Weekend Fun – NYC!

Tags

Amtrak, food, friends, fun, gluten free, Guide Dog, Guide Dog Foundation, happy, history, museum, music, New York, NYC, Penn Station, review, Tom, train, transportation, travel

Last week a good friend of mine, S., who lives in TX called to chat, mentioning she’d be traveling to NYC for the week with her adult daughter.  Miracles of miracles, her trip north coincided with the one free weekend, nothing on the calendar, I had for the next couple of months.  So, Tom and I hopped the Accela this weekend for a trip to Manhattan!

It was a BLAST!  We all had so much fun!

We haven’t seen each other in person for I think bordering on 5 years now, but it didn’t matter.  We catch up on the phone frequently, and she is such a hoot.  Tom and her guide dog, Estrea, seemed to remember each other instantly, again despite not having seen each other in years, they both thoroughly enjoyed the trip as well.

So where to start, well let’s start at my roll the eyes ‘Still the same’ experiences of Penn Station.  Penn Station is a hive of a station that I have a very, very, very tenuous understanding of it’s layout.  As such I requested Red Cap assistance upon arrival to help me figure out how to get to street level.  Red Cap assistance consisted of, “You can do elevator?”  yes.  “Here” as person shoves me onto the up escalator (which by the way isn’t an elevator, you know.  2 totally different pieces of machinery).  I get to the top of the escalator.  Red Cap person has disappeared, and I am definitely not at street level.  I ask a fellow passenger, some Australians who have as little clue as I do.  Then on a stroke of “Trust the dog” I say to Tom, “Tom, find outside, outside, find outside.”  This is one of those parts of guide dog relationships that always amazes me.  I have no freaking clue where ‘outside’ is.  Tom hasn’t been in Penn Station in at least 4-5 years, and yet I ask, “Find outside” and he takes off with purpose.  Brings me to an escalator, we go up, he takes me through a crowd, weaves around a bit, before choosing another path with purpose, up another escalator then magically we are indeed outside at street level just where we need to be.  Granted, he sometimes does take liberties with this level of trust, as you’ll see later in our adventure, but for the most part he uses his skills for good.

Tom in harness sleeping at my feet on the Amtrak train into NYC

the city through the train window

After making our way to our hotel and meeting up with my friend, S. in a mass of excited wagging dogs and hugging humans, we decided to brave the on and off rain so she could show me some of the surrounds.  S. has traveled to and through NYC significantly more than I as her daughter comes up a couple of times a year for her work and S. often tags along for vacation.

We visited St Patrick’s Cathedral where there was a mass taking place.  The organ music was beautiful.  The priest’s homily made me smile, he was a character.

the organ at the church

front of the church

Tom and I standing at the massive wood ornate doors to the church

We walked around Rockefeller Center with the skating rink and fountains.

skating rink in down town NYC

Tom wet from the rain in harness in front of the skating rink

Tom sitting with Estrea another black lab x golden retriever guide dog behind him

Tom sitting in front of a fountain

Tom’s cute wet face

Tom and Estrea sitting next to the fountain

Then off to the Roosevelt House for a tour.  Which was fantastic.  I highly recommend.  The tour guide was awesome.  He clearly loved the history, was a great story teller, and incredibly knowledgeable.  A very fascinating historical place to visit.

Tom and Estrea lying at our feet while the tour guide talks

Tom sitting in front of some books in the library at the Roosevelt House

S and I standing smiling in front of the Roosevelt House

Sunday we went to The Met for a while.  Tom is not fond of museums.  He’s about as fond of them as he is shopping.  Which is to say on his list of places he’d like to go, they are pretty much lower than low.  He would prefer we either go or we stop, the museum travel of stop go stop go stop go he thinks is nonsense.

S. and I smiling at the Met

A Fountain with sculptures at the Met

Tom guiding me and Estrea guiding S. through the Met

Tom and Estrea in front of a stained glass exhibit

Some bronze bears statue at the Met

So when S. and I reached a point of disorientation and confusion, Tom saw his chance.  He knew we had no idea where we were or how to get where we wanted in the museum, so he took off with purpose.  As he’s usually rather honest, and I’ve learned if he takes off with purpose to trust him and follow his lead.  He was very tricky though so not to be found out.  Just thinking about it I’m sitting here laughing as I type.  He weaves us through crowds, turns through a few galleries, is working methodically, he’s not in any rush, he’s working like he does when he’s comfortably on task, yet the whole time unbeknownst to me at the moment, he’s trying to pull the wool over my eyes of where he really is taking us.  Again I’m laughing right now as I type.  As next thing we know, I realize “No!  He’s taken us to the exit!!”  LOL  Which is of course where he’d rather go, he wants us to leave this boring place!  I tell him as I try not to laugh, “No, we’re not leaving.  Around!”  He sighs.   Turns around, and with obvious displeasure leads me back into the main hall of the museum.  Nice try buddy, nice try.  I commend your efforts and attempt.

