Getting a reasonable picture with four busy little girls was a major accomplishment! This pic was taken last weekend in Grand Rapids, MI, day after Kristin and I ran the Bayshore Marathon in Traverse City, MI. What a treat to find Heidi and Eden (from Ontario) waiting at Kristin and Curt’s doorstep upon our return from Traverse City! Four grand-daughters in the same town (GR) at the same time. GREAT! From left to right in this pic: Eden (1), Emma (3 3/4), Marley (7 weeks), and Claire (22 months).

May 24th, 2008. 26.2 miles along Grand Traverse Bay of Lake Michigan near Traverse City, MI. Weatherwise, perfect: sunny with mile breeze, 45 degree start, with 59 degree finish. Course was an out/back to the tip of of the Old Mission Peninsula. Mostly waterfront. Exquisite scenery, with blue/green water hues that would compete with any Carribean vacation. Great company! Engaging conversation, much of it revolving around our T-shirts:) Very very enjoyable!

Well, we finally caught one last night. LOTS of noise on the roof right above our bed from about 2:00-5:00 AM, once the racoon got trapped in the cage. Very quiet and actually very cute by 6AM when it was light enough to go outside and get a good view of it peering down at us from the cage on the roof. In the middle the night, with all the noise, I was thinking it would be nice to shoot the racoon. By morning though, I just noticed how cute he/she was. The big question now is: was this racoon the only one? OR, could there another adult or worst of all, BABIES?????? The pest control man did find a new hole in our chimney stack only 6-8 inches away from LAST YEAR’S HOLE which is still tightly sealed with a piece of metal. Why are these racoons to obsessed with our chimney stack?????? We heard that racoon babies make loud squealing sounds and can sound somewhat like birds. We’re certainly hoping NOT to hear this over the next couple of days! If so, we’ll have to get inside the chimney stack somehow to get them out of there, and then fumigate/seal the stack. Maybe next spring they’ll leave us alone.