Hero Dogs

or Service Dogs for Veterans

Recently, I attended a program about service dogs for injured or disabled veterans.  While we learned about the overall program, my attention was focused mainly on York, an older puppy in training who was there with his handler.  To demonstrate some of the things a service dog might do, he retrieved hidden keys, opened doors, pushed buttons, pulled a chair, and all the while was very happy to be doing them. That's what so great about dogs. They are eager to please. (Not so with our cats. They have a way of making YOU eager to please them.) Another one of the important things the dogs are trained to do is help if a veteran is getting agitated with an impending panic attack or similar problem from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The dogs also learn how to take their owners through narrow spaces which can also be a problem with PTSD. It's amazing what a service dog can do and the difference it can make in someone's life.

As you can imagine, the show was fun to watch. A couple of times, York got to be off duty and let all of us pet him. (Service dogs are not to be petted or played with while they are on duty.) A special treat for him as well as us. However, during the Q&A session, he got a little restless and started to talk to his trainer with a bark then and again and a pull on his lead. He was just like a child who was trying to get his mother's attention when she had been talking too long. The trainer said that that is one reason that York is not ready to be placed yet. He's still a bit too young and impatient to be a good service dog at this point.

There are many service dog organizations out there that could use your help. First of all, they need money--it takes approximately $30,000 to raise and train the dog until it is ready for placement.This organization provides the dog at no cost to the veteran. However, there are many other ways to help. They also have need for puppy raisers, trainers, and people to play with the dogs. They could also use donations of materials such as paper towels, wipes, and old towels. If you are interested in helping, you can google service dog and your location to find out what organizations are available close to you.

Want to Read More:

--Ever wonder what the difference is between a service dog and a therapy dog? Here's a good explanation. 

--There are several prison programs where the inmates raise puppies that will become service dogs. They are quite successful in changing the prisoner's behavior in positive way. Here's a story about one of them.

Thankful Sunday--November 24, 2013

I am thankful for National Public Radio.

Yesterday we were out and about visiting. During the morning ride, we listened to Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me and during the evening ride we listened to Prairie Home Companion. Just what we needed to enjoyably pass the time after Ward and I exhausted our topics of conversation for the day. Actually, we've been married long enough, sometimes we don't need to talk. Just being together is enough. For that I am thankful. And when there is no need for conversation, I am thankful for NPR radio.

Trivia:
My nephew works on another NPR show called From the Top. This show showcases amazing young musicians from around the country. He is an amazing young musician himself. Listen sometime to the music between segments. That's some of his handiwork.

Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions--Nov. 22, 2013

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money. Also, I am using this public forum to encourage us to eat out less which includes better meal planning. You can follow how we are doing in this endeavor by reading True Food Confessions. 

This Week's Food Waste

None

We're in Day 28 of our remodel and the eating out continues. Consequently, when you don't eat at home much or go to the grocery store much, it's pretty easy to not waste your food. I'm looking forward to eating at home again with the potential of more food waste. :)

This Week's True Food Confessions

The end of our construction is in sight. I hope. The counter tops are scheduled to be installed next week and after that, the sink and other appliances can be hooked up. Then the the move back in can begin and that should be interesting. I'd like to believe that I cull stuff from my kitchen fairly often and don't have a lot of extra things. However, we lost a couple of cabinets during this process. We'll see if I can make it all fit.

In the meantime, we continue to eat/live in the basement with a microwave and no prep space. This was the week of popcorn, apples, and peanut butter sandwiches. That was our go-to when we couldn't figure out what we were going to eat. The special night was when had some pretty good chicken soup from the freezer. However, the majority of the time we ate out for dinner and had our favorites of Chinese, pizza, and Subway. Luckily these provided good leftovers.

Until next time...

 

A Second Look--November 19, 2013

Most of my Second Look was done at 5 o'clock in the evening when the sun was starting to set. That made it hard to see much. However, my camera did a pretty good job capturing what light there was--meaning the pictures make it seem lighter out than it really was. However, the operator of the camera didn't do a very good job of holding the camera steady in the low light--meaning many of the pictures turned out blurry. I've got to work on that.

Here's what I saw this week during a Second Look.

The sun was going down as well as the temperature when I was out. I'm not sure what the temperature was, but it felt cold to me.

There are still occasional maple trees that haven't lost their leaves yet.

This is the "artsy" picture I took of the above maple trees when I wasn't holding the camera still enough.

The wind had blown the top off one of our bird boxes and I got a chance to peer in. Last summer, a sparrow laid four eggs in here, however only one of them hatched. Surprisingly, two of the eggs are still intact.

Even though I couldn't see much, I still got the pleasure of crunching through the leaves.

There aren't as many blooms as last week, but the pansies are still providing color in the front flower beds.

Another "artsy" picture of browning mums. It was pretty much dark by the time I got to this part of the yard.

One afternoon earlier in the week, these three deer were relaxing in the yard.

Einstein

 or I Was Wondering

While Ward and I were waiting for a table at a restaurant this past weekend, I was looking at all of the pictures they had on the walls. It was an eclectic collection including the photo where Albert Einstein is sticking out his tongue. I've seen that picture many, many times and never thought about the circumstances under which it was taken--until then. When Ward, who is my expert on all things I don't know, didn't know either, it was time for a little googling when we got home.

Luckily, the first five sources I read agreed about the picture and the occasion when it was taken. So, I didn't have to do any guessing about what might have really happened. For those of you who also don't know about the picture and are very mildly curious about it, here's why Einstein stuck his tongue out.

Einstein was celebrating his 72nd birthday, March 14, 1951, at the Princeton Club, and the event was heavily covered by the press. At the end of the evening, a very tired Einstein was getting a ride home when he was asked by UPI photographer, Arthur Sasse, for one last picture. Einstein, who tired of the pictures, stuck his tongue out instead of smiling. Sasse was the only one who captured the now iconic pose. The original picture had Dr. and Mrs. Aydelotte (whose car he was in) in it, but they were later cropped out. As it turns out, Einstein really liked the photo and asked for nine personal copies of it. So there you have it. The mildly interesting story behind the most famous Einstein photo.

But Wait There's More: 

-- Did anyone happen to notice that Einstein was born on Pi Day (3.14)?

--There's a Facebook  page for the picture called That Picture of Albert Einstein Where He's Sticking Out His Tongue.

--More reading: http://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2009/06/01/einstein-sticks-his-tongue-out/

                            http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein_in_popular_culture