Lunch on Sunday, let’s just say Google Reviews did not disappoint!  S. has a very similar diet to me, and gluten free is a requirement.  She found this place Senza Gluten in the West Village through Google, and we figured we’d give it a try.  Oh. My. Gosh. it was fantastic.  Food was delicious.  I haven’t had tiramisu in years.  It was to die for.  Seriously.  So good!  S. had  GF veggie pizza with goat cheese for her main meal, again fantastic.  I had pasta with meat sauce, super good.  We each pilfered from the other, both of our plates were excellent.

Despite the rain, we decided to walk some of the way back from lunch.  Which was fun.  We had a general orientation direction of where we needed to move towards, but everything else was rather fuzz.  We decided to go for it and that’s why there is the backup of GPS and the beauty of smartphones.  As we were walking through the West Village, I suddenly felt like I was in Boston.  Then we moved through an area that felt like Quincy.  And I realized, why on Saturday I had felt so disoriented as a whole in the areas of Manhattan we had traveled in that day.  Those areas didn’t smell like a city.  How that is possible, I have no clue.  They smelt of nothing.  Surrounded by nonstop bumper to bumper traffic, noise, rain, construction, and people, the streets smelt of nothing.  It was the weirdest thing.  No smell of exhaust, no smell of welding, no smell of dirt, or humans. The smell of nothing.  Yet we get to the West Village and I instantly felt at home, it smelled like a city, like Boston.  It was the weirdest thing.  A city that had no odor.  Very disorienting.

Estrea guiding S. with her umbrella in the rain

Tom guiding me without umbrella in the rain

Sky scraper in the city with no smell.

Statue of a man on a horse at central park

More sky scrapers

Tom sitting before some steps into central park

A few hours later found Tom and I back at Penn Station to start our travels home.  Where 15 minutes before our train was due to arrive, the announcement that “Due to power outages in Penn Station, all trains are delayed.”  I had to laugh.  How is that possible?  In the major train hub in the middle of down town NYC, how can there be power outages to the point that every single train is delayed, ending in most of the local ones being canceled and Amtrak trains being delayed close to 1.5 hours?  It was comical.  The new station a couple of passengers around me were discussing sounds like it can’t be built soon enough.   Regardless we made it home safe and sound, after a fantastic trip and visit.

Tom and Estrea both in harness in the hotel room

Tom snoozing at my feet waiting for our train home in Penn Station

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Gem of Today

Tags

Disability, give me a break!, Guide Dog, Lyft, random strangers, Tom, transportation, travel

Lyft driver:  “You have a dog.  I can’t take you.  I just had my car cleaned.  Your dog is going to pee in my car.”

Me rolling my eyes, getting into his car as he’s talking cuz give me a break dude:  “He’s a guide dog.  He won’t pee in your car.  I promise.”

Now that’s a first.  Suppose it’s better than the lies about allergies that are really a fear of dogs.

For the record, No Tom did not pee in his car.

Tom with his “Why would I pee in a car?  Who does that?! Humans are weird”  face on

2 Steps Forward, 3 Steps Back

Tags

airplane, Disability, disability rights, Guide Dog, history, perspective, policy, thoughts, Tom, transportation, travel

I’ve been mulling over this since the news of Delta Airlines new service dog policy broke.  Reading people’s comments, organizations responses.  Thinking.  Saddened.  Frustrated.  Really.

On Sunday, when getting my husband an ice cream in a shop we’d never before been too, even the person at the counter struck up a conversation with me about it as Tom lay waiting patiently at my feet.  So apparently the news has also permeated the non-assistance-dog community as well.

Tom guiding me on the path

Honestly, I’m kind of shocked it took some airline this long to decide to implement a policy such as this.  Though I’m not in the least shocked that their course of action was to impose on the rights of people with disabilities, as opposed to a policy based on behavior and upholding current existing laws.  Because no one ever bothers with that.  And airlines and their employees have a long standing  history of acting with complete disregard to the needs of the actual disabled person in front of them.  Breaking wheel chairs, forcing certain seat assignments, arguing with the person with disability about the need for assistance and what kind of assistance required, being talked at, being grabbed, being treated like a child, to name a few.  I’ve been on the receiving end of such ‘assistance’ before and it’s infuriating to feel so belittled and like a second class citizen when I’ve paid my airfare same as the next!  To be treated as if I don’t know what is best for me or my guide dog.  To be treated as if I don’t exist as a customer or human being.  To be treated as incompetent.  So the approach they took with this new policy, unfortunately doesn’t surprise me in the least.

The last flight I was on, with Tom lying quietly at my feet as is his norm, there was a man across the aisle with a dog.  I have no idea if the dog was actually task trained, or emotional support, or simply a pet being passed off.  What I do know is the dog’s behavior wasn’t unobtrusive.  And I’ve talked about that before.  The dog was highly aroused, fixated on Tom and I, trying to escape his handler’s grasp to get to us, unable to respond to his handler’s repeat cues or forcible hold.  It was a medium to largish sized dog, so had it gotten away and come at us it especially in such an enclosed space it could have done some damage.  My husband was with us and positioned himself in his seat to protect Tom and I should that dog across the aisle get free.  And the stewardess intervened in a very professional manner offering the man the choice to move to another seat a few aisles back, or take another flight, with the stipulation that if he moved to another seat and the dog still didn’t settle down before the doors closed, he would be asked to leave the flight.  The man moved seats and I assume the dog settled down.  Through all of this Tom lay quietly at my feet ignoring the other dog.  Unobtrusive as a guide or service dog should be in public spaces.

