Hello All,

During my Youtube search yesterday I came across this video of Sensei Erik Paulson (www.erikpaulson.com) teaching this drill. In this drill he goes from Ju Jitsu to Wrestling and back to Ju Jitsu again and I believe that it is a great drill to teach you the following.

• How to transition from Wrestling to Ju Jitsu mindsets
• Using the Granby Roll to not get caught by your opponent
• A drill that can be done many times to get you lots of reps
• Adaptable enough to let you scale your progressive resistance as you & your partner get better
• A drill that teaches you both offense and defense

I have long been a fan of Sensei Erik Paulson, I first saw him in 1996 when he was traveling with Guro Dan Inosanto. During the seminar Guro Dan gave Sensei Erik about an hour to go thru some grappling drills. In all the years that I have seen Guro Dan, the only person that he has ever given time to in a seminar was when Sensei Erik was with him.

 Sensei Erik has an amazing ability to develope drills that are simplistic in nature but if used can have a dramatic effect on your Martial Arts skills. I have used his material not only for my own personal developement but for the developement of my students. We use his Technique, Repetition, Isolation and Go (TRIG) training method in every facet of our curriculum. It is a great format for not only grappling but for striking, clinching and stick work as well.

I hope that you watch this video and you can add this drill to your training.

Didn’t realized there was only one doggy bowl for Belle and Michigan’s food so we had to improvise with a little sushi boat and olive appetizer dish. I kinda don’t want traditional dog bowls for the two of them, so does anyone have any suggestions on where to get cute dog-friendly dishes?

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. — At most colleges, marijuana is very much an extracurricular matter. But at Med Grow Cannabis College, marijuana is the curriculum: the history, the horticulture and the legal how-to’s of Michigan’s new medical marijuana program.

“This state needs jobs, and we think medical marijuana can stimulate the state economy with hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars,” said Nick Tennant, the 24-year-old founder of the college, which is actually a burgeoning business (no baccalaureates here) operating from a few bare-bones rooms in a Detroit suburb.

The six-week, $485 primer on medical marijuana is a cross between an agricultural extension class covering the growing cycle, nutrients and light requirements (“It’s harvest time when half the trichomes have turned amber and half are white”) and a gathering of serious potheads, sharing stories of their best highs (“Smoke that and you are … medicated!”).

The only required reading: “Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower’s Bible” by Jorge Cervantes.

Even though the business of growing medical marijuana is legal under Michigan’s new law, there is enough nervousness about the enterprise that most students at a recent class did not want their names or photographs used. An instructor also asked not to be identified.

“My wife works for the government,” one student said, “and I told my mother-in-law I was going to a small-business class.”

While California’s medical marijuana program, the country’s oldest, is now big business, with hundreds of dispensaries in Los Angeles alone, the Michigan program, which started in April, is more representative of what is happening in other states that have legalized medical marijuana.

Under the Michigan law, patients whose doctors certify their medical need for marijuana can grow up to 12 cannabis plants themselves or name a “caregiver” who will grow the plants and sell the product. Anyone over 21 with no felony drug convictions can be a caregiver for up to five patients. So far, the Department of Community Health has registered about 5,800 patients and 2,400 caregivers.

For Mr. Tennant, who is certified as both a caregiver and a patient — he said he has stomach problems and anxiety — Med Grow replaces the auto detailing business he started straight out of high school, only to see it founder when the economy contracted. Med Grow began offering its course in September, with new classes starting every month.

On a recent Tuesday, two teachers led a four-hour class, starting with Todd Alton, a botanist who provided no tasting samples as he talked the students through a list of cannabis recipes, including crockpot cannabutter, chocolate canna-ganache and greenies (the cannabis alternative to brownies).

The second instructor, who would not give his name, took the class through the growing cycle, the harvest and the curing techniques to increase marijuana’s potency.

Mr. Tennant said he saw the school as the hub of a larger business that will sell supplies to its graduate medical marijuana growers, offer workshops and provide a network for both patient and caregiver referrals. Already, Med Grow is a gathering place for those interested in medical marijuana. The whiteboard in the reception room lists names and numbers of several patients looking for caregivers, and a caregiver looking for patients.

The students are a diverse group: white and black, some in their 20s, some much older, some employed, some not. Some keep their class attendance, and their growing plans, close to the chest.

