To the left- Elisabeth walking the dogs at a rest stop. To the right- our rental car. That was the best money we spent on the trip. Definitely worth any extra cost and still cheaper than plane tickets, especially with unlimited mileage and good gas mileage.Dad had arranged for them to be gone when we arrived. So we got to the house and tried to settle in. Once again the dogs decided to make things interesting. I let them both in the backyard so they can run around a bit. Well they ran all right, they ran straight for Ben (my parents cat) who was laying in the rose bush bed. What happened next was kind of a blur, there was a lot of noise, mainly from Ben, and a lot of fur flying, also from Ben. I think Ben did a good job of fighting off the dogs. I ran over to stop the fight and Ben, thinking that I was also a dog, used my leg as a scratching post. I momentarily freed him from the dogs, but the chase was not over. As Ben ran away, both dogs got loose from me (yeah YOU try holding Magnum with two fingers). They chased Ben around the yard and caught up to him just as he was trying to climb a tree. Magnum grabbed him off the tree and pinned him to the ground. I ran over and separated them again. As I lead the dogs away from the scene I looked back at Ben who just laid there in the grass groaning, I had no idea how badly he was hurt. Naturally I was thinking the dogs just killed my parent's cat. Seconds later, when I returned Ben was gone. UH oh! Just then, my parents pulled up. UH OH!
We rushed out to surprise my mom, it worked. She about fell over when she got out of the car and saw us standing in the drive way. I love it when a plan comes together. We greeted them with hugs and smiles and news of Ben's disappearance and possible demise. After searching all the usual places, Ben was no where to be found. My parents took it in stride though- God bless em. We looked over the dogs, and discovered Magnum had several bloody scratches on his face, most likely from Ben, and probably some from the rose bush. Both Mags and Zena smelled of cat urine, apparently Ben peed on their faces. Ew! I had to check my leg.
On Sunday we awoke to a beautiful sunny day- despite the weather prediction of rain. We went to church and then we spent the rest of the day with the extended family. I tell you what, you can't buy that kind of entertainment. I only stopped laughing long enough to give my stomach muscles a break and to eat. We had a great time catching up. But Zena was a bit freaked out with all the people around. She started nipping at the heels of those who walked close to her- the vet calls it herding and says it's natural because she is part Border-Collie. I don't care how natural it is. At one point she ripped a hole in my mom's pants while nipping at her heels. I think almost everyone got nipped, Zena got dad several times. They just shrugged it off, God bless 'em. We were so embarrassed.
That night we awoke to a peculiar sound. It sounded like a small bucket of water being poured onto the kitchen floor. It was... kinda. The "bucket" was Magnum, and the "water" was from his... um... butt. Yup that's right, he was sick as a dog. We spent the next two nights taking him out every 3 hours so he can do his thing. On a few occasions, we didn't catch him in time and my parents carpet suffered the wrath. But my parents just shrugged it off and cleaned it up. God bless em! During the day, however it was harder. On Tuesday we left for a day trip to the lake with my dad's boat. We left magnum and Zena in the kitchen so it would be easy to clean up his mess. That night, when we returned it was a war zone with liquid land mines all over the floor. No harm done though, a mop and a few buckets of water later it was all clean. My mom said this was the cleanest the floor had been in a long time. $120 later, we found out Magnum either had dysentery from Ben peeing on his face during the fight (you gotta admit, Ben went out with a bang), or he had eaten some bird feed that had fallen in my parent's back yard that had made him really sick. The treatment was the same for either scenario. Antibiotics and a special diet.
The trip to the lake was the highlight of the vacation. Dad worked tirelessly on Sunday and Monday to get the boat ready for the trip. He is the greatest dad a guy could ask for. While we relaxed in the sun on Monday he slaved away to rebuild his carburetor. By Tuesday it was good to go. The best part of the lake trip was that Elisabeth caught her first fish ever!!
It was a good 
size. She and my dad were the only ones to catch anything all day. That's okay we kept ourselves busy, we each got to drive the boat. I even had a chance to attempt to dock it at the S.S. relief station- a porta-potty in the middle of the lake (seen below). That proved to be difficult because the lake was rough and the wind was blowing strong. I finally docked it on 
my 4th try, but not before I scratched the bow and broke a 
vent cover off the side. My dad just shrugged it off. God bless him. I told him I would make it up to him and buy him a new boat eventually. He said he would hold his breath.On Thursday we said our good-byes. We left sunny Southern California and came back to cold rainy Portland with a renewed appreciation for the sun. Our damage for the weekend was pretty bad: one dead cat (or so we thought), pet stains on the carpet, scratched boat, broken vent cover, ripped pants courtesy of Zena, and the stress of having to constantly watch Zena anytime you walked around her. I wouldn't be surprised if my parents never invited us back.
Update: Ben showed up a week after we had left. Dad said he had a few minor scratches but was just fine. So my dogs aren't murderers. Whew!
-Josh-
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