• Mondays: My Stuff Monday – my current, past and future projects
• Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays: focus on the DOABLE approach starting with step one: decide for the rest of May and June
• Fridays: Pupdates – info about my puppies
• Saturdays: Joy Jar

Since this is my third post today, I’ll might just wait until Monday to do my first “My Stuff Monday” post. But who knows, I’ll see how the rest of my day flows.

If there is something you would like me to post about, let me know and I’ll figure out a way to fit it in.

Bill, Dune, Zodiac & Raelyn on recall morning

It has been a busy weekend with puppy stuff. On Friday we had a farewell party for Zodiac. Nothing fancy, just some cookies, snack mix and lemonade. It is a tradition with each of our puppies, a chance to celebrate them and give family, friends and neighbors and chance to say good-bye. I think it is also for me. It helps me process the pups departure and come to terms with not having them around. Zodiac had lots of fun. His favorite people from church came and some of his puppy friends. At one point we had five labs at our house. That was crazy.

Saturday we had a big Guide Dogs for the Blind puppy training meeting. Lots of puppies there. With dogs ready to leave for harness training, like Zodiac, to very young puppies who just got off the puppy truck on Thursday. I learned lots of things from the visiting Community Field Representative from Oregon. It was a great opportunity to learn from someone new.

After the meeting Zodiac has his final evaluation. I’ve been a bit paranoid all week that they would decide that he wasn’t ready to go back or they would career change him on the spot. It is crazy the kinds of thoughts that can get into my head sometimes. We took Zodiac and Dune to the movies on Saturday night as one last outing for all of us together.

Sunday morning we got up very early so that we could get Zodiac to Ogden by 7:00 a.m. It was raining pretty hard when we left home but as we traveled north the skies cleared and the sun came up on a beautiful day. The hotel where the puppy truck stops for the night has a lovely walking path with trees and a pond and waterfall. I took both Zodiac and Dune for walks before the puppy truck drivers came out to the truck. Then we helped walk the puppies that had been picked up previously. I really enjoy doing this and meeting new pups and thinking about their puppy raisers. I walked an in-season female named Moxy. She was a happy and good girl. Bill got to walk Zodiac’s brother Zenith. Their temperaments are amazingly similar. Zenith reminded me a bit of Apex (our first puppy in training) which isn’t too surprising since Apex’s dad is Zodiac and Zenith’s grandfather.

We took Dune and Zodiac for one last walk together. Then it was time for Zodiac to get on the truck. That is the hardest part. He didn’t love getting into one of the kennels in the puppy truck but Zodiac did it anyway. We know he is in good hands. They stopped in Boise for a break Sunday afternoon and spent the night in Pendelton, Oregon. Zodiac would have arrived on the Guide Dogs for the Blind campus in Boring, Oregon on Monday afternoon.

Another puppy raiser that I know from a Yahoo group dropped her puppy off on campus yesterday. She saw Zodiac’s name on the wall in the kennel kitchen along with the other puppies that are expected to arrive on this recall. I like knowing that Zodiac has been on campus twice before, so he is sure to recognize it on his arrival. There is a whole team of experienced and caring people who are now taking care of him. They will help him adjust to life on campus. The next step for him is a thorough physical to make sure his eyes and heart and joints etc. are all working right. Now we play the waiting game. Waiting each week for the phase report to see how he is doing.

With Zodiac’s recall many other things have slipped. So today I’m catching my breath and either catching up with some tasks or just letting them go. I decided that catching up on my joy would be a good thing in this new week, so here goes:

• my beans coming up (finally)
• snowing blossoms
• outing to the Natural History Museum
• seeing a finch in a curly willow tree
• book club
• Bill getting a pay raise
• getting my computer backed up
• rain storm
• ice cream
• walk with Dune
• talking a nap
• eating an apple fritter
• fresh flowers
• walking the Jordan River Trail with Zodiac
• birthday brunch
• patches of sunshine
• Zodiac’s farewell party
• Zodiac’s last eval
• learning new stuff
• Zodiac’s last eval as a puppy
• finishing Zodiac’s puppy book
• a beautiful sunny morning for Zodiac’s recall
• Bill getting to walk Zodiac’s brother Zenith
• raising Zodiac

So the type of story project is very important. A project could be as simple as an oral story that you tell to your kids as bedtime stories. It may even be something that you could work on just by thinking about it as you commute or have downtime waiting in line or for an appointment.

