GLIMPSING THE FUTURE

The schedule remains similar each day with various activities scheduled around the constants of wake-up, feeding dogs and parking them, and meals for us.

Today we walked the Elm Street loop in the morning and again in the afternoon. According to my GPS in virtual mode, it is 1.3 miles, but estimates are that it is about a mile and a half.

We did much better with stopping at down ramps of streets, but today was the day for clearance issues. My nose was the first casualty. The initial pain was considerable, but there are no bruises, only tenderness. The new route affords many more obstacles to be negotiated. It is also a bit longer than the Maple-South Street Loop. I think we will be ready for the solo walk on the Elm Street loop tomorrow as scheduled. The trainer will be following, but will not give the information along the way. We will be on our own unless there is a safety issue.

Besides the work in town, we had instructions and practice in giving our dogs massage. Puffin loved her part in this.

My trainer also worked again with me on her problems with the vacuum cleaner. He is using food to tempt her to get near it. We are to the stage where he is turning it on. Puffin is not impressed, but she does like the treats.

We also worked on clicker training to target our chairs in the dining room. Puffin is already good at locating my chair, but we will be moving again in a few days to sit in different places with others in our class. Then we will work on targeting the new location with the clicker.

Various staff members sit among us during lunch and, at our table today, we heard about a comprehensive renovation project scheduled for the dorm area. It is expected to begin in mid November of 2012. There will be no December class. The classes during the first months of 2013 will be held off campus until the dorm becomes available for occupancy again. It sounds like a very ambitious undertaking--much needed to bring the dorm into the new century. The current building was completed in 1964.