Tag Archives: Family

Furry Family Member Update – Elliott the Cat is Quiet

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For the last two nights, Elliott the Cat has been quiet the whole night through.

Over the course of the last few weeks, he woke us in the middle of the night with incessant, insistent crying. He was fairly consistent from night to night, making minor adjustments in his timing. First, he cried at 2:30. Then at 3:30. Then 4:30. 5:30 followed. A slight relapse back to 4:30. Then back to 5:30. His best nights had him sounding 8 to 12 meows, followed by a head butt into the door.

His worst night was 73 meows. SEVENTY THREE meows in quick succession, and in a variety of tones and volume. That night was about a week ago.

Seventy Three.

Three score and thirteen.

I don’t know… maybe that’s not that many. But I’ve only rarely cohabitated with a cat, and not for very long. That seems a lot to me.

But for the last two nights, he’s been quiet. Nary a single “mrrow” has awoken us, and he has apparently determined that the door will not yield to the ministrations of his noggin. In fact, this morning, Jami found him laying next to the door in the hallway, seemingly with patience and resignation waiting for her to get up and give him food and petting.

So, I think he’s settling in. We’ll see how he does when he moves again to yet another new house. We’re hoping that’s sooner rather than later.

On another note, we got a nice card from the vet where I took The Squanto for the last 6 years. It got me all misty again… I miss petting him on the couch that Elliott the Cat has fully taken over now. But, I think The Squanto would have wanted Elliott to succeed to that throne.

Furry Family Member Update

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I picked The Squanto up from the vet yesterday. It hit me harder than I thought it would.

I paid for the cremation, took him from the (very nice, warm and compassionate) vet and I carried him out in a little box. He rode home with me in the passenger seat. Having him next to me that way, in that little 2 X 2 X 4” plastic box, made him being gone somehow more real.

I have to admit to not even wanting to write that, as if some irrational part of my brain thinks that if I just shut my mouth and keep quiet about it, he’ll come prancing around the corner, bright eyed and ears perked up wanting to go for a ride.

Part of me thinks it’s silly to grieve so over a pet. The rest of me, a much larger part, can’t help it and doesn’t care if it’s silly or not.

We’ve been out looking for other little Schips, in spite of the fact that one of the tips for grieving pet owners is to stay clear of lookalike pets for future companionship. Bah. As much as it hurt to see him go, and as much as I miss him, I can’t help but want another of the feisty little guys (or gals). I’ll ignore that tip, thank you very much. If I can convince Jami, I may just ignore it twice.

Supporting my hardheadedness in that regard, there are lots of Schip pups out there, ranging from $200 to $1,000, depending on the seller and the pedigree. We’ve got time, though… we want to give ourselves a chance to miss The Squanto, and since puppies are so much work, we want to wait until Jami is home for the summer between school years. So, next summer it is!

On another, slightly more pleasant note, our remaining furry family member is starting to relax. Elliott the Cat hasn’t had a very good time with the move from her(our) place to mine(ours). It’s been rather rough on him. Either he’s hidden in the basement behind some boxes (which have since been packed away for better staging while the house is on the market), or he’s been getting us up at 02:30, or 03:30, or 04:30 with truly incessant meowing for attention (I counted 50 meows before I lost count two days ago). In short, he’s stressed and showing a couple of the classic signs of feline hyperesthesia syndrome.

Jami was pretty worried for a few days, but he’s shaping up nicely. The last few days he’s been very social, hanging out with us upstairs in the living room, instead of hiding out, wide eyed and twitching, tail flicking violently in the basement. What’s more, for the last two nights he’s waited until 05:30 to start meowing outside the bedroom door. That’s a dramatic improvement over 02:30, 03:30 and 04:30.

We’ve adopted an “ignore him and he’ll go away” attitude. The alternative is to respond, thus reinforcing and prolonging the behavior. By ignoring it completely, he gets no feedback, and more quickly realizes that it simply doesn’t work.

One beloved pet has gone to the clearing at the end of the path, and another is settling slowly into his new life with us. Life goes on.

A Busy Saturday

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Following my recap of Sunday, I move on to Saturday…


09:00: House Showing at the North House

We were up at 7 to give us time for some last minute cleaning for the 09:00 house showing. No feedback on the house showing. This is both relatively common and somewhat disappointing. It’s always good to get feedback, even if it’s just “This just isn’t the house for us…” Oh well… there will be more. There has to be.

11:30: Lunch with Friends at The Legends Cheeseburger in Paradise

Lunch was with friends of mine from St. Louis who couldn’t make it to the wedding. They’re a very nice couple, the female half of which I befriended in college, and have stayed in contact with over the years, albeit infrequent contact. They have two gorgeous children, a boy and a girl in elementary school. Jami could relate quite well to them, as well as the parents. It was a nice lunch, though it wasn’t long enough. The boy is young enough that sitting in a booth in a restaurant for 2 hours left him quite restless, and he was very excited to see the bee hive at the KU Museum of Natural History.

