Sunday, January 20, 2008

Sunday Evening...

Ok this is going to be a one post day. ;) Been out and about most of the day today. Was moving pretty slow this morning as well, so had to get my butt in gear and no time to post.

Got up and took a look at the little temp thingy for home on my desktop and it said 2, oh man that's COLD! So switched it to Smithtown and it's 24. ugh, STILL cold! So we go down to breakfast and they fill us on for the morning, that we are headed back to St. James town to walk some more and do street crossings again. So we loaded up on the bus about 8:15, the wind was just cutting right through you. We get to St. James town and I was first one up with Mike Sargent. I get out and break Honey, and harness her up.

Instead of heading right, as we'd done yesterday, and staying on the same side of the street, we headed left for a block, crossed over and then went right, going down the other side of the street. We walked on down, going at least 3-4 blocks further than we had yesterday, and there were a couple of distractions, but she did pretty good. Things were going on and she was really watching them. We got a good ways down and I missed the crack in the sidewalk and stumbled a bit, Mike grabbing me to keep me from falling. The sun was REALLY shining, thus I was going from bright lights to shade under the trees and back and forth a lot, so it was playing havoc on my eyes adjusting, thus I was pretty much doing it blindfolded if you will, and Honey was really doing the work. She picked up on that and seemed to be more cautious then. I was really, really glad to have the fleece hood, my thermal underwear, wool socks and layers of clothes with the fleece jacket and windproof raincoat, as the wind was cold and damp. just cut through you cold. Thanks Dad!

So we headed on down to the stopsign and cross back over to the side of the street we walked yesterday, just a few blocks on down. We started back and this side of the street is considerably more level, and Mike warned me of one break in the sidewalk, though Honey slowed way down for it. We continued on and for some reason again, the one curb where she angled off to the left, she did it yet again, really distracted by something. I didn't get the chance to see what, as I was too busy concentrating on her, doing the correction and praise, as she came back to where she was supposed to be. We continued on, both of us picking up the pace knowing we were getting close to back to the bus where it was warm! We were just about to pass the last store before we made our left into the parking lot where the bus was and I saw them too, and was like ok, we gotta do this. There was a truck parked on the side of the street, a big black crewcab truck with two HUGE, I mean HUGE pitbulls in it. They were all over the inside of the truck barking and as we were going pass, were snarling and growling at us. Honey did really well, while very interested and looking back at them and ears perked, she moved on as I commanded her forward reassuringly. Then as soon as we passed, she continued on her way as she was supposed to. We got back to the bus and Mike was not happy about the dogs at all, warning the other trainers to change thier routes until that vehicle was gone. Honey and I boarded the bus, took off her harness, and I did some knitting as she snoozed at my feet.

It took a good while to warm up, as while I was bundled, I was still chilled. After getting back to GDF, I went to the Leather Lounge and hung out, waiting for Jovi to arrive at 12:30. :) Jovi got here and was kinda frustrated bc the restuarant she'd planned to got to, to pick up our chinese food wasn't there at all. So she came here and we went back and grabbed my wallet, put Honey on the tie down, and took off for town. We went to the Thai house and I had Pad Thai noodles for the first time with chicken. It was good! I've never had Thai before! We chatted there for a bit about things and knitting and so forth, then went back to GDF.

Then we hung out in the leather lounge and knitted. People came in and out as we were there and chatted with us and such. Jovi worked on her gloves she was making and I worked on my knitting. Honey was good the whole time, just laying there most of the time. One of the other classmates had some friends from church come to visit and they had 3-4 kids with them, the youngest proably 8-9ish. They didn't phase Honey at all. :) Jovi stayed as long as she could, leaving about 4:15, and then I headed back to the room to water, feed, and break Honey. Thankfully she was pretty quick again as gosh that wind is something else!

We came back in to a surprise dinner of spare ribs, mashed potatoes, and steamed broccoli, and a Das Haugan almond/chocolate ice cream bar! YUMMY! :) After dinner I came back to the room and talked with Mike for a bit and knitted a little bit too, trying to get up the gumption to go practice the stairs and elevator as I was supposed to do. I really wanted to just crawl in bed as I was finally starting to warm up clear through, from being outside today, and the bed is nice and comfy as well as warm. I also needed to groom Honey too. So finally headed downstairs to the grooming room and spent a good while down there with Honey. I now see for some reason, the feathers on her legs were clipped, as someone missed and shaved a spot on one of the hind legs. So they'll grow back I guess. But Honey was in doggy heaven as she stretched out big for me and even rolled over on her back for me to do her belly. :)

Then it was about time for the last break, so we headed back up the elevator and they called us to break the dogs. Went out and she quickly did her business again, and came on back in. So updating here and I'm going to call it a night pretty soon.

Will talk later....

3 comments:

Tamara said...

Whew! Scary about the dogs in teh car, but YAY, Honey (and Kacie!) for working your way through that new experience together.

Wendy said...

Woohoo Honey on walking right past the dogs. Im glad she is still doing so well and that you had fun with Jovi. Now, about the feathering being clipped off...it could be because if they are outside alot in the grass and such their hair will mat badly, so it could have been clipped short to prevent that. Im glad she had fun getting groomed though.

Andrea said...

I'm glad Honey is doing so well! Yipee! And I'm glad you had fun with Jovi! Keep it up Kacie!