Mine Bike

I was tidying up the kitchen when Mac and Mimi, who had been playing outside, came in and said that there was a squirrel with lots of flies on it.  Gross.  So I went outside trying to see what was going on, and found this.  The poor thing must have gone down the rain gutter and then gotten stuck in the tubing.  He evidently chewed a hole through the tubing, but then got stuck?  I took a deep breath, because Brad's out of town--I'm on my own, here--and got his work gloves and some plastic bags.  I try to psych myself up, and then I realize, I'm not going to be able to grab this thing and put its little rigor-mortised body into a bag.  Regardless of thick work gloves.  Because I'm going to have to pull him out.  So I marched over to my neighbor, who is home during the day.  He came over and told me that he had heard some crazy racket the day before--a scratching, scrabbling noise and the squirrels going berserk.  He kept looking over at the house to see if he could identify the source, but he never did.  I guess this guy was pretty panicked.  Anyway, the neighbor kind of took a shovel to the little guy and finally his giant back legs and tail popped out.  And into the garbage he went.

 

 

Mimi has very recently started being able to actually pedal a bike.  Unfortunately the training wheels on her bike are not the right size, so she can really only ride when Mac's bike is available.

 

 

Look at that face!

 

 

And this one!

 

 

The funniest thing she does is instead of steering she just gets off the bike, hikes it up, and carries it to where she wants it.  I guess when you're as big as she is, that works.  And she says, "I need to move mine bike."  I always want to answer her, "Yes, Fraulein."

 

 

She did take one little spill, luckily on the grass.

 

 

When Mac came home from a friend's, she helped Mimi get up our hilly driveway.