“I’ve just told a couple of people I can trust,” said Jeffery Butler, 27. “It’s a business opportunity, but some people are still going to look at you funny. But I’m going to do it anyway.”

Scott Austin, an unemployed 41-year-old student, said he and two partners were planning to go into medical marijuana together.

“I never smoked marijuana in my life,” he said. “I heard about this at a business expo a couple of months ago.”

Because the Michigan program is so new, gray areas in the law have not been tested, creating real concern for some students. For example, it is not legal to start growing marijuana before being officially named a caregiver to a certified patient, but patients who are sick, certified and ready to buy marijuana generally do not want to wait through the months of the growing cycle until a crop is ready. So for the time being, coordinating entry into the business feels to some like a kind of Catch-22.

Students say they are getting all kinds of extra help and ideas from going to class.

“I want to learn all the little tricks, everything I can,” said Sue Maxwell, a student who drives each week from her home four hours north of Detroit. “It’s a big investment, and I want to do it right.”

Ms. Maxwell, who works at a bakery, is already a caregiver — in the old, nondrug sense of the word — to a few older people for whom she thinks medical marijuana might be a real boon.

“I fix their meals, and I help with housekeeping,” Ms. Maxwell said. “I have an 85-year-old lady who has no appetite. I don’t know if she’d have any interest in medical marijuana, but I bet it would help her.”

Ms. Maxwell said her plan to grow marijuana was slow in hatching.

“We were talking at the bakery all summer,” she said. “Just joking around, I said: ‘I’m going to grow medical marijuana. I’m a gardener, I’ve always dreamed of having a greenhouse, I think it would be great.’ And then I suddenly thought, hey, I really am going to grow medical marijuana.”

Pernahkah Anda mendengar sekolah yang mengajarkan tentang cara menanam ganja? Kalau belum pernah mendengar, sekarang Anda mengetahui bahwa ternyata ada sekolah seperti itu. Seperti dilansir www.upi.com, sekolah tersebut didirikan oleh Nick Tennant pada tahun ini di Michigan, sebuah negara bagian Amerika Serikat.

Setelah gagal mengelola sebuah bisnis pribadi yang ia mulai sejak lulus SMA, Tennant melirik bisnis lain. Sayang sekali, bisnis yang ia kelola adalah sekolah pertanian ganja. Sekolah itu bernama Cannabis Grow Med College.

Sekolah itu berlangsung selama enam bulan. Biaya yang harus dikeluarkan oleh seorang siswa sebanyak $ 485. Jika kurs rupiah sebesar 9500 per dollar, maka biaya sekolah itu sebanyak Rp. 4.607.500. Satu-satunya buku pegangan wajib yang digunakan dalam pengajaran adalah buku berjudul Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower’s Bible karya Jorge Cervantes.

Tennant sendiri berkilah bahwa ia mengajarkan cara menanam ganja medis yang diperlukan dalam dunia kedokteran, bukan ganja biasa yang digunakan oleh para pencandu narkotika. “Negara ini (Amerika Serikat) membutuhkan banyak lapangan pekerjaan. Dan saya pikir, ganja medis dapat merangsang perekonomian negara dengan ratusan pekerjaan dan jutaan dolar,” kata Tennant saat ditemui wartawan koran lokal di sekolahnya yang terletak di pinggiran kota Detroit.

Menurut undang-undang terbaru di Michigan, bisnis pertanian ganja medis adalah sesuatu yang legal. Terdapat isitlah caregiver untuk pasien yang telah secara resmi diputuskan oleh dokter untuk mengonsumsi ganja. Bagi caregiver, diperbolehkan untuk menanam sendiri ganja hingga 12 batang guna memenuhi kebutuhannya sendiri atau untuk dijual kembali.

Sekolah itu diikuti oleh berbagai kalangan, termasuk siswa bernama Sue Maxwell yang sedang merawat seorang pasien wanita lanjut berusia 85. “Saya tidak tahu, apakah ia tertarik dengan ganja medis ini. Namun saya yakin, ganja bisa sedikit membantunya,” ujar Maxwell.

