One of those almost perfect weekends.....

The boys and I had one of those weekends that many dad's dream about. It started out on Saturday morning by attending the "First in Flight Jet Rally in Wilson, NC. Handing over the camera to Andrew and telling him to take all the pictures he wanted resulted in amazing me. These are some really cool pictures by an 8 year old. After the airshow, we took off to Grandma's and worked with the boys to help her fix items around the house. We also took our bicycles so we could ride until our legs were sore. We returned home on Sunday with the family boat long enough drop it off (would not start), then walk into the house to change out the cooler and grab the tent and sleeping bags. Off to the lake ... where we swam, killed ticks, and canoed. By the time we left on Monday about lunch, the children we so tired we came home and spent the afternoon playing computer games, napping, and watching TV. All together, an almost perfect weekend. Thank you Lord for holding off the rain!

Some of the souls have changed, but the fun continues

I wanted to take a few moments to update the members of our changing family. We have had a couple of really sad times with the death of our oldest cat and our guinea pig (Scruffy). When Scruffy got sick, Vickie worked very hard to try and save her, but she ended up continuing to get sicker and finally died.

Vickie waited for about 6 months before deciding that she wanted to adopt another guinea pig, which after a few weeks needed a friend. We have not really named either one of them, but the cats have taken them into our family.

Finally, I could not talk about the members of our family without saying that we seemed to have unintentionally got our neighbors dog, that we now call our "step dog".

So, the list of non-humans is (in order of size):
Gracey Grey
Genny Guinea
Abby
Jingle
Recon
Shem
Jasmine

The Great Jasmin Repair of 2010

Although I was sick for much of today, Vickie and I took Jasmine to the vet. For anyone that has been around our house lately, you know that our dog has a skin problem that has continued to worsen. She has gotten to the point of not wanting to touch her and she really stinks. Finally, we decided to take some of the tax return and spend it on vet bills for Jasmine.

Today was the first visit. I was embarrassed that the vet found six ticks, but otherwise it was OK. After all the examination, she does not have "The Mange" or anything. She is just a yellow lab with skin issues. Her skin and ears have a yeast infection and bacteria that is the main reason for the smell. For the next 4 weeks we have an entire page of procedures to follow: daily bathing, lotions, and medications. After only one day of this, we feel (maybe it is hoping) we can already see a difference.

How was your day .... today?

Hopefully, your day was better than mine. After finally figuring out where I could find free wireless (Durham Library) and then determining that I could take the children to the dentist, then to school, hangout at the library for the rest of the day, then go to Patrick's wrestling practice, I was ready for this day to start.

Well, that is not how it ended up. First, my driveway is now dirty again after 8 solid hours of pressure washing it. Seems there is enough trash washing down the creek to dam it up and wash over the culvert. I came out to trees and lumber that had to be moved (in the rain) before I could leave the yard. Traffic was slow, but OK, then I noticed the car was running a little warm, just as we got to the dentist. Making sure there was enough coolant, we started to take the children to school after the dentist appointment, only to get about 3 miles down the road to an over heating car.

Driving about 2 miles at the time, stopping and letting the car cool off is not fun, and it made Patrick very nervous. I made it to Durham, but not to school (thanks to my ex-wife's mother-in-law for getting the children the rest of the way). Thanks to one of the guys at work for finding me an Advanced Auto Parts near where I ended up.

Finally, there is a good side that they had the parts and tools that I needed to replace the thermostat. Now, off to the library where I spent much of the afternoon. Then about 4:00 PM, I find out that Patrick is sick and cannot go to wrestling practice ... arrg, I have hung out in Durham all day. O'Well, the library was quiet and I got a lot done. I did finally make it back home!

Farewell to Lou-Lou - Part Four

In July of 2008, I married Vickie and she and J.C. moved into what was my house, only ... I "thought" it was my house, turns out it was Lou-Lou's house and I was being ALLOWED to stay here. My new bride found it extremely funny to watch me feed Lou-Lou. I always made him meow before I would give him food or treats. He did not like it, but I always did it and sometimes I fully believe that Lou-Lou had an internal mental struggle giving me the meow for his dinner.

Lou-Lou was slightly annoyed when Vickie moved in and brought along her four cats. As humorous as all the interactions with the various cats were, Lou-Lou still remained "Dana's Cat" and continued to be fun, even being more playful sometimes than before the new marriage. After about 9 months with all of these animals, Vickie and I decided that we had to do something about the fleas that seemed to be worse than ever before.

As the unofficial King of the House, Lou-Lou was either used to the baths, too dignified to get very angry, or already getting sick and we just did not know it yet. About 3 weeks after these pictures were taken, my friend for so many years started to slow down, not be so playful, and no longer even able to jump on my bed. Twice I found him by the creek in front of our house just laying there, not coming to my calling.

