Economy woes

So, we lost the GDB field rep for our region. Did anyone else? I hate this. I'm really bummed about it.

Got a nice birthday present today - I'll be able to post videos of Ardella, the wedding, and eventually... who knows?

Short followup

Ardella did very well at work today. She let me know that she needed to do her business and she whined a little at the end of the meeting, but I kinda felt like whining then too. : )

Later this evening we went to Panera for dinner, then to Target to look at cell phones for Lyn, video cameras for me, to Supercuts to have Ardella meet Angie, and to Fred Meyer where Ardella calmed a crying toddler. Ardella was charming. I'm proud of her. My girl is growing up!

Going to work

Ardella appears to be doing well and has no lingering effects from last week's unfortunate encounter with the neighborhood dog. I just took her for a long walk and she was more interested in the athletes running through the neighborhood than any barking dogs. I think this dog is fearless, actually, and I'm grateful that she is.

Intestinal problems seem to be resolving, too. Apparently sometimes puppies have a hard time readjusting to kibble after an intestinal illness, so we're feeding Ardella Pepto Bismol with her kibble (yuk) and so far so good.

I've been given permission to take Ardella to a meeting at work tomorrow. I'm nervous. Later this week she'll be accompanying Lyn to Corvallis to Quarterly Meeting (Quaker-related thing). I'm going to go to the pet store in a little while to get the ever elusive Best Toy Ever to keep her occupied and sitting quietly (note, there probably isn't such a toy, but I'm on a quest to find it).

I've been perusing the list of dogs in phase 10 because Chelle is arriving soon to get a new guide. I know she'll get placed with the best dog for her, but I still have some hopes for 2 of the dogs I'm familiar with. I've been sending her pictures. I haven't been this excited about guessing dogs since I got Ardella.

I am almost finished with sock #1 and really did enjoy this version of toe-up sock. I'm not sure my perfectionistic expectations makes this sock suitable for my sister's birthday because the heel isn't perfect, but we'll see if I can improve on sock #2. I've also started my Loopy Ewe 4 project.

Family - my birthday is Sunday. I will direct you to my Loopy Ewe wish list! No, I don't have too much yarn - there is no such thing as too much yarn! : )

Ardella's Hard Week

Ardella's been fighting some kind of digestive system bug since Saturday evening and I'm going to have to get some Pepto Bismol and keep her on her rice/chicken diet for a few more days. I'm a little nervous since it's the beginning of the weekend, but hopefully she'll be back to normal by Monday and we won't have to make a vet visit.

Last night Lyn was walking Ardella and a spaniel came hurling out of the house and tried to attack Ardella. Lyn got between the dogs and Ardella got so frightened she backed out of her collar and Halti and ran to the street. Lyn was able to stop her and the dog's owner got her dog back indoors. I reported this to my leader who in turn reported it to the field rep. I really hope Ardella rebounds from the experience and doesn't develop a fear reaction to other dogs on walks or become aggressive herself. Then there's me - I'm going to have to work on not being nervous when walking Ardella in the neighborhood since I can transfer my nervousness to her. I never really thought about attacking dogs. I think this is an issue I'd like to hear about in class some time because I know it happens and I don't know how to prevent it from happening or stopping it. I would be extremely disappointed if Ardella's career ended over an aggressive dog. There are steps that can be taken if Ardella develops a reaction, but they involve her leaving us for a time and I don't want that to happen.

I have pictures of my toe-up sock. I've finished the gusset and am about to start turning the heel.





I'm pretty excited about this. I'm being optimistic that the heel will go well and I've been downloading free toe-up patterns off the Internet in anticipation of knitting more.

Furminator and Woolgirl Sock Club

Lyn is easily amused. Last night he was using the Furminator on Ardella and she went straight to sleep. Simba wanted a turn, climbed up on Ardella and Lyn used the Furminator on him. Ardella was oblivious, although at one point she woke up, realized a cat was lying on her, stood up and the cat fell off.



Lyn decided to put Simba in Ardella's guide dog coat. Does this look like a happy cat?



The second Woolgirl Sock Club package of the year came today. This has been my favorite.

I love the yarn (Curious Creek Fibers in Old Head of Kinsale colorway) and the patterns (The Crooked Brook sock pattern by Anne Hanson and Stormy Seas cowl pattern by Lisa Dykstra). I love that I get a choice and that the yarn can be bought at Woolgirl if I want to do both patterns. In this case, I do.