Akhirnya, semoga tidak ada orang Indonesia yang bersekolah di sana. Toh, masih banyak sekolah yang mengajarkan hal yang lebih baik daripada “sekedar” cara menanam ganja. Masih banyak pekerjaan yang lebih baik daripada menanam ganja. Hingga saat ini di Indonesia, menanam ganja, meski untuk kepentingan medis, tetaplah sesuatu yang melanggar hukum.

Family. Holidays. Together. Joy. Laughter. May yours be merry and bright.

A process of meetings and dialog involving raw milk advocates and regulators, such as Michael Schmidt has long asked for in Ontario, is beginning to yield fruit in Michigan. Here’s part of what David E. Gumpert, of the Complete Patient blog reports about recent exciting developments in that process:

“Did you ever think you’d see this statement endorsed by dairy regulators?

“Milk fresh from the cow is a complete, living, functional food…the full benefits…are only realized when all of these components function as a complex interdependent and balanced process.”

Or how about this:

“Of all the milk constituents, the milk fat globule is the most drastically altered by the combination of pasteurization and homogenization.”

After endless reassurances from scientists and other officials in public health, agriculture, medicine, and government that there’s no difference between pasteurized and unpasteurized milk, we are now being told something entirely different by an organization that includes top dairy regulators and an agriculture university dean (along with a number of raw milk proponents). The organization is the Michigan Fresh Unprocessed Whole Milk Workgroup, which includes among its members the two top dairy officials of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and a dean of the Michigan State University College of Agriculture.

The Michigan Fresh Unprocessed Whole Milk Workgroup, which I described in a previous post, is a committee that grew out of the ashes of the bizarre “string operation” against Michigan farmer Richard Hebron in October 2006. After forcibly confiscating $8,000-plus worth of dairy products the farmer was delivering to members of Ann Arbor’s Family Farms Co-op, Michigan’s Department of Agriculture sought to have Richard indicted on criminal charges. Instead, a county prosecutor refused to go forward with the case, and pushed the department to settle with Richard. As part of the settlement, the department agreed to allow herdshare arrangements. Subsequently, the department’s two top dairy officials, Katherine Fedder, who ordered the investigation and subsequent raid on Richard Hebron; and Susan Esser, agreed to join the Michigan Fresh Unprocessed Whole Milk Workgroup, which is charged with answering the question: Where do we want to be in three to five years on access to fresh unpasteurized whole milk.

The workgroup has moved systematically, some might say tediously, to address ten topics relating to the question of access to raw milk. When it started meeting in early 2007, it expected to get through the topics in 18 months. Now, nearly three years later, it has formally addressed only two of the ten topics.

The statements I quoted from above come from the second topic and was just posted in recent weeks, on the subject of “Benefits and Values.” Part of the challenge facing the workgroup is that each of its eleven members must approve each and every word of each topic discussion. No majority-rules here. That’s the bad news in terms of pace, but it’s also the good news in terms of buy-in and impact. You know that the government and ag people have reviewed and signed off on everything posted….”

Read the whole thing on the Complete Patient blog

From Reuters, ‘CIA goes hiring in heart of Arab America‘:

The agency has bought full-page ads in Arabic-language newspapers and it is rolling out TV ads aimed at luring Arab-Americans andIranian-Americans to spycraft.

But despite a weak economy and high unemployment, the CIA will find it hard to hire here, residents say. Many see U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East as misguided and anger over the perceived mistreatment of Arab-Americans runs deep.

It won’t be easy to win hearts and minds here, they say.

“If anyone goes, they would be just going for the money, not following the heart,” said Chehade, a cabinet-maker who immigrated from Lebanon 21 years ago.

On Warren Avenue, where signs in Arabic outnumber those in English, other residents said they doubted the CIA would find many willing recruits in Dearborn.

“It’s not lack of patriotism. It’s questioning of wrong policy,” said Mohammed, a 24-year-old graduate student of Libyan descent who asked not to use his last name.

Inside Tuhama’s, Chehade said he would warn his adult sons to consider the consequences of signing on with the CIA.

“People are going to hate you,” he said.

Muslim world. Arab America. No problem profiling when it means getting paid and infiltrating the CIA. If asked to focus their actual law enforcement and terrorism efforts in those same areas however, we know there’d be hell to pay, if not jihad.