On previous flights, we’ve been barked at in airports.   We’ve been lunged at as we sit waiting for our flight to arrive.  We’ve been barked at some more in airports.  And some more.  By pet dogs in carriers.  By airport security dogs with TSA guards.  By dogs in vests.  We’ve also been hissed at by cats in carriers.  And we’ve been ignored by other unobtrusive guide and service dogs.   And ignored by other frequent flyer pet dogs in carriers.  And I don’t fly that often anymore, maybe once a year at best.

We all know the level of security in airports these days.  Why then when these dogs were barking and lunging, did no security or other authority personnel intervene?  Why, at that time of the escalated behavior, weren’t they asked to leave or gain better control of their dog?  I don’t really care if the dog is a task trained service dog, an emotional support dog, or a pet.  If the behavior is inappropriate for safety in a public space with high levels of security and people of varying states of emotional stress (as flying is stressful for many), age, type, and such, why isn’t the policy as blanket as the whole ‘see something, say something?’ policy they are always blaring about on the loud speakers?  If the dog is acting in an uncontrolled manner, you will be asked to leave.   Why can’t that be the policy?

Why, with that man sitting across the aisle from us with his dog clearly upset, why was he allowed the option of being re-seated?  Why was the airline willing to take the risk that in the air with no escape possible that dog would be safe with passengers, complete strangers, sitting inches away?  When the dog wasn’t acting in a safe manner with the plane sitting quiet on the tarmac?  Why give it a second chance?  It’s protocols such as that, that end up in dangerous situations.  Like how once we disembarked and made our way to baggage claim, the dog now walking through the airport, continued to bark, lunge and fixate on us and others as we moved past again Tom and I minding our own business.  My husband kept a sharp eye out and warned me every time that dog was within sight.  Neither of us felt safe with it around.  Why was it still allowed to be in the airport?  Why did no authority ask the man and his dog to leave?  Why?

Why instead is this policy now infringing on the rights of all disabled people who partner with a working service animal?  A partnership that is supposed to enhance independence?  We all face discrimination at various times, but now we have to deal with yet another airline policy that is in an of itself discrimination.  The form itself isn’t even accessible to all.  Now there is a 48 hour policy, so what happens if you have an emergency and need to fly out with hours notice?  Now curb side check in is essentially no longer permitted.  Now we have to show proof of vaccinations that aren’t even legally required!  Distemper/parvo vaccine isn’t a legally required vaccination in this country.  And many people, myself included, when we do give those vaccines give them ourselves.  Because the only vaccination required by law in the USA is rabies, which means it is the only one required to be given by a veterinarian.  I keep my own vaccination records for the ones I give my dogs myself.  So now, I have to pay more and have the inconvenience of scheduling transportation and such for a veterinarian to give my dog a vaccine?

This policy doesn’t even address the whole concern they say they are trying to deal with.  Which is the behavior of dogs in airports.  My vet filling out a form, says nothing to the behavior of my guide dog.  That man and  his dog, could have also had a vet fill out their form.  So what?  That dog was still a threat.  That dog was still allowed to ride unconfined in an enclosed metal can with no escape after showing signs of escalation, fixation, vocalization and its handler being unable to control it.  That dog was still allowed to travel on leash only throughout at least 2 airports (departure and arrival), despite showing repeat aggressive behaviors (barking, lunging) and being out of handler control.  Why?  When the laws that already exist state that dogs not under control of their handlers or showing disruptive behavior will be asked to leave.  Why hasn’t that been continuously enforced for years?

Why instead have we taken 2 steps forward and 3 steps back in our rights?  We haven’t gone so far back as the days when persons traveling with guide or service animals were required to travel with the dog muzzled.  But we’ve definitely taken a large step back.  Morris Frank, the first guide dog handler in this country, and his famous german shepherd guide dog, Buddy and those who followed faced significant battles for access.  Fighting for the right to chose their mobility aid, and have it on public transportation, restaurants, places of employment, medical facilities and places of education.  Fighting to prove that our working animals were not a threat to the general public.  Fighting to prove that we as people with disability could steward our assistance animals, are competent.  It is thanks to those pioneers that today I have the rights as a person with disability partnered with a guide dog that I do.  And now with Delta’s new policy, those rights have taken a hit.  2 steps forward, 3 steps back.  It’s beyond frustrating.

New Cues

Tags

Dog Behavior, fiddle, fun, Guide Dog, happy, music, Tom, transportation, travel

Tom has recently learned 2 new cues.  It makes me happy he is happy and learning new things.