Extras including teapot notepad with a packet of Jasmine green tea, teapot stitch holder, teapot tape measure, and note card. Two miniature sheep in a miniature suitcase, and a great knitting tote bag.







The theme was Kinsale, Ireland. We appear to be traveling a bit for this year's sock club.

I'm getting close to starting the heel for my toe-up sock. I can't say I love the way the color pools but I'm enjoying the technique. I've decided this sock is an experiment sock. I'll post a picture when I've done the heel (quaking from knowing I'll have to purl front and back in 1 stitch).

Edited to say I'm sorry about the pictures - I can't make the medium size fit on this blog and the small size is too small. Click on picture to get to Flickr if you want better detail.

Pet and Companion Fair

It was a very full weekend, but we forgot the camera so that we could record what we did. Lyn used the camera on the cell phone, but we don't know how to get the pictures off of that.

At any rate, we went to the Pet and Companion Fair on Saturday and helped man the Guide Dogs for the Blind booth for the first shift (our club was responsible for doing this all day Saturday). There were 3 raisers plus dogs for each shift and Lynne our puppy group leader stayed all day. We met lots of people who wanted to meet the dogs and even met a few who were interested in puppy raising. I met a man who has a career changed dog from GDB named Avani, which came as a surprise. He was surprised to learn that the name had been recirculated. Bethany, group leader I met at the graduation ceremony a few weeks ago, stopped by with roommate Kim and told me about their new puppy, Tandy (who is adorable - at least from the picture I saw). The puppies enjoyed one another and shared toys. They met a lot of dogs and I thought they handled meeting new dogs very well. I had a good time and want to man the booth next year.

After our shift was over, Lyn and I wandered and talked to Golden Bond Rescue about fostering (huge need here) and I also met an adorable yellow lab mix at the Southwest Washington Humane Society site. I wanted to take him home - he nearly leaped into my arms - but had to remind myself I already had a puppy. I sure hope he was adopted into a good home! We talked to The Delta Society and I tried to find out how guinea pigs make good therapy animals - I still don't know but they are trainable. We saw Fly Ball demonstrations and watched shepherds being tested for herding ability. There was a pen with Australian Shepherd puppies that I kept stealing away to see - (I still miss Charlie). We also watched dogs jumping into a big pool of water to retrieve a stick - mostly labs - and we bought a Furminator for Ardella who has begun to shed a lot.

We met Keri and Ryan for dinner last night in Portland. They moved to a new apartment and Ryan's parents came down to help them move. We haven't seen them since the engagement, so it was a lot of fun to reconnect and know that we'll be family in the near future. We were going to go to the Screen Door, but since there was a 45-minute wait, we went to El Matador and ended up being very happy with the choice.

Ardella appears to be sick today. I'm putting her on water for the day and will start a bland diet of rice and boiled chicken tomorrow.

I started a toe-up sock after teaching myself how to do the magic cast-on that I wanted to learn. I bought Wendy Johnson's new book of toe-up sock patterns and printed the magic cast-on instructions off Knitty. I'll knit one sock and then I'm starting the Guided by Love sock pattern I bought this past fall. I think I can even do the beaded Braille!

I won a swirl shawl pattern at a drawing from Two Pointy Sticks blog! I'm thrilled!

It should be a quiet week. I'll post pictures if we can get them off the phone.

Photos.

I've finally found the time and energy to post some of the wonderful photos taken by my friend Mike Underwood of Underwood pics. It is really satisfying to finally have some professional photos taken of my work. {These photos and more, soon to be making an appearance on our new website.} 

The background is provided by our kitchen table. 

Tiptoe Through the Tulips

It's been a busy weekend. I think Ardella will be happy for a little R&R when I start work tomorrow morning.

I got Ardella back from Debbie and returned Fame to her at puppy class on Thursday evening. We had a full class and Annalynn joined us. They still remembered one another.



Friday, Kevin and girlfriend Adrienne came over for dinner and Ardella and I went shopping at Trader Joe's. We had anticipated a quick run-in, run-out, but it was crowded with lots of pre-Easter dinner shoppers, and it was an obstacle course trying to get out of the people wanting to meet and greet Ardella. I didn't use a cart, I had a basket and this was a challenge, but Ardella managed to handle everything well. Dinner went well, too. We liked Adrienne.

