Last Updated on: 5th March 2023, 03:51 pm
Woosh! What a rough start to the day. I woke up at midnight last night to weaping and sputtering of the words “I’m really sick. I think it was something in my food. I’m shaking. I’m throwing up. I can’t miss a day. I don’t want them to take her away!” Groggily, I thought she was talking to me, so I got up and came over to her bed. I told her they weren’t going to take her dog away. She just kept sobbing. I asked her if she wanted me to get the nurse. I heard, “yes.” Then I realized that the nurse was gone at 10. So I asked if she wanted me to phone an instructor. I heard, “I think so!” Then I heard extra things and realized she was on the phone to her mom. I called the instructors anyway and got Jen. She came over and got Autumn some pepto and some juice and filled up her mug with water. I never mentioned that we get to take home a travel mug. How cool is that? So anyway I tried to stay up with her for a while, but my body told me that I must sleep, and sleep I did. I woke up at 5:45 and had the usual shower. God damn it, the last couple of days the showerhead has been pelting me. I felt like Kramer in the elephant shower, you know when he felt his shower wasn’t strong enough so he bought the elephant washer? No matter what I did, it was coming at me strong. What a way to wake up.
So after I get ready and feed and relieve puppy, Autumn wakes up and says that she’s going to try and go to school, even though Jen told her not to worry about it and that they’re not going to take her dog away. These people are wonderful. If I can, I’m going to donate to the school. Just a little money to them every so often. I think every single one of the staff deserves an award. In fact, I’m going to ask someone if they can be nominated or something. They do so much for us. Anyway, she soon realizes that since she’s been up getting sick in various ways until 4 a.m., she’s too tired and weak.
So I go after feeding and relieving to the computer lab in a mad rush to fix my resume, and manage to butcher it something fierce. Craig was in the room and I’m freaking out. I said I’m going to freak out and he said “well if you do, let me know so I can leave the room.” He kept saying things look better after breakfast. I wouldn’t believe him. I eventually had to go and eat breakfast.
The main breakfast didn’t sound good, so I asked for oatmeal. I was so focused on the resume that I ate the oatmeal with a fork. Way to go, way to look like a total tool. After breakfast, I ran to Amy, Amy my hero, and asked her how you fix various formatting styles. She said, “Oh crap. I don’t know.” Then she said, “I’m going to tell Carmen that I’m not singing in the song anymore, and Al doesn’t want to play anymore because he needs to focus on the dog.” I immediately realized that if Al’s not playing, I’m not singing this thing. So we all backed out. It was really getting to be too much. I forgot to mention that when I woke up yesterday morning, the first thing I hear is “Twinks, we have to rewrite a line!” This is after I’d printed it out in three different sizes and was going to braille it. I held my breath and said, “You’re lucky I hadn’t manually brailled it, or I would kill you right now.” I hate the way she calls me scribe and says, “Rewrites have to happen sometimes, that’s the way it is.” Not here, not now, Carmen. You wanna rewrite it, do it yourself. She was slowly killing the joy of the song, and I didn’t want that. I asked Amy if she wanted me to go with her and tell her, and she told me to worry about my resume. I love all these people. I really do.
I ran to the computer and emailed Steve and asked him to send me some lessons I have at home on Microsoft Word, and Steve, my hero, did it! Thanks to him, I believe my resume is successfully tweaked. I’m going to have someone look at it, but I believe it’s ready to be seen.
We did obedience out on the graduation stage while they held food and a crazy large mastiff barked and ran around.
Then we relieved and loaded up, but before I had a chance to load up, I was whisked away for grounds orientation and an intro to…dum duh dum dum, the grass paddock!
Wow those paths are confusing. I’m going to have a peek at the map to keep them straight. She had fun in the paddock. I’m going to invest in a flexi-lead so I can watch that amount of joy. She came back and everything. What a doll.
Then I went to town, and we went into a little cafe, not Starbucks, but another one, and had some hot chocolate, which I managed to spill on my shirt, damn it! The little girl was a little angel, minus a couple slip-ups, especially the one where she tried to drink out of the gutter. We came back to the lounge and she lay quietly while I successfully fixed my resume and breathed a sigh of relief.
