It's Friday again! I thought I would show some working pictures of Sophie today.
As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group is for us to check in at to let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, or other such things that could keep us off DKos. It's also so we can find other Kossacks nearby for in-person checks when other methods of communication fail - a buddy system. Members come here to check in. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, etc.), we and your buddy are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care!
We have split up the publishing duties, but we welcome everyone in IAN to do daily diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news!
Ok, we have a (mostly) finished diary schedule. If you would like to fill in, either post in thread or send FloridaSNMom a Kosmail with the date. If you need someone to fill in, ditto. FSNMom is here on and off through the day usually from around 9:30 or 10 am eastern to around 11 pm eastern.
Monday: BadKitties
Tuesday: bigjacbigjacbigjac
Wednesday: Caedy
Thursday: weck
Friday: FloridaSNMOM
Saturday:broths
Sunday: loggersbrat
If you'd like to be part of the Itzl Alert Network, please leave a comment asking to join, or send us a message asking to join. We'd love to have you. The bigger our network, the less likely someone will be stranded all alone.
This is a community Diary whose purpose is well stated. Trolls will not be tolerated. They will be eaten, fed to the 3 Billy Goats Gruff, or referred to the Wild Hunt depending on the taste of the Diarist. If you don't like community diaries or the subject matter, don't read it. Thank you.
I wanted to get a couple at the grocery store, but Caedy was in pain and Bit was tired and hot from the walk down and kept running the wheelchair into the back of Caedy's legs by accident, so we didn't get those.
Here's one of Sophie at home while we were getting ready to go out. She's sitting in the walker basket. This is her "hurry up guys, I'm ready to go" look. She LOVES going out. If you tell her we're going "bye bye" she perks right up and runs to the walker where her harness is stored.
We stopped at Hardees for breakfast along the way. With coupons we fed three of us for $9, so not too bad! Sophie loves going out to eat because we always share little bits with her. This morning: Bacon!!!
Then we went to Winn Dixie for groceries and took a cab home because it was WAY too hot outside and I wasn't breathing my best. Sophie wasn't pleased. When we got home, we practiced her retrieval, with Morgaine watching so she could learn too. Here I was holding up the inhaler to make sure Morgaine was paying attention. Sophie jumps and runs to see any time I drop anything.
Then Sophie jumps down to get the inhaler after it's dropped. We tried to take pics of this, but it was just too motion blurred to be useful. But here she is getting ready to give me the inhaler. We have two separate commands: "Get it." followed by "Bring it."
Then she puts it right into my hand. At least 9 times out of 10. Sometimes she'll drop it early and it will end up on the floor, then we'll "get it" and "bring it" again. But she's improved a lot over the last 8 months.
In this case, it went right into my hand. And she got her pets and her treat. Yay for Sophie! Morgaine was watching the whole thing carefully from the Steps of DOOM (tm) on the other side of me. She got the next one, but she dropped it at my feet instead of in my hand. Still, good start! At least this time she didn't run off with it.
We train for several 5-15 minute sessions a day. And then there's the times I'm a clutz and drop something and she runs to get it for me. When we practice we use an empty inhaler, or an empty pill bottle. That way if she does (or Morgaine does) go and chews on it they don't damage anything or themselves.