Cue 1:  the bling sound the Lyft app makes

I’m rather late to the Lyft and Uber game, but a short time ago finally began using the services as another way to get around.  The Lyft app when I tap the button to find a ride driver makes this little bling sound that my phone makes at no other time.  Tom’s figured it out.  Yesterday I tapped the app to find me a ride to an appointment, Tom immediately got up and then proceeded to follow me around, nudging me, “Let’s go.  Let’s go.  Aren’t we going?  Let’s go!” as I put my shoes on, put the corgi in her crate, got my backpack, and put his harness on.  I’m glad he’s still so excited to go places, but sheesh dude it’s not like I’m going to leave you home.

Cue 2: my violin case at the front door

Apparently Tom really enjoys fiddle class.  Which I’m thrilled about as I really enjoy fiddle class as well!  Last night when I placed my violin case by our front door in prep for getting ready to go to fiddle class, Tom immediately got up from is dog bed in the living room and proceeded to follow me around, nudging me, “Let’s go.  Let’s go.  Aren’t we going?  Let’s go!” as I put on my shoes, put the corgi in her crate, got my back pack and put his harness on.  Guess he likes musical accompaniment during his fiddle class nap.

Tom in harness lying on the floor next to my open violin case at fiddle class

Nice to know he still enjoys going out and doing his job, and teaching himself new tricks. “Let’s go, let’s go. Aren’t we going?!”

NADAC Championships 2017 – Home again

Tags

agility, fibromyalgia, my husband is awesome, NADAC, NADAC Championships, sensory processing disorder, thoughts, Tom, transportation, travel, Zora

Home again, home again, we are once more home again.  Yesterday’s drive through near constant drizzle was uneventful.  Smooth sailing.  My CNS and pain levels are as I expected ugh.  I figured I’d crash pretty much instantly once the event was over and the need to stay upright was no longer a real need.  Yup, and so glad I have the space to do that.

Tom is currently all snuggly, Zora is racing around like an under exercised corgi who slept for 11hrs in the car then 9hrs over night and is not getting a walk today, the ducks are happy, well cared for and calm, our bedroom remodel was completed while we were away and looks awesome!  But painting it shall have to wait till I have more energy.

The experience was amazing.  I had such a fantastic time.  As right now I’m more than rather exhausted and not thinking in a linear fashion at all, I’m going to post the comments I sent to NADAC on their Champs survey on my thoughts on the event.  Some later post after I have a few more days to think and reflect I’ll write a more thought out post on my reflections on NADAC Championships 2017 in relation to myself, my dogs, my support team and everything else.

My comments on the NADAC Champs survey to NADAC:

1.  Awesome event. Had a great time!  You and your support team did a fabulous job. My last clear champs memories were from Mankato in like 2000 or 2001.  This event was so much smoother, clearer communication, felt more relaxed yet so much better organized and overall I really enjoyed it.

2. Loved loved loved the real time and fast web updates. They made it so much easier to feel ‘safe’ taking a break from champs and not worrying about missing my runs. The course maps, scoring, run orders all of that. Awesome updates.

3.  The facility over all really liked and hope decision is made for champs to be here again.  Liked the interconnected barns, liked the crating area, liked the trial arena. The outside facilities and property were fantastic. I loved that I could easily get a break and be out doors, walk the track and swim the dogs, drag a chair out to some shade. Etc. it made for a much less stressful experience and for me with sensory issues made such a positive difference as I could take a sensory break from the noise, lights and such and recharge without having to actually leave the property. Such a positive.  I also liked that the announcer could easily be heard in the crating area. As again made it easy to know what dog was on course and when to get my dog out. The PA actually in the arena had issues. Liked that there were a variety of hotels, restaurants and grocery stores all within a few miles of the site.

4. The surface. Pre champs day 1 it was too slick. And champs round 7 it was too deep. But loved the surface all other rounds as did my dog. Besides those times I mentioned where I didn’t like it, I felt safe running on it. Not worried about falling or getting stuck or about my dog slipping. Great!

5. Loved that it was the 1st wk of oct and not the last wk of sept.  The last week of sept in that area is usually brutally hot, summers last stand.  The first week of oct through is often as this week was cooler and raining. I know some folks were complaining to was too hot or too humid but I don’t agree and know how much worse it really easily could have been had champs been the week prior as originally schedule.

6. Overall liked the speed at which it all ran. Thought most days were done at a reasonable time. I was annoyed at the inefficiency of the walk throughs that often happened for the 2nd run each day as if they had been done more efficiently could have shaved off a chunk of time. Also as you mentioned on sun at the awards the gate stewards could have used some better instruction. Maybe having a gate steward cheat sheet at the gate for each run might help. Also I ended up skipping nearly all of the morning briefings as they were just way too long.

7. Really enjoyed the course design. Liked that they felt a good balance of dog challenge and handler challenge and a good balance of far and close work all while feeling very nadac. I enjoyed them immensely

8. I liked all of the registration clarity and way it was done on line. The picking of crating areas, registering for runs, etc.  one suggestion would be to post the pre trial and side run class order before opening registration. As that would have changed what I would have signed up for.

