Last Saturday we returned from Lewiston (taking pics of my friend's beautiful baby girl Elly) and noticed Lazlo was acting funny, really lethargic, and we first thought he might have strained a hind leg. My mom said she laid down to rest and Lazlo didn't even jump up on the bed, which is totally out of character. Then there was vomiting and no eating and the vet said, "pneumonia." Oy.

So he's been on a diet of antibiotics and whatever we can convince him to eat (very litle until yesterday) and he was feeling pretty poorly (see: "round head" above). Keith and I both worried about him dying. We're very aware he's not going to be with us forever, but we're definitely not ready for that day yet. It's hard having a sick animal since you can't very easily find out how they feel (short of a rectal thermometer, um...) and the first couple of nights neither Keith or I got much sleep. I woke up every couple of hours to check his breathing and give him some love.

But he's turned the corner now and is mostly back to his old squirrel-chasing self, in short bursts of energy. Except he's getting spoiled on canned food (used to administer the meds after cheese failed to stay in his system) and thinks his dry food is for peasants. He's lost quite a bit of weight in the last week and his collar is loose. He doesn't normally wear a collar, but we have family in town for the weekend so the collar comes out for wrangling.

My Aunt Joy picked up my camera while Keith and I were defending our horseshoe title and I'm always taking photos (therefore never in them) so there's that. For posterity or something.

We played a few rounds of holey board and Team Yellow (my Uncle Jack and Keith) were the defending champs of that game. Aunt Joy (above) was keeping score when she wasn't playing.

Ophelia (the only "bought and paid for" cat among the eight or so on the property and a native of Missoula) thought she needed attention and almost got hit with a washer or two.

 Mom cooked ribs in the Dutch Oven and Keith cooked burgers, chorizos and hot dogs on the grill for about 30 relatives who showed up.

A friend in Kooskia is paying me to weed her garden (it's been overgrown for a year or so) and gave me a bag of garlic scapes, too. I've never heard of them before but she posted some recipes to my facebook that are tantalizing so I think I'm going to try some cannellini bean dip and maybe process the rest and freeze them for soups. Or pesto. Or pizza.

My dad had a rough time of it yesterday when the septic system starting acting up and the only toilet for 30 people was rendered unusable despite his best efforts (and the efforts of several helpers). After 50+ years of smoking a lot, he's eight weeks into being a non-smoker. So proud of him!! Yesterday's stress threatened to derail that achievement, but he held out and didn't give in to the urge! Go, Dad!!

Now there's a portable toilet next to the apple tree in front of our house and even more reason for us to break ground on our toilet, a process we're devoting brainpower to every day, even if we haven't been able to physically start on it yet. Keith's telling me his friend has offered to supply the 2x6s we need for the "addition" in exchange for taking down, painting, and re-installing a totem pole for him. Sounds like a deal to me!

I won two weekend passes to a sustainable bluegrass festival at Lolo Hot Springs in 2 weeks. Most of the bands play Portland often, so that's a good indicator of the quality of music and we might possibly meet up with some of our Missoula friends then, too. Hmm...sounds like summer plans are threatening to interfere with our toilet-building plans. Which. Can. NOT. Happen.