Pictures Worth At Least 1,000 Words...

But I'll add a few more just to explain:  we've been anxiously awaiting a homecoming.  The Puppy Department of Guide Dogs of America called last week; Cyrus (formerly known here as The Pup) was working hard and learning, but indicated being a Guide Dog wasn't what would make him happy.  We were informed that he would be a Career Change dog, and wanted to come home!  Raising him from a 7.5 week old puppy really changed Girlie's life - maybe he figured he was supposed to be her dog all along :-)

Things lined up perfectly, and another Puppy Raiser from our area was vacationing near GDA in Sylmar, so Cyrus was able to hitch a ride home, enjoying the scenery along the way.

Stopped to see the Redwoods

Stopped for lunch along the coast

Welcome home hug ♥

Nothing New Under the Sun?

Seriously, nothing noteworthy has happened in two weeks? No, in fact; plenty has happened: some was more of the same, but not all of it.

The adjustment period immediately after The Pup left was eased by the first guest-pup, and then a few days later, Girlie took charge of another guest-pup. I think after he leaves this evening, we'll take a break and give her time to really adjust without the distraction of another dog.

Recently we have had highs and lows with both kiddos: public recognition of a piece written for a state-wide competition and being chosen for a lead role in a fall production have been countered with the stress of end-of-year school testing, falling behind in homework, and new challenges in math. One of the signs of stress we see most often with Girlie is wakefulness in the evening, and we can hear her quietly puttering around in her room 'til long after she should be asleep. Boyo is the opposite: he can usually fall asleep just fine, but if he has something on his mind he'll be in the kitchen rummaging for breakfast an hour before it's time to get up.

Dearest and I find the best way to deal with stress, this time of year, is to get Girlie out in the garden and throw Boyo in the pool. Girlie wants to plant things - she doesn't even really care what she plants - and will pull up leftover or volunteer perrenials or tree seedlings and put them in pots all over the yard. Boyo needs something safe to keep him busy, and the more physical activity, the better. He wants to swim every chance he gets! Money talks with that boy, and he's pretty happy to be taking over Grandma's lawn chores this year.

Ready to plant (Girlie has some pansies this year)

Waiting to receive (see the pots of miscellany?)

The best part at this moment is not whether anything is new under the sun, but that there is sun. I think I'll take my coffee and knitting outside and see if that goldfinch comes by again this morning...

Goodbye, Hello...

The Pup left yesterday. He's off to college, and then hopefully a good job. :-) Considering he left for training at a somewhat younger-than-usual age due to his precocious behavior, we're hopeful that he will fulfill his amazing potential and develop into a skilled Guide Dog. At the same time, we also know he's dealing with the "teenage" behavior you might expect from a Labrador, and hasn't quite mastered his inner goofball, so...

In the meantime, we have a house guest for a couple of days to keep our mind off missing The Pup too much. This little girl is in training, too, and Girlie has become a great puppy-sitter. We know she is missing her pal, but she can't dwell on it too much if she is fending off a wet nose, answering an urgent whine, or working on basic manners for a younger pup.

As another example of excellent timing, all the library books Girlie placed on hold last week were available today, so even when her young charge goes home tomorrow there will Unicorns and Warriors to think about.

We are so glad that things came together as well as they did so that Girlie was able to take The Pup to school for a presentation last week, and that we had an impromptu family picnic on Sunday that we could say was a Going Away Party.

A side note, for those of you familiar with dyspraxia: training an animal is an excellent way to increase one's awareness of what one's hands (and the rest of the body, but especially the hands) are doing. It's been interesting to see Girlie realize every movement she makes affects what the dog does, and sometimes with undesired results. The difference has been that the dog is not being judgmental (which is how Girlie often perceives my behavior/body language) and there is never the added burden of speech from the dog.

As grief tends to do, I know there will be times when it may pop up unexpectedly and take Girlie by surprise. We'll deal with it as best we can, but in the meantime Girlie is doing better than we hoped, and we are so proud of how much she has matured during The Year With The Pup.

Spring Fever!

We all have it. And it's about time! We had more periods of severe (for us) weather than usual this winter, and spring has finally begun showing up in the buds on my ornamental pear and other flowering trees, the daffodils in full bloom, the decreasing number of birds at our feeders, and the repetitive THWACK! and Sproing! noise of a basketball being dribbled and bounced off the rim in the driveway. Today was beautiful, and I was able to take this shot of tiny purple anenome flowers amongst the relatively giant daffodils. I have to admit I'm pretty impressed with the photo considering grandson Milo, who is now four-and-a-half months old and getting very grabby, 'helped' me take it.

Dearest spent a lot of time turning over the raised beds, and Girlie will be out carefully checking on her 'baby' trees and the volunteer snapdragons she lovingly took out of the vegetable garden last fall and planted in pots. I ponied up for new garden gloves (Costco has packs of SIX PAIRS of nitrile coated gloves for $7.99 - about what you'd pay for two pairs in a hardware store) because I can't stand it when the dirt starts getting caked on the inside of the fingertips. I'm not a habitual gardener, but I do love cleaning out my few bulb and peony planters in the spring, with an earbud playing an audiobook in one ear and birds singing courtship songs in the other.

