dawnbenbow

Dog day and the day after.

2007-09-01T06:57:24Z

Here is a compalation of what I didn’t talk about yesterday and what I remember about today. *grin* If I ramble and it’s a bit confused, or confusing please forgive me.

Yesterday morning we did more work with Juno obidieance before boarding the bus in to Gresham. *smile* We each went on a Juno walk from the lounge. I found a perfect spot to set up down there with my lap top computer in a bean bag chair with an electric outlet near bye to plug in to and enjoyed the wireless network connection. *grin* I then took some time to listen to my MP3 player and meditate while I waited for my turn to come to go out with my instructor. When we went out that morning she said “OK now, Juno is a bit more bounceir then usual.” She wasn’t kidding either! *grin* Then she asked if it was alright and I said it was. I found out this morning why she did that. *grin* I wonder though what would have happened if I had said no? *gigglegrin* When we got back from the downtown lounge after our Juno walks we gathered in the discussion/lecture room and found out the names and sexs and breeds of our dogs. Then we had some free time until lunch. *grin* Which of corse I spent letting people know what I did about my little Baskin boy. *grin* After lunch we met again in the discussion room and talked about relieve, feeding, and watering our dogs in class. Then we also talked about this adjustment and what it was like from our dogs perspective. *smile* That was a very important topic for us to think about because not everyone can remember that the dogs have no clue what’s going on. They also talked about what would happen after we received our dogs and then we were sent to our rooms for the of the longest waiting periods of our lives! Finally Erin came to my door and said it was my turn. She braught me down to the instructors office door and told me to go in. I went in, and I was a nervous wreck! I sat down in the chair that was waiting and Cindy asked me if I was ready to meet my boy. I said yes, and then she braught him over to me and first thing I did was to check if his colar was on the right way. *gigglegrin* They trained this in to me the first couple of days. To check your dogs colar if he was in anyone elses hands. So now it’s a habbit. After I met him and she told me his parents names, his weight and hight and birth date she asked if I had anymore questions. I asked what kind of a dog he is to handle. *smile* I was happy and relieved to hear that those hard corrections they had made me practice would probably not be needed for this boy. *bouncegrin* I was illated to hear that bit of news! She said to always start out with verbal corrections and then slowly build up from there. Then she walked us back down the hall to my room where she showed me how to put him in the crate. After that I got him back out and started trying to get to know him better. It started off a bit slow, but I was patient with him and pet him, and when he stepped away I just sat back and waited for him to come back to me. He was on a short leash though so he coulden’t actually go to far, but if it seemed like he was pulling back I just waited for him to come closer again. This worked and he has now gotten to the point that unless he is in his crate or on tie down he is always touching me in some way, even if it’s just a paw on my foot. I really love this about him. He’ll even touch his nose to my leg when we’re heeling down the hall and he’s in perfect position which means no tension on the leash. So the only way I feel he is there is that nose he’ll touch me with as he walks right along side me. *grin* He also responds very well to praise. More about that in a minute. First I have to tell you that it was planned for us to do obideance with our dogs once we all had the chance to get to know them for a while. When they called us down to the “Fireplace room” to do our obideance there was a surrising change of plans… Stevy Wonders’ people had called and the current students in class were invited to his local concert!! So the students got the choice if they wanted to go or not and stay with their new dogs instead. Apparently this phone call had just happened, and nothing like that had _never! Happened before!! The genttlmen who is the head of the training department almost turned it down, but thought better of it because something like that was only once in a life time as they were told that Stevy himself wanted to meet them. *grin* So everyone was really excited even more. Some students decided to go to the out door councert, and some did not. I stayed here with my lovely Baskin myself. *grinshrug* I had waited long enough to meet him that I didn’t want to leave him behind already. So myself and two other students stayed back while the rest went off to watch the concert, but did not get the opportunity to meet Stevy after all things got busy for him or something. *shrugsmile* One of the instructors stayed back with us and we all hung out for a while in the instructors office with our own dogs in our rooms, but only for about one hour while we played with and got to know that instructors pet dogs that were with her at work. *grin*

