Fearsome Creatures

Jasmine is always signing up for some class or another. Her latest is boxing. Don't mess with Jasmine, folks. She knows what she's doing, and, though I have yet to find out for sure, I suspect if she had to, she'd fight dirty.

I'm going to make sure our chocolate supply never gets too low. One can't be too careful.

Avery sure likes to play with the gloves too. She goes from "sweet little princess" to "little ball of rage" in 6 seconds. Daddy's so proud. :-)

Oh, and when Avery's got the gloves on....beware of the low-blow.

In other news... I saw a cougar today! I've lived here almost 14 years, I've been up in the forest zillions of times, and today was the first time I've seen a cougar. I was out on a short run over lunch, and there it was, right on the gravel road between Dimple Hill and Lewisberg Saddle. At first I didn't see it well, as it was around a bend in the road, partially obscured by trees. I thought it was someone's dog - maybe a golden lab or something. Then I figured it was a coyote. I came around the corner and it was maybe 100 feet away from me, casually running away from me. I realized it clearly didn't run like a coyote, and it was far too big to be a bobcat. Then it turned sideways and I got a good look at it. I could see every muscle in it's leg! Yikes. Just like the cougar at the zoo, except without double layered fence. Luckily it didn't take any interest in me, and didn't seem the least bit aggressive or threatening. Except for, you know, the frayed and bloody shoelace dangling from it's fangs.

About this time I asked myself why I was still jogging. I stopped, picked up some rocks, and waved my arms like a moron. I heard you're supposed to wave your arms to make yourself look big or something. By this time the cougar was long gone, of course, but I figured it couldn't hurt. I am sort've glad nobody saw me though.