9. One thing I would have liked was maybe have a meet and greet type event on wed or Thur. A loosely organized social. Where people can greet and connect. Especially for those that didn’t stay on site or who are new or like me haven’t been to champs in 17yrs. That would have been nice.  Other large dog events I’ve been to in past usually had a sponsored dinner or pot luck type thing one evening that people could register and prepay to attend. Something like that would have been rather nice I think.

10. Also would have liked some more communication after registering for champs. Maybe a sheet emailed out a week to 10days before outlining the timings of briefings, how walk throughs work, how the various raffles work, how the usual flow of a champs day might run, a listing of local vets, a basic site map, etc. again especially for folks new or who have had a long time since their last champs.  I gleaned that info from asking people I knew and from reading the forum but again having it all in an easy to read and reference email would have been great.

The awesome ladies and dogs that we competed and won with!  Go short dogs!!  Colleen and Maggie 3rd place, Christine and Piper 2nd place, and me with Zora.

 

NADAC Championships 2017 – travel and arrival

Tags

accessability, agility, chronic pain, Disability, fibromyalgia, friends, fun, Guide Dog, my husband is awesome, NADAC, NADAC Championships 2017, sensory processing disorder, Tom, transportation, travel, Zora

Last night we arrived! We are here, in Ohio.

Our journey was rather uneventful, thankfully.

Not too early in the morning we finished packing the car. A good friend of mine offered to transport a couple of things for us as he has a much larger vehicle, for which I’m grateful. Meant packing our car was less of a precise puzzle.

What was a precise puzzle was the packing of the cooler. My husband said he would have been really amazed if he had any doubts I had already thought out and planned how to do it. Instead he was only amazed. I’m very good at packing. Lol. I spent the previous two days cooking and freezing in precise ways the food I am to eat this week. Strict dietary restrictions means eating out comes with risks, so for a trip like this were I don’t want to spend days sick recovering from something I ate and my body’s reaction to it, bringing food cooked and prepared in ways I know is safe for me to eat is a must. (The cheese sticks are for the dogs. I miss the convenience of cheese for sure)

Packing all set, one last busy break (toileting, “hurry up, go busy” is the dog’s verbal cue to toilet. Comes in handy often. Like every day often) and we were on the road.

My husband drove us safely through Massachusetts and into New York.

Where I was so excited that the highway paralleled the Erie Canal! It was awesome. There were even some boats in the locks we passed. Super cool! Husband wasn’t as impressed as I wished so I texted my family. They were as excited as I. And we all virtually sang the Erie Canal song. Low bridge, every body down, low bridge cuz we’re comin to a town….

Did you know that New York has renamed their rest areas as Text Stops? We found that a ridiculous comment on our current culture. Sad really. But so it is.

Our trip of course included more busy breaks. And as always I’m amazed and grateful that Tom finds great enjoyment in the challenge of finding the ladies rest room anywhere. Rest stops (ok, Text Stops I guess) he has of course never been in and yet he with a wagging tail and excited spring in his step “tom, find inside” and he smartly shows me the door. “Tom find the bathroom” and he weaves through the mess of people, tom pauses and I can feel him glancing around, “find the bathroom tommy, where is it? Find it buddy.” Suddenly hard turn to the left or right, and him striding forward clearly he knows where we are to go. Yup, here’s the bathroom. Good boy!

At 3:40p we arrived in Buffalo to visit and enjoy dinner at my friend Erica’s home. We all had a lovely visit with Erica and her partner Quinn. Great company, and the dogs enjoyed stretching their legs in their back yard. Erica cooked the most delicious dinner for us to enjoy. It was great to see her, as we talk on the phone often but due to the miles our in person visits are infrequent. And a nice couple hour break in our drive. Oh and I can’t forget to mention Erica’s cat, Hershey. Zora is his canine alter ego.

We got back on the road in time for the sunset.

A few hours later and more uneventful travel through the rest of New York, a corner of Pennsylvania and then Ohio! Where we checked into our hotel, and an exhausted and annoyed me found out despite my requests we are on the second floor in a hotel with no elevator and the only rooms on the first floor left were smoking room. in a choice between bad and worse for me I chose the stairs over the smoking room. Stairs at least tom can help me with. Smoking room would mean non stop migraine. But at least the room seems well sound proofed and the curtains keep the light out very well. the in room fridge is quiet, along with the furnace being as tolerable as they go. All rarities in hotel rooms. So a night of sleep was actually mostly had.

Today we get to have a low key rest and start recover day. The dogs have already been out and had their breakfast so now we are all relaxing. Later today we will head over to the Eden Park Equestrian Center where the event is being held to set up our area find out where we will essentially be living when we aren’t sleeping at the hotel for the next week. Woohoo! It’s really happening! NADAC Championships 2017 is here!!!

Traffic Check PSA

Tags

Guide Dog, rant, Tom, traffic check, transportation

I feel like it defies some level of logic that the first 10 days of public schools starting each fall are when I have the highest concentration of traffic checks.  These past 2 weeks have been major increase in stress anytime I step out my front door.

