We live on the back corner of our apartment complex, facing the wall that divides us from a large city park. An anonymous individual leaves cat food and water in tupperware on the grounds near the park fence for stray cats to eat. The HOA has made mention on several occasions that they wish this person would discontinue this practice. The warnings have been unheeded.
Living so near the food drop location, I have had two exciting opportunities where I glimpsed the person I believe to be feeding the cats. Both were last fall, when I was pregnant with Jack.
1. I was bringing Hazel home from the park. Sitting on the steps just past our stairway, with her back to me, was a woman I'd never seen before. Long, wavy, waist-length blond hair. I'd place her in her mid-40's.
Stroking a collarless cat I'd frequently seen nibbling at the afore-mentioned food! She did
not turn around as I and my chatty child neared, which I found suspicious. For reasons I now cannot remember and do regret, I took Hazel inside the house and then came back out to look at the Cat Lady again. Alas, she was gone.
2. Mere days later, I was at my garage and spotted a lady with long, wavy blond hair driving an older car past me on the way out of the complex. I immediately called Todd to report another sighting of the Cat Lady. Because of the direction she was driving from, my best guess is that she lives in the building perpendicular to ours.
Jokes about the Cat Lady have been made in our house on a fairly regular basis over time.
Our rental company representative called me about two months ago to ask if I or any of my neighbors were the one leaving the cat food, as it is right in front of my building. I laughed, and told her I wasn't the Cat Lady and that she didn't live in my building. She asked me to confront CL if I ever saw her again.
It's all been very amusing and casual and just something to laugh about. Until...
Just before Labor Day, Todd discovered a pack of four raccoons nibbling at the cat food at night. He didn't think much of it at the time. But a few days later, he and Hazel were coming home from the park and spotted the pack running along our sidewalk in broad daylight! They headed straight for the cat food. Todd threw a few rocks at them to try to scare them away. Quite the contrary. They hissed at Todd and continued on with their feast, acting all hostile and making Todd worry for Hazel's safety.
The third sighting occurred as an entire family unit, in the early evening. I held Jack and Hazel at a safe viewing distance while Todd climbed the wall and vigorously chucked rocks at the raccoons for several minutes. After quite a long battle, they retreated far enough away for me to make a run for it and grab the cat food.
At that point, Todd declared war on the Cat Lady. Homeless cats or no, we can't sit back and let the Raccoon Gang invade our territory, acting all hostile and making us worry about the safety of our children.
For the past month, the entire Bonner clan has been keeping a constant eye out for cat food. Whenever we see it, we dispense of it. Hazel asks about the Cat Lady every time we walk past the drop spot. I've stuck to straight-up dumpster drops, but Todd's been working hard to send a clear message by rendering CL's tupperware useless.
Cat Lady switched to paper bowls and started leaving the food on the park side of the fence. Usually it's just barely close enough that I can still reach it if I strain, but Todd has quite frequently had to jump the fence to gather food and containers. One day she got aggressive and dumped the food in a pile on the ground and left the empty bowl next to it. She's got her own ways of sending messages.
Todd and I took a walk past the building I suspect CL lives in, and I think we may have found her unit. Behold, the porch:
We thought about dumping a bag or two of cat food on her porch, but decided that's like funding her project.
Frustrated with how this war has seemed to have no end, Todd took it to the next level and wrote Cat Lady a note, which he taped to the fence next to the remnants of her latest water bowl.
"Dear CAT LADYI understand your concern for the cats and desire to feed them. However I have now joined the side of the HOA and am requesting you cease feeding the cats over here immediately.There is now a family of 4 raccoons living here and eating your cat food. These raccoon have hissed at and threatened me and my kids not just at night but at 4 pm in the afternoon. This is unacceptable. I suggest you invite the raccoons over to your house for dinner as it is obvious you don't live in this area.Putting food on the other side of the wall is still unacceptable. I can easily jump the wall and throw that away too."Since then, the feedings have slowed down. She might just be out of town for a few days. If not, Todd admitted he's a little disappointed the Cat Lady might be done, as his next step was to add rat poison to the food. He said, "I can't throw all the food away, so I'll just make the food worthless. She's a sneaky little devil."
Hazel tossed her cookies today, and we saw it coming about five seconds too late. This is only the second time she's barfed so far in her whole life (not counting baby spit up, of course.) I will use that as my excuse for why Todd and I didn't see it coming as she sat at the table not eating for the third meal in a row, face getting paler and paler as she pleaded to be excused so she could go nap. And then suddenly there was chicken noodle soup look-alike all over our table. Surprise! Thankfully, she then took a three hour nap and spent the rest of the day perky and upbeat, and she ate well, so I think we're on the upside of that situation.
Jack is cruising everywhere. I think I've even caught him running a bit a few times. It's so fun. Whenever we're walking in from the garage, he rocks his body until I set him down, so he can crawl up the steps to our door. And this week he started imitating my bad guy cackle when we're playing Hazel's favorite game where I tie her up and she escapes over and over and over again. 
We went to the Palo Alto Junior Museum this week for the first time probably since Jack was born. They've updated/improved it quite a bit! There are a bunch of bug exhibits that are actually really cool. If you're local, go check it out! (It's free!) Hazel loved this one that has a bunch of different types of insects in plastic cubes, so you can pick them up and see their bodies from every angle.
