Where the hell is my cat?!

The cat pulled thru. Cost us an arm and a leg, but he can pee now. Unfortunately, he's now come down with a respiratory infection (a cold). TO make matters worse, I sem to have....how do I put this?......lost him. Not in the metaphysical sense...I mean I can't find that little bastard anywhere in the house. I KNOW he's here - hopefully not laying somewhere ner the brink of death. He's hiding because he knows I have medication to give him. (At least I gav ehim his antibiotics this mourning).

I've torn apart several rooms (that contain entirely too much shit that we dont need), and still no luck.

One last search, and I've got to get some sleep. I've spent almost 2 hours looking for him. THe kids will be up in 5 hours, and so must I be.

Aw shit - I need a time out over here

Not a bad one, where I sit in the corner for having done wrong. I just need an official time out for dealing with some stupid shit.

The vet from Banfield Vet hospital (Linked with Pet Smart in Chesapeake Virginia), must be either blind of really fuckin stupid. I took my cat in for a urinary trac problem, and he tells me that there was no sign of crystals, and that the blaockage was bacterial in nature. Just treat it with this expensive ass Clavamox twice a day, and he'll improve in about 2-3 days. Well, there WERE crystals - the cat was in agaony for the 2 days that I had him in isolation, while giving him the drugs and expecting him to get better.

This mourning, I took him to our regular vet, who immediately put a cathater in him, drained his bladder, and started an IV to get fluids into him. They said that medically, they think they were able to get to him in time, but he is severely depressed and affected by the duration of the problem. I'd like to go back to that first quack and kick his ass. I'm seriously debating (or researching) my rights of either refuting the credit card charge for services, or demanding a partial/full refund.

TONIGHT: The cat had blood work done, and those results came in shortly after they released him to me (for the night). The vet called home, gave me the restuls, and recommended that we place him in an overnihgt emergency vet clinic, so that they could monitor him better- as well as begin tryign to bring his Potassium (an dother) levels back to an acceptable range. So Tigger is at the clinic as I type - ($200 hotel room with awesome room service). Gotta see how he does tonight, to determine what the hell they're gonn ado with him tomorrow. Either gotta transport him back to the original vet, or leave him with the clinic he's at.


I need a nap.

Will Smith, Johnny Cash, my son, and a restroom at Silver Diner

Intersting mental chain happened today.

My son LOVES the movie Men in Black. He also really really likes Will Smith. Yesterday, I was working in the yard, and put "Gettin Jiggy with it" on, and we all danced around while it played.

Today, he asked to watch "I, Robot" for our "rest time" movie.

THis evening, we went to the Silver Diner for dinner. He said he had to go potty, so I took him. As he was sitting on the throne, I heard "Ring of Fire" playing over the speakers. I started to sing along...

"I fell into a buring ring of fire - I went down down down - but the flames went higher..."

Logan: Is that a "Men in Black" song, dada?

Me: No baby - it by a man named Johhny Cash, not by Will Smith.

Logan : You sure it not Men In Black song, dada?

So I thought a minute - it was not in the movie, or any ad campaign/commercial, but I was able to make a connection:

Johnny Cash was called the Man In Black. So, that kind makes his songs "Men in Black" songs, right?

Randori (free play) with a little cutie. I've seen pictures of adults in this position. My mind reels with the possibilites of what next. Of course my sons's choice was a quick release, and to hug his uke. Perhaps he's smarted than I am! 

This looks innocent enough, but as soon as I snapped the picture, Logan turned, spun around so he was facing the other way, brought both of the kids hands over his right shoulder, and tried to judo throw him! 

My little samurai sits and listens 

Quite a day

Today was a rather unusual day. The boys were pretty good, and we tried a few new things today. For lunch, we ventured out on a bike ride, and bike rode ourselves all the way up to McDonalds. Parked the bike and taxi in their playground area (and chained it up), went in and had lunch. On the way back, as I was mentally patting myself on the back for saving on gas, the bike started to make the most loudest and ear wrenching screach. It is coming from the bearign area between the petals. For a mile, on the way home, everyone was turning to see what the hell that noise was. I was wondering if it was going to make it back home at all. But we did.

Another first tonight was that Logan got to go to sword class with me. Kinda. My sword class teacher had a heart attack last week. I've only got his email, so I wasn't sure if he'd be at class or not. I'm (unofficially) second in charge of the iaido class, so I felt I had to go. I also didn't want to stand him up, if he was going to take the time to show up (after a heart attack and all).

