I am allergic to cats and horses. I found out after visiting an allergist today.
My wife and I have three cats and she trains horses as a side-job. Ironic, no?
I've always said irony is proof that God has a sense of humor.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Horse Sold!
Chilly has been sold, and the check deposited successfully yesterday!
The sale was delayed, and took place last week while we were on vacation. Then, there was a hurricane. Carrie didn't get to drive out and meet with our broker until yesterday, and you can bet she deposited that sucker right away. We got half of what we were originally asking and the broker got to keep 15%, but it's a huge blessing to not have the financial burden of supporting the horse. God is good!
The sale was delayed, and took place last week while we were on vacation. Then, there was a hurricane. Carrie didn't get to drive out and meet with our broker until yesterday, and you can bet she deposited that sucker right away. We got half of what we were originally asking and the broker got to keep 15%, but it's a huge blessing to not have the financial burden of supporting the horse. God is good!
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Raise a glass for Jazzy T...
RIP puppy...
Jazzy T, aged 14 years, passed away tonight.
We all knew she was going to pass sometime soon. Jazzy was diagnosed with rectal cancer last May-ish. The family started to prepare itself then, only to have a subsequent checkup say "What cancer? I don't see anything." Jazzy has been having trouble for years with her rear legs, standing up, and moving around. When I still lived at my parents, I would have to carry her up and down the basement stairs to prevent her from falling. Her mobility has degraded greatly since then. Something caused her to fall today on her back legs. The poor pup dislocated her hip. Then, the bone didn't want to reset properly, because her muscles around it had atrophied so much. The vet didn't think she stood much of a chance recovering.
I believe my mom made the right decision to put her down while much of the family was with her. I didn't hear about it until it was almost too late, and the twins were out of town, but Mom, Dad, Patrick, Matt, and his girlfriend, Renee, were all around. They put the phone up to Jazzy's ear so I could say farewell. That's when I felt it the most.
RIP Jazzy. You were loved and will be missed.
 |
| The family pup |
Jazzy T, aged 14 years, passed away tonight.
We all knew she was going to pass sometime soon. Jazzy was diagnosed with rectal cancer last May-ish. The family started to prepare itself then, only to have a subsequent checkup say "What cancer? I don't see anything." Jazzy has been having trouble for years with her rear legs, standing up, and moving around. When I still lived at my parents, I would have to carry her up and down the basement stairs to prevent her from falling. Her mobility has degraded greatly since then. Something caused her to fall today on her back legs. The poor pup dislocated her hip. Then, the bone didn't want to reset properly, because her muscles around it had atrophied so much. The vet didn't think she stood much of a chance recovering.
I believe my mom made the right decision to put her down while much of the family was with her. I didn't hear about it until it was almost too late, and the twins were out of town, but Mom, Dad, Patrick, Matt, and his girlfriend, Renee, were all around. They put the phone up to Jazzy's ear so I could say farewell. That's when I felt it the most.
RIP Jazzy. You were loved and will be missed.
 |
| Rough-housing long ago |
Friday, August 26, 2011
Home, home, again
Home, home at last.
Carrie, Shane, and I got back late last night from our first family vacation. Carrie's parent were gracious enough to host us for a night and then watch Shaney for the next couple of days while Carrie and I went off from R&R. (That stands for roller coasters and restaurants this vacation!) We really enjoyed the time off, and Shane really enjoyed some time in a new locale with all sorts of new trouble to get into.
Wednesday, the earthquake hit. It was a 5.8 magnitude shaker than was felt up and down the east coast. People in Canada felt it, and the epicenter was in central Virginia!
I never felt a thing.
Carrie, Shane, and I got back late last night from our first family vacation. Carrie's parent were gracious enough to host us for a night and then watch Shaney for the next couple of days while Carrie and I went off from R&R. (That stands for roller coasters and restaurants this vacation!) We really enjoyed the time off, and Shane really enjoyed some time in a new locale with all sorts of new trouble to get into.
Wednesday, the earthquake hit. It was a 5.8 magnitude shaker than was felt up and down the east coast. People in Canada felt it, and the epicenter was in central Virginia!
I never felt a thing.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Last week off
I report back to work next Monday. I'm ready and I'm not as is the usual.
