I'm learning about dogs

This past week and next week I am attending a dog training class for our grandson, Martin, and his family's new dog. The dog is a chocolate lab named Mystic. Some of you readers may know about the fund-raising efforts last year to get this very expensive companion for Martin. Mystic comes from an organization called Four Paws where assistance dogs are trained for people with special needs. The first picture here is of Jeremy, the dog trainer, sitting in a wheelchair (it's only there for training the dogs- Jeremy doesn't need it- he's just tired of standing all day every day) with Angela and Mystic in the background. The next picture is to show the variety of dogs used in this program. Many of the dogs are rescued from shelters, then go through an evaluation period followed by "basic training" usually done at a nearby prison by inmates, then they are matched up to applicants and trained more specifically. Some examples: everybody's favorite in this class is "Tank", a Great Pyrenees breed who is basically a huge white fluffy teddy bear being trained as a tethering companion for a boy with autism to restrain him from running off. Tank is very mellow and patient and calm. Then there is "Theo" a tiny I-don't know-what long-haired dog as a companion for a little 3-year old boy who sufferes seizures. Another huge dog is a German shepherd named "Yaeger" who is a mobility assistance dog for a middle-aged woman with a bad leg and dizziness. (I don't know her specific medical problems but the dog will fetch things for her and help with her balance.) The next picture is the area for the children in the background. Since the children who come here all have problems of some sort, they don't usually participate much in the class but the need to be there to help train the dogs. The "masters" of the dogs are the other family members, one of the parents being the primary one. Angela is the one learning how to command Mystic. Since children grow and change, the requirements for the companion dog will change. Anyway, at the class, the children spend most of the time playing computer games, watching movies, and playing with all kinds of toys and large motor things like bikes and mini-trampolines. The last picture is Angela who was working on the command "lap" with Mystic when Martin came over for help in opening a toy. "Lap" is when the dog lays its head on the child's lap to either comfort or bring back to reality when they space out. After spending the majority of my life deathly afraid of dogs, I am learning to like them much more. I first got more exposed to dogs in general (after having Bruno back in NY) when we visited Lisa and would go to dog parks with her dogs. I was amazed at how much the dogs loved to just run and play. Those dogs were simply pets and most not terribly well-disciplined. The dogs in this training class are the same animals at heart but they do a very commendable job harnessing their animal instincts and doing an important job. They are hard-working, loyal, and obedient. I have been really impressed.

Trying to focus on something else

The house is slowly eating us alive. We sometimes feel really close to insanity. We can't help but wonder how the pioneers crossing the plains kept themselves going. I'm sure they had times like we have when they just wanted to scream "ENOUGH!" But they had no choice but to dry their tears and keep plodding on. Same here.

On a lighter note, we spent part of last Saturday going to the Columbus, Ohio LDS temple with the young men and young women of our little branch- all 5 of them. It was their first time doing baptisms for the dead in this temple and they all enjoyed it and want to return. One of the young men even asked about doing name extractions. They were all well behaved. Afterward, we stopped in a nearby Wal-Mart parking lot for a tailgate donut party, that is until the Wal-Mart security cop came by and told us tailgate parties in the parking lot was not allowed. We told him we bought the milk and some of the treats in Wal-Mart but he said it didn't make any difference. Oh well, it was all good because he didn't come by until after we had all eaten our treats.

The kitchen

Here you can see the transformation of the kitchen, which is the most done of any of our rooms right now. We were amazed to find that these large, beautiful windows actually go up and down- sort of. Russ worked on them for many hours once we had opened the walls and found the old sash weights. They're just really large so they don't move very easily. Russ put in all the new electric, plumbing, and gas for the stove, then put up sheet rock. We discovered the brick behind the walls. This room used to be a porch on the outside of the house that was then closed in, not long after the house was built. We liked the look of the brick so we opened the ceiling so we could expose the old transom window over the doorway as well as the lovely curved brick arch. It's a small kitchen but it works and looks nice. The rest of the house will, too, eventually.

