The Dino-Aspie Ex-Café (for Those 40+... or feeling creaky)

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Mum (NannaRob) asked me to let you guys know her internet is dead and she won't be back online until Tuesday at the earliest.

On another note, my oldest son turned 10. He has been hopeless with birthday parties in the past - he likes the idea of lots of people at his party - but when it happens he's had enough about 30 minutes (sensory overload and confusion).

I suggested he take 2 friends to Dreamworld for the day. We went yesterday - I had a good time escorted 3 x 10 year olds around. Of course I couldn't let them show me up and I had a on the 2 scariest rides: "The Giant Drop" and "Tower of Terror".

When we got to the top of The Giant Drop I was curious as to my heartrate: I had a quick feel of my pulse and reckoned I was doing 160 beats per minute! Probably got up to over 200 beats per minute on the way down!

http://www.dreamworld.com.au/content/drw_2008_standard.asp?name=GiantDrop

http://www.dreamworld.com.au/content/drw_2008_standard.asp?name=TowerOfTerror

Helen

I'm sure it has, but most parents aren't being made aware of this extra benefit. My son has special needs as well, and they were calling us for about 18 months after he got out of high school. I explained as politely but clearly as I could each time they called that he had some special needs that precluded him from joining up. They continued to call. I finally said LOOK, you don't want him, stop calling!

They did finally get it

Did you hear McCain say he agreed with a woman who was talking about reinstating the draft? Still praying praying praying.

Ok, let's talk about something else..I'm burned out on politics and I bet everyone else is too.

I've decided I don't want blueberry muffins or a peanut butter sammich. I would like a lovely piece of cheesecake please That should be safe enough

Lurking

Most people don't know why they ended the open draft to begin with. They still think it is all about equality or honor or fairness, some other fabrication they spoon fed them.
There is a lot more to that story they never told. You had to be there, because they never told it. They hushed it up real fast. The Army was in open revolt and they didn't want to have that again. So they got the pro's in. A pro will shoot you and your kid won't. McCain is right, he just doesn't know it.

I have a list on my blog of the little happenings that went down just before the end of the draft. Some might think it's a long list. It isn't even close. I was in three little instantances that aren't on that list alone. And one major one that is, but I slept through it, it had been a hard day in boot camp and I never even heard the brick come through the window. And there were many more each and everyday. It was open revolt, we still did what we had to do, but they were damned scared we wouldn't even do that. They gave us early outs, they wanted us gone, said the war was winding down and they didn't need us anymore. They ended the draft. It went on for three more f*****g years.

An all professional Army is a very dangerous thing. Don't believe me? Look at any world history book. Just be careful, sometimes they call it other things.

They had and still have a back door draft and with out it they would have never ended it. And it's about the only reason I have any faith that maybe, just maybe we'll pull it off. But I wouldn't hold my breath. Look at the history books.

As badly as it went for me in that thing, I would do it again and for just that reason. A citizen soldier is a good thing, because they don't want to be there to begin with. Lifer's are another breed altogether, not all of them, but some get their jollies off on that stuff, they make rank and with rank comes power. Ask yourself some time when you have a moment just why it is you think we've never had a problem with our military. We're still a young country, give us a minute. It would be a really good idea to figure it out. That machine gets set in motion there is nothing to stop it, nothing.

Oh, yeah.

Spike's still alive! He just called me to give him his breakfast. (He's training me.)

Had serious trouble last evening, his crop got impacted (place where food goes when you feed them, to be moved to the stomach later for digestion). That can be fatal, if not on it's own because the food that's left in the crop can sour and produce all sorts of bacteria and gasses.

So no food could pass into his stomach. He was terribly hungry and crying for food, but could not eat - he'd beg and beg, and was getting weaker and weaker as the evening went on. I was freaking when it got to where he couldn't hold his head up. I finally got the idea that if it was formula that had become compacted in there that maybe warm fluids would help dissolve it. Hence, 2 tenths of a cc of warm pedialyte every 30 minutes, with a little massage after the second dose. That was hard - and I'm glad now I have skinny fingers as the tip of my pinky was way too big but the best option.

Anyway, at about 3:45 this morning his impaction apparently started to clear. He was very weak, I had to help him drink more pedialyte, then gradually re-introduce his formula. Fingers were crossed at 6:00am when it seemed as if he'd taken a relatively normal feeding.

At 8:30 I was reminded by a very vigorous peeping that I'd missed his mealtime by a half hour.

And I thought Friday night was bad - discovered white stuff all over his birdy butt. He goes and is cleaned up after every feeding, so it wasn't that stuck on him. Couldn't for the life of me tell if it was feather fuzz growing in, his skin being really dry and flakey, or a mite infestation (they burrow in and are very nasty - since he can't reach it, he couldn't scratch it) or fungus. I mean, what do you do there? Call the local pharmacy and say you have a baby bird with a fuzzy ass and what do you do about it??? The avian vet in town closed on the weekends.

I considered for a while, and figured that if it was some variety of parasite or fungus, depriving it of air would work. And if it was very dry skin an ointment would work. And if it was feather fuzz, and ointment wouldn't hurt it any. So I put some triple-antibiotic cream on him with a q-tip and the next day things were remarkably better.

I guess it was the birdy version of diaper rash?

My life is getting tooo, tooo weird.

And I am soooooooooooooooooo tired. They tell me in another week he'll sleep four hours at night.

Aaahhh, babies, they're all the same, aren't they? Keep the food going in one end, clean up the mess at the other end, try not to think about how many consecutive hours of sleep you didn't get last night.

Spike is lucky to have you, Nan, well done.

Smelena, thank you for updating us on nannarob's connection troubles. And happy 10th birthday wishes to AussieBoy from the Dragon and family. "Junior" has just had his 12th birthday, and Xan turns 15 in a couple of weeks.

Happy Birthday to all who celebrate them.

Spike is a week old (well, we found him last week...) today. I just spent some time watching him sleep. His motor neurons are definitely developing. Up to now he's only been able to kind of flail around, and then got to where he could spread his wings out and bob his head when he wants food. This morning I watched him reach up with his leg and try to scratch his head. A few moments later he started beating his wings as if he was flying. Sound asleep, mind you, but flapping away at an amazing rate. His feather fringe on his wings is now 1/2 inch long. He also seems to have white racing stripes coming in along his body. No other feather development, which has me a little concerned. I mean, he'll be a buff, studly little guy no matter what, but he ain't gonna get him no girlfriends without having feathers!

To Nan about Spike:

And here I was happy that my kids slept through the night each at 2 months old! lol