This summer has been full of work, work, and more work. I love my son and I wouldn't trade him in for another, but babies are a lot of workity-work. It's not always bad or overly draining work, but it limits what you can do. Almost every morning this summer I've been woken up to help Shane start his day, and then almost every night I've gone for a half-hour plus walk before easing him back down into his crib for sleep. In the middle I've been doing chores, watching Shane, working ESY, and tutoring. And you know what? Even when I'm bone tired and frustrated, I have a good feeling of accomplishment once I'm able to rest for a bit. It's taken a lot of adjustment, but I feel like my capacity to do work and take care of chores has grown exponentially over the past couple of years. I do wish I was better able to keep up with all of my old friends, but everyone is busy and when they're not, they live a different lifestyle at different times of night and day.
I know for certain that my life is not something the younger me would've envisioned. Of course, each year I look back and the prior me seems a little bit dumber to the present me who's had a little more time to figure things out. I suspect I'm being an idiot in some way even now as I type this! I know when I was younger, I used to dream more. I would envision being part of cataclysmic event or maybe doing something completely and utterly bonkers. Back then, I think I was drunk on the possibilities of what my life could become. Now, I'm busy living (and enjoying) it. It's an odd perspective change. Being an "old man" that is.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting back to work and feeling productive. Fatherhood has made me feel a little uneasy when I'm not doing some form of work to ensure my family is provided for. I need to keep bringing in the bacon.
As I was typing this, Ranger jumped up on my desk and starting mewing at me. He jumped in my lap and scaled my chest to nuzzle my beard. By some gravity defying mechanism I cannot begin to understand, the kitten managed to sit just below my neck so that he could bunk me and demand attention. My teeth clattered from his purring. Do you think the kitten has adopted me? Or maybe he's just trying to prevent me from typing and using the computer. He's sleeping in my lap now, but that's probably because I'm sitting in 'his' computer chair.
This summer has been full of work, work, and more work. I love my son and I wouldn't trade him in for another, but babies are a lot of workity-work. It's not always bad or overly draining work, but it limits what you can do. Almost every morning this summer I've been woken up to help Shane start his day, and then almost every night I've gone for a half-hour plus walk before easing him back down into his crib for sleep. In the middle I've been doing chores, watching Shane, working ESY, and tutoring. And you know what? Even when I'm bone tired and frustrated, I have a good feeling of accomplishment once I'm able to rest for a bit. It's taken a lot of adjustment, but I feel like my capacity to do work and take care of chores has grown exponentially over the past couple of years. I do wish I was better able to keep up with all of my old friends, but everyone is busy and when they're not, they live a different lifestyle at different times of night and day.
I know for certain that my life is not something the younger me would've envisioned. Of course, each year I look back and the prior me seems a little bit dumber to the present me who's had a little more time to figure things out. I suspect I'm being an idiot in some way even now as I type this! I know when I was younger, I used to dream more. I would envision being part of cataclysmic event or maybe doing something completely and utterly bonkers. Back then, I think I was drunk on the possibilities of what my life could become. Now, I'm busy living (and enjoying) it. It's an odd perspective change. Being an "old man" that is.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting back to work and feeling productive. Fatherhood has made me feel a little uneasy when I'm not doing some form of work to ensure my family is provided for. I need to keep bringing in the bacon.
As I was typing this, Ranger jumped up on my desk and starting mewing at me. He jumped in my lap and scaled my chest to nuzzle my beard. By some gravity defying mechanism I cannot begin to understand, the kitten managed to sit just below my neck so that he could bunk me and demand attention. My teeth clattered from his purring. Do you think the kitten has adopted me? Or maybe he's just trying to prevent me from typing and using the computer. He's sleeping in my lap now, but that's probably because I'm sitting in 'his' computer chair.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Nerd Moment
Nerd moment.
I just discovered you can do verbal searches on Google. Tons of fun! The wife and I were trying it out. It was highly accurate, but there were some fun mistranslations! Well, or maybe it was me yelling out funny things whenever Carrie would finish talking...
I just discovered you can do verbal searches on Google. Tons of fun! The wife and I were trying it out. It was highly accurate, but there were some fun mistranslations! Well, or maybe it was me yelling out funny things whenever Carrie would finish talking...
A new obstacle
There's a new obstacle between me and my writing. His name is Ranger.
The cat is obsessed with my computer! He walks on they keyboard, attacks my mouse cursor, and even likes to play with pens while I'm writing. What? You don't believe me?