Back in April we posted on the CIA launched its Muslim recruitment drive – and the sentiment among local Arabs/Muslims was exactly the same – they don’t trust the CIA, and American policies are at odds with…well, basically with sharia. Double jeopardy as the guy in the video puts it.

This previous Creeping Sharia post (Translator scandals, infiltration, and intel recruiting insanity) details how the CIA and FBI refuse to hire speakers of Middle Eastern languages because they aren’t Muslim.

Another video report from the local Fox affiliate who coyly titled their piece ‘CIA Unveils New Recruitment Commercials’, below the fold.

While the reporter here claims the CIA has been very successful, other reports indicate it has been extremely difficult with the majority of candidates failing polygraph (lie detector) tests, and CIA director Leon Panetta wanting to loosen the security requirements for candidates with family members in Iran and Lebanon. The extended effort seems to reflect the lack of success as well. After all, Comcast had no problem hiring Arabic speakers for its local call center, and the NYPD has more Arabic speakers than the CIA and FBI combined.

Whitey's restaurant

This restaurant in Davison defies my notions of a traditional, down home, family-owned restaurant, but that’s ok, this is Davison after all. Whitey’s restaurant serves mostly fish-and-chips and related dishes. They serve other things too, but the fish is what they’re famous for. The building sits smack dab next to the railroad tracks and the major road that runs through town (M-15). The place is sunken down from road level, so when you’re sitting at one of the tables on the east side of the restaurant (the side with the most windows) you’re eye-level with car tires flying past. They’ve dressed up the scene a little with some nice big pine trees.

When someone is trying to turn left from the road into the parking lot, traffic backs up quick, and because the railroad tracks are so close, there’s this funny gap between the waiting cars (understandably nobody wants to end up stopped on the tracks waiting for a car way up there to turn left). There’s a drive-thru, with no speaker, so you pull up to the window and place your order, and then wait for them to cook your food. Everyone in line knows this can take a while, so patience is the norm. Some of the workers are local teens–good kids too. Nice kids. The name of the restaurant is a little odd too, and if you didn’t know it was a family name you might be taken aback by the name Whitey’s.

So if you’re looking for a seafood place that’s nowhere near the ocean, with a view of car tires and pine tree trunks, next to the occasionally-roaring train tracks, with a name that was grandfathered in before anyone thought anything of it, Whitey’s is your place. I’ve been to much fancier places and paid much more for food that doesn’t come anywhere near the delicious food at Whitey’s. There’s a reason folks don’t mind waiting 10 minutes at the drive thru–it’s worth it!

The National Reporter
Bryant Gissepy 16 of Reed city Michigan was arrested last week at Reed city high school after he had assaulted a teacher and gone into a rage of destruction all because he misunderstood a word.
For the third time in a week, Bryant had arrived late for school disrupting the class and annoying his teacher.

After being late for three days in a row she had enough and decided it was time for him to see the principal.
“I told him that because of his tardiness he would have to go to the principals office.” Bryant’s history teacher Ellen Parks explained. “As soon as I told him that his eyes widened and he glared at me angrily. The next thing I knew I saw stars and I felt myself  hitting the floor. I don’t remember anything after that.”

Bryant's teacher, Ellen Parks didn't know what hit her.

Witnesses say that Bryant become enraged as soon as his teacher said she was sending him to the office because of his tardiness.
“She was talking to him in the front of the class and all of a sudden he just hauled off and slugged her in the face.” Sally Porter, one of Bryant’s classmates told us. “We thought he killed her when her head hit the floor. She didn’t move at all.  That’s when Bryant went wild and started wrecking the room. He was tossing chairs around and smashing things.  Everyone ran, even the boys.”

Bryant went into an uncontrollable rage when he was told to report to the office for his tardiness.

When Bryant had smashed everything he could in the classroom, he stormed out the door and headed towards the office.
All the students ran to get out of his way as he stomped down the hallway punching lockers and kicking doors.
A minute later he barged into the office and started smashing everything  as the staff ran for cover.
“I didn’t know what was going on.” Mrs. Leesky,  the secretary told us.  “This kid just kicked the door in and started screaming insanely and trashed the office.”
“I thought he was on drugs.” Miss. Ryan said. “I ran out the other door and called the police from the pay phone in the hallway.  After I had called them I looked back inside and he was in the principals office throwing everything he could get his hands on around the room. He was over turning the furniture and breaking everything in sight.  He looked like he was completely out of his mind.”