This morning we started out with waffles and sausage for breakfast. No, we started out feeding our new dogs, then watering and relieving them. *grin* After that we had breakfast. After which we met in the discussion room to work with an instructor individually on obidiance. Baskin and I worked outside with Amy. My boy did a really wonderful job, and I loved the way he ran back to me after Amy said I should let him come to her, and then call him back to me. He came straight back and started giving me kisses. *grin* He is very sweet. Then we relieved the dogs again before grabbing our harnisses and getting on the bus and going to the lounge for our first workouts! Our primary instructor attached a long lead or cat leash to Baskins colar and we were off! I now know why Juno was so bouncy on Thursday morning! This boy bounces when he walks! *gigglegrin* It is the cutest thing. He gets hesatint sometimes right now if he is’t being praised, but when I put energy in to praising him he picks his pace right up! We just fly down the sidewalk when we’re cruising along and I’m just grinning my head off as the breeze we make catches my hair and it flies out behind us. We both think walking together is just a lot of fun. The first route went pretty well, as did the second one. There were just some turning machinics, as well as my hault positioning when we hault in the middle of a block that I need to work on. I also need to remember to make sure that when I check for a curb to keep my leg and toe straight instead of off to the left as that will make him veer since dogs will follow your body language which they understand even better then the words that come out of your mouth. *smile* This is also some of what I and my instructor needed to work on with me on that second route this afternoon after lunch. When we got back to the dorm we relieved our dogs and then watered them and had our own lunch. After lunch was a discussion in the lecture room and then off again to Gresham in the bus for the afternoon routes. Our discussion was all about safe street crossings. I sat on the floor near the wall cuddling Baskin while participating in the discussion. At my last dog school 12 years ago we were not allowed to sit on the floor during class time. I much preffer to be able to use even that time to bond with my dog. *smile* I think we both like being together now, though at the relieving session following our return from Gresham and the evening feeding and watering he didn’t want to heel with me back in side as “his” trainer was still outside and he wanted to stay with her. My primary trainer and Baskins trainer are two different people. *smile* I think this was a wise choice on there part as I can understand why Baskin does that and that he doesn’t understand yet what’s going on I think that he and I would have more trouble bonding if she worked directly with us. Baskin is as an emotional dog I think as I am an emotional person so this is the best for both of us. It also gives me a chance to be tuff with him when I need to, but without needing to all the time. *smile* In time his strong bond to his trainer will transfer over to a strong bond with me. *smile* While we were at the lounge this afternoon waiting our turns to go on our second walk [this time without the long line] we were given our grooming supplies and shone how to use them. *smile* Then we came home and had the evening feed, water and relieve time which I mentioned previously. After which we were free until dinner time. After dinner we had a little free time until the discussion on playing with our dogs. I thought that was a wonderful topic to have a discussion on as there were people from other schools, such as myself, where that wasn’t really talked about. They also said that if we needed any help trying to get our dogs to play to just ask and they would be glad to. It was actually the Residant Assistant who had the discussion with us. *smile* Then we were given two toys of our choice each, and offered the option of buying a third for $6.50 which a few of us decided to do. So now Baskin has a small cong, a nyla bone, and a tug ring. *grin* We had a lot of fun playing together on our padio this evening. He had fun chasing the cong around, and then we really had a blast with the tug ring. *grin* I can’t wait to do that again with him tomorrow! *gigglegrin* He’s good but I was able to hold my own and drag him around a bit which he seemed to enjoy. *gigglegrin* Then we went in and went out for the last time. I forgot we watered the dogs again before our lecture. When we came inI wtook his tug ring and bone down to the fireplace room and sat with him while he got a good start on that bone and I alked with the Resadint assistant. It looks like his favorit toys right now are the bone and tug ring, though he did enjoy the cong as well. *grin* I like the tug ring since I can hold it with both hands at once [being small] and can play better with him that way. *grin* He and I both get loud and rowdy when playing tug. *giggle*

Well that is everything for the past two days as far as I can recall. *grin* Hope you all enjoyed it. Tomorrow the 3 weekers come in and my roommate will be here!! *bouncegrin*

I can’t believe that I’ve only had him for a day. Already it feels like a lot longer to me. I know we’ll be having bad days coming up, but I think we’ve started out strong. *smile*

Love and Light Always,

Dawn and Baskin [my little ice cream boy]

Dog Day!