Lyn and I started this morning out by having a fund-raising pancake breakfast at the Val Ogden Center. Ardella met many people, some who had service dogs of their own, and we had a tasty breakfast and donated to a worthy cause. This picture is supposed to incorporate the Val Ogden sign, but I missed it. The other picture that does have the sign has Ardella with a squinty eye, so look on Flickr if you want to see the sign.



Since we weren't too far away, we decided to go to Costco to get some things we needed for Easter dinner tomorrow. Once again, Ardella had lots of people wanting to meet her, so we put her in the cart to make maneuvering down the aisles more manageable. At one point it looked like we had our own sample line. We came home with a new bed for Ardella among the things that we bought. She appears to like it very much.



After unloading the Costco purchases, we had a quick bite to eat and left to go to the Tulip Festival in Woodland, Washington. We joined other puppy club members there and took lots of pictures, socialized, and looked at tulips. The following are individual pictures that Lyn and I took of Ardella.









Then we took group pictures. We started lining up the dogs by opposite color.

Ardella, Luxor, and Peso were the first 3:



Here we all are trying to get the puppies to go in the same direction. I can't tell you who is who in this picture!



Finally, all lined up.



We left and drove home on backroads. There was a lot of cloud cover but the rain held off for the outing. Ardella is sleeping on her new bed, Lyn is taking a nap, and I'm getting ready to drink a cup of coffee. Tomorrow is Easter and we're eating dinner at Lyn's sister Sue's house. I think we're taking Ardella so there will be more pictures. Next weekend is the Northwest Pet and Companion Fair.

Fame - A Charming Guest

I switched puppies this week and had the privilege of having Fame. She's a lab cross who has a predominant golden retriever personality. We loved having her with us. She's an older dog raised by an experienced raiser and she impressed us with her good nature and obedience. She endeared herself to us from the beginning and we almost don't want to take her back! Fame went with me to knitting Monday night and went to Target another. We didn't go many places with her since we were working and had to get up and go to bed early. Fame was great company while I was working. She loves toys and loves to show you what she finds. She got along with everyone, including the cats. I'm impressed by that - it was the shortest time of acceptance the cats have shown any dog in our house.



Going outside was fun as Fame has good recall and doesn't eat everything in sight. I hate to see her go home, but miss Ardella and want her back. At least I know what a mature guide dog puppy is like and have some standards to aspire to.

Before Ardella went to stay with Fame's raiser, Debbie, we went for a walk on the Lacamas Trail - a walking/biking trail near Camas. I'm looking forward to more hikes in the future, but maybe shorter ones for a few more months.



Saturday we go to the tulip festival. I'll have some nice pictures.

GDB April 4 Graduation

Ardella, Lyn and I attended graduation at the Guide Dogs for the Blind Boring campus yesterday. It was a gorgeous warm spring day!



We arrived around 12:40 and found Anna very quickly. She took us to the puppy receiving room where we weighed the puppies. Ardella weighs 37 pounds! There were hellos to be said, status of dogs to check on and seating to be found, so we decided to take pictures after the graduation.

My club had 4 dogs graduating yesterday: Moana, Arley, Shantee, and Gala and our club was well represented. Graduations are just happy times and it never fails to move me when hearing graduates' and puppy raisers' stories and then having the graduates and puppy raisers meet. Graduation is a perfect time to see how the whole process comes together and to remind me of the purpose behind work with Ardella. It's exciting to talk to other raisers, to get advice, to see puppies and how they've developed. The cookies aren't bad either!

After the ceremony, Anna and I had pictures taken of the puppies outside. Ardella and Avani did show signs of recognizing one another but though they would have liked to interact and play, they were pretty good at listening to us.

Here we are placing them on the wall. Ardella kept falling off.



Getting ready to pose:



Posing:



And posed:



On the sidewalk. We were not the only ones taking pictures of Ardella and Avani. They have striking features and lots of people wanted their pictures!



Ardella got 2 Girl Scout troups wanting to pet her. They lined up to get turns. There were lots of challenges for Ardella yesterday and she did well.

I really enjoyed meeting Anna, her leader Bethany, and coleader Kristy, and talking about dogs and puppy raising. It's interesting how many traits the yellow female puppies in this litter have in common. It's considered a challenging litter. Anna is a wealth of puppy information - she knows the litter mates of many litters, the litter parents in multiple generations. I guess she has a reputation for this and it's fun to see her recall in action. : )

Lyn and I left at 3, went to Taco Del Mar for fish tacos, and then to Knit Purl for me, the library and a trolley ride for Lyn and Ardella, and then home. Ardella was one pooped puppy last night but a good trooper all day. Before we left Boring, Lyn pulled off the side of the road to get a nice picture of Mt. Hood. It's the first time we've seen it in weeks! Look at that blue sky!