It was hilarious the first time. It was pretty funny the second time too. By the third time I'd pulled him away, I thought he'd give up, but the kitten just keeps coming back. He's relentless! (Relentlessly stupid anyway, heh.)
The cat is obsessed with my computer! He walks on they keyboard, attacks my mouse cursor, and even likes to play with pens while I'm writing. What? You don't believe me?
It was hilarious the first time. It was pretty funny the second time too. By the third time I'd pulled him away, I thought he'd give up, but the kitten just keeps coming back. He's relentless! (Relentlessly stupid anyway, heh.)
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
What in the world is THAT?
There's a new addition to my family. Are you shocked? I know I was.
My wife is no longer allowed to go into any PetSmart unattended.
The kitten's name is Ranger. He was found in a box with two other kittens outside of a pound. All three of the kittens were severely malnourished and the smallest one did not survive.
My wife is no longer allowed to go into any PetSmart unattended.
The kitten's name is Ranger. He was found in a box with two other kittens outside of a pound. All three of the kittens were severely malnourished and the smallest one did not survive.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
ESY
Summer has begun again! I changed my last adult diaper today, and there are two full weeks before I have to report back in for the new school year.
What is ESY? It stands for Extended School Year. It's not summer school -- it's only for special education students whose IEPs indicated that they would have a severe regression in their learning if they did not receive any schooling throughout the summer. Our goal is to "contain and maintain!" (I admit, I made that motto up, but it does do a good job of summarizing things).
This was my second summer working ESY. I was an IA (Instructional Assistant) in a Cat B classroom. In English, that means that I was assigned to help a teacher with students who are much more severely affected by their disabilities than your typical special education student. For example, during the school year I work as a teacher with Cat A LD/ED. I still teach from the same textbooks and lab guides as all of the other general education teachers in the school. Over the summer, there was one student I spent a whole day with trying to teach her how to recognize the number six.
Overall, I'm very glad that I did it. Working with a different population of kids can be refreshing and eye-opening. Plus, being an IA instead of a teacher allows me to work with kids and not worry about the mountains of paperwork and non-instructional work teachers are required to do.
[FYI - this is going to be a long post. I've been meaning to write about my summer job all summer, so there's a lot of things to say. I wrote notes about every day of my first week down way back when! I'm going to condense everything (of course), because I don't want to be too brutally assaulted by an overabundance of words when I click 'read more.']
What is ESY? It stands for Extended School Year. It's not summer school -- it's only for special education students whose IEPs indicated that they would have a severe regression in their learning if they did not receive any schooling throughout the summer. Our goal is to "contain and maintain!" (I admit, I made that motto up, but it does do a good job of summarizing things).
This was my second summer working ESY. I was an IA (Instructional Assistant) in a Cat B classroom. In English, that means that I was assigned to help a teacher with students who are much more severely affected by their disabilities than your typical special education student. For example, during the school year I work as a teacher with Cat A LD/ED. I still teach from the same textbooks and lab guides as all of the other general education teachers in the school. Over the summer, there was one student I spent a whole day with trying to teach her how to recognize the number six.
Overall, I'm very glad that I did it. Working with a different population of kids can be refreshing and eye-opening. Plus, being an IA instead of a teacher allows me to work with kids and not worry about the mountains of paperwork and non-instructional work teachers are required to do.
[FYI - this is going to be a long post. I've been meaning to write about my summer job all summer, so there's a lot of things to say. I wrote notes about every day of my first week down way back when! I'm going to condense everything (of course), because I don't want to be too brutally assaulted by an overabundance of words when I click 'read more.']
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Shane - 8 months
August 6th - 8 months old! He is growing fast and A D Highly Delightful! (I'm very proud of that term btw. I'm also scared to Google it and see if someone came up with it before me)
Many things have changed, but other remain the same. Whenever Shane is sleeping and I can't clearly see his face, my heart stops for a moment until I see the rising and falling of his breathing. He's old enough now that he can easily roll and crawl around if something did obstruct his airways, but it still puts me at unease.
