Prepper's Blind Alley

I went to the reunion of our guide dog school, the Seeing Eye of Morristown,
New Jersey which was our eightieth. It went well and the grads I think all
in all had a good time. The hotel was difficult to get around, but there was
plenty of staff help from both the volunteers and the Seeing eye staff.
Friday was the banquet and we had plenty of workshops plus a catered lunch
under a large tent Friday afternoon. The weather was sort of bad with the
hurricane going by but we survived. There were 170 dogs present. During the
banquet we had awards given to trainers who had been with the school for
twenty to forty-two years and the history of those awards was told to us.
After that dinner and each grad could introduce themselves and their dogs
and where they came from what state they were from. The third segment was a
country singer who had witnessed one of our classes as a special favor and
then written two songs about the relationship between us and our dogs which
appears on a new CD…and her name is Sarah Boch. Or last name forget how to
spell that. She is from Nashville and had met our president, his wife, and a
friend of mine who has a company that makes gps for the blind and he’s been
appointed to our board too so he was at the head table with our president
and his wife. That ended Friday. Saturday was trivia games about the history
of the school, and other workshops and a walking tour I didn’t do as the
weather was getting nasty. Sunday I came home. This week we have realtors
again in this house which is a pain, and I think I have the weekend to
myself. I’m still searching for somewhere to go, and that is hard with low
income. Almost found a mobile but found lot rental was too much for the
lowered social security thing we’re subjected to in other states other than
Massachusetts or other states getting good checks. I wouldn’t care except no
job. Anyway, I spent most of the afternoon trying to teach Harpo about a new
carrier I bought for him and beginning to train him to it so he has
somewhere to go when strangers are in the house…this consists of trying to
make it pleasant such as throwing toys, and treats into the carrier and
praising him like crazy. If this is done over time, he will think it’s a
good place to be…He already volunteered to go in himself looking for
treats and tried his new bed a cushioned thing in there so it is off to a
good start. I don’t think it will be hard after a week or two to ask him to
go into his new “bed”. I have also taken him to my vet, and speaking of
survival, got another lump looked at and tested on him. But it turned out to
be benign, thank goodness. Meanwhile, I am considering an early retirement
for my boy and will keep him as a pet since this trip was very stressful for
him, other dogs did better than him since he’s not used to other dogs and
barked some. The trainers were on his neck all weekend and that was
stressful for me too. He doesn’t like long trips away from here apparently,
something I didn’t know about him before…and besides that I would be
retiring him as a kindness to him at age eleven and hope he gets time to
just be a dog before he goes. I’d like it if I were accepted for a class at
the school soon so this could happen but one never knows as there is a huge
waiting list and they are already scheduled for January but was told if I
hurried maybe get accepted for the January class. I won’t know until the
paperwork is done, need to get a medical off to the school once the
paperwork arrives to fill out. The new Seeing Eye class will soon begin for
September after a couple of weeks off for the staff down there and continue
until a brief break at Christmas and then January class begins and onward
through the winter into spring, and summer again.Then, will I have two dogs
in this house plus sixteen pigs. Stay tuned to find out. After the medical
reports go to the school on me, then I hold my breath and await to see if
I’m going to be accepted for class. This will be my fifth dog….if this
happens. Karen and Harpo who may retire soon and become a couch potato being
spoiled. with the piggies!! (the gray alley cat curls up on the bed, and
looks at two dogs lying on the floor beside the bed) “Gee, a cat is
outnumbered around here” she says with a sigh.