Sunny Sunday

Today started out cold but ended up being a nice day to be outside. After Emily left for Bismarck this afternoon, we filled the bicycle tires with air and went on a ride around town. David rode his own bike, while Sarah and Michael shared the trailer. They had a good time! David found "little green things" in the rock garden on the south side of the house--it turns out there are spring bulbs of some sort hiding under all those rocks! We have been uncovering them as we find them. Michael kept trying to pull them up today, but didn't succeed. He also tried to eat the birdseed that Sarah had spilled on the sidewalk. He had a good day.
Sarah yelled something at me while I was moving rocks this afternoon, and I didn't quite understand her the first time. Finally, I looked over at her and realized that she was saying, "Look, Mommy, a puppy in our yard!" There was a tiny, fluffy gray dog of some sort (pomeranian?) walking around the swingset looking lost. It came over and stood there, just asking to be picked up, so we did. The puffball was lighter than Hello, our cat! It was clearly an indoor dog (we were surprised it didn't have ribbons in its fur) but didn't have tags on its collar, so we carried it over to the neighbor's house to see if they recognized it. They didn't, but suggested calling the town policeman (there's only one) to find out what to do. His wife answered the phone and sent him over about half an hour later to take the fluffy dog home with him and post a "Found Dog" sign on city hall. All three kids loved having this strange creature in the living room, but Sarah was the one who got upset that he had to leave. She asked again before going to sleep, "Mommy, where our fluffy dog? Where did he go?" She was only slightly comforted by the idea that he had to go home with the policeman so his family could find him.
No, we are not getting a dog!
David told us all that we did not have to worry about replacing the fluffy gray dog, because he already has two stuffed dogs named Saquoya and Gita. We don't need any more, he says. Those stuffed puppies keep him busy enough with their running and jumping all over the house.