2007-08-31T05:32:36Z

OK, let’s start with the important stuff. *grin* My dogs name is Baskin. He is a male black lab. He is 22 inches tall, and weighs 57 pounds. *smile* He is solid black. His Dad was Astro, and his Moms begins with an I, but I don’t remember it. His birthday is December 12^th2005. He is very sweet. He kept cuddling with me when I sat on the floor with him and climbed half way in my lap most of the time. *grin* He must think I’m a wonderful pillow as he fell asleep with his head on my lap at one point this evening when the class was socializing before bed. *grin* I rarely have to use a leash correction on him, and when I do, it is light and he emideately corrects his negative behavior. *smile* He was even getting to the point when I would stand up he would automaticly get into healing position. *smile* He has needed some verbal corrections, but as I said not very many leash corrections at all. *grin* We’ll see how he does and how affectionate he is when Cindy [his trainer] is there tomorrow. *grinshrug* As well as how we do on our first walk. At least if it’s bad then there is only room for improvement. But if he works as good as he heals and behaves on leash it will go good. *grin*

I’ll fill in more details of the day tomorrow, but I’m going to head to bed. *wavegrin*

Love and Light Always,

Dawn

dawnbenbow @ 2007-08-30T01:50:00

2007-08-30T05:58:06Z

This is day 3 here at GDB! *grin* Tomorrow is dog day! This morning for breakfast I just had a bowl of cereal instead of the cheese gritz, or poached egg on toast. *smile* For lunch we had the choice of a turkey sandwitch or a cheese rice and veggie casseroal. I tried the veggy dish myself. It was yummy but had to much cheese in it for my stomach to be happy with it. *grinshrug* I was so happy to have my can of Coke with me for lunch today!! *bouncegrin* The shopper picked up a case of it for me yesterday. *grin* The volunteers are so nice to make those shopping runs for us.

So our activities for today… After breakfast we all headed over to the visiters center again. This time we worked on learning guide commands. We had discussions on commands, and the body and foot work as well as the hand gestures that are used to communicate those commands to our guide dogs. *smile* We learned how to put those things together using “wheeler” Which is the figure of a stuffed dog on top of a skate board. It is a wonderful tool for this sort of work. We also used Wheeler to learn proper following position, and guideing position as well. *grin* But before we did the Wheeler work we talked about real dog handling. We got to do obidiance with real dogs this morning!! *bouncegrin* That was wonderful!! We each worked with two different dogs. As we were waiting for our turn with an instructor we got to sit with one of the dogs and work on managing them on leash. Keeping them for exploring to much, and keeping them from getting in anyones face and just making sure they showed good behavior. *grin* I had a blast with this!! I fell in love with a wonderful little black labby boy named Epic! He was just the sweetest little guy. He and I just hit off right a way. I also worked with a dog named Timplten [like the rat from Sharlets web]. He was much more of a handful and was ignoring my corrections when I had to use when he woulden’t listen to my obidiance commands. He was a yellow labby boy and his fur was two shades lighter a red then my hair. *gigglegrin* The instructors found that very amusing and cominted on it. *grin* After working with both dogs on obideance I saw the differences in a dog who needs light, and very few corrections. It was wonderful, and one who needed a lot harder corrections and more of them. My trainer was kind enough to let me continue cuddling with Epic when I was done working the other dogs. Even though Timplton didn’t really listen to well, I wasn’t to frustrated with him because these dogs are still only about half way through training. Or at least that’s what they told us. *sigh* Which means I can’t get my little Epic no matter how much I beg. He was just so sweet! So after that we did our Wheeler work and then went back to the dormitory for lunch. After that we went to the down town lounge to do some Juno guide work. We worked a lot on the makinics of doing a proper turn both right and left as well as using the guide work commands, especially “Hop up” which can be used for several different things. Like when you want you guide to move closer to the edge of a curb, or closer up to a step if you can’t find it with your foot. Also it is used to incourage your guide to increase their speed slightly if they started slowing down from a distraction or just being lackadazicle. *grin* It is also used as a form of verbal correction to bring their attention back on to their job of guiding you. *grin* What you [as the guide dog handler] mean bye it is all read in your tone of voice! *grin* It all comes back to that communication thing again and how the dogs pay attention so much to tone and body language.

