Category Archives: My Life

FrontRunner Ride

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Waiting on the platform for the return trip – Bill & Casey

For puppy class this week we road the FrontRunner commuter train from Salt Lake City to Layton and back. One of the puppy raiser’s husband works for UTA and made arrangements for free passes. Casey has been on the train before when we did they same thing for puppy class last winter. Waffle did good too. I thought she might have trouble with getting on the train and going over the gap but she handled everything just fine. I did quite a bit of food rewards as we walked around by the trains and buses just to make sure she kept moving along and didn’t get into her “I don’t want to move” mode. All the dogs seemed to handle things very well.

This was Waffle’s last puppy class as part of our club. Friday she will be transferred to a high school student. It was also Cobb’s last class. He is going to Colorado for our CFR to evaluate him. Lindsey thinks he doesn’t have what it takes to be a guide dog and so Barb will be decided whether to career change him or send him back for training on the October 15th puppy truck. Just one more puppy meeting for Casey, Radison and Kasha. Boy lots of big changes are coming to our club in the next few weeks.

Casey & Waffle Farewell Party

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Invite for Waffle’s & Casey’s Farewell Party

We have the tradition to have a Farewell Party the Sunday before each of our puppies gets on the truck. Since Waffle is transferring to the high school program on Saturday and Casey gets on the truck a couple of weeks after that we decided to combine the two parties together. It is just a relaxed fun time where friends, family and especially kids from the neighborhood and play with the pups and see them in their home environment. We had a card to sign for each of the girls. Usually we have a guess the puppy name contest but since we don’t know what letter of puppy we are getting yet we had a vote for your favorite photo contest. We have an official puppy portrait wall and I had narrowed Waffle’s photo down to four and thought it would be fun for people to vote on which one they liked best. We had an obvious winner. So I uploaded it here because I didn’t get any photos take at the party.

winning Waffle portrait – taken by Lisa Thompson

Now I need to get this photo prepared to take to Pixels and have a canvas made for our wall. I don’t think I can get it back before she leaves but hopefully it won’t take too long to get done. Waffle is finally big enough to wear her big girl collar. The other pups have been able to wear it at 6 months but Waffle has such a skinny head that it could easily slip off. Our little girl is getting all grown-up and ready to leave the nest. Friday is going to come really fast I’m afraid. I wonder if it will be harder to had a puppy off to another raiser than it is to put them on the puppy truck back to Guide Dogs for the Blind.

Construction Day 2

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With Bill’s help we got the structure of the tree all put together. Yeah! We ran into a few snags but we go through them all. First Bill couldn’t fine his jig saw so we had to cut the plywood base by hand. I had to make three trips to Lowes to get things. First the plug I got for the end of the pvc pipe didn’t fit inside the pipe because it was the same side. So I went to find the right size. I couldn’t see one so I got a coupler and that fixed that problem. Next the 1″ bolt I got was too short. By the time we got all the layers – metal plate, washer, plywood, pvc plug and two more washers there wasn’t any bolt at all to put the nut on. So I went and picked up a 2″ bolt. After we got the support system all assembled we started gluing together all the Styrofoam tree parts. Then we ran out of liquid nail on the last big piece to stick together. So I made one last trip to Lowes.

assembled tree structure

 It feel so good to have this phase of construction done. Bill is happy with how the support system worked out too. Now I should be able to do the rest of the project without any help from Bill. Next week I want to get the tree to its final shape, insert the Christmas lights and paint the structure. If possible I’d also like to rough in the large objects that go under the tree.

