Off Topic Part Cinq

[Ontarkie 14,193]

So I was printing off the forms for homeschooling this year and realized as I was filling them out that my baby is now in grade 8 yikes!!!! His birthday is coming up and he will be 13. That will mean I have 4 teenagers in this house . Thank god only one is a girl

[Kimbear 53]

So this week David is being trained to replace the webmaster at his company, the guy leaves in 3 days....gave his 2weeks notice and went on vacation. How nice.....Needless to say David is stressed, he is a computer geek, most of it he can figure out etc, but procedures, policies, timelines, passwords, network access etc, is kinda hard to do in 3 days. not to mention IT took its sweet time getting all the software on his pc, and he has to have like 15 windows open!...

Now he kinda knew a little bit about this a few weeks ago, and was hoping i'd have my EAD by now so he could train me to do his old finance job. He gets a new title, new pay scale etc, which will be really nice for us. It just sucks that i wont be able to get in to his company and work with him, i kinda looked forward to it lol.

[OBX 51]

So I was printing off the forms for homeschooling this year and realized as I was filling them out that my baby is now in grade 8 yikes!!!! His birthday is coming up and he will be 13. That will mean I have 4 teenagers in this house :wacko: . Thank god only one is a girl

All I can say is..... good luck!

Now he kinda knew a little bit about this a few weeks ago, and was hoping i'd have my EAD by now so he could train me to do his old finance job. He gets a new title, new pay scale etc, which will be really nice for us. It just sucks that i wont be able to get in to his company and work with him, i kinda looked forward to it lol.

That's great!

Edited August 5, 2010 by OBX

[Marilyn. 340]

so instead of going to San Diego we are going to Palm Springs this weekend... the hotels are cheaper so we can stay 2 nights for around the same price as the one night in San Diego... we plan to just lounge by the pool the whole weekend...

[Ontarkie 14,193]

That should be nice and relaxing relaxing. Enjoy your weekend Marilyn.

kimbear, too bad you wont be able to work with David, but the new position for him must be nice along with the pay raise.

[OBX 51]

so instead of going to San Diego we are going to Palm Springs this weekend... the hotels are cheaper so we can stay 2 nights for around the same price as the one night in San Diego... we plan to just lounge by the pool the whole weekend...

Sounds wonderful! Have a great time.

[Kimbear 53]

That should be nice and relaxing relaxing. Enjoy your weekend Marilyn.

kimbear, too bad you wont be able to work with David, but the new position for him must be nice along with the pay raise.

Indeed..however, due to the way his company works, he might not get the increase just yet, they usually only do things once a year in october which would kinda suck..as it is they "forgot" to give him his raise the last 2 years...and he's been there for 4 years now. they would have to go to the commander to get it approved for now..i'm hoping they can do this..since he just got married yada yada.

[Marilyn. 340]

Sounds wonderful! Have a great time.

I feel kind of bad because we just got back form Oregon like 3 weeks ago or so.. but the hubster needed a break, he has worked a tonne of overtime these last few weeks..

[Kimbear 53]

so i finally decided to go through my box of papers from the last 10 years and organize it and file it away like it should be, and i come across and envelope from my dad, that i was given after he died back in 1999. In that envelope is a letter from an aunt i never met. born in Scotland who moved to florida and lived there back in the early 90's. The letter is dated dec 1996, and i do not know why, but i decided to do a search for her on facebook etc. To be honest, i dont even know if she knows my dad died 10 years ago, or if she is even alive still. Anyways, i found what might be her daughter, from connecticut, and i sent her a msg asking if she was related.

i also found a british passport from my father that expired in 1988 and was renewed in 1978. Now i was born in 1973. And now i'm wondering if my father was never a canadian citizen and was an immigrant his whole life, which would explain why he worked under the tables at bars etc. Also, it shows his place of birth being renton scotland instead of dumbarton, and now i find i have questions, and of course my mother cannot even give me any answers, not even about my granparents. In fact, my whole life i have kind of been wondering "who i am" so to speak.