Bryant's fit of rage finally ended in the principals office when the police arrived and subdued him.

The police arrived  a few  minutes later and confronted the insane teen in the principals office.
“That kid was out of his mind.”  Sgt. Dooley said. “His eyes were wide as saucers and he was frothing at the mouth.  We had to use the taser on him to bring him under control.”
The National Reporter  Do you know what set him off?
“From what we have found out after questioning him at headquarters  he misunderstood his teacher when she told him to go to the office for being late for class.”
The National reporter – How could he have misunderstood that?
“Well, when she said it was because of his tardiness, he thought she was making fun of him.  He thought she was calling him a retard and she was sending him to the office for his retardedness.”
The National Reporter was present at Bryant’s trial and according to his testimony his classmates had been poking fun of him all semester calling him a retard and a dummy.
He explained that when he thought his teacher was calling him a retard as well, he had enough and just flipped out.
He claims that he does not remember much of what he did and has apologised to her for punching her.
If convicted, Bryant face’s up to fifteen years in state prison.

It was a nice day today, a lot of sunshine but on the cool side. I was surprised not to see a lot of people at the Cider Mill , I’m sure a lot were out of town on this thanksgiving weekend.

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. — At most colleges, marijuana is very much an extracurricular matter. But at Med Grow Cannabis College, marijuana is the curriculum: the history, the horticulture and the legal how-to’s of Michigan’s new medical marijuana program.

“This state needs jobs, and we think medical marijuana can stimulate the state economy with hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars,” said Nick Tennant, the 24-year-old founder of the college, which is actually a burgeoning business (no baccalaureates here) operating from a few bare-bones rooms in a Detroit suburb.

The six-week, $485 primer on medical marijuana is a cross between an agricultural extension class covering the growing cycle, nutrients and light requirements (“It’s harvest time when half the trichomes have turned amber and half are white”) and a gathering of serious potheads, sharing stories of their best highs (“Smoke that and you are … medicated!”).

The only required reading: “Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower’s Bible” by Jorge Cervantes.

Even though the business of growing medical marijuana is legal under Michigan’s new law, there is enough nervousness about the enterprise that most students at a recent class did not want their names or photographs used. An instructor also asked not to be identified.

“My wife works for the government,” one student said, “and I told my mother-in-law I was going to a small-business class.”

While California’s medical marijuana program, the country’s oldest, is now big business, with hundreds of dispensaries in Los Angeles alone, the Michigan program, which started in April, is more representative of what is happening in other states that have legalized medical marijuana.

Under the Michigan law, patients whose doctors certify their medical need for marijuana can grow up to 12 cannabis plants themselves or name a “caregiver” who will grow the plants and sell the product. Anyone over 21 with no felony drug convictions can be a caregiver for up to five patients. So far, the Department of Community Health has registered about 5,800 patients and 2,400 caregivers.

For Mr. Tennant, who is certified as both a caregiver and a patient — he said he has stomach problems and anxiety — Med Grow replaces the auto detailing business he started straight out of high school, only to see it founder when the economy contracted. Med Grow began offering its course in September, with new classes starting every month.

On a recent Tuesday, two teachers led a four-hour class, starting with Todd Alton, a botanist who provided no tasting samples as he talked the students through a list of cannabis recipes, including crockpot cannabutter, chocolate canna-ganache and greenies (the cannabis alternative to brownies).

The second instructor, who would not give his name, took the class through the growing cycle, the harvest and the curing techniques to increase marijuana’s potency.

Mr. Tennant said he saw the school as the hub of a larger business that will sell supplies to its graduate medical marijuana growers, offer workshops and provide a network for both patient and caregiver referrals. Already, Med Grow is a gathering place for those interested in medical marijuana. The whiteboard in the reception room lists names and numbers of several patients looking for caregivers, and a caregiver looking for patients.

The students are a diverse group: white and black, some in their 20s, some much older, some employed, some not. Some keep their class attendance, and their growing plans, close to the chest.

“I’ve just told a couple of people I can trust,” said Jeffery Butler, 27. “It’s a business opportunity, but some people are still going to look at you funny. But I’m going to do it anyway.”

Scott Austin, an unemployed 41-year-old student, said he and two partners were planning to go into medical marijuana together.