After that we came back here on the bus to the dorm and were given the choice to either do more Juno obideance work, or have the instructors finalize our dog matches. *grin* Do you have to ask which we picked?? Really… So we were free until dinner, and then after dinner as well. We just needed to listen to our lecture about feeding and relieving our dogs in class on our CD’s or MP3 players bye morning as the next days discussion is going to be on that.

Stay tuned to hear about my dog! We get them tomorrow afternoon! *grin* I can’t wait! *bouncegrin* I hope I’ll be able to sleep tonight. *grin* We’ll find out the name before lunch, then after lunch have a discussion, and then receive our dogs. Aren’t they offal telling us the name and then making us wait like that!!! At least it’s something though. I would much rather know the name then know nothing. I think. Still not quite sure though. I’ll let you know tomorrow how I feel about it at least. *grin* Thanks for keeping up with my journal and sorry I’m not replying to any commints right now I’ve just ben trying to get to know the layout of things around here and getting to know my classmates and catching up on email only when I can find the time. That’s way I’m so hard to get a hold of for those who have been trying to call me. *smilehugs* Thanks, and I will try to return any calls I get when I can.

Love and Light Always,

Dawn and???

dawnbenbow @ 2007-08-29T02:14:00

2007-08-29T06:23:05Z

I know, I know I’ve been here a couple of days and I haven’t updated yet. I apologize for being slow this week. *grin* I’ll try to make up for it.

I got here to Oregon at 11 20 AM [PST] after a very normal and none eventful morning and flight. I got to say good bye to my hubby at the gate getting on to the plane. *grin* We had some tirbulance, but not to bad. I had my MP3 player to listen to so I woulden’t get scared or anything to badly. After I arrived a very helpful young lady helped me in to the airport itself from the jetway, and we collected my bagadge. Then we went and she helped me find the people from GDB and other travelers heading there for class too. *grin* We were piled in to a van with our lugadge and driven here to the GDB Oregon campus. We were also given really yummy bag lunches to eat. After arriving here one of the staff, who has her own guide dog from GDB, took us one at a time to our rooms and showed us around them and where everything was in our rooms. Then I got unpacked and turned on my computer and was really excited when I was able to connect right a way to the internet! *grin* Once my other classmates had arrived and had some time to settle in we all gathered in the discussion room then were led on a dormitory orientation walk. That was pretty cool, but seemed pretty confusing to me. *shrugsmile* I seem to be catching on to things bye now though. More or less at least. Sometimes a bit less then more though. *gigglegrin* We had dinner after a nice long talk from our class superviser, as well as introductions to the staff who’ll be working closest with us while we’re here in class. *smile* They are all a bunch of really nice people!

My classmates are really nice so far. *grin* At the moment there are only 7 of us all together. Come Saturday though we will be joined bye 5 more students who will be here for 3 weeks of training instead of 4. These students have had dogs from either other schools recently, or from GDB previously and felt that the 3 week class would be the best fit for them. Since the people who did their home interview and review team who goes over our paper work and reviews our applications for acceptance agreed with them too they were accepted for the 3 week class. Not everyone likes that option, and some preffer the 2 week class. Those shorter classes are for re-trains only! *smile* I will be here for the full 4 weeks class myself because it has been a long time since I had my guide dog that I had only for a short period of time. *smile*

After our dinner where I had this really yummy pasta and grilled veggi dish and a glass of lemonaide, we had a discussion about the rules and code of conduct. Then we were free for the rest of the night to explore/get lost on our own. *gigglegrin* I chatted with some of my classmates, and then went and caught up on email and talked to my Dad and husband on the phone. *grin* Then headed off to the nurses office to ask her to check out my pour infected ear. I got a surprise there! My left ear looked more red then the right!! So now it looks like both ears are getting messed up. *bleck* I don’t like that news one bit! So now I’m doing my drops in both ears. If my right ear isn’t better bye Saturday then we’ll either call my home Dr., and/or I’ll be going in to a local clinick to see a Dr. here in Oregon. Boy I really hope that doesn’t happen so please send lots of healing and prayers my way. I would really appreciate it. *smilehugs* Today I’m tryin an antihistamine to see if it could be sinus trouble affecting my ears. We’ll see what happens, but my right ear was feeling plugged again today so I’ll try anything right now! So after visiting the nurse, I was wiped out! So I crashed. Got my jamas on around 9 30 and was fast asleep bye 10 PM.