PICTURES!

You will notice our new image- thanks to our daughter-in-law that was the one who got us started with this blogspot to begin with. We are now officially on-line in our new home so we should be able to keep up better with our internet correspondences as well as our blogspot. These pictures don't completely do justice to the transformation of our front door, but then, pictures rarely do completely do justice. Since you can't be here, these will have to do. The door had been weathered pretty badly over the decades. Then vandals had broken in with a crowbar or similar device which totally wrecked the doorknob area of the door. We didn't want to replace it because it is the original! So Russ spliced in a piece of wood to replace the broken area, we got new, old-looking hardware along with a brass kickplate to help mask the repair then I sanded the door, doorway, and stained and urethaned it. Below you can see the results. It took all of one day to fix the door so now we can use it rather than having to padlock it then go in the back door. The inside of the door will have to be done later....

Company for dinner

We have now officially slept in our project house for two nights. Before going to bed last night we had dinner with the missionaries. It may seem premature to be inviting people over for dinner but when the calendar came around at church to sign up to feed the missionaries and it was totally empty, I just couldn't resist. (There were only about five women in Relief Society. One is 83 , single, and nearly blind. Another is an older black lady who is working full time and basically raising her grandchildren.) Right up until a few hours before dinner we wondered if we would end up going to Taco Bell but we scurried around and managed to put together a simple dinner and got most of the dust cleaned up so we wouldn't have to eat dust in our food. The kitchen is 97% done. The dining room is still down to studs. We have the table and chairs in the living room and I am glad I have no living room furniture. Even with tarps or blankets covering things, I still have to vacuum and repeatedly wipe to get all the dust off. We don't have internet at our house yet so we have to visit our daughter, Angela, to get on the web. When we finally get internet at the house, it will be easier for me to post pictures.

Holiday weekend

Last night I was at the house until after 11:00 while Russ stayed with the grandsons, getting them into baths, pajamas, and bed. I finally have the kitchen ceiling painted. This morning I managed to get the plaster in the butler's pantry painted. Russ is spending the day working with our "son" John whose help is greatly appreciated. Monday is a holiday and we're planning a "work party". John's wife and kids will be here (he will be in Texas flying a plane) as well as Scott, Angela, and their three boys. Saturday we will probably spend the day preparing for the work party. I guess we just didn't know how much work was ahead of us. The house is basically sound and has some wonderful, unique features. But it needs lots of time and hard work to bring it up to a standard Russ and I are comfortable with. We're not making it fancy, just more usable and pleasant. Sometimes I have trouble sleeping because my hands hurt so much. I guess I'll survive. I will be glad when we have reached the point where we can live in the house and actually unpack some of our stuff.

Here's the mess!

This first picture is the dining room. Lovely, isn't it? We had to completely remove all the lathe and plaster in order to gain access to the wiring and plumbing. When the toilet upstairs was flushed, it sprayed water, etc. down the wall in the dining room. The wiring is almost entirely the original 1900-whatever. When the house was first built, it had no electricity. There are remains of old gas piping and associated lighting fixtures. We intend to just put sheetrock back on the walls. The outer walls will have to remain plaster since they are inside of the brick walls. Two of the pictures are the kitchen. We had to completely gut that, too, so we could replace some of the base flooring and put in electric lines, plumbing lines, and a gas line for the new stove. So you can see the gutted kitchen then the kitchen with sheetrock on the walls. Note the unusual windows. We were amazed when we got the lathe and plaster off the walls to find that the windows actually work! There are old sash weights in spaces in the walls that help enable them to go up and down. They don't move nearly as easily as modern windows but they are unique! Then the other picture is the butler's pantry. So far I have gotten the inside of the upper cupboards painted and the plaster on the walls around them repaired ready to paint. I need to look for ceramic tiles that I want to put on the counter top area. So we continue to work......