“I never smoked marijuana in my life,” he said. “I heard about this at a business expo a couple of months ago.”

Because the Michigan program is so new, gray areas in the law have not been tested, creating real concern for some students. For example, it is not legal to start growing marijuana before being officially named a caregiver to a certified patient, but patients who are sick, certified and ready to buy marijuana generally do not want to wait through the months of the growing cycle until a crop is ready. So for the time being, coordinating entry into the business feels to some like a kind of Catch-22.

Students say they are getting all kinds of extra help and ideas from going to class.

“I want to learn all the little tricks, everything I can,” said Sue Maxwell, a student who drives each week from her home four hours north of Detroit. “It’s a big investment, and I want to do it right.”

Ms. Maxwell, who works at a bakery, is already a caregiver — in the old, nondrug sense of the word — to a few older people for whom she thinks medical marijuana might be a real boon.

“I fix their meals, and I help with housekeeping,” Ms. Maxwell said. “I have an 85-year-old lady who has no appetite. I don’t know if she’d have any interest in medical marijuana, but I bet it would help her.”

Ms. Maxwell said her plan to grow marijuana was slow in hatching.

“We were talking at the bakery all summer,” she said. “Just joking around, I said: ‘I’m going to grow medical marijuana. I’m a gardener, I’ve always dreamed of having a greenhouse, I think it would be great.’ And then I suddenly thought, hey, I really am going to grow medical marijuana.” Source.

Participating in high-impact sports may help boost bone mineral density in older persons, according to a new study of male and female athletes.

The findings stem from a study of athletes aged 50 to 93 who took part in the 2005 National Senior Games, including 560 who competed in high-impact sports like basketball, road racing, track and field, and volleyball.

Ultrasound scans found those who participated in high-impact sports had better bone mineral density than people who participated in low-impact sports.

“Our study represents the largest sample of bone mineral density data in mature athletes to date,” said Dr. Vonda Wright of the University of Pittsburg Medical Center. “My colleagues and I were surprised to see that active adult participation in the high-impact sports had such a positive influence on bone health, even in the oldest athletes.”

A HealthDay report notes that osteoarthritis and other factors will keep some people from taking part in high-impact sports.

“With a multi-part approach and the appropriate use of high-impact exercises, individuals may be able to make greater strides against bone loss than the current treatment strategies imply,” Wright said.

Clearly, able-bodied senior citizens participating in these higher-impact activities can produce great results; the only thing lacking may be the motivation to do so. People who will give them that extra push can be found at companies like Home Instead Senior Care. Home Instead hires outgoing and energetic individuals who will not only present the best home care to our clients, but promote healthy living and will motivate your loved ones to get back in the game.
Home Instead Senior Care will provide outstanding caregivers to help your loved one with personal care, incidental travel, companionship, medication reminders, light housekeeping, and even meal preparation. To learn more, call 248-203-2273 or visit www.homeinstead.com. Home Instead Senior Care is the world’s trusted source of in-home non-commercial personal care and companionship for seniors. Each franchise is independently owned and operated. And remember, to us, it’s personal.

Participating in high-impact sports may help boost bone mineral density in older persons, according to a new study of male and female athletes.

The findings stem from a study of athletes aged 50 to 93 who took part in the 2005 National Senior Games, including 560 who competed in high-impact sports like basketball, road racing, track and field, and volleyball.

Ultrasound scans found those who participated in high-impact sports had better bone mineral density than people who participated in low-impact sports.

“Our study represents the largest sample of bone mineral density data in mature athletes to date,” said Dr. Vonda Wright of the University of Pittsburg Medical Center. “My colleagues and I were surprised to see that active adult participation in the high-impact sports had such a positive influence on bone health, even in the oldest athletes.”

A HealthDay report notes that osteoarthritis and other factors will keep some people from taking part in high-impact sports.

“With a multi-part approach and the appropriate use of high-impact exercises, individuals may be able to make greater strides against bone loss than the current treatment strategies imply,” Wright said.