It was a fun day. We're going to do it again in May when I'll have a friend or 2 graduating! Can't wait!

Open House at GDB Volunteer and Visitor Center

Lyn, Ardella and I went to the open house for the new Guide Dogs for the Blind Volunteer and Visitor Center in downtown Portland yesterday. I have pictures, but they aren't that great, so I'll just post a few and if readers want to see more, click on a picture and go to my Flickr Photostream.

Ardella and I met Lyn at work at 4, and since we were inside the building Lyn introduced Ardella and I to coworkers. Ardella had many admirers and she tried in vain to get someone to remove the head collar she was wearing. To be fair to Ardella, I did discover the head collar was on backwards so we put it on correctly and then went on our way to Portland. Traffic was not terribly bad and we got to Portland about 4:45, parked and arrived to the center 15 minutes or so after ceremonies began.



The building was well marked, but we knew we were there when we saw the crowds of people and dogs in green coats. People were standing around outside because it was so crowded inside.



The center is downtown in a wonderful location, right off the MAX line and close to shopping centers, restaurants, bookstores (yarn shops, though further up the street, Chelle),and the river. The center will be a central area for students who are learning to work with dogs. There will be a place for them to wait for the bus back to the Boring campus, as well as to check e-mail. The center will also serve as a place for puppy clubs to meet and as a destination for field trips with the puppies. I'm sure there will be other uses. One of the purposes of the center is to attract more people from Portland. Here is a broader view of the area where the center is located.



We went indoors, signed in and put the complimentary blue scarf for dogs on Ardella. There are 2 levels to the center and we did not spend much time downstairs as it as too crowded. I saw a greeting area, and that's all I remember. The Oregonian has some nice pictures of the downstairs area in yesterday's newspaper and are easy to find in a Google search.

Upstairs we got refreshments and talked to people who were interested in knowing more about Ardella and the puppy raising experience. We also saw dogs who had been career changed and had gone on to other service careers, talked to people who were thinking about being puppy raisers, and met puppies who were related to puppies in our puppy club.

We explored the upstairs where there was a kennel room that will be used for dogs who are training downtown.



There was also a very nice lounge/loft room with a nice view to the downstairs area and with lots of plush chairs and couches. We got 1 picture of Ardella and me in a corner chair and then the camera battery ran out.



We left soon after this as we needed to eat and go to puppy club. We had a good time and are glad we went. Tomorrow is graduation day and I'm looking forward to that.

Gathering of the Clan

My uncle Ollie in Texas died Monday night. Everyone in the family will be there, except me. My mother warned me years ago that if I moved to Portland I would regret being so far away and that it would be difficult for future children to get to know them or their cousins. Being younger, travel was not an issue for me and I was blind to what the future would bring. Now I see that my mother is right - I almost feel like travel from Oregon hasn't improved much since the days of the pioneers, and it is difficult to go anywhere, especially with no time off built up. I now realize that I will need to build up my vacation hours and not take them because I will inevitably need those for future emergencies. I miss everyone and wish I could be there.

Today is puppy report day and I am pleased to be able to say that Ardella has not had but 1 accident in the house in over a week. She had an accident after a bath last night because she was extremely excited. Other than that, she's been pretty good. She also has been great about being in the office with me (at home), going into her soft crate and sleeping or chewing on a chew toy. I have a meeting at work to attend right before she's 6 months of age and I'm hoping she'll be more than ready to attend it with me.

It will be a busy week for Guide Dog activities. Thursday (tomorrow) is the open house for the Guide Dog Volunteer and Visitor Center and Saturday is graduation. Our puppy club has 4 graduating dogs and this will be the first time I've attended graduation with Ardella.

In knitting news, I succumbed to the Loopy Ewe swap 4. : ) It brightened my day to do so. The Sock Summit released class and registration information today, as well as a new website. It will interfere with Fun Day at the GDB campus, but I think I can manage both.

I've finished up several books, most of which I've enjoyed. I need to write a quarterly summary of books I've read to date. I joined several 52 books in 52 week groups at Library Thing, Shelfari, Good Reads, etc. and I just might get close this year.