May 29th, New pets

Today Wally received two baby chicks from our neighbors to enjoy while he is here. When he leaves we will give them back so they can do their job of laying eggs, assuming they are hens. We aren't sure if they are male or female at this point. They are only two days old today but very lively, eating and drinking and scratching bugs like good chicks should.

Can you tell he is excited?

Their cage is in his room. It used to be the crate we used for Nigel but he doesn't need it anymore.

Blackie and Goldie outside enjoying some sunshine.

May 27th, Wally the cowboy

We were scheduled to go to a cookout put on by the Walleye Anglers club that we belong to. It also included a tour of the Ranger boat factory in Flippin. As we were getting ready, putting on our "dress up" clothes (clean jeans and shorts) Wally decided he didn't have the right clothes for such an outing. He wanted a cowboy shirt with snaps, like he saw one of our neighbors wearing. So, we stopped at a farm store on the way to the cookout and he selected this white cowboy shirt. He already had the hat, jeans, and new cowboy boots we bought his first day with us.


I didn't get a picture of him at the cookout, but took a few when we got home. He wanted to pose as if shooting the air rifle. I wanted him to tuck his shirt in again, but he said I should just take the picture from the waist up, so I did. He was very very careful at the cookout and didn't get any mustard or dirt on it. He was really cute, swaggering around with his hands in his pockets, just like a real cowboy, in his opinion.

This is the picture he took of himself. It's 10:00 at night and he is so wired from being the center of so much attention at the cookout. There were about 80 people there and we don't really know any of them, but all are friendly. Wally and I both won door prizes and that tickled him to death.

Visiting the neighbor's goat herd, May 25th

Wally went to visit Marsha and Keith Sullivan, our neighbors who raise goats. This year their herd went from 13 to 40 because 9 of their goats had triplets!

He looks like a good shepherd, leading his flock.

Wally is petting Billy, a goat who was bottle fed from birth and is still very friendly. None of the others wanted to be petted.

The Cats are Coming Around

Today Wally made great progress in getting to pet the cats. Both of the cats are afraid of him and hide when they hear him coming. While we were watching a movie today Zeke got in my lap and Wally was able to pet him. Then we transferred Zeke to Wally's lap and he accepted the transfer and enjoyed the petting session that followed.



Later Wally was able to feed Heidi some treats that she likes and give her some good loving also. He was just ecstatic. He really loves cats more than dogs, so has been very frustrated that the cats won't accept him. I hope they will remember him fondly tomorrow and we don't have to go thru this being scared phase all over again.


The other big thing that happened today was Wally got to take his first Tae Kwan Do lesson in Yellville. I wanted to take a picture of him in action, but there were too many other kids around and it was just too confusing. He'll go back for another lesson on Wednesday and I'll see if I can get some photos of him then. He did really well in his lesson and said afterward that it was AWESOME!

Wally's first days in Arkansas 2008

This is Wally at rest, recuperating after the plane flight and a night of TV at Aunt Carol's house in St. Louis. This may become my favorite picture of him before the summer is over.

On Saturday we were invited to a cookout at our friends', the Shipmans. Wally raved about the food and ate until he could hardly move. Grampa and I had to finish that piece of Hershey bar cake he has on his plate. I might get the recipe and make that for one of our family gatherings.

This is just a picture to show how generally excited he is to be here, or is it that the drink had too much sugar and caffeine in it?

This is a picture Wally took of himself.

The happy Grampa and Gramma, ready for a fun filled summer! Wally took this picture of us. I think he is a good photographer.
Wally loves googleing.

this was helped by wally i did most

of it

love, wally and grandma