Volunteering at the Animal Rescue League of Des Moines (ARL) is always refreshing. You are always assigned new tasks. This week, we get to take apart the cages at the Clowder House (a housing for cats that are not ready for adoption) to “refresh” them. We would unscrew the cages, spray out any cat litter or debris trapped between the separation walls and provide the cages with a deep sanitizing with ringworm disinfectant solution. Based on the debris and stain we had to scrub, this may have been done every few years. It is a much needed procedure. We are excited that new cats will get to stay in a cleaner environment.
National Merit Scholarship Finalist
Congratulations to Devon for being one of the National Merit Scholarship Finalists.
Presidential Scholar
Congratulations to Devon for being nominated as a candidate for the 2024 Presidential Scholar. This program is by invite only and is extended to those with exceptional ACT and SAT scores.
Christmas Performance
This year’s Christmas Performance takes place at Northcrest Community in Ames, IA. It has been four years since the kids have performed a piano duet together. They enjoyed their performance of the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.
Connor likes the piece “Polish Dance” by Severn and was looking forward to performing at Northcrest. I love the kids’ collaboration.
OPUS 2023 Music Competition
Congratulations to Devon for receiving 2nd prize in the Piano Category V in Iowa of the OPUS 2023 Music Competition. This is Devon’s 2nd year participating in the OPUS Music Competition.
Des Moines Youth Symphony Concerto Competition
Devon had been preparing for the Des Moines Youth Symphony Concerto Competition for months. Through the process, he had learned to collaborate with a piano accompanist, detailing what he wanted in the music. Both Devon and our accompanist, Joyce Moeckly, expressed their excitement after the audition. We then received news that Devon had won the Concerto competition the next day. He will be performing four shows with the Des Moines Symphony at their family concerts on March 5 and 6. Congratulations to Devon for this extraordinary and honorable opportunity!
Family Pet Emergency
This is our cat, Henry. He’s a flame point Siamese cat which we adopted from the Animal Rescue League 6 years ago. He is the most affectionate cat you will ever meet. More than a week ago, the kids noticed that Henry was having trouble at the litter box and suspected he was constipated. After examination, the vet diagnosed that Henry was suffering from blockage; he was unable to urinate. It is a life threatening emergency that required immediate attention. The vet had to insert a catheter into his urethra to unblock him by flushing out any mucus plugs or crystals that were causing the blockage. The process usually takes a few days to ensure all the obstruction has been completely flushed out and the cat has to able to urinate by itself before the vet sends it home. Unfortunately for us, our vet released Henry the next day. When he came home, he was still unable to relieve himself, so we had to return him to the vet. They had to reinsert the catheter. We were later informed that Henry had pulled the catheter out overnight and they had to put it back in. The process of catheterization is painful and there were concerns about the multiple insertions causing infections, urethra injury or other complications. On day 6, the vet had removed the catheter and Henry was still unable to use the litter box by himself. We had to transfer him to a pet hospital. They had to re-catheterize him and kept it in for 48 hours. After 2 days, we finally received a confirmation that we were able to bring him home.
Having a sick pet going through a life threatening event is excruciating for the family. Urinary blockage is common in male cats and it has a high rate of recurrence. This was Henry’s second blockage. His first blockage occurred 4 years ago. We tried to do everything to prevent another occurrence and it can be discouraging not knowing what had gone wrong. The kids also played a part in deciding whether to opt for a perineal urethrostomy surgery to prevent future blockage. They had do a lot of research to understand the risks and benefits to help us make the decision. Understanding how the surgery can alter Henry’s personality and cause depression, they have decide to opt out of the surgery this time. While we are happy to have Henry back home again, we are also apprehensive about future recurrence.
Des Moines Youth Symphony Fall Concert 2023
This is the first year where both Devon and Connor are in the Des Moines Youth Symphony together. The kids had their first concert of the season last night.
2023 All State Music Festival
This is Devon’s fourth and final year at the All State Music Festival. He always strives to get a better chair placement each year. This year, he encountered a mishap. A piece of sheet music was displaced in all the cello folders. When the association had discovered it, it delivered the missing sheet music to the local high school orchestra directors. Unfortunately for Devon, our local high school does not have an orchestra and our band director was unaware of the situation. He showed up on chair placement audition day and noticed an unfamiliar orchestral title on the excerpt announcement. After discovering he did not receive the music, he had to acquire the new music and practice for the audition that would take place in an hour. He made an impressive 8th chair despite of it.
Homeschooling in the car
This year we were unable to get back-to-back classes at our local public school for both children. Connor has an empty period between his Art and Algebra 2 class, so he comes out to the car in the parking lot every day and we would do either his Biology or French lesson, depending if there is a Biology lab scheduled. During the winter, we would usually warm ourselves with blankets instead of keeping the car running.