Yellow belts and Nyssa

I got the nod from Master Hyong today. X-man is scheduled to take his yellow belt test -- Feb. 12. What an awesome day for a test! Hopefully, there will be a lot to celebrate. :-) It'll have taken him six months to master. Think about the last thing it took you months to master practicing 5 days a week and going to class 2-3 times a week. I mean, this is like when I freaking managed to somehow NOT fail second semester Algebra II in high school. You'd think with all the time and effort I put into it, my teacher put into it and my two freaking tutors put into it I'd have gotten an A. Alas, I got a D+, and I was more proud of the effort I put into earning that grade than I was of the six A's on my report card in the classes where everything came easy that semester. Well, I was 16 and had college as a motivator... now imagine being 4.

I'll give the Facebook shout out when he's for sure got it -- and then if you guys wouldn't mind praising him like crazy, I'd really appreciate it.

In cat news, another cat seems to have become susceptible to the elderly cat diseases. Nyssa had been sneezing over the holiday and not eating much. So MacTroll took her into the vet today. She's not so good at the vet -- when we're not in the room. They checked her over for upper respiratory, but although she's still a bit congested, they think it's related to being a bit dry in our house lately. Unfortunately, she's lost a pound in weight since her physical in July. Her blood work came back abnormal. So, we're taking her back in next week to do a follow up blood test (She was so not doing well after the examination and was putting up a pretty nasty fight with the vet techs) that will mostly likely confirm that she has hyperthyroidism.

So the pet scorecard looks like this at our house:
Clawdio, age 13, stage 2 heart murmur, pancreatitis, feline herpes and beginning stages of kidney failure.
Nyssa, age 12, arthritis in the hips and probably hyperthyroidism
Luke, age 10 1/2, still voted most likely to either somehow get eaten by a hawk, even though he's an indoor-only cat or to run repeatedly into a wall head first until he suffers brain damage from chasing flies.
Maya, age 9 1/2, chronic cystitis, random BB lodged in her spine
Riley, age 9 1/2, the only dog, heart murmur, significant fall seasonal allergies when they take in the crops

It's not easy watching them all advance in age. They were all young adults when we got them, and as of this April, we'll have cared for all of them for over a decade. I only hope we're loving them as well as they've loved us.