I was the only one to show for the sword class. The teacher had been there Monday, but didn't come tonight. Figuring that, even if he DID show up, it would be best to skip training and just have a light class, I brought Logan along. It turns out that we had a decent showing of people tonight (including about 8 little people). Not wanting to piddle with how the stand in teacher is flubbing up the karate class, I decided to break off and take the little ones with me. This would allow me to not be part of the mayhem of the other class, and also let me better keep an eye (and 2 hands if needed) on Logan. They had a blast!

I played with them, and got them to do various rolling exercises and such. Then we did randori (kid style) for about 20 minutes. For the remaining time, I taught them kung fu. It was neat seeing how much better they responded to animal styles instead of boring karate. My old sifu must have ha a ball with his classes.

Anyways, Logan got to play with other kids, and got to actually (kinda) be part of an official dojo karate / kung fu / sword class. I packed his hakama (samurai puffy pants), so he looked like a mini-me runnng around. I got pics and video.

THE CAT:

Our adopted stray (adopted when a kitten, now 4 years old) has developed a urinary tract infection. Took him to the vets yesterday, and $300 later, came home with clavamox for him. He deosn't seem to be eatting or drinking anything (or not much). He's grown increasingly lathargic as well. Could just be stress too. Yesterday, after we returned, he ran and hid for 3 hours. Not wanting to play "where the hell is the kitty" anymore, I've kept him isolated in the bathroom since then. Great for finding him, not so great for his morale.

Earlier today, when I checked on him, he reaked of pee. Which is actually very good. It means that pee came out. I just hope that his spirits pick up - or that he gets better before it kills him. Poor thing - and although the bathroom is the only room we have we can keep him in, it seems SO rude to put him in a room where we keep popping in to take a leak. Kinda like putting a fat person on a diet, and then chaining them up in the kitchen.

I'll keep ya'll posted on how the cat's doing - and I'll see if I can post a pic or two from tonight at the dojo.

Happy Mothers Day

My goal for tmorrow (Sunday) is to not make my wife feel like the delinquent idgit I really want to make her feel like.

Today, we were all out in the backyard. The kids were playing on monster playground, I was workign on the water flow pipes nearby, and the wife was in a chair at the bottom of the slide. She was positioned so that she could catch the baby as he plummeted to earth down the slide. And she caught him, most of the time. The Logan decided to take a bokken (wooden samurai sword ) up the ladder with him. She told him not to take a sword up (he already had it up), and she told him to send it down. He sent it down the slide. Then, HE came down the slide, impaling his right cheek on the non-removed-by-mommy sword (who was a mere 2 feet away). He ended up with a half inch cut above his mouth. I cleaned him up, traiged him, and decided that although it was deep, it was not all the way thru, not was is very long, so stiches propabaly weren't gonna happen. After a call to her parents, she's now worried about scarring and long term effects of the injury, so I agreed to have her call the perdiatrician people's answering service, and find out what we need to do to get him "seen" by a doctor. They referred us (neccesary for coverage by our insurance) to a kids hospital, and within minutes, the boy and I were off on our adventure. The wife and baby stayed hom, as it was close to the baby's night night time, and Logan really wasn't in any danger. A 15 minute trip led to 3 hours of waiting in the waiting room, followed by an hour of waiting in the actual assigned room. (but at least the room has a bed to play with, and a tv with kids movies). And what was the professional opinion? It just happened to be the same thing I did before we left the house. (Minus the cold washcloth to reduce swelling and decrease blood loss.). They recommended no stitches (not even that magic super glue they use now), and said to treat it several times a day with anti-biotic-ointment (or, as I called it when I put it on him before leaving the house - Neosporin).

Not wanting her to feel bad, but still having to allow it to leap from my mouth, I asked her "You tol dhim to send down the sword. Besides 2 ft away, where the hell were you when he attempted hara kiri? Why didn't you move the sword?"

Sha gave some lame ass story about how she was watching Lance (our 1.5 yr old), and looked away from the slide for just a moment. Obviously a moment was all Logan needed to get hurt. It's not like you can't hear the THUMK of a wooden katana coem down a plastic slide, and land at your feet. Dum Dum Dum!

On a lighter note, my mother wanted me to come over last weekend and roto-till a small patch of her yard for her. She has one of those small personal sized rototillers. I had to work last weekend, so I phoned her today, to see if she wanted me to do it. She still hasn't returned my calls. She upset about something, and I have no time or care to devote to playing the "What's my mom pissy about this time?" game with her anymore. We also tried to contact her today to invite her out to dinner for mothers day. I think we'll call her once ot twice tmorrow, and if she still avoids us, we'll drop some flowers on her door or something.

