a quiet place

There is a beautiful pathway on the NEADS campus... the pictures will tell the story.

"T&T"

Before heading over to NEADS for a day of "T&T" (training and turn in).. Chester just had to pose for a picture in the lobby of the hotel that we stayed in (and where the graduation was held). Pretty spiffy place if you ask us!!!! And it's such an honor that a place like this is "dog friendly" so many places aren't.









Nice breakfast with Kathleen, Teena and Linda (and pups) and we were headed for the campus.












While we were waiting for Dave, it was a great time to get a couple of shots. Here is Chester puppy and I... the campus is so pretty.












And a good picture of Kathleen and Kelly... this is the last day that they will spend together....












Before heading into the city, Dave thought it would be good for Chester and Kelly to have some work with a wheel chair lift. So, he pulled out the NEADS van, and we played with the lift for a while. Both puppies did really well. Course there isn't any way to know just yet, as they will ever need to be using this type of equipment, but all exposures during training time can be useful.





We went back to the hospital where we had worked last time. Played with revolving doors, worked the "under" command with benches... did down stays outside of the elevators while people walked on and off them....










And, of course, had several rides on the elevators themselves. Chester seems pretty comfortable with all of this sort of thing (actually he was getting quite tired and I think he appreciated being able to "just sit")....









After our time in the city, it was back to campus.. and a bitter sweet time. Today was "turn in day" for Kelly. I like the term "turn in"... as "turn into a service dog"... Miss Kelly is heading onto advance training. Here Kathleen and Kelly have a few quite moments together.....














And then she is handed off to Dave... with certainly some encouraging words from Kathleen. (good girl Kelly... you can do it!!!)

In case I haven't told you before.. Kelly was (is) the 13th service puppy that Kathleen has raised.. as she has told me, it's her "mission in life", and though it's always a little hard to let them go, it's knowing where they are heading that makes it so worth while. Needless to say, Kathleen is waiting for her next "project".....

And as we head for home, I can't help but think that Chester's day is just on the horizon.....

NEADS summer graduation

So while I know that I should be working super crazy on the house, I must confess that I "stole" 24 hours, and Chester and I left to attend the summer graduation at NEADS. Not only did I want to go, but we HAD to go.. for a couple of very important reasons.....


I keep telling Chester "it's all about the RED vest".. a "red vest" is a graduate... "in training" wear blue vests, but graduates wear red!! There were LOTS of red vests on graduation day... some were new, but many were "older"....









One of the guest speakers at this graduation was a NEADS alumni. Her speech was so wonderful, and if I hadn't been sobbing so much, I might have heard all of it and truly enjoyed it (don't misunderstand that.. I did truly enjoy it). The one part that really got me was when she talked about the first night that she had been paired with her dog. She was so very tired from the day's activities, that she decided to call it an early night and went to her room. As she was trying to unpack some clothes, her suit case fell to the floor and her belongings went everywhere. Tired, far from home, not too sure of herself or even how to handle this "new dog" she "fell apart". As she sat there crying and not knowing where to begin... "this beautiful black lab approached her with a pair of socks in his mouth and asked... aren't we going to pick this mess up?" And so began the bonding of the two. Now, this dog is a major part of her life and because of him, her independence. So, ask me again "how am I going to give up Chester?"... meet this lady, and then I will tell you.... "peacefully"... I will give Chester up--- peacefully.

And if that wasn't enough... look who has her dog now. Remember back in March, when the puppy raisers attended a benefit for Deb who was anxiously waiting for her hearing dog... well.. she was matched with Rusty, and they graduated!!!

Deb was so happy to see us Maine puppy raisers, and we were there to cheer her on!!! She has only had Rusty for about a month, but already the changes he has made in her life are amazing. Rusty, by the way, is a shelter dog!!! NEADS often uses dogs from the local shelters and trains them for hearing dogs!!! I look forwad to meeting up with Deb again and keeping track on her progress with her new companion.

AND if that wasn't already enough... five dogs were placed with veterans.. which, I must be honest, is the nearest and dearest to my heart.

Gentlemen who was with the US Air Force and lost his leg. (this guy was so funny, what a great sense of humor!!!) He would be a great alumni to come and speak at one of the graduations....

And a young Marine, who's hum-vee was hit.

He admitted that he is still sorting out a number of things, but not only did he graduate with his wonderful dog, he also announced that he and his wife are expecting their first child.

After graduation, I had a nice dinner out with my puppy raiser friends, we spent the night and the next day was a training day with Dave. It was also Kelly's "turn in day"... and time for Kathleen to bid best wishes for yet another puppy that she has raised... but that, dear reader is another blog.

what's next

"What's next?" seems to be my question of the day these past few days. We are trying to get a list in "propriety" order and get the most important things done.. trouble is, everything needs to be done and it's all " important"!!! But for me, are the cabinets to be done first, or should I finish the upstairs bathroom and hallway... or should the windows get done??? I just don't know... but painting is "my life" and I just chug along as best I can!!!





Brother-in-law John to the rescue!!! Ed wasn't too certain how the stairs needed to go together, stairs are tricky things. So, we gave John a call (he has stair experience) and up he came to give us a hand in figuring this stair thing out. He has even volunteered to help which is so huge for us right now (THANKS a million JOHN!!!) Here Ed and John work on figuring the posts and what will soon be the railings.....