Sounds like all is right with the world, yes? No. In fact, Girlie will be saying good-bye to The Pup at the end of April after all. He is going back to California early because he is large and smart and needs expert schooling - he has the makings of an exceptional guide dog, but his 'teenage rebellion' is hard to handle in a family setting. Reportedly, at least one of his litter mates is in the same situation. Guide dogs are bred to have initiative, and to show 'intelligent disobedience'. Consider this - if something unexpected is in the road and the blind handler tells the dog to go forward, the dog has to be smart enough to force the handler into a different, safer path. (Not all dogs will do that; some are dropped from the program because they don't have enough initiative to disobey when necessary.) But when that dog is a young upstart with a sassy attitude, he learns very quickly that he can try to boss some of his family members around, and it's clear that he needs a real job before he gets in trouble. 

Our coordinator came to talk with Girlie today and show her a few more tricks to handle The Pup for the next several weeks before he goes. She also asked Girlie to continue with the program even after The Pup leaves, by helping handle the coordinator's new puppy-in-training while she's leading the classes (it's great how the promise of puppy cuddles can take some of the sting out of a problem!). The Pup will still be here to help Girlie celebrate her 14th birthday next month, and they'll get to go on one more training outing together with the group. Girlie will be fine, in the long run, but I'm stocking up on Kleenex because she is already tearing up at random times when she thinks about him leaving. Thankfully it will happen at a time of year when there are so many other things that Girlie loves capturing her attention.

Spring fever affects my knitting, too - who wants to think about winter knits when it's finally warm enough to take my sweater off? I fell in love with this Mini Mania Scarf pattern and decided to knit it as a table runner with all my left over sock yarn. I've never knitted linen stitch before and I absolutely love it; it's repetitive and soothing (that means 'boring' to many knitters), but very fun to see the color development. I always want to keep knitting to see what will happen when I add the next yarn!

300 stitches wide, about 1.5 inches of fabric so far, using 7 different sock yarns.

Attachment

Many of you know that Girlie is raising a puppy for Guide Dogs of America.  It has been a great experience and we've learned a lot.  Just as The Pup has grown and become enormous, Girlie has grown and matured during the year he has been with her.

We've always known that the long-term goal was for The Pup to learn his manners and then go on to receive his formal training.  Periodically we discuss this with Girlie, and occasionally she brings the subject up in casual conversation.  We have been told he will go "in for training" to GDA California headquarters in April.  The tension is building now, especially as Girlie's birthday is also in April, and she is hoping The Pup will be with her; we have no control over that, so we'll see what happens.

Needless to say, Dearest and I are hoping for the best while preparing for the worst.  We will be pulling out Girlie's favorite movies, making sure she gets the new release from her favorite author, planning at least one trip to her favorite rock-hunting beach, maybe going to the zoo... we want to be prepared for possible emotional devastation (I'm thinking again of what happened when her favorite radio station shut down a few years ago).  At the same time, we will acknowledge her grief in whatever form it manifests.  

It's bound to be catastrophic, right?  Well, we don't know - in fact, we have no idea what to expect when the time comes.  Kids on the spectrum may assign emotional importance in very unexpected ways, and form attachments much differently than their neurotypical peers.  Whatever happens when The Pup leaves, we'll support Girlie and learn from the experience.  Heck, even Dearest and I might miss him. The Pup has taught us all a thing or two. :-)

"Me and My Arrow" From "The Point", 1971

Music and story by Harry Nilsson, Narrated by Ringo Starr

Cat and Mouse

Girlie has a beautiful longhaired Ragdoll-Siamese mix cat.  She is predominantly white with pale calico tortoise markings and gorgeous blue eyes.  Peach – as she is called for the pale, peach-colored areas amongst her markings – is extremely tolerant of being picked up and petted, true to the Ragdoll reputation.  She is also an obsessive and very successful hunter.

Peach and her buddy Ian (Pembroke Welsh Corgi)

I suppose most folks who have indoor/outdoor cats have experienced the generosity of their magnanimous feline friend at some point or another.  Personally, I wish Peach were much more selfish.  I could do without her bringing in dead or nearly dead birds, mice, and snakes.  What we really wish is that she wouldn’t bring in perfectly healthy mice and then let them get away from her.  You might think we’d keep her inside, but no; in fact, Dearest and I were both raised in ‘animals belong outside’ homes, so the idea of a litter box is less attractive than indoor wildlife.

Because it happens fairly regularly, we’ve all gotten used to stopping whatever we’re doing until the mouse is located.  Girlie was the first one to perfect the art of catching a mouse herself, by grabbing a little box she had in her room and clapping it quickly down over the mouse as it ran past her.  One thing about Girlie that is to my mind, a bit unusual, is that she is perfectly willing to deal with any of the cat and dog messes you can imagine (and probably some you can’t) with a businesslike, efficient attitude.  How rare is that for a thirteen-year-old girl?

The best part about it is that I realize her lack of concern when it comes to managing the most unpleasant aspects of pet care is a potential job skill!  Since my oldest son’s first official job was as a kennel assistant at our veterinarian’s office, I know how difficult it can be.  Girlie could do it, and she would be good at it!  It just goes to show that it pays to think out of the box when it comes to future employment planning for children with challenges.

We live in a two story house with the bedrooms upstairs, so you can imagine how surprising it would be to open the bedroom door in the morning and see a live snake coiled on the carpet.  Even more surprising to have it happen more than once!  This knitted snake is a quick, fun scarf for those whose winter fashion is a bit more on the wild side.

Little Viper Scarf, knitted for Boyo in 2009