Two Years Ago Today

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Beautiful Banta on the fresh green grass
It was two years ago today that we first met Banta. She came off the puppy truck with lots of attitude, ready to go out and explore the whole world. Though she was a challenge at times, there was a moment in those first couple of weeks that I saw a glimpse of the dog she could grow up to be. We so enjoyed her wonderful spirit and we know that you do to. Just wanted to let you know that we are thinking about the two of you especially on this day. I sent an email to her handler in honor of this day and here is some of what he said about Banta:
She still has the attitude that she probably had coming of the puppy truck. Boy, I am finding out how stubborn she can be. Now most of our challenges have to do with her stubbornness, and what I call retaliation for going where she may not want to go. For example, if she does not want to walk to the grocery store, she will make it a long, slow, and miserable walk. When she wants to work she is a star.  She is very destination oriented, which is good and bad. If we are somewhere new she targets every door she sees. She still makes me laugh when she is happy and jumps off the curb and I can feel her bouncing up and down as she walks. She is a lot of fun to play with, but again only how and when she wants.
It is fun to get news of how she is doing. He really understands that sweet and spicy girl. I’m so glad for the good match they are for each other. They have been working together for about four months now. Time sure goes by fast these days.

Construction Day 1

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This afternoon I went to Lowes and purchased a 2″ x 4′ x 8′ sheet of Styrofoam, two tubes of liquid nails and some hardware to attach the tree to the base. This evening I spent about an hour and a half cutting the Styrofoam with a hand saw into tall triangles to form the structure of the tree. The largest triangles are 48″ tall and 24″ wide at the base. The next size was 40″ tall, then 32″ etc. until the last one was just 10″ tall. There are two triangles of each size plus one that is cut in half to fit around the pvc pipe that goes up the center of the tree for structural support. I glued the two halves of the tree together with liquid nails and bamboo skewers to help hold everything in place while it dries.

two halves of tree structure

Tomorrow I hope to get the base cut and assemble the tree structure the rest of the way. I hope to get Bill’s help on some of this because he is a much better engineer than I am and it is important that the structure is very sturdy. Things get heavier than you think when you get all that candy glued on.
I actually enjoyed the process. It has been 3 years since I made a candy creation on this kind of scale.

Sorting Candy

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Yesterday I met with Kathryn and picked up the candy that she had. She doesn’t know what happened to the turntables but she doesn’t have them. So yesterday I looked on line for turntables and came to the conclusion that I just don’t have the budget for one. I could get one without an outlet but then I couldn’t have light on my tree and I really want that. It is probably better this way because it really simplifies the construction phase.

I spent a bunch of time today sorting through all the candy. I threw out a bunch that is just too hard to work with or all stuck together etc. I’ve got all the same color candy together in boxes. It was kind of fun to be sorting candy again. This year really is a test to see if I seriously want to get back into doing candy windows again or if I’m really done. So far it seems positive. Now the boxes of candy are all neatly stacked under the table in the storage room downstairs. I think I might make that my main workspace. For sure it will be were I put things when I’m not in the middle of working on it.

I’ve decided on the green candy for the tree, the green licorice pastilles that I posted about before. But I think I’ll wait to order them until I get the check from South Jordan. I’m a little anxious to get the supplies to build the structure. Not sure when that will get fit in. And Bill told me this morning that he might need to go to Seattle next week. I think I only have about eight weeks to get this thing put together. Yeaks!

Waffle Gets Fixed

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Waffle getting snuggles from Bill at the vet

Today was the day that Waffle was scheduled to get spayed. Last night she got home from the puppy swap and seemed extra thirsty. She went into the bathroom and drank out of the toilet which she has never done before. So we gave her some extra water. She wasn’t suppose to eat or drink after midnight. I meant to make sure the toilet lid was down if this was a new trend she wouldn’t have access to it this morning. But somehow I forgot. And she went straight to the toilet this morning and snuck in about 3 laps. I was sure we would have to reschedule her surgery but they said it would be fine. When I was unpacking her bag from the puppy swap we figured out why she was so intent on getting water. It appears that she didn’t get fed before she was return last night from the puppy swap and we didn’t realize it. Because there was a baggie with one of her meals in it. Poor Waffle. Her tummy was so empty and she wanted to fill it with something so she went after water. I felt so bad because we couldn’t feed her breakfast because of the surgery.

