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Today Luke went for a walk at a nearby park. He ran up to everyone he met and grabbed them around their legs. It wasn't quite clear what he was trying to do, since he was roaring at them at the time. He gets this from his sisters, who often roar at each other randomly, to try to scare each other. Luke loves the noise, he loves joining in making noises, he loves doing whatever his sisters are doing. The time will come soon enough when he realizes that this is not appropriate, in the meantime, it is very cute.

I was sitting on the porch and heard jingling from outside. A cute little dog peeked through the screen door. I went to investigate, and the dog walked as bold as you please, right through the open door. He wanted to go into our house (maybe he smelled the stew I was cooking...) but I managed to get him back onto the porch. I did eventually get a look at his collar and called the phone numbers on it (I would have walked him home, but Luke was asleep). A relieved owner arrived just as Amanda got home from school. The dog was happy to see Amanda, but less happy to leave with his owner. I could not have asked for a cuter guest, and he was quite polite. I wish that Luke had been awake to see it, although it would probably have been overly exciting for everyone. I do wonder, though, if keeping him on my porch was the right thing to do, or if he would have wandered back home without my help. I guess if it were my dog, I would have preferred that someone keep him safe on their porch.

One of the nicest noises in the world is a 2 year old eating the stew you have made saying "Yummy! Yummy! Yummy!" Luke at all of his bowl, and then much of his sister's bowl. The only problem came when he ate one of Amanda's salted pieces of meat: she likes to be able to see the salt on it (so as to taste the meat less, I suppose), but Luke likes less salt. He cried and needed to wipe his tongue off, poor boy.

The mystery of what was eating the flowers in our garden is completely solved. We were pretty sure deer were eating them, but yesterday I saw a perfectly made deer print in the mulch. (All those British mysteries I've been reading have finally paid off.) Today we sprinkled pepper in the garden. I've heard about wolf urine, but I would like to enjoy being near and smelling the garden as well as looking at the garden. I also have thought about offering to plant delicious treats for the deer, and then suggest that our neighbors pay for the protection from deer in their yards... probably easier, and more profitable =)

Today I had to take "story" privileges away from Amanda---no bedtime stories tonight. She was devastated. I think most of the problem was that she hadn't ever considered that someone could mess with her going to bed ritual: "You have to read stories! It's on my going to bed list!". Once she got over the shock, she went to bed 15 minutes earlier than usual---I guess we're working on moving up bedtimes for daylight savings time.

I had a story about Eleanor, too, but I forgot it. I'll write tomorrow about her first viola (!) lesson, provided she doesn't get sick.

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