This morning I woke up to my alarm just after 6 AM and got up and hopped in the shower and got myself ready for the day after making my bed. *grin* Then brabbedgrabbed my nifty coffee cup with the lid that we were all given last night and headed down to beg some yummy tea from our Residant Assistant who said I could try some of hers. *grin* It ws sooooo good!! *grin* I’m going to ask her to send me the website where to order it from. *grin* Then I headed down for breakfast. This morning it was pancakes with maple baked apples on top and sausages. *grin* All really good food! The kitchen staff and dining room staff that brings us out our plates is very nice. We have 6 tables in the dining room and we are assigned a table to sit at, but we choose which seat. Our first day our senior trainer took our pictures so that they could post them for the dormitory staff to place a face with our names when they’re dealing with us. *smile* After breakfast I went on a short walk with a friend [the only other person at my table for the moment] and we found the black berry bush on campus not to far from the dorm. So we may go berry picking tomorrow morning. *grin* After that we met up with one of the trainers and headed over to the visiters center, which is just across a court yard from our dormitory building. We were oriented to that building, and then learned how to tell if a collar was on the right way. *grin* I found this confusing for a while at first. Eventually I caught on to it though. *grin* Though the trainers didn’t stop checking me on it yet. *grin* They told us to always check our dogs collar to make sure it’s on correctly if he has been out of our hands. So now they re really getting me trained to do just that! *grin* I love it though because they keep trying to trick me with it. We were given our leashes today! *bouncegrin* I thought was wonderful. They taught us the grip on the leash to use when healing the dog, and then another grip that is used when doing some of the obedience exersises. *smile* I need to practice what they call the “Hitch hikers grip” because it doesn’t flow naturally for me yet. They say that they don’t expect perfection, but I’ll keep practicing until I can do it without forgetting. *grin* We learned all the obideance commands and had a discussion of them as well as the importance of tone of voice, and timing and spoke about communicating with our dogs. *smile* Then we split in to small groups and worked with the instructors on different obideance commands. *smile* It went really for me and I think we all had fun with it. *smile* I usually try to have fun with whatever I do though and the trainers seem to understand that about and keep us all smiling and laughing along as we learn.

This afternoon we went into town and when we got there they gave us a verbal orientation of the down town lounge building. and we each took a turn with an instructor using a tool that has a handle on either end of a small pole. The trainers use this tool to show us the difference between the can travel which we’re all used to and is a more tackltile form of traveling as our cane travels on the ground and we use it to feel our way around to that of a guide that leads us around obsticles and things. It is a much different form of travel and can be difficult for some to adjust to. *smile* I remembered what it was like from my previous guide dog expirance. My trainer also used that chance to find out what kind of walking speed I’m comfortable with and ask me some more dog prefrance questions. They also wanted to see how well we can tell when the dog traveled “off line” which is when they go in a direction that is different from that in which we want to travel and were traveling in originally. Before I went on my walk I took some private time outside and called my husband. It was very nice to talk to him while I waited my turn to go out. I think this will be something I try to do to fit in time talking to my family and loved ones at home.