When is Father's Day?? Im nice. I need some things.

For presents, I've been personalizing a large picture frame for the 3 moms (the wife,my mom, and the MIL). It's a large 11x14 white frame, with room in the center for a 5x7 pic. I took Logan's hands, painted them, and made handprints in blue and green in 2 corners, and need to put Lance's handprints in th eother 2 corners. (I say NEED TO cause I can't find the goddamned paint! I may beed to make a trip to Walmart tmorrow, just for soem poster paint to finish the project).

On that note, I big you all good night. And make sure that you have at least something (ANYTHING) as a gift for your mom, and your kids mom. And if the florist is sol dout, and you're not willin to sell blood for jewelry, do what I do ---- make somethign personal that she willl always remember. Take a moment of time, and capture it for her.

I';ll post pics of our frames when I find that damn paint.

You tube

I just uploaded my first video to You tube. The quality is decreased quite a bit - but it's free.

My Samurai Sons

Newly added blog to my list

I just added a new blog to my side bar list thingy. Joele and Jackson's journey though life. I LOVE the Easter pics - the little one reminds me of just how tiny Lance was while carrying around an easter basket.

Power Dark Side

My thanks to SILLY DAD (see link on side bar) for this one! 

The return of the delinquent one

Thank you all for your concern. I have not been swallowed up by the evil we all know as the YMCA. In fact, after a small display of power, we have been avoiding them. Now really on purpose, it's just how things have been going. (Display of power = showed up enough times after being booted to show that gruff looking bitch that I was not goign away)

Where to start?

PRESKOOL:

The city we live in has decided that they spend too much money on preschool. Their solution--- get rid of it. That means that the only kids that can get preskool services are special education kids. In the past month, we've had Logan tested by 2 different people, trying to get him into preskool thru the Spec Ed door. The wife is a spec ed teacher, and thought we might have a shot at preskool due to Logan's problem with speech. He has a fantastic vocabulary, but his diction leaves a bit to be desired. Often times (as can be normal in children of 3 yrs old), people don't fully understand what he is saying.

I should mention that the decision to emilinate preskool is a recent one. That means that the Chesapeake system still DOES have preskool. They just are trying their damndest to find all the kids in it "UNelidgible". The testing that is done to "qualify" for services has seen a change in interpretation. It used to be that a child had to fail 25% of the test to qualify. The sity raised it to 50%. And they are REtesting all current preskool kids to try to UNqualify some/most/all of them from services.

In the meantime, a neighboring city (Norfolk), which is by comparison a poorer (in terms of money) system, is erecting billboards advertising to sign your child up for preskool. Aint that a bitch!

The wife told me that teachers, seeing the need that their students have for continued services, have begun to fail some students in certain categories. BY doign this, the students remain ELIDGIBLE for services. SO the teachers are at elast lookign out for the students, even if the admin isn't.

ANYWAYS, appearantly, because we are an "intact" family, are the wrong damn race/color, make entirely too much money, and have taken the time to educate our kid - we are inelidgible. We weren't trying to get rid of the kid. We wrestled long and hard at starting sckool for him at only 3 years old. Many factors played into the decision.

• He indeed has a speech problem that a professional can assist with. I had speech servies in 2nd or 3rd grade cause I pronounced "s" like "th". Houth instead of house.
• Now that Lance is mobile, it would be beneficial to Lance if we (Lance and I) had more one on one time, just like Logan had. I fel bad that Lance has to take a backseat to Logan at times. Ex: Lance doesn't get to walk around the zoo at his own pace, because I have to pick him up and run after Logan. BTW: I've started to fix that problem - we now walk at Lance's pace, and Logan does a shit load of U-turns.
  
• We both feel that Logan is ready for a different learning environment.
  
• Logan is HYPER! Perhaps exposure to a preschool environment will better prepare him for a classroom enviroment.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention - above, I stated that we educated our kid. And that this lead to his being found unqualified for services. The first exam was about basic knowledge - they wanted to see if he could pass the test at the 3 year old level. They stopped the test as Logan was about mid to high 5 year old level. One smart cookie. The second test was on naming things, and awareness of words and tenses, like "his, hers, largest" and other possesional words. actually, "name the item" was at the 3 year old level - the possesionals were at the 4-5 yr old level, and he was still doing pretty damn well. (YEAH ME! But bad for trying to qualify for services)

I'm let feelign very bitter that my city has no preschool options for me, other than recommending that we pay to send him to a private preschool. I'm also swelling with pride that, although he has a speech problem, his knowledge is well beyond his 3 years.