I have to admit that I was not at all prepared for the emotions that came with having to put Lou-Lou to sleep. It really was one of the most painful and complicated experiences of my life.

The peaceful experience of holding him as the veterinarian gave him the medicine to stop his heart. The sense of loss when his breathing and movements stopped on June 23rd, 2009.

The grief that came over me as I showed him in his cardboard casket to my children when picking them up from summer camp. The pride I had in my boys as they insisted in helping me dig the grave in the back yard.

While it might seem trivial now, I could not be more proud of Vickie and all her words of wisdom during this time. I really did not want to have a "funeral" over a cat, but it really did help both the children, Vickie, and especially me to find Bible verses to read and prayers to say.

Lou-Lou, you will never know how many memories you gave me. Even now it is difficult to write about your death. We continue to laugh at the joy you gave us and the times we shared.

Goodbye old friend.

Farewell To Lou-Lou - Part Three

It has been a long time since posting, but I wanted to continue my sharing of Lou-Lou's life with my family. When I wrote last, Lou-Lou was living "the dream" with everyone in the neighborhood.

When my wife asked me to leave in July of 2003, I never even asked for any of the cats that we had. To be honest, it would have been very difficult for me to care for them as I was out town much of the time and where I was living, I did not know many people around me.

About 1 year after the purchase of my new house, several of my old neighbors were calling to tell me that my ex-wife had moved and that she had left Lou-Lou behind. At this point, I told the neighbors to "catch him" and let me know when they had him.

Here is when the fun begins ... of course they caught and called when my children were visiting me and we had to bring this poor cat home in the trunk of the car. He had gotten used to his new "way of life" that no longer included me or the children, so he was very scared when we brought him home. This was, after all, a bachelor's house with two small kids. Just walking through the house could be a hazard!

The fear he had evaporated very quickly and after only a few weeks, the old Lou-Lou that I knew and loved was back. We fell quickly into a routine. I got up in the morning, went to the front door and let him in, played for a few minutes, fed him, then went to work. He of course had been out all night "hunting" or whatever cats do all night and needed to sleep all day. After work, I came home to Mr. Sleepy that would take a little time to wake up. We would again, hang out and play, then at bed time, he would go outside and I would go to bed. This continued until our new family moved in July of 2008...

Farewell To Lou-Lou - Part Two

When last I wrote, Lou-Lou was growing up and was found to have a heart murmur.

So ... first wife and I worked hard to make sure Lou-Lou took his medicine everyday. Because she and I did not yet have any children yet, he was the center of our attention. Toys, beds, etc., he had it all. He would slept on the bottom of the bed or on us, pretty much "allowing us" to be around him. The one nice thing was that Delena did not ever give him any wet cat food, we just always had a bowl of dry out for him.

Leaving out dry cat food on the front porch of course gave for interesting visitors. Birds, other cats, and even a really gross opossum visited us over the years snacking on Lou-Lou's dry food. He always remained an "outdoor kitty".

After several years of this and a couple of other cats joining our family, we started to see less and less of Lou-Lou. He got to the point of only being seen about 3 times a week. After some investigation and talking to friends, we found out he was double timing us with some of the neighbors. He was their cat during the day, and our cat at night.

All of our neighbors thought this was funny, some also letting us know that he was also staying in their our buildings at night, eating their dogs food, etc. It was great fun and lasted until my divorce in 2003 .....

Farewell To Lou-Lou - Part One

When I was dating my first wife, one of my best friends Scott called me. He was upset that his cat's kittens were attacked by a dog and only three had survived. He wanted to know if I wanted any of them. Being his friend and trying to help him out, I thought I would be nice and take one to Rhonda.

If you are reading this, you "probably" know who Rhonda is as we were pretty much joined at the hip in high school. Rhonda LOVES cats and I was a normal boy jerk in high school that loved to be Mr. Man and act like I loathed cats. I was trying to "make up" for my old ways by bringing her a kitten.

Little did I know that Rhonda did not want the kitten and I was left "holding the cat". I can remember very well spending the night at my parents where NO CATS ARE ALLOWED. I had to sleep with the kitten on my chest all night long.

This is where the story begins. I have a cat that I did not really want, one friend that needs me to take it from him, and another friend that does not want it. I also have a kitten that has slept on my chest and completely, and I mean COMPLETELY bonded to me after only one night. Finally, my girlfriend (at the time) convinced me to keep it and she would help me take care of it.

For whatever reason, we named the kitten Lou-Lou (I believe it was a name she had for a cat earlier, even though we knew he was a boy). Trying to be a good pet owner, I took the kitten / cat into the local vet and started its shots and medical exams.

