Jackson jumps in.
Jackson’s cannonball
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GFamily Updates April 2013
We’ve had an eventful April. Both of our cats passed away. I should say they were killed and yet we do not know if it was negligence or an intended event. Surge was only 7 months old and Domino was only about 2 years. We believe they were poisoned but we really don’t know if someone did it on purpose or not. The animal hospital and vet indicated that cats (and other animals) can be affected by many types of common household/garage items. When Surge passed, the vet thought he could have gotten in to some different things or perhaps he had some kind of genetic disorder or some other sickness. When Domino passed, we obviously knew about Surge and we learned that another neighbor cat had died too. So now we are suspicious.
We believe that somehow both of them got in to some antifreeze but we don’t know where or how. As a cat, their radius of outdoor roaming is not too far so it has to be within the neighborhood but we can’t really go around accusing people. Researchers indicate that cats with homes range about 5 acres but I believe our guys were limited to about an acre or less based on how often we saw them when they were “out.” Regardless, we’re all still very sad about it. The kids were and are heartbroken. Very tough to explain to them what and why since we don’t even know.
We were honest with them about the disposal of the bodies without going in to too much detail. That was pretty tough. Now we walk around the house expecting to see a cat pop out but they don’t. If someone leaves something dark on the ground, I always initially think it’s Surge. You probably wouldn’t be surprised how often something is left on the ground around here with 2 nearly 8 year olds, a 6 year old and a 3 year old. So, in that way, I think of the cats all the time.
On a lighter note – April found Sophia turning 6 years old. She’s now almost at the age where she could be losing teeth and at least a couple people have asked her about it again. In a couple years, she’ll be getting her adult teeth and that will be very strange.
Jackson, Reese and Steph all have birthdays coming up in May. Jackson and Reese will be 8 and finally out of boosters. They were out of them for a little while in 2011 but had to hop back in when the new car seat law went in to effect on 1/1/2012. Their safety is important so I appreciate the law but they were bummed to have to get back in boosters after having tasted life after boosters. Frankly, I think they can see better out the windows and the seatbelts fit better with the boosters which is probably why they didn’t complain too much.
Gabby turned 3 in Feb. She likes to sing more than the others ever did so it will be interesting to see if she continues to carry that as she gets older. She has been a little sick the past few days so we’re keeping a close eye on her and trying to keep her fever down.
Kaitlyn and Steph are working on wedding plans. Kaitlyn just completed some engagement photos, shot by our friends at Enchanted Images (http://www.enchantedimageslife.com/). They look as beautiful as we expected. Regarding details about the wedding, I’m not involved in all the details but I know that they are working on it.
Sophia Hula Hoopin’
Sophia is, thus far, the only one who can Hula hoop.
Here are a couple gifs from her birthday party where she was showing off her skills.
Surge the Kitty
We lost Surge on Tuesday. I found him on the garage floor at around 7:15 am when I was walking from my office to the house on my way to get some breakfast food.
He appeared to be having a major seizure and I took him to the closest animal hospital. About an hour later, he was gone. The kids are in varying degrees of devastation as are Steph and myself.
Here’s a little history – We acquired Surge at the end of the year 2012, I was going through some health testing and having a new kitten around the house was a nice therapeutic distraction. Jeannine and Andrew had actually found him near their house and had named him Ranger after the Ford Ranger where he was discovered.
We have a comic name theme around these parts so after thinking about a name that fit him – I came with Surge. Surge is actually a female character and the cat was a boy but the name fit. Plus, our cat Domino, also a boy, is named after a female character too so, “why not”. Thus his name was selected.
Marvel Character “Surge”
Surge (the cat) was a surge of energy at only 7 months at the time of his death, he was still a kitten and would attack at the drop of a hat. He and Domino played all the time and we’d find little tufts of fur all over the place from them ‘fighting’ all over the house. He’d attack feet, hands, parents, kids with abandon. This made him both very fun to watch and annoying at the same time. He had no fear of being stepped on and he was the most water loving cat I’ve ever owned.
I’d find him on the bathroom counter more times than I’d care to admit. He was often in the shower and, like some dogs, he’d try to drink out of the toilet. It’s not like he didn’t have fresh water though. Anyway, some cats will stop ‘bad’ behavior if you squirt them with a spray bottle. Surge didn’t care. He liked it.
Gabby, who is only 3, is not fully grasping that he’s gone or she doesn’t care. I mean she recognizes that he’s not around but is not old enough to carrry a sense of loss for longer than a few minutes. Jackson, Reese and Sophia are still struggling and they are so different in the way they express their emotions.
On Tuesday when we prayed for Surge – Reese hoped that he had a lot of friends in heaven. She kept it together though. Jackson poured out emotion and prayed that Surge was cared for..and that we’d miss him, how much we enjoyed having him. Sophia was filled with emotion too but prayed for some very specific needs – i.e. food, water, etc. She was very practical.
Upon reviewing home work last on Weds – I noticed these drawings by Jackson and Reese on their “how was my week” papers. I found out that neither knew about what the other had drawn. Clearly they are both thinking about our poor departed kitty.
Surge – Fetch Kitty
go get that shark
Surge 1
looking at the camera
Blue Chalk gives other chalk a bad name
With some elbow grease, we’ll probably be able to semi-restore these heavily used Uggs but watch out for the blue chalk- it sticks more than the rest.
Glide wants my FB data
I try out a lot of applications but if I don’t personally know the developer, I don’t want to give any app access to my facebook profile. Even though I share a lot on social networks and on the internet I still value privacy. Giving access to facebook, to me, is a huge leap in faith. You’re generally giving up access to your friends, their information, your timeline, and a lot of personal information (whatever you’ve place on facebook).
Glide looks like an interesting new application and I’d like to try it but I’ve stopped before starting. The first step says “get started now with Facebook” which says to me “get started by giving me a TON of personal data… seriously, trust me”
Sorry Glide – until I trust you, you can’t have access to FB and since that’s my only sign up option – you’re being deleted.
Jackson cinemagram
Reese and Sophia win first place – show the ribbons
They were super excited to win.