A Small Something

I’ve started a new blog, Ego-Induced. That one will get the new posts, while this one will get old and dusty.

I was watching Fight Club again over the weekend, and at one point I noticed a bumper sticker on a car that said “Recycle Your Animals”.

Now, I don’t know exactly what that means, but there have been two events in our home recently that, when taken together, could be one definition for that bumper sticker. Unfortunately, our oldest cat, Haji, needed to be put to sleep on Saturday. He had a condition (I forget what it was called) that made eating and swallowing painful for him. The pills and special food for that condition weren’t helping, and we were watching Haji waste away as he became more feeble. It became clear that it was a condition he would neither recover from, nor survive long, and that the humane action would be to help him end his suffering. It was a decision that was very difficult for Rachel, since she is the one who has bonded the most closely with Haji.

We dug a grave for him in our back yard near the tree he loved to hunt, rest, and play under. We’ll think of him often.

The second event is the search for a kitten. Since Ninja is “my cat” (at least according to Rachel), Rachel hopes to find a kitten that she can bond with. She has had a lot of joy, satisfaction, and companionship from her association with cats in her lifetime, and Rachel hopes to continue that with a new pet. I’ll post again when we add that cat to our home.

It might look like I’ve given up on this blog, but actually I’ve just been caught up in life. And life has been good. My work is interesting and challenging, my kids are happy and healthy and smart, and my wife is awesome. So, no news is good news, right?

I think another reason I haven’t been updating the blog is because I’ve gotten kind of caught up in the social networking trend, which tends to emphasise short, concise, individualized connections with people, rather than the way I’ve typically used this blog in the past.

But I’m not giving up on it! Watch for updates shortly. And if you can’t wait to get your fix of the Trottiers (ha!), look us up on Facebook.

You owe me $1,800!

In the past, the American Avocets that have come around have been temporary visitors only. However, I’m pretty sure they are nesting. One will crouch down on it while the other hunts for food. They trade off, so one is always on the nest. Pretty cool!

The snowy egret has been around quite a bit. The cinnamon teal is a regular fixture. I watched a muskrat swim back and forth in the pond today. The hummingbirds have been here for about a week. This afternoon, two of them buzzed around in our tree in the back yard as Ninja stalked them. She never got close, but she sure tried.

This morning, Rachel looked out the window to see NINE snowy egrets! They seemed to be having a turf war, of sorts. Eventually, the most aggressive one chased off all of the others, until there was only one remaining.

We first saw him yesterday. I hope he sticks around for a while.

Oh, the male Cinnamon Teal I mentioned in a previous post seems to have a mate. Also, there is a pair of American Coots that seem to be breeding.

We’ve seen a number of birds so far this spring in the pond behind our house. Rachel usually sees them first and then points them out to me. American Avocets, Black-necked Stilts, Cinnamon Teals, an American Wigeon, Killdeer, and the usual assortment of Mallards and geese. I love our house.

This Friday, Allison is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in social work from UVSC. She’s also graduating with a 4.0 GPA at UVSC. Wow! This is her second bachelor’s degree. The first was in English from BYU. She’s also been accepted to a Master’s degree program at Utah State University and taught on the UVSC campus. Way to go Allison!

Jonathan is getting excited about photography! He got a camera for Christmas, and over spring break he made his own blog and online photo album. You can check them out here:

• http://wwwcommanderravioliman.blogspot.com/
• http://picasaweb.google.com/jontrottier

I’ve also put links in the sidebar (over there on the right) in this blog so you can find them in the future. It’s nice to see him so excited about something!

Rachel and I are taking a Continuing Education photography class. We meet once a week for five weeks. Today we took a field trip up American Fork Canyon to take some pictures. Here are a few I took.

Jonathan, David, and I went with their scout troop to Goblin Valley State Park over the weekend. Beautiful place. We got plenty of exercise. I’ll post some pictures later.

Rachel and I went to Spamalot in Salt Lake last night. It was a lot of fun! I already knew all of the lines without having seen the musical before. Solid evidence of my geeky high school experience. Still had a great time though. And the music written for this musical is hilarious.

Jonathan spent the whole week at Scofield Scout Camp this week. I opted for the easy route and went up Friday afternoon and spent just one night with them. It was enjoyable, and brought back memories of camp when I was a boy, and working on staff. Jonathan got six merit badges! He did really well, and enjoyed himself.

A few more photos from camp here.

Here’s the location of the camp.

Rachel took Haji to the vet a few days ago, and saw a kitten there that they were trying to find a home for. We didn’t seriously discuss it for a couple days, but today we decided it would be a good thing. So now she’s home with us!

We named her Ninja (you can see why in the photo). She’s already 13 weeks old, but still has lots of “kitten” left in her. Pretty fun.

The Sanpitch Rhubarb Festival in Mt. Pleasant! Woo hoo! LOL. It was a hoot. Not sure I’ll try it again next year, but it was worth a bit of a drive to check it out this year. I have some pictures here.

The avocets came back after a day or two and have been hanging out for more than a week. I got this picture a few days ago.

Here is a Black Necked Stilt that hangs out a lot. Today we saw four of them at once.

Rachel and I saw a pair of American Avocets at the pond behind our house this morning. It was the first time either of us has seen one there. They landed and briefly scoped the area and then left again, apparently not finding it to their liking.

Like this guy.

This afternoon I watched three black-necked stilts fly around the marshy area behind my house and wade on the shores of the pond. Today is the first day I have observed them this year. In previous years I only remember seeing one or two at a time.

They only stayed a few minutes and then flew on. I hope they’ll be back.

Rachel and I saw a Killdeer yesterday over by the pond. I’ve seen a few before near our house, but this was the first sighting this year. We also went for a walk and saw a dead muskrat, so I was relieved to see that the muskrat that normally hangs out in our wetlands was still there yesterday evening. The ducks have been pairing up over the last week or so and preparing nests.

Saturday morning I drove to Mona Reservoir and saw a couple hawks, a magpie, geese, mallards, and a bunch of American Coots.