17:00: Wedding in Baldwin City at the same church we were married

The wedding in was very nice… then again I’m a little biased. It was very similar to ours, with only a few minor changes. That is to say, it was beautiful. I think it may have been even shorter, though. The only thing really lacking was all the fun music blasting the sanctuary as the crowd is dismissed by the Bride and Groom.

18:00: Reception at Abe & Jake’s in Lawrence

The reception at Abe & Jake’s Landing was fantastic. I didn’t realize they’re only open to private parties and events. Last I heard it was your standard bar. Of course, that was 6 years ago. Things have, apparently, changed. It was a great location, though, and almost everyone had a really great time. The food was great (same caterer that we had – same MENU, in fact), the drinks were flowing freely, and the dance floor was never without plenty of dancers. It was big and spread out enough that there were places for everyone, regardless of how they wanted to spend the evening. Again… similar to ours, with the only difference being that it was inside instead of out.

Afterwards, we hung around and helped clean up as things were winding down. It was the least we could do, since the bride’s family helped us so much at our wedding, both during set up and during clean up.

24:00: Back home at the North House

A 45 minute drive back into town, and we were back home and in our beds, looking forward to a relaxing Sunday, and the previously mentioned introduction of Elliott the Cat into the South Home…

Predators On Facebook Tough To Track – Kansas City News Story – KMBC Kansas City

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Predators On Facebook Tough To Track – Kansas City News Story – KMBC Kansas City: “KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Your child could be talking to a sexual predator on Facebook and not even know it. Thursday, February 18, 2010.”

Just watched this on the television… more ridiculous scare mongering from self-important local news personalities. To be fair, the advice was good, such as “Don’t say anything online that you wouldn’t say in real life.” and the tips for parents

However, they lost me with the bits about the sex offenders and the lack of police manpower and time to check them all was completely glossed over. They ignored the fact that the list is so polluted with people who have no business being there, that the police may miss the real threats

In the end, it was irrational fear mongering in the name of ratings without any real perspective on the level of danger.

But that’s what I expected to find, so that’s what I found.

Guest Author: Mrs. Cue Ball

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David,

I don’t think you deserve an explanation for how I’ve treated you. I don’t think I owe you anything. But I think we have a chance, you and I, of getting back what we once had, so I’m going to give you one.

I don’t always go where you want me to go, and often I go exactly where you don’t want me to go. What do you expect? You haven’t been visiting me that much. I’m hurt, and am feeling neglected by the lack of attention lately. So, yeah, maybe I am being a little passive aggressive. Instead of talking to you directly, I behave badly, and hope you’ll work it out yourself. I’m talking to you directly now, though. So anything that happens after this is on you.

If you’d just spend more time with me, I wouldn’t have to hide myself behind the pretty blue 2 ball. With more attention, I may have slowed to a stop a few inches back that way, and let you see your 11 ball. Look at it, all pretty and stripey. Oh wait. You can’t see it. The 2 is in the way. My bad. *shrug*

Also, about that thing you call a stroke. I bet you can’t even remember what it’s called, can you? Can you? Chicken wing! That’s what it’s called. But what’s it all about? Where’d that come from? You used to hit me true and on the straight and narrow. I used to know right where to expect you. Now, you’re all over the place. What am I supposed to do with that? I try to go where you want me to go, but what you apparently want, and what you’re telling me are two completely different things.

You did this to yourself. It’s not my fault you decided you had more important things to do. Now you want to come back and pick up where things left off. Well, let me tell you, it’s not that simple. It’s not going to happen that way. I lost faith in you. I lost trust in you. You’re going to have to earn it back. That means time. That means attention, and if you want me back, you’re going to have to give me that time and attention. If I don’t get it, I’m going to keep dumping you for the other person to see how they do.

I’m being straight with you here, which is more than I can say for how you’ve been treating me, Mr. Chicken Wing.

Now, I’m not saying I’ll leave you forever. I think we have a chance. We used to have something real good going on. It was solid. We liked each other. We joked around. We played, we laughed. we had a great time! I’m telling you, we can have all that again. But it’s conditional… we can have all that again on the condition that you treat me right, and with the respect you used to show me; the respect I deserve. We have a chance, you and I, but remember what I said: time and attention. There are no freebies here. You can’t just expect me to do what you want. You have to earn it.

I’m around… you just have to find me again.
Yours,
Cue Ball

Yay! Another Car Story — But Much Happier!

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“Hi Readers — When you get right down to it, a lot of Free-Range Kids ends up being a plea for more community. More helping each other, more trusting each other, even more hanging out with each other. And here is a story of just that: A brief glimpse of how nice it is when [...]

When zero-discretion policies and accurate risk calculus collide we have… common sense. This story is remarkable by the very fact that it’s unremarkable.