I have no idea what prompted me to do this. i mean i had thought of doing it many many years ago but never bothered. it's not like i was close to my dad, he and my mom split up when i was 7. and all i remember of him is a very angry drunk who put my mom in the hospital on more than one occasion.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Well, the last day and a half have been an emotional release for me. The end of June I wrote about how the cat who has been living on my porch for the last 1 1/2 years went to a new home - and then they promptly lost him. For the past 5 weeks I have been searching for him, often spending hours every day traipsing through the forest and wilderness, trailing along stream beds and covering every inch of ground around where he went missing, calling for him while dealing with nearly impassable wilderness, bugs and the incessant 90 degree plus heat. I have put up signs in the communities in a 2 mile radius, in every store and on all major intersections. I have him listed on various websites and I have been checking twice a week at the animal shelter. No one had seen or heard anything from him. I worked with an animal communicator so tried to follow the impressions she was getting from him but it had reached the point where I felt I would never see him again, mainly because the area he was lost in has bobcats, coyotes, fox and hawks as well as being very wild. Well, yesterday morning I got a phone call from someone who thought she might have our cat. I drove out to the address and it is on the very edge of the subdivision we thought he might be in from 'his' description. He entered the words near where he left, followed a small stream to a larger creek and then was following the larger creek. He was aware of the 'dogs in the woods' and was keeping a low profile so as not to attract their attention. This house was at the end of the creek where it crossed underneath the road. Coming by the Creek through the woods route it would be about 4 miles. Cutting directly east as the crow flies (which he did not do) would be just under 2 miles. I had actually stopped my search just short of this house.

When I pulled into the driveway a gray cat came out of the garage. It was him! I picked him up and he started to purr and purr. Apparently, he had shown up at their place 2 days before. The daughter in the household fed him and played with him and the parents remembered seeing one of my posted signs. So they drove to where the sign was, got my number and called me. He is much thinner than when he went missing but other than that, in good shape. He told the animal communicator that he was eating 'small things'. He ate a lot of food in the car on the way home then curled up in my lap and purred. Since I couldn't bring him in the house since my indoor cats are there, I sat with him inside the garage yesterday while the heat index reached 106. He would sleep on the concrete then wake up and come running over to me to jump in my lap and purr and purr and sleep until it was too warm when he went back to the concrete. I don't think he stopped purring all day yesterday. Last night the two ferals who used to hang around with him on the porch showed up and the three of them had a happy reunion. When it got cooler he went to the porch and I don't think he has left it for more than a few minutes. He has been sleeping right by the front door all day and every time I go in and out I pick him up to cuddle him and he purrs and purrs and purrs. Today, after telling the woman who had lost him that he was found, I felt this huge weight lift off my heart and I just started to laugh and cry with happiness that he is alive and back home. He is staying here now - and apparently according to the communicator - this is what he wants. He is happy living outside and this is his 'home'. I am still reeling with the relief of it all - after 5 weeks of almost despair. So, signs definitely work. Smokey is back home.

Edited August 5, 2010 by Kathryn41

[OBX 51]

A happy ending Kathryn From your description of all of his purring it sounds as if he feels he is now home.

[Danu 19]

Awww thats so awesome Kathryn! He definately sounds like he loves being with you.

[Tick Tock 3]

@ Kimbear

I hope that the individual you contacted on Facebook is indeed related to the letter's author. Perhaps you will be able to find some information that may help give you conclusions to discover a bit about "who you are". It's strange what compulsions can lead us to discover... I decided to rummage through a drawer a few days ago to try and tidy it. I found the envelope to a Christmas card sent by my grandmother and grandfather. This was just a day or few after he passed away so now I have been trying to find the card. I used to keep cards within their envelopes but I did not do this for some reason.

Maybe you'll hear back on Facebook soon and will have some new leads that you can choose to follow.

@ Kathryn

It definitely sounds like Smokey had a grand adventure! I was glad to read by the end of your post that Smokey was found and returned to you - 5 weeks is a long time and who knows what houses Smokey visited. We too have a cat who will show up at our house, but he will spend intermittent periods of time on our porch before slinking away. He's so much more affectionate than our own cat; always purring and meowing for food and affection. Unfortunately, we already have one cat and two dogs so it's not possible to have him come indoors. I am curious though - what's this "communicator" you speak of?

[Ontarkie 14,193]

So glad to see he's back home.

I have a question though, you said mentioned a animal communicator. How does that work? Is it like a pet psychic?

I always wonder why our one cat is such a cranky, vicious cat. He can be plain old mean, and we don't even touch him and he will swat at us. We've gotten to the point of wanting to declaw him before he rips someone eyes out. He will even go after ppl in their sleep.

[Marilyn. 340]

I just had something funny happen to me at the store today. I was pulling a 4 pack of Chelada off the shelf when one of the cans fell to the ground and sprung a leak and started spraying everywhere including all over me ..lol.. it was spinning around on the ground and then scooted under the shelf ..lol.. so for the rest of my errands I was smelling like beer ..lol