Tom and I waiting to cross at an intersection.  Photo from a few years back.

For those unfamiliar with guide dog lingo, a traffic check is when a person driving a car isn’t paying attention, isn’t following the rules of the road or is otherwise being a distracted driver tries to run me over and Tom either blocks me, backs me up, or drags me forward out of harms way, or disobeys my cue telling me it wasn’t safe for him to lead me forward as the car I didn’t hear blows the red light or takes the corner.  And then I praise the hell out of my dog while suppressing the urge (sometimes unsuccessfully) to scream uncontrollably at the usually blissfully unaware moron with a driver’s license.  Apparently I’ve become known around town for my rather forceful body language at street crossings.  You know what, if that’s what it takes for people to respect the pedestrian rules of the road, I’ll take it.  I’ve been nearly hit enough times over the years to not trust drivers to be aware or grasp the rules of the road.

That’s a traffic check.

The first 10 days or so after school beings Tom and I will experience more traffic checks than we do the entire spring and summer combined.  Last week on a 3 mile walk home from an appointment, we experienced 5 traffic checks that I know of.  On one 3 mile route home.  FIVE!  And that was with my bright hunter orange hat on and Tom’s full body white Kool Coat.  On that same route any other time of year, we might experience one every 4th time I take that route, and I don’t wear my bright orange extra visible hat and Tom doesn’t have his large white extra visible coat on.

I live in a fairly pedestrian suburban town.  Many people walk and bike to work or the various train stations.  Many parents walk with their children to school.  Many children walk to school instead of taking the bus.  Anytime I’m out walking somewhere I will pass on average at least a handful of people if not more regardless of day of week or time.

One would think that as school begins, with the increase of pedestrians especially children, people with the privilege of a driver’s license would increase in their awareness and driving safety.  That my experience would traffic checks would decrease each September.  Instead it’s the exact opposite.

That I’ve learned to each September for those few first weeks anytime I go out to put extra visible gear on both Tom and I, to be extra extra cautious, to be super aware.  That I often resort to finding other means to get places those couple of weeks due to the increase of distracted drivers and nearly getting killed is a massive thorn in my side.

You have a driver’s license.  Don’t take it for granted.  Be aware of your surroundings and others in it.  You are driving a potentially deadly weapon.  Yes Tom is rather awesome.  But you know, he and I don’t really need that kind of additional stress in our lives.  Nor does anyone else.

Pay attention!  Please!

via Daily Prompt: Thorny

Anticipation

Tags

agility, Dogs, excited!!!, fun, house projects, my husband is awesome, NADAC, NADAC Championships, PromptADay, sensory processing disorder, transportation, Zora

There are so many things coming to ahead in the coming month.  Been building and building for some time.  And I’m getting so beyond excited!  And anxious to be honest.

First off the major remodel of our bedroom is to commence.  So hopeful this will solve a number of problems.  Primarily the ones related to my challenges with SPD and sleep.  The main, ok entire, goals of the bedroom remodel are to decrease the traffic noise, increase darkness, and increase efficient use of space.  I’ve been mulling over the best ways to do that in this particular room of our house for years.  Years!  And we are now at a point where we can put those ideas and plans into action.  I’m so hopeful.  So fingers beyond crossed hopeful this project goes as planned and has the desired results.  We have a great contractor who we’ve used before so I know he’ll give it his best effort.

Zora flying down the a-frame in a competition

Second is we are going to NADAC Championships!!!!!!!!!!  I’m super super super (did I mention super?!) excited about this.  The last time I had a dog to compete with at Championships was in 2000 or 2001, when I had Regal.  NADAC Championships is an international event with competitors from all over the US and Canada coming together for nearly a week of awesome dog agility.  It is held once a year, in the fall, and the years alternate between ‘east coast’ and ‘west coast’.  This is an ‘east coast’ year and it’s being held in Ohio.

The championship competition itself is comprised of 8 runs over 4 days.  7 of the runs all competitors compete in for placements and standings, then the 8th run is the finals where scores from the 7 previous runs are calculated and only the top 30% from each group compete in the final 8th run working to win the event.

Groupings are based on your dog’s height (so small dogs compete against small dogs and large dogs compete against large dogs), age and experience level (so veteran dogs over age 7 are grouped together by height, and Elite dogs are grouped together by height, etc), this helps things truly be competitive as you are always competing in a group that is a fairly level playing field.

In order to be invited to compete in Championships you and your dog have to accumulate a certain number of points in a certain number of varying classes throughout the previous year.  Point accumulation for Championships counts points you’ve earned from August to July each year.  Zora and I qualified to compete as an Elite Standard Small Dog.  Meaning she earned enough qualifying points in all Elite (highest level) classes, she is under age 7 (so in the Standard group), and she’s short (under 11″ at the shoulder) so a Small Dog.

Before the event begins there are 2 days of agility at the facility site to help give teams a chance to warm up and acclimate to the venue before the big event.  So all told there are 6 full days of agility with some of the top handlers and dogs from all over North America.  I am so excited!

