Things Are Changing

The biggest change for us is David. He is joining the Japanese Army.  He will leave on March 29th. He will do basic training for 3 months, then receive training in some area, hopefully something that can be used in civilian life.  He will stay for at least 4 years then decide if he wants to continue or leave.
I have very mixed feelings about this. Happy/sad.  He is the first to leave home which makes it rather sad.  But I'm glad that he has found something that he wants to do.  The past few years he has been rather aimless!  One big thing is that I have to start cooking again, I have relied on David to take of things the past two or three years!

To enter the army you have to take a test and do an interview.  For that David had to buy a suit.  Top picture was practicing tying his tie, bottom two are on the morning of the test.

I don't know about anybody else but I am rather tired of this coronavirus.  I'm a little worried about the disease it self, more worried about Hannah. She was born premature, before her lungs had developed which means that her lungs are rather weak, even flu can be dangerous for her!  We are washing hands and wiping down surfaces with a bleach solution.  I haven't stopped teaching as it is my only source of income but will if the virus is reported in my town.  I'm more worried about the economic side, I feel that it will take years to recover.  My business has been hit bad, this is the best time to recruit new students.  Most years we will get about 10 new students from the end of February and March.  This year only 2!!   It's going to be hard!

And just because I need to finish with something cute, here are the new fur babies.

Their eyes are open and they are trying to move more!

Corona Virus Equals No Toilet Paper

Last week the government recommended that all elementary, junior high and high schools close for at least 2 weeks to stop the spread of this virus.  At the same time a lot of places where people gather have also closed, Disneyland and Disney Sea , Universal Studios Japan and live theater.  There has been panic buying, when I went to the local store there was no face masks, no tissues and no toilet paper.  I was really shocked by this, I had seen on the news but thought it hadn't reached where I live. Yesterday there was an incident on a train in Tokyo, a man coughed without a mask on and was yelled at by another man.  It didn't come to blows but could have.  Near here an elderly woman was walking, for exercise, again without a mask and somebody hit her!  I really wish people would get the correct information and not over react.  It's bad but so is the flu or measles!
I had to go to the doctors yesterday because of my knee!  It has become so painful.  It looks like the cushion between the bones has worn away! I have 2 weeks worth of pain killers!  Hope they help because even trying to sleep had been hard!

And because my life is already chaotic Mama cat has had more kittens, 4 at the moment but she is bleeding again so I'm wondering if there is another one!

What a Week!

And it's only Thursday!
Everything started out okay. Monday was a national holiday, so Mikey, David and I went to my mother-in-laws house to start cleaning out all the stuff that has been dumped there.  During my 29 years here all the stuff that I didn't need got boxed up and put in the storage place.  That is a lot of stuff.  I was determined to burn as much as possible but as I was climbing over boxes I twisted my knee and have been in pain since then!  I should of guessed that it would be down hill from there!
Wednesday my washing decided that it has finished working for me, I begged it hold out for a few more months until I got a few more students but no luck. The wash cycle is alright but it won't spin at all.  I have taken all the clothes out and put less in but makes no difference!  The big problem is Hannah school shirts, she has two, one to wash, one to wear.  I've ordered a new machine but it won't come for two weeks.  Of course I don't really have money!  I guess the next two weeks we will have to use the coin laundry!
Then just to add to my misery the O key is missing from my key board, I'm using a pencil to push the button.  And of course I've found that the O is used a lot!
I really hope nothing else goes wrong!

Hannah's school has it's graduation ceremony on Sunday.  Usually the 2nd graders attend but because of this corona virus only the graduating students and parents will attend.   Hannah is happy about that.

David made some lovely pancakes for Pancake Day.

Really nice and light with cream, strawberries and peaches!

Snow

We have had a very mild winter this year.  Last week the temperature was similar to mid March.
Sunday saw a high of 18C, which is very warm for February.  But that all change on Monday.
Started with a drop in temperature, then cold winds and icy rain by the evening that had
turned to snow.  Came down all Monday night, woke up to a covering of snow Tuesday morning!
Looked nice but by lunch time it had melted!

See, just a bit of snow.

Hannah was happy as her school started late today, first class was 10am.  This week is end of term tests for her school.  Hope she does okay!

