Guide dog Riddle #1
What happens when you pile 5 Guide dogs and seven people into a hotel elevator? ANSWER: Not much. They are quiet and everyone gets to their floors.
Guide dog Riddle #2
What happens when you cram 20 Guide dogs and fourty blind people onto a school bus? ANSWER: Not much. It’s a tight fit, but [...]
Today’s the day. We are off to Toronto. I’ve been saying this to Opal all week, as she has watched me put her ’stuff’ in my back pack. Her ’stuff’ by the way, takes up 85% of the pack. I’ll be lucky if I can squeeze in a change of clothes before I zip it [...]
Mothers Day came and went without fanfare in my home. I had hoped for the requisite breakfast in bed from my girls, but no such luck. All I got was the usual kiss from Opal at 5 am and a lame excuse about “not being able to operate the toaster with their paws” from both [...]
One of my favourite movie lines is from the 1967 classic, ‘Cool Hand Luke’. Boss Paul (played by Luke Askew) grinds away at Luke (Paul Newman) in the rural Southern USA prison, trying to break Luke by forcing him to dig a hole and fill it back up with dirt, over and over. Periodically, he [...]
Alfred E. Newman (of Mad Magazine fame) may have said it first, but I’m the one saying it today. I dare anyone who loves their dog to deny that they don’t worry needlessly (at least once in a while) when their dog is sick…ah, that is to say, when they barf (vomit, hurl, upchuck…). Opal [...]
There’s a little lady somewhere in the southern U.S. who raised my girl, Opal. That was a few years ago. By some incredible stroke of luck, I have managed to stay in touch with her and her family. Today, she asked for my input on a school paper she is writing on service dogs. Question: [...]
Opal is a good looking dog. I’m her ‘mum’, so naturally I think she’s drop-dead gorgeous. I have an interesting theory on why strangers find her equally beautiful. It’s simple, really. She sticks out because of her harness (and me attached to the end of it). People notice her on buses and in restaurants and [...]
Yesterday started out like any other day. I stumbled out of bed at 5:30 after Opal gave me her usual wake-up kiss. We normally greet the day before most everyone in our building. I like that. The air seems fresher then and the city is quiet, except for the resident crows and the sound of [...]
I have an oft-used line that I say to Opal…”You should report me!” I uttered it today, when for the SECOND time in a week, I made the girl drink water out of a kidney basin. A kidney basin, by the way, is a banana-shaped plastic container which is used as a recepticle when people [...]
I plan to go to a movie this afternoon. My Guide dog Opal is coming with me. Some Guide dog training schools suggest leaving the dog at home when one goes to the movies because the sound level is too high. I agree. Cinemas tend to crank out the sound beyond a comfortable level. I [...]
Actually, Universalist Unitarians call it RE or Religious Education. There are no Bible studies and I don’t think there is anything particular religious about it. UU kids learn about many things with the hope that it prepares them to become good human beings and citizens who care about others. Today, Opal and I visited with [...]
There are times when I lose my mind for a moment. The consequences? Usually, I say something, born straight out of anger or frustration, that I regret. The ‘right thing to do’, would be to pause, breathe, count, essentially anything… except yell at my girl, Opal. Sure, dogs can frustrate you just as much as [...]
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