Bill took her to Cottonwood Animal Hospital on his way to work. It took awhile because there were so many other dogs waiting to check in too. This afternoon Dr. Porter called and said that everything went well. I was glad to hear that. Then this evening the three of us (me, Bill and Casey) went to visit Waffle. She was a little groggy but she was happy to see us and went spent about a half an hour or so give her loves and cuddles. The labradoddle in the next kennel wanted some attention too but I couldn’t do much for him through the door of the kennel. Casey didn’t like it if I gave Waffle too much attention so Bill did most of the real cuddling with Waffle. Finally we put Waffle back in the kennel and headed home. Waffle was not happy about being left behind and made her feelings known. We get to pick her up anytime after 10 a.m. tomorrow and she will hang out with Bill at work because I need to go to Provo tomorrow and have other errands to run.

Four Blabs (Black Labs)

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Radison, Clifford, Casey and Hallie on the deck

Today we had four black labs at our house for a few hours. In addition to Radison and Hallie we have been puppy sitting Clifford while the Johnson’s are out of town for a few days. Then we added Casey. She has switched to Lisa’s house for last half of the swap. Lisa has been wanting to take Casey one last time before she goes back and Lindsey is really busy and having two dogs means that one of them has to be home in the kennel for extended periods of time. So it works out perfect. But Lisa was going to the temple with her family today and that is the one place that she can’t take Casey with her. So she dropped her off here. It was fun to see one of our little girls for a few hours. It was also fun to have four crazy black labs all in the same place.

Waffle

We got news about Waffle’s future today. The rumor had been going around that she wouldn’t be transferred to the high school program until the next puppy truck could bring the school dogs from Colorado in the middle of October. But we got word today that no the transfer will happen on September 30th. That is less than two weeks away. The morning after Waffle gets back from the puppy swap she is going in to be spayed. The recovery is 5 to 10 days. Then it will only be a few days after that until she will be transferred. Wow that is going to come fast.

Update on Apex’s Surgery

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Apex in All his Glory in the middle of the bed

We got this email on how Apex’s surgery went today:

The vet called and she is done with surgery today.  She removed a melonballer sized of muscle from his leg.  The pathology report will be what tells us if she got it all or if it was encapsulated or not.  If not- we will go back to surgery on Tuesday if need be.  For now – I am going to get him and take him home.  He will be on pain meds for the weekend so he should rest and heal.  I have a to-do list that I can tackle while I am home with him.
I will let you all know more when I get home from the vets on Tuesday night.
Thanks for the prayers !

Apex is having Surgery

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Apex hanging out at the hospital with Sue and her dad

We got some shocking news from Sue about Apex today. He is having surgery on Friday. On Wednesday night she took him to the vet because she thought he might have an ear infection. Well her vet is very careful with Apex and so she checked him over carefully while he was there and she found a “wart” on his knee that she didn’t like the “feel” of. So she tested it and found it to be a cancerous lesion with a wide base.

So he goes is at 7 a.m. tomorrow morning to have it removed and hopefully get a good clean margin. They took a sample yesterday and it came back as a “stranded” irregular cell structure (aka: fast growing tentacle style cancer). They have a specialist coming in from University of Florida tonight to check him over and be there for the surgery tomorrow. I know he is the best of hands.

Poor Sue. Her dad’s funeral was just a couple of weeks ago after a couple of months of being with him day and night at the hospital or care center. She is emotionally already stretched and to have this on top of it has got to be so hard. I’m am reeling from this myself. It brings back so many of the emotions of when Shadow our pet dog was diagnosed with cancer, also a fast growing type. Sue has asked us to pray for them including the vet who is also a christian and welcomes the help. I’ve decided to fast for the next 24 hours. I don’t want this to be the end of Apex’s career. But it would be better for him to loose his leg than for him to loose his life so young. He is only three years old. That is way to young.