I forgot to mention that for lunch I chose to have one of those yummy chief salads that are always available to eat if you do not care for anything on the menue for that meal. Also at lunch one of the kitchen staffers came out to the table and took our meal orders for the next day. She reads of the selections available to us for each meal [one at a time] for the next day and then we can tell her what we would like and ask any questions we may have about the selections as well. *smile* After lunch before meeting the instructors at the “relieving doors” to go down town some staff and a volunteer came over from admenistation for us to sign our code of conduct agreement, and guide dog contract. Also the volunteer came to take shopping requests and money to go in to town and buy things for us that we requested. So now I have my case of Coke, as the machines only sell Pesi precuts on campus, but they have Coke in the down town lounge. But now I have my stash of it in the students fridge here at the dorm. *grin*

So after we did the walk with the trainers we came back and did some more obidieance work with the “Juno” rug. Which is a rug that the instructors put their arm through and it has a colar on one end, to which we attach our leashes, then the instructor moves their arm simulating a dog with the rug. *grin* I hope that’s a clear explination for those who have never seen a Juno rug. *smile* Then we were free until dinner, and the rest of the evening. *smile*

Today I have learned that my guide dog handling skills really aren’t as rusty as I thought, and that I can do a pretty good correction. *grin* I got to know my classmates better as well as our trainers. This is a really fun bunch of people and we’re already to the point of friendly banter and teasing, even with us and the trainers. I tell you that is something I really love!! *grin* That is the sort of environment that I personally am most comfortable with and seem to thrive and learn best in. It seems my classmates seem to have similar feelings on that. *grin* I have no roommate so far, but know who she is. *grin* I can’t wait until she gets here! I spoke with her on the phone again tonight and found out we have even more in common then previously known. *bouncegrin* I also got to know our resident attendant and evening nurse better tonight as well. We get along beautifully! The people here both students and staff that I have met here thus far are all wonderful!!

I’ll try to update daily after this so they won’t be so long. *smile* If you’ve stuck it out this far good for you and thanks! *grinhugs* BTW I had a mushroom and pasta dish for dinner with herb bread. *grin* We get fresh baked bread with nearly every meal! I love this place!! *grin* It’s after 10 now so I’m going to bad after listening to my lectures for the morning. *wavegrin*

Love and Light Always,

Dawn

PS: I forgot to explai that the “relieving doors” are the set of doors that we’ll use to go where we will be “relieving” our dogs, which means letting them go potty and picking up after them. As well as where we’ll go to get the

buses to go in to town to the lounge.

Almost time to go!

2007-08-25T05:06:59Z

About 2 days and 9 hours left to go until I leave Monday morning! I called today and got my room assignment and found out who my roommate is. We’ll only share the bathroom, so it is more like a semi-private, and I think we’ll also share the outside doggy play area too. Apparently GDB gives as much thought to choosing your roommate as they do in matching up your dog! I think this time they’ve out done themselves though. *grin* It happens that my roommate is on a guide dog list with me and we have already spoken on the phone together as we knew we would be in the same class we thought we would introduce ourselves a bit more. *grin* We seem to get along quite well and are now both really excited knowing that we’ll be roommates. *grin* She is going to GDB [Guide dogs for the Blind] for the 3 week class and I’m going for the full 4 week class myself. We have both previously had guide dogs from other schools, but I haven’t had a guide dog in a long time so chose the longer class for myself so I can start fresh and have more time to bond with my dog without the distractions of family quite as soon. Since my roommate has had her dogs not that long ago she opted for the 3 week class herself. *smile* So I’ll have been at GDB for a week before she arrives and will already have my dog.

This eveing I picked up a few more things I still needed to have. They tell you to be sure and bring two pairs of walking shoes with you. I picked up my second pair tonight. *grin* If they’re as comfortable as the first pair I got they won’t need much, if any breaking in. *grin* I also picked up more body-wash and moisturizer which I knew I would need after hearing some commints from other graduates about how the GDB soap dried out their skin. *smile* So I’m coming prepaired! *gigglegrin* Can you tell I was once a Scout? I’ve also decided to make full use of both large suit cases that was in the lugadge set my Dad gave me so that I would have plunty of extra room. *smile* Now I need only locate and pack my paperwork, and my laptop after my hubby puts my music on my MP3 player and toss in a few things to my carry on then I’m set! I’m a lot closer now then I was yesterday even. *grin* I’ve repacked the suit cases so they are almost ready. The hallway is full of suit cases right now. *grin* Dad is picking up the kids in the morning since Stuart and I have a wedding to go to which will take up most of the day we figured they might as well spend that time with him like they want to. *grin* They can’t wait to see him. I’ll miss them a lot when I’m gone, but I know they’ll be happy, or at least distracted. *shrugsmile* My sister was kind enough to invite Bridget over to play with her girls one day while she’s at my Dads place since they live pretty close. Bri is excited about that. *grin* I love how wonderful and helpful my family is being about this. *smile* It really helps when you have a supportive family to help you out when it is needed.