Clearly, able-bodied senior citizens participating in these higher-impact activities can produce great results; the only thing lacking may be the motivation to do so. People who will give them that extra push can be found at companies like Home Instead Senior Care. Home Instead hires outgoing and energetic individuals who will not only present the best home care to our clients, but promote healthy living and will motivate your loved ones to get back in the game.
Home Instead Senior Care will provide outstanding caregivers to help your loved one with personal care, incidental travel, companionship, medication reminders, light housekeeping, and even meal preparation. To learn more, call 248-203-2273 or visit www.homeinstead.com. Home Instead Senior Care is the world’s trusted source of in-home non-commercial personal care and companionship for seniors. Each franchise is independently owned and operated. And remember, to us, it’s personal.

Up in the mornin’
Out on the job
Work like the devil for my pay
But that lucky old sun got nothin’ to do
But roll around heaven all day.

Fuss with my woman, toil for my kids
Sweat till I’m wrinkled and gray
While that lucky old sun got nothin’ to do
But roll around heaven all day

Katia and I took Bugsy to the vet today.  For those who don’t know Bugsy, he is our 17.5 year old Bischon Frise.  He was a terror for the first 16 years of his life but now old age is beginning to kick in.  His right eye has been getting worse each day to the point that some mornings when he wakes up it is completely shut.  There is a lot of discharge and gunk in there and while Mom does her best to clean it out, it’s clear it is not going to heal itself.

Bugsy began shivering the moment we got into Katia’s car.  Whenever he gets put into a car, he believes he is going to the saloon for a grooming, his idea of hell.  We hadn’t made an appointment so when we arrived at the Lisner Animal Hospital, we were asked if we could wait for a short while before a vet could see Bugsy.  We walked him in the parking lot and that seemed to calm him down a bit, although walking for him now basically means he walks in concentric circles which is his new favorite move, given his almost complete lack of vision.

After fifteen minutes we were in the dog version of the patient’s room.  A warm, cheerful vet introduced herself, and after just a brief glance at Bugsy’s eyes, said she believed it was due to an affliction known as dry eye.

Katia trying to calm a restless Bugsy

She asked if she could carry him to the back and we of course agreed, but not before Katia warned her to put a muzzle on Bugsy as he wasn’t too fond of places like this.  The vet said she was already aware of this as Bugsy’s medical record specifically states ‘Requires muzzle.’

We waited in the reception area and to kill time we each got on our iPhones to find out what was going on in the rest of the world.  I learned that Ben Roethlisberger would not be playing this week and therefore I was going to have to find a last-second substitute quarterback for my fantasy football team.  Not good.  Two weeks ago I was sitting pretty atop of the league and now my chances of making the post-season are quickly slipping away after two subpar weeks and now this bad news.  Katia got a funny text message from a friend which she shared with me.  Our laughter was interrupted by the sound of the dog/patient’s room door opening.

We both sprang up off the bench, iPhones in pockets and rushed over to get the news.

Doctor visits are tense moments for everyone involved

Katia’s initial reaction to seeing Bugsy’s snout covered in blood was, understandably, of shock.  She gasped as her hand went to her mouth.  Then she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the red was actually the color of the required muzzle.  We approached the vet and she explained that he does indeed have dry eye and that we would have to apply this eye cream twice a day to both eyes, as well as eye drops to the eye with the discharge.  Even with a muzzle on this would be a challenge as Bugsy has never, ever liked holding still while someone is trying to do something to him, whether it is cutting his hair or God forbid, putting on his ugly sweater circa 1995.

She applied the cream to show us how it was done, which entailed holding his snout still while he wrestled to break free and at the same time squeezing cream onto his eyes.  The whole time I saw this I was thinking “yeah right, we are never going to muzzle him every day, twice a day, just to apply this stuff.”  It hasn’t been a day yet so we’ll have to wait and see how we do on that front.

Part of the reason is that we have always been very sensitive to Bugsy’s whining and discomfort and the moment we sense he is uncomfortable or in pain, we tend to avoid continuing what we were doing.  He is treated more as a member of  the family than an animal and his steady diet of human food would definitely attest to that.

She mentioned that they had also cleaned out his ears which involved cutting away a lot of hair and removing loads of ear wax.  Whatever they did back there, Bugsy seemed to have much more energy than he normally does these days and he was moving quickly around the floor of the dog/patient’s room.  And the ultimate sign that he was in good spirits: his tail was up and wagging!  Up until a year or two ago, his tail would always be up as he was going about his day.