When Zora qualified, hubby and I discussed it back and forth whether to go or not.  I get stressed about the idea of spending money on trips, somewhere in my brain I learned vacations should be cheap or otherwise inexpensive (maybe it was a childhood of all vacations including staying with various relatives?) and ones that require me to spend money feel like I won’t enjoy them as much.  Which hasn’t really proved true, I did really enjoy our Maine honeymoon (though it did take us having an envelope with a set amount of cash in and me being repeatedly reminded the trip was a failure if there was still cash left in the envelope at the end of it).  I also get stressed about the sensory aspect of staying in hotels, and travel (which my body has a history of handling rather poorly).

Thankfully, hubby knows that about me.  (he thinks I’m silly, a lot, especially when my neurotic money habits come into play).  And he simply asked, “Honey, do you want to go?”  Yes.  “Ok then, we’re going.”  Simple as that.  All of my worries and but, but, buts were silenced.  “Honey, do you want to go?  Ok then, we’re going.”  Every single time.  One of the many reasons I love this person.  Cuts through my anxiety, and puts it in black and white.

So we’re going!

I’m so excited to reconnect with people I haven’t seen in years.  I’m so excited to be surrounded by such amazing dogs and handlers.  I’m so excited to participate.  I’m so excited to have such an amazing teammate in Zora, and such an amazing support team in my husband and Tom.  I’m just plain so excited.

After much further discussion, we decided to drive instead of fly.  A decision I still have some anxiety about, but less anxiety about than I was having when we discussed flying.  Flying itself would have been less stressful than the drive, shorter length of time, but the idea of trusting another person who was driving to bring the various dog stuff we’d need to get through the week like their crates, x-pens, chairs, and the like was stressing me way out.  As was renting a car and all of that.  I have a hard time letting go of control (gee, shocking, right?), and I have an amazing partner who is willing to drive 12hrs to Ohio.  As such, we’re driving.

We have plans in place to give me a good chunk of travel recovery time so that I will hopefully be in a fairly sensory stable state to compete.  I have a friend who is willing to keep an eye on the house and the ducks, so I don’t have to worry about that stuff. I’ve been jotting down things to do and not forget to bring for weeks.

Most importantly, I think, we are treating it as a vacation in our heads.  So going to have fun, as low stress as possible, enjoy the time with the dogs, and let the excitement of such a large event carry through.

And trust me, I don’t think that will be very difficult, I am currently so very, very, VERY excited!!

Random Strangers when You are Visibly Disabled

Tags

ableism, Disability, Guide Dog, random, random strangers, rant, seriously?!, Tom, transportation, visible disability

Yesterday was a long, exhausting day.  When bureaucratic policy makes the lives of the people it is designed to serve so much harder, it gets my goat.  The inane ridiculous of it all, all under the guise of ‘preventing service fraud.’  And does so in a way that means my entire day is shot, and then some.  Suffice to say, please do not ever take a driver’s license and freedom and control of your life it provides for granted.  But I digress.

Because that wasn’t even the best parts of my day.  Oh no, the fact that I spent over 5 hours of my life either on or waiting for paratransit, to get to and from a location 40min from my home, for a required now in-person paratransit renewal.  Which of course is at a location that unless you either take paratransit or have someone else drive you, you can’t actually get to safely via other more efficient forms of public transit.  Because no one who uses it would ever have anything better to do with their day.  And the old method of having your medical doctor fill out a renewal form and fax it in was so much more efficient, and we can’t have that, because everyone would want to cheat the system and try to get approved for transportation designed to always take you 4-6 times longer to get to and from anywhere than any other means!…Oh wait, I’m digressing again.  My apologies.

Again, the best parts.

In the hour plus I had waiting for my pick up ride, I have my head phones on and am listening to some continuing education webinars.  So to set the stage, again I have head phones on, clearly doing other things I would think to anyone observing, and Tom and I were sitting in a quiet off to the corner part of the room.  Tom lying under my chair sleeping ie him not engaging with others in any way either.  And I hear (loudly, because again I have head phones on!) “What a gorgeous dog.  Is that a lab?”  I sigh and give my usual quick reply, without taking off my head phones or even looking at the person, because I have learned having been down this route with random strangers enough it is faster and less painful if I just answer that question in the most disengaged way possible without completely ignoring them (otherwise random strangers seem to get more forceful about it because of course I’m sitting there visibly disabled with a guide dog doing my own thing completely competently, I am now their business), “No he’s half lab and half golden retriever.”  Usually people then get the message I don’t want to engage and I answered their question, right?  Nope, not this guy as he replies, “But Miss, your dog doesn’t have  a speck of gold on him anywhere.”  Seriously guy?!  Seriously?!  So I pause my webinar, take out the head phones, turn to the guy and proceed to give him a blunt education in canine color genetics as he sits there in uncomfortable stunned silence.  I finish, turn to disengage once again and he has to get the last word in, “So he’s a mix?”  YES!   Oh. My. God man, seriously?!

