Mt. Pleasant Classical Academy

Thank God It’s The End Of The Week.   We had a nice evening at a friend’s Octoberfest.  Good brats, good German Potato Salad, Dark Beer, Warm Fire and lots of friends to talk to.  We were the only hs’ing family there once again but that’s ok, I don’t have to ‘pass the bean dip’ with this group.

Last evening after listening to Mark complain for the 5′th-day about stomach pains I asked if it hurt when he pushed on his stomach.  “Yes!” and he demonstrated how little pressure caused pain at the 6-level  (on a 1 t0 10 scale with 10 being the worst pain imagineable).   It hurt more when he moved around, he had a headache, he felt like he was going to vomit, he wanted to keep his legs bent, and please don’t ask me again to cough mom cause that makes my stomach really hurt.

I’m sure you know where this is headed.  Yea, I called the Dr, shared his symptoms and she advised we run him into ER.  There wasn’t any ‘we’ to this other than it was me driving, and the sicky asking why he couldn’t just go to bed.   Six hours later, that’s 3AM, we were back home knowing little more than before.

So after the pantry moths, Brutus’ ear infections,  my pc crashing(no, couldn’t write about that one since I had no connection),  the skate-mishap, a run to the ER, I was ready for a few beers tonight and ready to say so long to this week.  TGITEOTW!

This week we have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of Mark’s FIRST & BRAND-NEW inline speed skate boots.  For the past 6 months he skated on borrowed speed skates and we were very thankful that the one coach had some that fit him.  We wanted to make sure that he did want to do this sport before we sunk $$$$ into speed skates.  Think expensive and a zero, or two.  The boots were ordered back in mid-July when we were in Lincoln, NE at the Inline-Speed Skating Nationals.  That was over 3-months ago.  Finally we were given a tracking number last Friday evening and told the boots were being shipped from CA — ground.  Not the way I would have shipped product to a customer that had been waiting that long.

So we took it in stride using this as a nice lesson in geography too.  When we learned where the boots were being shipped from we brought up MS Streets & Trips, plotted the trucks course, and gauged where the promised boots were every night.  This morning we checked the UPS site again and found that they left MD at 1:36AM, and then shortly after 8am we checked again and learned that they were put on the truck for delivery this morning at 8:06am.

As homeschoolers we know our UPS driver very well, and he us.  He carries big dog biscuits for our two and they can tell us when his truck pulls into our development.  We can set our clock at 10:03am, always goes by at that time and today was no exception. Today we saw the truck speed by…..Mark’s face dropped and we assured him that he would stop on his return path by our home.  He speed by again.   Mark fought back the tears, just like being told Santa would come and then someone messed with the day.

At 12:15pm the UPS truck came back—is this someone’s idea of a cruel joke?—-and brought the package for Mark.  Mark whipped out his Leatherman, opened up the box and found that it only contained the boots.  The two skate bags were not shipped.  Then he exclaimed–THEY ARE SIZE 10.5!!!!!! not the size 10 as stated on our original purchase order.  His feet swim in them, size 10 was pushing it as it was.

I’ve sent the email to cancel the order, to have our $$$$$ returned.  Three month backordered, shipped ground, sent wrong-size, incomplete delivery—-all the wrong things to do for this patient and understanding customer.   The boys are now trying to decide what to order instead.  Oh, and Mark has said that this inline speed skate company should practice mass production, that works and they should try it.  What a lesson in how to not treat a customer, and how to deal with disappointment and dissatisfaction as the customer.

Brutus has been crying when Mark’s hands come near his ears.  Not like him.   And yesterday he was crying, wimpering quite a bit.  I could hear fluid like sounds when I rubbed Brutus ears but he didn’t flinch or cry or do anything other than request, as a dog will request, for me to rub more.

I called the vet late yesterday afternoon and we took him in today.  This vet is so nice.  When he came into the room he spoke to Brutus, explaining to him that he must be enjoying the smells on his clothes since he had just spent time with the horses and cattle.  Yes, this vet sees large animals, servicing the area farmers.  He let Brutus take in all the smells, petted him, peeked in the ears, and then took out the scope asking me to hold Brutus head slightly to the side so he could get a look in.  By this time the vet’s knees were on the ground, kneeling so he was eye-level with Brutus.  It sure looked and felt like he was enjoying this giant of a dog.  He looked and found both ears infected.   The vet administered a shot of antibotics, and Brutus didn’t flinch or respond in anyway to the shot.  Next the vet instructed us on what to do with his ears for the next two weeks, and told us to come back for an ear-recheck.

Geez, I feel like I’ve been down this path before.  With both boys.  Many times when they were 2 & 3 & 4, we were at the Dr’s finding out they had ear infections, and they too were unable to tell me that their ears hurt.  Michael at age 6, when told he had two ear infections and asked by the Dr if his ears HURT, replied, aren’t ears supposed to hurt.  OUCH.    Thankfully that is one thing he says he does not remember from his childhood.

Surprisingly Brutus is the same weight, 128#, as he was 6 weeks ago.  Tonight though he could not get enough food.   The vet said it would take little time for his ears to feel better and it looks like that is the case.