Well it’s getting late and I need to try to sleep so talk to you all later. *smilewave*

Love and Light Always,

Dawn

3 days left!

2007-08-24T02:47:54Z

Hi all, *grin*

Well there is now approximately 3 days and 14 hours left until I leave for Oregon on the airplane. *bouncegrin* There is also 7 days left until I will get to meet my new guide dog! *bouncegrin* I’m really excited. I’m also a bit sad because I’m realy going to miss my family when I’m gone. At least I’ll be able to keep in touch with them over phone and email. *grin* I should still be able to get all my email as usual the way my system is configured to access the internet. *grin*

So tomorrow it’s time to pickup another pair of shoes, more cel phone minutes, and getting a new watch for my Braille watch I found again a few days ago. *grin*

Early this week I spoke with one of the trainers who will be working with my class as well as with one of the nurses on staff at the Oregon campus of GDB. They were both very nice and I felt very comfortable talking with them. *smile* So far I have felt like that with all the GDB staff I have met and I can’t wait to meet the other trainers and other people I’ll be working with while I’m there. *grin*

BTW I had to go to the doctors yesterday as my right ear was really hurting and felt plugged up. *sigh* It seems that my ear was full of excess wax and after the doctor irrigated it he did find an infection just as I told him it was. *smile* So now I’m on ear drops 3 times a day. I hope it’s better bye Monday, or at least won’t hurt to much when I’m flying. That is why I got in right a way when it started bothering me.

I’ve got most of my things packed now except for some last minute items that I will be shopping for tomorrow. *grin* Oh yah and a few things that still need washed. But just about everything else is now packed. I still need to weigh the suit case, and may decide to repack in two suite cases instead to make sure I will have room for all the equipment they will be giving to me along with my dog and any extra things that I may purchase myself. *grin* I’m already planning on picking up a rain jacket for my dog, and at some point I’ll be getting some portable food dishes for when we go camping and other traveling. *smile*

Well this ws interupted a couple of times because of thunderstorms, but is now finally posted! *bouncegrin* Talk to you all later. *wavegrinhugs*

Love and Light Always,

Dawn

14 days left...

2007-08-14T00:44:59Z

Hi all!

Well it is official! I received my tickets and lecture CD’s today. *bouncegrin* I’m excited and will start listening to them today. *grin* That just leaves waiting for the phone calls from the nursing staff, and the trainer call. *grin* I can’t wait! Now we’ll be going to my dad’s for swimming and for Stu to work on his computer again so I hope they try the cel number. Hmm, I did have a partial message on my cels voice mail but I don’t know if it was GDB or not. *sigh* I’ll try calling in the morning to see what happens. *grin* So now other then the calls, I just need to get my extra pair of shoes. We’re waiting to see when Stu gets back to work though as he was told today that it may be a matter of a couple of days, or a week before he is back again. I have only 14 days left now until I leave for GDB. So we’ll see how it all goes. Talk to you all later. *smilewavehugs*

Love and Light Always,

Dawn

16 days left to go!!

2007-08-11T23:48:41Z

Hi all,

I should have posted this a couple of days ago, but I have received my flight information! Actually I got it on Wednesday. *grin* Stu got laid off again though and we headed over to his families to visit for the weekend so I was busy packing up and getting out here. *grin* It has been a nice visit. Rosemary and I went a baby shower today and had a good time. I still need to finish knitting the blanket I’m making for his cousins little one that is due to arrive in Sept. *smile*

