June 6, 2015

More Travels with Tommy

Short post following a long flight: The six-hour flight to Seattle left me stiff and slow-moving. With the help of Sir Thomas, we made our way through the seemingly endless airport, drawing the attention of the usual Dane admirers (to many of whom I needed to point out his working status, point to the vest, and make a point of Please Do Not Pet). One comment I’d not heard before came from a flight attendant (who thoughtfully did not even make eye contact with Thomas,). While in line for the tram to whisk us to baggage claim, she said, “It’s so nice to see a service dog working. A real one. All I see are frauds. So many of them.” That says quite a bit.  Sadly. Another post to follow on our happy travels to Whidbey Island.
May 22, 2015

The Gifts of the Not-So-Little Old Farm Lady

Once upon a time there lived a little old farm lady who dressed in purple, cursed at her computer, and rarely refused a Klondike bar. Not really so little or so old, she was a grandmother many times over. If an apple pie set cooling on her windowsill, a volunteer had baked it.  If a rocking chair decorated a corner of the farm, there was no little old lady knitting there.  Not really grandmotherly, she preferred cooking up ideas and knotting monkey fists from the cab of a front loader (which she’d have used to heave the creaky rocking chair out of her way). One day, the grandmother-farm-lady who dressed in purple cursed at the grandchildren’s parents for not writing to her. True, the not really grandmotherly farm lady didn’t dole out kisses and cookies and boo-boo band-aids like other grandmothers. Instead, Carlene replaced immobility with mobility, fear-of-falling with confident […]
May 19, 2015

We Are On It

Here’s a handy handout that gives an overview of what we* mean when we say Service Dog. (“We” specifically: the Dames with Danes; “We” generally: SD partners; “We” legally: ADA ) We (“We” the Dames with Danes) gave loads of them out at the very well attended Open House with George-the-vet. This differs from our brochure (which focuses on access rights and regulations per the ADA). This defines and differentiates Service Dogs (please note: there are 2 pages. We (“We” Lynne & I) print them 1-page, double-sided). Feel free to hand out to your local schools, libraries, pet stores … Wheeee!
May 19, 2015

Myguyoga

              Love mat time with my guy.