The biggest update is about Shane's crawling! It's more of a full-body drag than an up-on-his-knees sort of crawl, but this kid is mobile! He can crawl the entire lengths of rooms, turn, and get in to trouble with frightening ease (you may recall the jaws themed pursuit of the cat's tail). Whenever the boy sets his eyes on something, he's bloody determined to get it. I find I'm constantly dragging him away from something by an ankle only to find he resumes course the moment I let him go. Shane still doesn't have a good grasp on what to do with obstacles between him and whatever it is he wants. He'll ram head first into things and cry if I let him. The boy has also been a bit more fussy in general as of late. He's still a happy baby overall, but he can get quite unhappy by the second and third time Daddy has yanked him away from a tasty wire or power cord he was homing in on.
Many things have changed, but other remain the same. Whenever Shane is sleeping and I can't clearly see his face, my heart stops for a moment until I see the rising and falling of his breathing. He's old enough now that he can easily roll and crawl around if something did obstruct his airways, but it still puts me at unease.
The biggest update is about Shane's crawling! It's more of a full-body drag than an up-on-his-knees sort of crawl, but this kid is mobile! He can crawl the entire lengths of rooms, turn, and get in to trouble with frightening ease (you may recall the jaws themed pursuit of the cat's tail). Whenever the boy sets his eyes on something, he's bloody determined to get it. I find I'm constantly dragging him away from something by an ankle only to find he resumes course the moment I let him go. Shane still doesn't have a good grasp on what to do with obstacles between him and whatever it is he wants. He'll ram head first into things and cry if I let him. The boy has also been a bit more fussy in general as of late. He's still a happy baby overall, but he can get quite unhappy by the second and third time Daddy has yanked him away from a tasty wire or power cord he was homing in on.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Hooray for Fridays!
It's been a long week at home and at work. Thank God It's Friday!
This week, the DOW dropped close to 300 points one day and then over 500 points another day after a debt deal was made (Congress was arguing whether or not to up the spending cap and the deadline was this week). I had just invested a chunk of my summer paycheck as Shane's future college fund a month or so ago! Long term, I'm sure it will recoup, but damn I wish I had waited a little longer. I had been expecting that reaching a debt agreement would've upped the market a little or kept it more or less in the same neighborhood as before. If I had been expecting it to take off, I might have invested even more, so hallelujah I didn't do that.
I still owe this journal a post on ESY. I will do that! Tomorrow is the day Shane turns 8-months old so I'm going to want to do a Shane update then. That means I'll talk about ESY....eventually! There are only four days left of it.
Speaking of work, I have to go to it. I woke up to Shane this morning and I've been working ever since. Time to go to work and relax, right?
I think it's going to be a good Friday. Time to go find out!
This week, the DOW dropped close to 300 points one day and then over 500 points another day after a debt deal was made (Congress was arguing whether or not to up the spending cap and the deadline was this week). I had just invested a chunk of my summer paycheck as Shane's future college fund a month or so ago! Long term, I'm sure it will recoup, but damn I wish I had waited a little longer. I had been expecting that reaching a debt agreement would've upped the market a little or kept it more or less in the same neighborhood as before. If I had been expecting it to take off, I might have invested even more, so hallelujah I didn't do that.
I still owe this journal a post on ESY. I will do that! Tomorrow is the day Shane turns 8-months old so I'm going to want to do a Shane update then. That means I'll talk about ESY....eventually! There are only four days left of it.
Speaking of work, I have to go to it. I woke up to Shane this morning and I've been working ever since. Time to go to work and relax, right?
I think it's going to be a good Friday. Time to go find out!
Monday, August 1, 2011
Cats!
My wife was having fun with Shane this morning! Apparently, he'd already tried for the cat's tail three or four times before she pulled out her cellphone. He's a determined little booger! I love this video.
Shane and the cats are going to have problems at some point. He's fascinated by them. That means he wants to eat them.
The cats have never been nabbed by Shane. Whenever he reaches out with a twinkle of baby mayhem in his eyes, Carrie or I pull him back before any fur is ruffled. Until recently, Shane's been immobile (at least as much as a hyperactive baby can be). Before that, he had such bad aim that the cats were able to walk up to him, sniff, and walk away before he could get a fist full of skin or fur. With no injuries to report, Max and Min have grown complacent. One of these days, Shane's going to be a little too fast, or we're going to be a little to slow and he's going to catch a cat. It won't be pretty. Max is de-clawed, but Min is a fully equipped. Shane will eventually learn the "don't rough up the kitties" lesson, but he may learn it the hard way.
In return, the cats will learn the "don't stick your tail in the baby's face if you want to keep it" lesson
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