I’ll be leaving the airport around 9 AM on the 27^th, and will arrive in OR around 11 AM that day. *grin* On the 23^rd of Sept. my flight leaves OR around 8 30, and I should reach MI again around 4 PM. Oh the joy of changing time zones! But at least I don’t need to get up to early either day which is nice as I need my beauty sleep. *grin* That way I’ll at least have a chance to sleep, but knowing me I’ll have insomnia anyhow so I still won’t sleep much. *grin* So now that that stuff is arranged dh is thinking about seeing if he can somehow get the cash together to come out for the graduation sera money. He’ll be looking at last minute flights and things like that. But that’ll only happen if he gets back to work soon because we still need to save money up for our trip in Nov. *grin*

Now I’m just waiting for my package in the mail that is supposed to have my lecture CD’s in it! I can’t wait to get those and start listening. *grin* It’ll be fun to listen to those. *bouncegrin*

Well talk to all of you later. *smilewavehugs* Thanks everyone for your comments and everything. *grinhugs* I’m really liking this thing. *grin*

Love and Light Always,

Dawn

20 days left!

2007-08-07T13:20:42Z

Hi all, *grin hugs*

Well I’m learning how to work this new computer, and new version of jaws. I’m also trying to get used to using a laptop computer again, I may have to trim back my pretty fingernails while I’m getting used to this keyboard. *grin* I got my hair cut and colored and eyebrows waxed over the weekend too. *smile* I hope this turns out alright as I’m using a different word processing program this time. So we’ll see how it does. *smile* But there are now 20 days left! Time is slipping away on me, but I have plans to visit with friends before I go to GDB and am happy about that. *grin* My Dad has agreed to take the kids for the first week I’m gone before he leaves on his trip. Stuart will be driving him to the airport so he’ll bring them back the day he leaves. *smile* They’ll be watching my Dad’s cats for him while he is in Egypt. Gotta tell you I’m really enjoying this wireless thing! Stu found a nifty wireless router am sale last night so I can now be anywhere in the house and connect! *bounce grin* It’s wonderful! *big grins* Well this is long enough and I aught to get some dishes done soon. *grin* So talk to you all later. *smile hugs* I love all the comments people are leaving, it’s nice to know you guys care. *grin wave* Talk laters…

Love and Light Always,

Dawn and ???

Less then a month to go!!

2007-07-30T21:22:23Z

Hi everyone! Grin Well it’s 28 days left now! I’m expecting to hear about my travel arrangements sometime this week, or maybe next week. It looks like I’m going to be pretty busy until I leave as well. I have meetings and family stuff to do, as well as things trying to get ready for leaving for GDB. [Guide Dogs for the Blind] That is the name of the guide dog school I picked. If you want to learn more about them check out their website at www.guidedogs.com They have a lot of information about their programs there. It includes info on Puppy raising, as well as the training. Grin I loved exploring it to learn about the school!

Thanks to all of you who have comminted, and/or added me to their friends list. Grinhugs I was really excited from the response I got when I posted the link to this blog. Grin Just hope you all enjoy it, even when not much is going on except the run up to leaving. Grin This coming up weekend we’re buying my other pair of walking shoes, which means a trip to the mall! Then the next day we have a friends graduation party to go to. I also need to get over to my Dads house as he is going to let me use one of his old lap tops while I go to GDB. Bouncegrin I’m excited about that. Maybe I’ll be able to get in some relaxing time too with friends/family… Not sure when though. Grin

Well talk to you all later. Wavegrinhugs Thanks again everyone for reading this and comminting. I’m loving this Live Journal thing a lot!

Love and Light Always,

Dawn & the mistery dog!

32 days left!

2007-07-26T20:00:12Z

Hi everyone. *grin* I just started this today with, as it says in the subject line 32 days left! I have one pair of walking shoes left to buy, and have already picked up some new shorts and caaprees to take with me to GDB. *grin* Hey what can I say, I'll take any excuse to pick up more clothes. I needed them anyhow for the cruise comming up in Nov. Not much to say right now though as I'm just waiting for Stu to get home from work, and Devon is hanging out with me. Bridget is still away visiting with her grandmother. Bridget got signed up for child care today. Now I just need to figure out who gets the joy of watching her until school starts and her day care starts, but I think that willl be sorted out shortly. *grin* So things are falling in to place. I hope I'll be getting my CD's lectures soon.

Talk to you all later. *smilewave*

Dawn [and the mistry pup!]