Jack loved opening the cupboard doors on this display. They have tons of insects inside them, but he just likes opening and closing the doors.
Part of the museum is a little zoo. Hazel's been obsessed with bats since Halloween, so she was thrilled to go inside the bat cave and see them for reals. She acted like she was all spooked out by it, but was really excited and went in three or four different times. The bats were huge!
Jack liked this display that teaches about wind power, because when you pushed a button, wind would blow all through his hair. Also, it had a set-up with little cars and houses, a little neighborhood. The pieces didn't move, but he still loved to touch them. 
Notice the "Do Not Enter" sign with the caution tape? Yeah, Hazel went in that little door to see the butterflies and totally had an "accident." Whoops! I was a little embarrassed, but the museum employee who cleaned it up was really nice about it, said it happens all the time in a place made for kids, so we just kept on playing.
In other news, Hazel decorated Christmas cookies with some neighbor kids and totally loved it. Perfect timing, because during her nap that day I was softening butter to make cookies myself and do the whole shebang, when I got a call from a friend inviting us over. Back in the fridge went the butter and I kissed all that hard work goodbye. We sauntered over with a little canned frosting and some sprinkles and red hots, and walked away with a plate full of cookies.
And Todd's highlight of the week was getting this photo in an email from a reporter who went with him on a search and rescue training over a Guard weekend a while back. Look who's flying that bird! Why yes, my husband is a helicopter pilot. I know it's cool. Don't be too jealous.
As for me, a few nights ago I woke up around 5:00 because I was too hot. I got up to go to the bathroom and the heater was running full-blast, but the hallway was freezing. Our front door was wide open. Wide open, folks! I shut and locked it, then thought to look around and see if there was anyone else in the house with me. I only dared to look real quick from where I was standing. I didn't even think to check that our computer or TV were still there. But I did peek in to make sure both my kids were in bed and breathing, that they were really there and safe. Then I got back in bed and thought about telling Todd to go back out and check again, but listened to my heart and asked Heavenly Father for a little advice, and felt safe, so I decided not to wake Todd up and make him lose sleep. I guess we just forgot to lock the door. It doesn't latch tight unless you push it in, so we must have not done that, and then the wind blew it open after we went to bed. Scary, huh? Thankfully, we live in a pretty safe spot.
The company:
Grammie and Poppa sent Todd and me off on Friday to celebrate our anniversary. We did a bit of Christmas shopping, then went out to lunch at our favorite restaurant, Macaroni Grill. Their bread is to die for:
Todd did Black Friday Amazon window shopping while we waited for our food:
We went to Six Flags in Vallejo. Our favorite ride was Medusa. We went on it six times, I think. It goes ridiculously high and upside down over and over again. My throat is still sore from screaming. 
We went to a pizzaria called Napoli's for dinner. It was scrumptious. Then we headed to Inn Marin and had a good night's sleep without the kidlets.
She enjoyed the complimentary apple cider, the mini candy cane, the train ride on "the Polar Express" and the little puppet show. I loved how she started on a bench and ended up like this:
We've got vaulted ceilings in our place, and Todd thought our tree last year looked dumb, so this year he set out on a hunt for a real man tree. He wanted the tallest tree our car could possibly cart home. I wanted one that smelled great. We found it. 
It is 9 feet 10 inches tall. I think it looks a little bit insane. But Todd's already claiming next year he's going to rent a truck and bring home a twelve-footer. 
He had to stand on a chair to help Hazel get the topper on:
Jack, who always buries his face in anything soft and snuggly and wiggles his bum in the air, has fallen in love with our plush tree skirt. I have already repositioned it back under the tree five times today. 
We're excited to bring in Christmas (and birthdays) at our house!
"That dress is getting too short," Todd said. "I was ready to throw it out." 
Cat Lady switched to paper bowls and started leaving the food on the park side of the fence. Usually it's just barely close enough that I can still reach it if I strain, but Todd has quite frequently had to jump the fence to gather food and containers. One day she got aggressive and dumped the food in a pile on the ground and left the empty bowl next to it. She's got her own ways of sending messages.
We thought about dumping a bag or two of cat food on her porch, but decided that's like funding her project.
"Dear CAT LADY
Todd and I did sealings at the Mount Timpanogas Temple (where we were married). I couldn't get over the fact that Missy has TWO temples only five miles away from her house. Makes me jealous.
I think Todd was so bored with no other men to talk to. We wish we could have seen Paul and Joe, too!
He ran the first 39 miles alone.
After that he had pacers running with him: his brother KB, then his friend from college Tim, then his brother-in-law Burke.
He threw up bile a few miles before this and felt nauseous through the entire rest of the race. He says that was the hardest part.
Utah sunsets are my favorite.
Crossing the finish line Saturday afternoon with Burke. 
Laying down in utter exhaustion once he was finished. 
Todd changed his socks and washed his feet every 25 miles or so, but he still ended up with feet that looked like this:
This was Todd's third time running the Wasatch 100, but his first time finishing in the 36 hours they allow. I am proud of him for accomplishing such a hard task. And, I hope that crossing that finish line and earning a Badger Heart belt buckle will give him the closure he needs to not ever run it again.