Bugsy showing off his ugly sweater

Now, his tail is always hanging down.  It is so rare to see it otherwise that when we saw it today we both exclaimed to each other “oh my God, his tail is wagging!”  The vet must think we are the most easily amused family in Michigan.

More good news: she said Bugsy’s heart and lungs were doing just fine and it was just his eyes that were faltering.  His diminished hearing was to be expected as was the beginning of senility.  Great.  And she  confirmed what we already knew which is that he is veritably blind as both eyes have full blown cataracts.  Poor dog.  We asked whether it would help to put a cone around his neck to prevent him from bumping into objects.  Thankfully, she said it was a very bad idea, claiming that as long as we didn’t move furniture around too much, he would eventually grow accustomed to moving around.  What she didn’t mention but that we all knew to be true was that his dignity would be irreparably damaged if he had to wear a cone around his little neck every moment the rest of his life.

After getting a few more to-do-at-home instructions and thanking the vet, Katia carried Bugsy out to the car while I went to the counter and paid the $120 it cost for the checkup and the medication.  As we get into the car, Bugsy is no longer shaking.  Instead he is making for the backseat where he immediately falls down to the foot area behind our seats, moving from side to side.  He was moving with new energy and it was  great to see.

Unfortunately, the reason why he was moving around so much was not good.  We take him home and he begins moving restlessly from place to place, all the time trying to rub his eyes (or ears?) on something.  Katia panicked and said she thought the eye cream might be burning him or something.  We never did determine for sure if that was the cause but just the suggestion of it took it from possible cause to probable cause.  She called up the vet and they said to bring him in again, but that we should hurry as they were closing in five minutes.  We rushed out to Katia’s car, and this time, Bugsy did begin shivering once again.  He must know when we’re heading out and when we’re heading home.

Another vet had to unlock the door for us and right away she whisked Bugsy from us, just saying “I’ll take him to the back.”  When she returned less than five minutes later, she didn’t say what she had done to him.  She handed us a new cream to replace the one we had received earlier, claiming that he may have had a reaction to an ingredient in the first cream.

We’ll have to see how he reacts to this stuff.  Or if it was the cream at all.

The sun has been hiding for the past week but today it decided to make itself seen.  Although the temperature was still below comfortable, the sight of the late autumn sun was too tempting not to be outside.  A short while after we returned home from our second trip to the vet, I took Bugsy and his ugly sweater on a grand walk, down the sidewalk by our home, into Southwick homes which connects to our subdivision about half a mile in and then back home.  It was a solid 45 minute walk and amazingly he managed to walk it all himself.  He would do this weird thing where he’d tug on the leash and I’d turn to see him just standing in place, eyes directly facing the sun.  I think he was actually able to see something and he was enjoying it.  After a couple of moments I’d tug his leash again and say “C’mon Bugs” and his little legs, half-hidden beneath the red rings of his ugly sweater would rev into rapid motion again.

We used to play this game years ago where we’d guess how many times Bugsy would pee during a walk.  The winning number was always greater than ten as he would stop to paint practically every rock, mailbox, fire hydrant we passed, even if it was just leaving behind a drop or two.

For whatever reason, he seems to have lost all interest in that activity as his total for this walk was zero.  His hind legs have become weaker and he doesn’t even lift his leg to pee any longer, instead just doing this newfound squatting pose.  Or maybe he’s just given up trying to be macho and painting every mailbox and fire hydrant he passes.  Or maybe he just can’t see them.

I like to think that he’s just matured and he realizes that in the end what really matters is not how many times you leave your mark, but whether or not you are able to go on the walk.  Even if you have to wear an ugly sweater to do it.

Ha.

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Hello All,

While doing my Youtube searching today I found a great video of Sensei Erik Paulson (www.erikpaulson.com) and Dog Brother Eric Knaus aka Top Dog (www.dogbrothers.com) teaching stick grappling. You can see why I believe that Sensei Erik Paulson is one of the most well rounded Martial Artists around these days and why the Dog Brothers are regarded as some of the best Filipino Martial Artists around.

I was introduced to stick grappling by my Sifu Dave Hatch (www.attributivemartialarts.com) years ago and it is something that I really want to explore. I think that it is very practical and can be used by a wide variety of people including Law Enforcement and Military Personal.

Enjoy