Strange night for wildlife sightings

4:40 a.m. — Pack of several coyotes howling and yipping somewhere on the other side of the shrubs from our yard.  We reminded the cat, who was busy peering out the window looking for them, “This is why we don’t let you out at night.”
6:40 a.m. — 4 turkeys ambling along the main road on [...]

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Snow and rain

No, these aren’t photos from two days ago, when we got the freakishly early first snow of the year. These are photos from today, as we get an even more freakishly early second snow.

Fortunately for M and his camping trip, it was actually dry on Friday night and Saturday. The rain didn’t start [...]

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Tales of the City

S here, trying to capture the essence of our recent trip to San Francisco, without writing 17 paragraphs and uploading all 161 photos from our vacation.
The brief summary: in 6 days, we visited Alcatraz, Pier 39, the Aquarium by the Bay, the Exploratorium and Palace of Fine Arts, Crissy Field and the [...]

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The top 5 perils for a cat with two moms

1) Once your moms have enough practice teaming up on you, it takes them under 5 minutes to stuff you into the evil pink carrier that takes you to the v-e-t.
2) Mom wipes you down regularly with that Allercat stuff so that Mama-Two doesn’t sneeze all the time.
3) If one mom is away for a [...]

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Gay pride parade

We all went in to the city to the gay pride parade today. M was a little less than thrilled about this, because it meant:

He couldn’t spend the day playing with his friends.
He couldn’t spend the day surfing the internet.
He had to contemplate human sexuality while standing only six inches away from his parents.

However, [...]

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Things our son has learned over the last year

(For those of you visiting us thanks to Mombian’s “Blogging for LGBT Families Day,” the quick back-story is that almost a year ago, E and her cat moved in with S and S’s preteen son M. It’s the first time M has ever had a second parent.)
In no particular order, here are the things [...]

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Pop quiz

S here with a little quiz: inside what common household appliance would you find this?

Here’s a hint: it’s behind this.

Last hint: it’s underneath this.

Last week the washing machine started making a horrendous screeching noise in the middle of a cycle and the agitator no longer worked. After a little hunting on the internet, it [...]

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Contracts, contracts, contracts

I bet most “traditional families” don’t get to sign contracts for the parents’ wedding venue and the kid’s orthodontia treatment in the same week. Ha! Let’s hear it for gay weddings and straight teeth.
We also mailed off the agreement and deposit for a rental place for our vacation to San Francisco. Overall [...]

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Boy vs. washing machine

S here, with the promise that someday soon you will get to hear all about the fabulous trip that M and I took to Washington DC recently. But for now, you get to hear a little conversation about laundry.
Yesterday I called M as I was about to head home, wanting him to start a [...]

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High points of the last few days

1) Way to go, Iowa!
2) Friday night, we went to a tasting at the wedding venue we’re planning to use. More details to follow.
3) Saturday we went to a local home show. E and S got lots of info on different furnace-replacement options. (Stay with oil or convert to gas? [...]

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