They took up the "floor" in the hallway... didn't think I would see this again!!!, but it gives them a good solid base to work off. Next week, there will be wooden floors over this sub floor, so if it needs to come up.. now's the time. I am excited about the railings, this "open" hallway gives me the creeps and I have to be very brave to walk here!!!!





The kitchen is really pulling together. Another good thing, because we need these cabinets out of the way for when the floor folk come next week. I have almost all the kitchen cabinets primed now, and think I have decided on a "color" for them.

Just bring a few appliances... get the finish painting done, and we will be in business here....

The "island" still needs to go in, and we'll need counter tops and a sink, but overall.. this project is going very well. "supper anyone??"

explosion!!

It's Thursday morning, near 8:00 am, I should be off to "work" and not "playing here" on my blog, but I just needed to show off what we have done in the past 48 hours!!! As I pretty much figured, it seemed as though we went "days without much happening" and now as the ending projects arise, they are all happening at once, and we hardly have a chance to catch our breaths. I was SO excited when the cabinets arrived.. we brought them into the house, and they were "everywhere". Next project was to get them primed and ready to hang... THEN a call comes in from the floor folks.. they want to deliver the flooring!!!

Fine.. except, we have cabinets everywhere... where will this flooring go. So.. nothing doing, Ed says, we need to get the kitchen tiling done, so we can get the cabinets in place. Quick.. decide a on a tile, get the tile... get to work. Ed started the tiling Tuesday afternoon. I helped where I could, but since I had dog classes to teach, I had to leave.

I got home around 9:00 pm to find my dear hubby still on the floor, tiling. With me not there, he had to do it all... measuring, cutting, gluing, laying out the pattern... and as we found out, this really isn't a one man job. I of course, stayed, and together we finished it up around 11:00 pm. Long day, but when we saw the finished project.. it was well worth it. I am now priming like mad and getting those cabinets ready to go up into place.

And, as promised, here is the new floor. It sits in the sewing room for the moment. (there is no other place for it).. did you know that these types of floors have to "live in the new environment for at least a week?".. I guess the floor needs time to adjust to the humidity of the new place, so the floor will sit here and just breath. But actually this week is what we need!!! We'll have to have things in place (cabinets up and house cleared out) for when the guys come to do this.

Look who gets the honors here...

Miss Abbie has the title of "first person to walk on the new floor" (she looks pretty happy about that)

THEN... who calls next.. the appliance folk.. wanting to know if we might be ready for delivery. Sure... why not? So up pulls the big truck and two guys begin to unload all kinds of goodies.

The washer and dryer will be upstairs int he "master bath" (no more running to the basement for me!!!) We asked if they would haul them up the stairs, even though we are not ready to install them just yet, they are at least where they need to be.. and we don't have to lug them.

Ed checking out the double oven. I CANT wait to bake again.. haven't' done that in the past 19 months (who has had time).. I love to bake and this new oven, well I can't wait. Think all my friends and family better get ready to pack on a few pounds when I get going!!!!

It's a little hard to think all this "mess" will be transformed into a real home in less than a month!!! well, that is if I get moving here...

so.. off I go... it's really happening!!!!

Memorial Day

Today we celebrated Memorial Day.. a weekend that typically means "three days off from work".. but ever since our son in law, Nate, having served with the Marine Corps for four years... my view of Memorial Day is very clear. We also know several young men and women who are currently serving our country.. and I am very grateful to them and the ones before and the ones to come... thank you just seems so small compared to what they do for us... but I sincerely mean it.










And so Miss Abbie, we bring you to your first parade, and though this is a celebration today, I can assure you that your "Grandmother" is going to teach you what this holiday is all about. And how blessed you are that you were born here in the United States!!!!








Before the parade, we had a tail gate party of sorts... coffee and donuts!!! The day was just beautiful and this was a great way to start it out...










The honor guard opened the parade... it was "interesting" to see how many people paid their respect when the flag went by. I did see a few hats removed, hands placed over the heart.. and some even stood up from chairs... but not as many as should have. Maybe people don't know what the "rules" are anymore.. and that's a shame... but, you teach by example, so I made sure that I was paying attention when the colors passed by.




This was also a good opportunity for Chester to do some training. He was quite interested at first, but by the time the parade was about half over, he just sat and watched. No big deal......










After the parade, the kids came back to the camp for a cookout and a swim. Nate helped Ed get all the lawns mowed (THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!). Everything looked so nice and neat at the end of the day.












Charlie keeping a careful watch on his Mom and baby Abbie.....













tired little girl.. it was long and exciting day....











We then went down to the farm. Ed had asked the boys if they would help him move the cabinets in. Both Nate and Tom were a great help and got them all inside for us. Now I can begin to paint them and get them ready to be installed..










Ed did a rough lay out, and this certainly gives me a good idea of what my kitchen is going to look like (so exciting!!!). Tomorrow we plan to get the tile put down in the kitchen area, and as I already said... it will be a big week of painting for me... but it's getting close~~~~





And it's because people chose and served our country.. and keep us "free", I get to enjoy things like building a new home, and living in the place that I chose... and though it does seem "small".. I truly say THANK YOU to our wonderful "service people" and God Bless America!!!!