Ok now onto random stranger #2 a few minutes later.  Again I’ve got headphones on, turned by now to not even face others because after that last intrusion I can’t deal, I have turned my chair to face a window.  And I hear again loudly at me, “What a beautiful dog.  Tsk, tsk tsk (seriously the person MADE THAT SOUND REPEATEDLY)  What a shame.  You’re so young.  What a shame.  You don’t deserve this [being disabled].  I want you to know I’m a really caring person.  I care a lot about others.  Tsk, tsk, tsk.  What a shame.  You’re too young to be disabled.  Tsk, tsk, tsk.”  repeated for over TEN MINUTES!!!  At me. A complete stranger, I’m clearly not engaging with this person.

After 10min of completely ignoring the guy, I’m fed up, and again head phones off, turn and go, “So you clearly want an interaction with me, right?”  he pauses, and replies “Yes?…”  and I go off on about the social model of disability, that disability is the one minority group anyone can join at any time, that using the words ‘shame’ and ‘deserve’ imply that I am in some way to blame for my disability or that I had some control over it happening or not, that I don’t view things that way, and it makes no sense to for so many reasons, which I list a few.  That by using my age as some reason for your tsking, implies that you find it perfectly ok for an older person to be disabled, sure at that age they deserve it.  Etc.  And the guy is clearly not getting it, so I start to find this all amusing and have a bit of fun with it.  Because what the hell, he’s clearly not going to shut up, he’s the one who chose to rudely intrude on my space, time, energy and life (which to begin with complete stranger!  None of his business!) and I have nothing better to do by now as my phone battery is about to die so no more webinar listening.

When he repeats, “That’s such a beautiful dog.  Such a shame [you are disabled]” again, I am again by this point just having fun amusing myself trying to find out how much of this will this guy take and what would it actually take for him to get so uncomfortable he’d disengage.  I try the tactic of, “oh well if I wasn’t disabled this beautiful dog wouldn’t even be here.  He was bred specifically to do this job.  So no disabled people, no beautiful dog for you to comment on.  Now you wouldn’t want that, right?  This beautiful dog has a life, and isn’t dead or non existent all because I am disabled.”  Yea, that one didn’t even hit home with the guy.

By now everyone else in the room is rather uncomfortable that this is happening, because while they seemed fine when he broke social norms talking at me and tsking at me, when I break social norms to confront this person, oh no can’t have that.  I can hear the sighs and the shifting in the seats.  And he ends up flummoxed and confused, can’t grasp why I am not ok with his ableist intrusion into my life, and I smile patronizingly (since hell, that’s what he was doing to me to start with) and Tom and I head off to the rest room shaking my head laughing because what else could I do, it was so ridiculous!

And that was my day yesterday.  Ridiculous.  Pure ridiculous.

“Ridiculous,” Tom says.  “Yes, yes, I understand, pure ridiculous yesterday.  Now pet me please.”

Motoring with Tommy Good Dog

Tags

Disability, Guide Dog, Tom, transportation

This week has been a build up of transportation frustrations.  Lack of public transit options, lack of driver’s license, living in suburbia can often be frustrating.  Currently I have a string of partially completed projects, that in order to finish require trips to a couple of stores to gain supplies.  I would love to be able to finish these projects sooner rather than later, but they will have to wait until I can coordinate transportation.

I have this recurring fantasy, where there would be this law that every 3 years, a person with their driver’s license had to go without it for 6 months.  Say there would be a dispensation for very very rural sparsely populated areas so for the law to be in effect there had to be a minimum number of people per square mile or something.  Again this I realize is a fantasy.  This fantasy, in my make believe world, would accomplish a few valuable things.

1.  Increase public transportation options.  Since there would always be some level of folks legally unable to drive, but as opposed to now, that number would be much higher, cities and towns and governments would be motivated to increase both budgets and quality of public transportation so that their citizens could continue to get to work, school, shopping, etc.

2.  Increase empathy for pedestrians.  In my dream, instead of being a weekly occurrence, nearly being run down, beeped at, or ignored by motorists while crossing the street would be a rarity.  Those with the privilege of driving would remember what it was like to be without a license and the speed and independence that comes with it, so would be more likely to stop as the existing law dictates.  And walking on streets without sidewalks would be safer, as drivers would be more conscious and aware (since who knows in a couple of months when their 6month pedestrian time arrived, they might be that person walking on the side of the road) or better yet again seeing #1 above, governments would be more likely to ensure sidewalks were on all streets, instead of just the main ones.

3.  Increase interconnections of communities.  Public transportation tends to do that.  Lack of driver’s license and car tends to do that.  We all become more interdependent and communicate more when to get to point A one can’t just grab their keys, and hop in their own personal vehicle without needing anyone else to get to point A.

But as I said, this is just a fantasy.  So in the mean time, Tommy Good Dog, my always go to mode of locomotion.  And a huge part of why I haven’t yet been hit by distracted driver when doing something as seemingly simple as crossing the street.  5 years together and counting.  For a nearly 7 year old dog, he hasn’t slowed a bit.  Love this dog!