Back then, I was in college, so my time was spent working part time, going to school, eating, sleeping, and playing with the new cat. Since I had never owned (or been owned would be more precise) a cat before, everything he did was new to me and just like new parents, I thought it was all new to everyone.

As an example, Lou-Lou would sleep on my clothes. Being a college kid, I had to be cheap, so I rarely used the dryer instead putting my clothes on one of those folding wooden racks. I started to notice that sometimes, the clothes would have fallen off the rack. One day as I was putting the clothes back, I was attacked by the kitten. HE WAS THE ONE that was throwing my clothes off the rack. I started "sneaking" up to the apartment to see that he was actually sleeping on the top of the clothes and could see out the window.

During this time, we took Lou-Lou to the vet for one of his final vaccinations. During his exam, we found out that the vet thought she heard a heart murmur. I had so quickly gotten attached to this cat that I was really shocked at how upset I was that he could be sick. We had an ultrasound done (yes, writing this I still cannot believe that I paid for it) so they could confirm the murmur. I was given pills and taught how I was supposed to give them to him everyday.

This was my first indication at how attached I had already become to this cat ..........

Vacation Bible School week

Well ... J.C. is now with his Dad for the summer and Patrick & Andrew are now with their dad (me!) for the summer. We did get one time out on the boat so I could pull J.C. and Patrick around with the new tube.

J.C. has had a great time with his dad in Washington, D.C. with the Young Marines. He has seen the Pentagon, Smithsonian, Arlington, and stayed the week at Quantico (see his bedroom on the right!).

Vickie is starting to be up and about more after re-damaging her shoulder. She is sometimes very bored and cooks so much/so good for Patrick and I that I fear this will be a summer we will have to lose weight from, yeehaw! She is also starting to work in the yard. One of the women from my work gave her some tomato plants that are really growing and starting to yield tomatoes.

Patrick, Andrew, and I spent this week in Summer Camp, then going straight to Vacation Bible School every night. We did not get home until after 9 PM each night. This was rough on the three of us, but VBS was great and we had a wonderful time. The other issue that made this so difficult was that I planned two doctor visits, two trips to the library, and a special reading adventure during this week. Whew!

Vickie and I are very much looking forward to the coming calm, summer camp, nightly reading time, nightly Bible study, maybe some trampoline jumping evenings.

How bad is your grammer?

While most people have memories of special meals or gifts with their mom, I will always remember a "special" time in my life more than any other. My parents demanded that we do well in school and we always did, until "Dana the engineer" hit the eighth grade. My mother came home one night after a parent-teacher conference so mad that my father had to step in. It seems I forgot to tell my mom that I had failed multiple grammar tests and was about to fail that subject completely. For the first time in my life, I got an E (old school grading) on my report card.

For the rest of the year, every Thursday night my mother and I spent hours going over and over my grammar homework until I was able to get an A. I did not miss another answer for the next two grading periods. Straight from failing to an A in one grading period.

In case I have never said it enough ..... Thanks Mom!

Small Potatoes

The dinner that my wife cooked tonight was very good, one of those where you want to kiss her just to smell the scent of dinner on her. It so reminded me of the days of growing up. I found out during the meal that my mother had visited during the day, and brought some home grown potatoes. Now these are not JUST home grown potatoes .....

I grew up in Eastern North Carolina, where the soil is very fertile. I am talking about soil that would grow anything, was completely black, and was the envy of farmers everywhere. Years after I moved to Central North Carolina, my father visited and did not understand planting or fertilizing grass as he was accustomed to it just growing automatically from the seeds of the grass near it. Dirt that makes you want to just scoop up a handful and eat the dirt straight. God's perfect soil, everything added.

Now when I was younger, my sister (aka THE slave driver) would wake me up on the hottest day of the year, usually somewhere around the end of July June. At the end of two 100 foot rows of potato plants, she would pull up the vines, and make me dig down 12 inches or so, the full length of the garden rows. We would collect and clean every potato from the size of your pinky fingernail, to the really big "baking potatoes". This might be a fond memory now, but even as a child, I had to rest for a day or two after this digging frenzy.

The next part of the process was my mother taking an old five gallon bucket full of these spuds, washing them as she would run them around and around in the bucket to clean off the skins. Then it was off to a boiling pot with plenty of oil and flour to make a paste on everything. Good Southern cooking always involves some type of cooking grease and these potatoes were no exception.

Move ahead 15 years to a time when that same sister now has two little girls. These same potatoes were now the golden fruits of intense battles between my niece and her Uncle Dana. The power that comes with making a 7 year old cry, just by first getting her "little tators" cannot be described, but must be experienced. This same little girl has now traded places with me in the war of the baby potatoes, her opponent being my son.

I assume that most people do not have these types of memories when they are finishing their starches. For me Small Potatoes rush in so many memories that it is difficult to tell which was better, the memories or the meal.