Cats...Again

I know I've written about our cats before but they are such a big part of our lives.
A lot of my day is taken up with caring for them.  There are the not nice jobs of cleaning the litter boxes (I can't do it as the smell makes me vomit), then there is cat pee when they just can't be bothered with using the litter box and cat vomit.  Also scratches as cats seem to have a need to hang on with their claws!  They make work out of nothing, even as I began writing this two of the older cats started to fight, so I have spent 5 minutes chasing them, good exercise!  We now have 7 cats and
 Mama is pregnant again.  We saved money to have her fixed but Steve (our white cat) got sick with kidney stones so the money we saved went to pay for his vet bills.  We tried to keep her in but she escaped and we are now looking at her having more kittens!  Bother!
There is also an abundance of cuteness with them!  Just looking at their faces melts my heart, even when I am getting cat pee out of my carpet!  The older cats are fighting a lot, I think they need more exercise so I bought a cat harness to take them for walks!  Not really working!  Put it on Alan  and he acts like he can't walk, just lies down!  Poor thing had such a pitiful face, like we were torturing him!

We only got him to the entrance and he wouldn't move!

One of our kittens doesn't like to held, every time she is picked up she crawls on to your shoulder.

Fluffy on Mikey's  shoulder, completely relaxed!

And feeding time is crazy.  To hear them you would think we starve them!

Hannah trying to feed them!

Life with cats is crazy at times, messy all the time and lovely when they settle for a nap on your lap.  Would I take in Mama cat if I had known how much work cats are?  Probably! 

Coronavirus Part 2

I am very confused about this coronavirus.
The media hype seems to be rather too much.  Watching Sky News, from the UK,  the other day I was
rather surprised that they knew exactly how many people had this sickness, at that time 4 people, all of them were in hospital.  The news also stated that the staff at a pub had been asked to quarantine themselves because it was believed that a customer that had become sick had been in there. What about other customers?  Also how serious is this illness.  I know people are dying from it but why?  Were they already vulnerable because of previous problems or age, did they get adequate help when they went to the hospital, did they get to the hospital in a timely fashion so that life saving support could be offered.  There are too many questions!  What I want to know is how safe is my family?  We are practicing basic hygiene, washing hands and face and gargling after being in contact with other people.  I use an alcohol spray on my tables after teaching.  Also eating as healthy as possible so that if we do get sick our bodies have the energy to fight it!  I have found this video to be helpful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YscZRozTN9s   He has a no nonsense approach and helped me to understand more.  He also suggests checking with the CDC or WHO to get the best information!

The past few weeks I have been on a baking binge!  Yesterday I helped Hannah make a chocolate pound cake,  last week she had a go at choco chip cookies!  Both turned out nice!  David made  a lovely sponge as well.

David's cake

And of course some cat photos to finish!

Coronavirus

For the past few days I have been watching the news and reading newspapers about this latest
disease, the corona virus novel.  I am wondering how dangerous is it compared to the usual influenza.  How much is media hype and do I need to worry?
One thing that I have noticed is the emotive wording used by most newspapers.  In one newspaper there is a warning of  "A global pandemic" , that word, pandemic, brings up images of the 1918-1919 flu that was truly horrific.  Another phrase that comes up time and time again is "deadly illness".  Showing  pictures of medical professionals in full hazmat suits, of people passing through airports having their temperatures checked by scanners leads to a feeling of dread, that this is something totally horrific that we have no control over.  But what is the reality.  Reading through the NHS homepage gives a different point of view.  People who have recently returned from Wuhan or have been in contact with people from that area are advised to stay inside for 14 days, if they show symptoms then there is a number given to call for advice.  My understanding (and I have no medical background, just Doctor Google) this is just another version of the 'flu.  Symptoms include feeling tired, fever, difficulty breathing and a cough, sounds like the 'flu I had just before Christmas.  Yes it can lead to pneumonia, but my understanding is that most 'flus can lead to pneumonia.  Is it deadly, yes, people have died from it but I wonder what kind of medical care were they given, how old were they and what was their health before they caught this virus.  'Flu and pneumonia have been making the rounds in my local area, kindergartens, elementary, junior high schools and high schools have all had cases in the past few weeks, the warm winter isn't helping.  So we are practicing good hygiene, washing hands and face and gargling after being in contact with other people.  Also I had a bottle of alcohol spray that I use to wipe down surfaces.  Plus making sure we eat properly, plenty of  fresh fruits and vegetables. In a world made smaller by technology we can expect this kind of thing to be the norm.  I am sure that 50 years ago we would never have heard of Wuhan or this virus!

On a lighter note, the cats are driving me to distraction.  This happened the other day

Steve got in the washing machine!

Plus we had Claws not Jaws