An example of the kind of brain power he has - the man showed him a drawn picture of a dog next to a cat. They both had the same styled bowl (shape and design) in front of each of them. Each bowl had the same blob looking amount of food in it. (Like moist food). The man asked which food was the dogs. Logan pointed to both the bowls. The man asked him again, and again he pointed to both bowls. The man asked "Don't you think one bowl is for the cat?", and Logan said no. And I swear, by boy said out loud the exact thing I was thinking ...."Doggie eat food from his bowl, and chase cat away - then eat food from other bowl too". I almost burst out laughing. Not the answer the guy was looking for, but very accurate if you ask me. He asked Logan if he thought that the other bowl belonged to the cat. (BACKGROUND: we have 3 inside cats, and 1 outside dog. We seldom to never feel them moist food, always dry. The cats each have their own bowl, next to each other. We also have a rubbermaid container that we keep the catfood in)
Logan tells the man "We go to Walmart. We buy catfood, and bring home. We dump bag in big plastic box, and use cup to scoop scoop scoop food into cat bowl." Of course, his diction made it hard to understand. The guy just looked at him and said "Ok, I didn't get any of that". So I repeated what Logna had just said, and then explained that my son had just taken him from the point of purchase at Walmart, thru the transportation of the said items, right up the delivery system used to administer the food. AND that he was situationally accurate about that damn dog chasing the cat away and eating it's food.

So, we left the big powwow meeting with the city offering 2 (maybe 3) days of speech therapy, supposively in a group setting, but that he was not qualified for spec ed preskool services.

To give some more info about the spec ed stuff - Chesapeake currently HAS preskool. They have preskool teachers employed. They are desperately trying to get rid of the preskoolers, and lessen the amount PS teachers, so they can save some money. THe only way to get preskool for your kid is to go thru the spec ed department. Mind you, he would not be in a spec ed only preskool. He would be in normal preschool, they they already have, with the remnants of those students who have not been UNqualified by the admins new testing requirments. I don't want anyone to think we were trying to get Logan into a handicapped preskool with severaly disabled/dispordered kids just so get him into school.

THE MONSTER PLAYGROUND

Just put the roof/tarp on it today - the damn thing has become a magnet for birdshit. Gonna have to go the dollar store tomorrow and get a brush strictly for bird shit removal. Still haven't built the remaingin swing section - have to remove a stump in the yard that interferes with the final placement. Pictures to follow soon.

AIKIDO

I passed my first exam. I think I blogged about this already, but it just came to mind. Something neat though, I was able to make customized dvds for the other testing people, using the footage I shot, and my computer. It was a nice suprise to hand them dvd of their tests, each one made just for them.

WORK

I actually had 2 jobs this past weekend. It felt good to perform again - I mean and get paid for it with actual money! 2 magic shows. Now to figure out which bills to pay, before I blow it all on somethign frivilous, like a haircut or a family dinner.


I know there's more to type, just can't think of anything. Off to browse the web. The boy wants to go the the Y tomorrow. Im sure that'll be good for a entry worth reading!

I am so proud of this one! I had to hunt through old pics - all but the center crane pose was an original of mine. Now that I can work the programs a little better, I may have to shoot pics just for this scene with the boys. 

Here is Logan as a samurai circa 1700. 

Here is our little warrior in a bamboo grove in Japan. 

I recent shot of my Aikido dojo - Logan was added to the picture. Now I need to add me in the upper right. 

This is a base shot of Logan, dressed in his Samurai outfit (complete with plastic katana and hakama) 

Now WEIGHT a minute!

Im still alive. The playground is almost all the way up (I need to remove a tree stump before finishing it). And, much to my suprise, I am down to 210/215 lbs - from 250 lbs. I hopped on the scale the other day, and much to my suprise, I'm not as fat anymore!

Lance is walking around like a champ now, and Im running in all directions trying to catch him. Within th elast week, he's decided that when Logan and I are wrestlign on the floor, he will run up to us and DIVE on top! With as small as he is, it's good to see him be physical.

I've been busy with various photo tweakign programs, and will post a few of my creations after I get this entry done.

BTW - If anyone has a activation code for Ulead Photo Express 6.0 that they would't mind sharing, please email it to me. I will not give it to anyone else.

Well, I'd better get uploading on those pics before I get too tired.