Did I mention Dynamo is much better? He seems to have gotten over his extreme need to pee. Poor Sedgey on the other hand may need surgery on his paw. they’re still soaking it, it had some kind of cyst.
So after the route, I came back to the dorm and quickly groomed my pooch and wiped off some toothpaste that I apparently got on her muzzle. Woops. Oh I forgot to mention that when the O and M lady was driving me to the lounge after my little play session in the grass paddock, silly little Trixie thought my lap would be a fine seat for her. Silly scoundrel.
After grooming, we went to lunch and lunch was delicious. Then I came back here and waited for Sue…Sullivan? to come and ask us what our shopping orders were. I didn’t have any, but Autumn did, and she wanted to make sure she didn’t sleep through the knock. Sue is hillarious about not showing her emotions through her voice but being smily and all that. Yesterday, when we were trying to get ready for pictures, I was trying to help Autum with the back of her dress. Just at this moment, Sue…Sullivan? was knocking at the door and we were laughing and then Autumn had to quickly cover up to answer the door and then she went and answered it and Sue…Sullivan? was all smiles, but spoke in her usual serious tones.
Then it was 1:30, and we found out that today was the day we pick up their poopies. Yea poopy pick-up practice. I felt bad because the bag dispenser was right outside the doors where you leave to go relieve, so I was reaching out to find it and inadvertently slugged Jen who was standing there supposed to be tapping it. Oops. I womped her a good one too.
So after relieving, we did our second bus to lounge! I was actually excited about this one! We got out at Bank of America and we had to sit there and wait our turn because the bus couldn’t park there. We did the staggered leaving thing and walked 5 blocks down to the lounge, and she did it flawlessly. We met our first completely rude, overbearing, clueless person. She was getting on the bus and the whole time was bellowing about how our dogs shouldn’t be out in the sun and that the lady in the green had to move her dog so she could get on the bus. We had no idea who the lady in the green was so we just had to move everyone down. I was the last one to go, since I was the final time-keeper. We got back, and I was never happier. Trixie, apparently, was exhausted.
She did one squirrely thing on the bus. I got up and she started skittering like mad. Then she refused to heel! It was like she was scared stiff of something. They said maybe I stepped on her, but I don’t think so. She’d tell me in a yipe if I stepped on her, she’s just that way. But twice, when leaving the bus, she started skittering! I really wondered what I’d done.
I got off the bus and managed to weave my way through the course. Now that I know that even if you hit the bumps with your heels it’s not too late to make your turns, it’s not so bad! We wooshed through and headed in to relieve. We’re back early because it’s mid-class interview times. I’m waiting for that now. My beast is fed. I’m going to write a cover letter to go with this resume, and before the night is out, it will be winding its way through cyberspace.
I had a minor breakdown when it was time to relieve. The instructors had been a bit cranky with me, and I took this as a sign that I wasn’t where I should be in my training. Audrey said nno, they’re just tired, that’s all.
One cute thing I don’t think I’ve mentioned: My puppy, when in harness, without tbeing taught to, will find *my* chair! She finds it every time and drops me on the right side of it. The first couple days she didn’t, but now she does. What a doll. I love this pooch more and more every day.
Oh, I met the infamous Bryan Francis today at lunch. It’s weird listening to a voice you’ve only heard on tape. He seems llike a sweet man.
So it’s almost supper time. Someone in the retrain class loves the organ. He made his song this morning fit the mealtime chimes.
Poor Autumn’s still laying in bed. I’m worried about her. I don’t quite know if she knew what she was in for.
I’m amazed at how well Carmen took the news that we’re not doing the song. I still want to talk to her and urge her to put the words in the program for the graduation because they’re cool words. There’s just no way we had patience for this level of rehearsal. It just wasn’t happening.
Holy shit Deborah just got her tags. I forgot she was leaving tomorrow. One week of training and then in-home training. Um, that’s when you know a person’s had a lot of dogs.
I wonder if anything else is going to happen today. It just feels like an eventful day.
Got my resume written and sent off! Then collapsed. It’s nice to hear two people say they liked my resume and “would hire me”.