The scope of your story project is also very important. If you have very little discretionary time make sure you keep each story project very small. Break a potential larger project into smaller pieces. Lets take the oral story telling idea mentioned above. A larger project might be to record a series of stories and add photos or illustrations and even music to make a life story. This larger project can be simplified into each individual story and perfecting the story telling style over the months and years of telling. Then down the road the stories could be recorded. And as schedules permit each audio could be combined with photos or illustration. Eventually when all the stories are done, they could be gathered into one cohesive collection. What a priceless treasure that would be with stories that your children grew up hearing at bedtime. What a legacy a long-term story project like that could be for your grandchildren and great-grandchildren. And all of it started by just decided to develop some oral stories from your personal life or the life of your family.

That is just one example. There are endless possibilities depending on you, your own life circumstances and your talents, interests and abilities. Over the next few days let your subconscious mind work on finding a good solution for you. Share your ideas here and you might just be the inspiration that someone else is looking for.

• preserve & share living memory
• connect with family members
• strengthen family relationships
• understand yourself better
• share family values
• increase self-esteem
• improve resilience
• uncover forgotten stories and people

Emory University did a remarkable study that showed a connection between teens knowing their family’s stories and the sense of well-being.

“Children Benefit if They Know About Their Relatives”

“Do You Know…”

This is powerful stuff. I knew that family stories were important but I had no idea that they have such a vital role in helping us to live happier more productive lives. That is reason enough for me. What about you? What is your reason for doing story projects?

• check revamp so far and adjust content plan if needed: Tuesday 14 May
• move old content to new structure: Thursday, 16 May
• move forward with new content plan: Monday, 20 May
• start sharing with Google+: Monday, 3 June
• start sharing with Pintrest: Monday, 1 July

So today I need to take a close look at my content plan and adjust it with my new structure and goals in mind. I also need to get started on moving my old content into the new blog plan. I think doing this could be very informative as to how my content plan needs to change. I want to make sure that all six step of the DOABLE plan has good ideas for how to carry out that step. With the set of posts I just completed there is some basic information but I’m sure there are lots more ideas and good information that would help in completing different story projects. I’m excited to have completed my revamp this far and anxious to see how the next steps develop.

How are you doing on your own projects? Do you have a story project in the works? I’d love to hear about it.

Once your story project is complete it is good to look at how things went. What turned out well, what not so good. What would you do differently next time. Here are some questions that might help you evaluate your story project:

• What was your favorite part of doing the project?
• What part are you proudest of?
• What kind of reactions have you had when you shared it with others?
• What age groups responded best? Was that the age group you were hoping to reach?
• What part of the project was the most challenging?
• What part do you wish you could do over?
• Did you do what you hoped to with this project?
• Are you glad you did this project?
• What did you learn from doing this project?
• Have you thought of other story projects that would naturally spin-off from this one?
• If you were starting this project with what you know now, what would you do differently?
• What was your most successful way of sharing your project?
• Did any of your sharing efforts fail?

Do you have someone who you can trust to be honest and yet supportive to give you feedback on your project? If so ask them to help you evaluate your results. I hope that you have enjoyed your story project and the journey that you have now completed. I hope that you are excited to do another story project. If so, armed with this knowledge you are ready to go back to step one and pick a new family story project.

I’d love to hear about your story projects. Let me know about it and you might just get featured on a future Telling Family Tales post.

• getting our big kennel back
• beautiful day
• a twilight walk with Zodiac
• chocolate
• blooming trees
• same day crown on my cracked tooth
• finishing Zodiac’s paper work
• finishing Zodiac’s farewell party invites
• how good Zodiac was today
• a good day
• Dune doing good at the dentist
• the power of computers and the internet
• another twilight walk
• beautiful spring morning
• getting some work in on the Key West history
• finding two of Dune’s siblings
• a good week
• puppy club shirts came
• cleaning up old emails
• super beautiful day
• “girl” time with Dune
• finding a white backdrop
• having enough gas to get home
• walking dogs in the spring sunshine
• update from Diane and Yakira
• chatting with Karen
• petals like snow on the ground
• walk with Zodiac
• Bill home early
• spring snow storm
• Zodiac’s last choir practice
• Zodiac maturing
• Sunday nap
• hot lemon and honey tea

Zodiac

I’ve been working on Zodiac’s book as often as I can since he is leaving in 9 days and I’d like to send a digital copy of it when he gets on the puppy truck. I’ve made pretty good progress, though not at all they way I planned it. (Sometimes plans just have to be adjusted.) Anyway, I’ve got the text all finished and some of the photos placed. I need to get some more photos of him taken before he goes. I have lots of him sleeping and sitting and being calm but not many of him in his wild and fun-loving moments. That is a big part of who he is.  I think I’ll post the finished pages once a week on pupdate day after he leaves. With some luck he could be graduating by the time I get done. So for now, here is the rest of the text.

