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Name: Mark
Country: United States
State: Kentucky
Metro: Covington
Birthday: 3/26/1968
Gender: Male
Interests: poetry, computers, politics, and entertainment
Expertise: I teach special education-severe and profound
Occupation: Education/training
Industry: Education/Research
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
1/1/2003
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| I will not remember Thumper by what her tumor did to her. I will remember Thumper as a kitty who enjoyed life and was like a big ball of mud who loved to be near us. Here is how I will remember her:
For Thumper
You would snuggle on my arm
as I laid on the bed;
whacking me with your tail
while I stroked your auburn fur.
You would purr quietly
with your eyes staring into mine;
listening to me as I talked to you
like a father to a child.
You would jump upon the sink
and ask me to turn on the faucet;
lapping water with your eager tongue,
drinking until you had your fill.
Stretched out where the sun appeared,
you would sleep for hours;
enjoying the simple pleasures
life gave you every day.
I miss you so much Thumper,
but I know it’s for the best.
Cancer took its toll on you
yet, you fought him long and hard.
Now you are in Heaven,
and your body is made whole again.
I’ll always remember you my Thumper cat,
until we see each other once more.
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| Other than school, a major reason I haven't written is due to Thumper's battle with the tumor. Today, the battle ended. She is in a far better place. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
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| First, an update on Thumper. She is still with us. She has a hard time holding up her head, so she bumps into things, but she is still eating okay and her bodily functions are fine. We had a scare when a bump on her head released some blood, but the vet said that is normal considering how big her tumor is. We are just taking one day at a time with her.
I have been very busy with getting ready for the new school year. School starts here on Monday and I'm anxious in a nervous way. I will be getting a new student with issues, but I am cosciously optimistic that if me and my staff stay on her, we can limit the amount of behavior. I've been at school all week between trainings and getting our store ready, I managed to get the room ready as best as possible. No matter how much work I do, I never feel that I am ready. The regular ed. teachers have been busy trying to create units based on new guidelines and they feel like they're unprepared as well.
Not only is school keeping me busy, I've been making revisions for our project with the local newspaper and we got paid for it! Yea! Our side business did the graphic design for a supplement that will be coming out in a few weeks that deals with teenage suicide prevention. The paper gave us the information and basically, we put it together with graphics. I can't wait for it come out so I can see what it looks like on paper.
On the book front, I sold 28 books at the church and they are being shipped to me. The youth group will be getting $100 once I get all the money from the customers. I will be selling the book to faculty at my school in a couple of weeks, so it should be interesting how it will do. That is all for now!
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| First, the good news. I have a site to promote my book. Go to markmanis.com and you will see my promotion site. I have also sold a couple of books online.
Now, the sad news. Thumper has lost more weight. She is down to 9.7 pounds. This was a cat who was 17 pounds a year ago. There is nothing anyone can do medically. We have to hand feed her because the tumor on her head has grown to the point where she has a hard time moving her jaw. I have thought over and over when should we put her down. Bodily function wise, she does everything. With her tumor though, she is starting to bump into things because she can't keep her head up for long periods of time due to the weight of the tumor. I admit, me and Becky are upset and I do cry during a weak moment. I know God will take of her and she truly has been a blessing. She's a fighter. When I weep and talk to her, she still purrs. She's a trooper. God brought her to us so that we could know Him and I am forever grateful. The hard part is coming up and I know it. I will keep praying for her to keep a quality of life, but I know the time is coming close when we will have to decide enough is enough. Please pray for her. | | |
| Sorry for the lack of blogging. I've been working on getting Scorched Earth ready for the next issue. (Submission deadline is July 30th) and we have a graphic design project that I've been working on. Until it comes out, I have to keep it under wraps, but I can say it is going to do a lot of good here locally. It is a paid job, so I've been devoting a lot of time to it. I am going to get back to getting school work ready tomorrow. I don't have too much more I can do here at home and I plan to work next week up at school.
I've started taking orders for the book at church and after the announcement, I have 5 orders already. I'm taking orders until August 5th, so I am hoping for more. I would love to get 26 orders so I can get a discount and give more of the money back to the youth group. I'm also planning to set up my own web site soon to advertise the book and I'm going to go to the local paper and get a story about the book. I'm thinking about asking the public library about doing a poetry reading, but Becky thinks that it would bomb. It won't hurt to ask the librarian if they've had any in the past. I know I won't sell a lot of books. Most poets, unless they are the giants, are lucky if they sell hundreds. My goal is to sell at least 50 books between local and online. If I can do that, I will consider myself a success.
Shameless plug time: If you are interesting in purchasing the book, just click HERE. | | |
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