santa."

Then a smirk came on her face. She thought it was quite funny, and she was being let in on the secret. It's a total conspiracy. I told her, "it's a big job being a big sister and knowing that Santa isn't real. You have to help your brother continue to believe." With that she left the room.

I later found out that she immediately went to find Mason. Cindy told me that she spilled it all, "Mason, Mason, Mommy just told me that there isn't a Santa Claus!" I didn't find out until this morning and was rather perturbed at her. She claimed that she didn't understand what I meant, and I believe that. She said, "if that's what you were telling me you didn't put it in words that I understood." Touche. But now we're clear. She understands that it is officially part of her job to partake in the conspiracy.

So then Mason was looking through his stocking presents and said, "Santa gave this to me. Noooo...you gave it to me." I said, "no, Santa gave you the stuff in your stocking." Kenzie jumped right in and said, "Right, Mason. It was Santa. Last night when I told you there was no Santa I was just joking." He said, "Oh. Okay." And so it continues...

White Christmas 2008

We've always wished for a White Christmas. This year we got enough for all those Christmases Past. As a result we have had a relaxing, low-key week leading up to Christmas. Because we had to constantly watch the weather report, we were forced to slow down, which I think is exactly what we needed. We went sledding, played games, made cookies, baked bread, hung with friends and just enjoyed being a family.

The kids were a little spoiled this year (as always, I guess). Kenzie loves her new blanket that Grandma made, light blue of course. She received some cute clothes, her very own digital camera (the results of which can be seen here, I'm sure, at some future date), and some special things for her "collection" (which is anything that fits in her room).

I think she actually got the most joy out of making a special present for each of her grandparents. All on her own she decided to draw a picture for them and then frame it. She was so proud to watch each of them open it (and then tell her how magnificent it was).

Mason got a special train set to go around our tree, plus loads of things that fly, whirl or scoot (including a new skateboard). He even got his own remote-controlled helicopter. It seemed like a good idea at the time we purchased it...