• Zeus – supreme deity of the ancient Greeks: Though Zodiac has always been cute with maturing he now has a certain presence when he wants to, maybe even a little Zeus like in his demeanor. Zodiac started to show signs of maturing at the year mark but it really started to accelerate when he turned 14 months old. Since he was about 9 months old we have been going to the local grade school a couple of times a week to listen to kids read. Zodiac has always been attracted to kids and their happy energy. But with his maturing he can now sit calmly in the hall and watch hundreds of kids walk by. I’m so proud of him. He is really grown-up.
• Zigzag – a course with sharp turns: Zodiac like most labs has his wild moments when he dashes around the house. Some times I’ve heard this called labby loops. With Zodiac it is more of a zigzag than loops. He runs full speed one direction then abruptly changes direction and then changes direction again. He does this for just a couple of minutes and then he is back to normal.
• Zillion – an extremely large number: Zodiac is on in a zillion. Though he looks pretty much like many other black labs, he has a unique combination of personality traits that we have come to love and usually appreciate. He has this adorable way of looking up at you without really moving his head. This makes it so the whites of his eyes show. He has a slightly scruffy coat and really thick toenails. Zodiac is curious about everything and always wants to help when you are doing something usual. He loves to supervise me when I’m vacuuming. He is an excellent traveler and enjoys seeing and doing new things. Though he is the sixth puppy we have raised for GDB and he won’t be the last he is the one and only Zodiac.
• Zingy – full of zing; lively; zesty; exciting: Zodiac has had the best of relationships with two other puppies in training. First was Yakira (puppy #5). When Zodiac was you she was is guardian and mentor. As he grew older their relationship evolved into buddies. Through it all they two of them had many a lively and exciting romps. When she returned to GDB for training he truly missed her. A few months later Dune (puppy #7) came on the scene and Zodiac got to be the mentor. Yakira taught him well and he did many of the same things that Yakira had done for him.  Though Dune’s personality is very different from Yakira’s, Zodiac and Dune have just as close a relationship. They can run full tilt around the house and a few minutes later be snuggled up together for a nap. Dune is going to miss Zodiac when it is his turn to return to GDB for training.
• Zion – where the pure in heart dwell: Even though Zodiac is far from perfect, you always know where you stand with him. He has a pure heart with no concept of deception. He loves with all his heart and is always happy to see an old friend or make a new friend. This trait will serve him well the rest of his life, no matter what the future brings.
• Zippy – full of energy; lively; peppy: Zodiac has an odd quirk that he picked up after he was neutered. He loves to rub on people and couches much like a cat. Only problem is he is much more energetic and lively than a cat. So while a cat rubs gently against your leg, Zodiac tends to zip by with a not so gentle shove. I wonder if it is his way of scratching an itchy spot? It seems kind of fitting for his name since the U.S. Navy call their rubber rafts, zodiacs, I figure that Zodiac is our rubber boy.
• Zoic – relating to or having animal life: Well since Zodiac is actually an animal he certainly is zoic. He has just two siblings, Zenith (male black lab) and Zulu (female yellow lab). His brother Zenith has a white spot on his chest, while Zodiac has just a few white hairs between his toes called Bolo marks, named after an English dual Champion Banchory Bolo because he produced many of these marks in his offspring and future generations.
• Zonked – exhausted or asleep: Zodiac is great at being zonked. Especially after a challenging outing or in the evening. He is very content to curly up on a dog bed or stretch out on the floor. Usually he has an ear listening for anything interesting happening but sometimes when he is really tired it takes some real effort to get him up and moving again.
• Zoom – to move quickly or suddenly: Not surprisingly Zodiac loves to zoom around our back yard. We usually keep a Jolly Ball out there at his favorite game is to grab the ball and run from one end of the yard to the other as fast as he can. Once his mouth got big enough he started carrying it around by the ball and not by the rope. He has to crush the stiff plastic with his teeth to do it, but he is plenty strong enough. While he loves to run he isn’t the fastest dog around. He is built more for sturdiness than for speed. I love watching him run happily in the back yard.

WWII Pearl Harbor Story

I came across this video and article this morning and had to share it. Ten Fun Ways to Participate in Family History.