In the afternoon Kyle and I went to go see the Morris Frank statue. I have never seen such a realistic statue before. Even the textures will remarkable. The harness felt like a harness. The leash even felt somewhat like it also. The face and the rest of the statue was very cool to touch. We took some pictures of us there (I hope I can get them from Kyle).
We then went for some snacks with the rest of the soon to be graduates of our class. I got some fries and a drink. We spent quite a bit of time there and really enjoyed ourselves.
We got back to the school at around 3:00 and I began the last minute activities of packing. I showered, finished up the laundry, fed Rory her two thirds of a cup of food (slightly less then she normally eats), went down to have the Seeing Eye print out my boarding pass and paid for my bag for the flight and packed the USB keyboard into the suitcase. Everything fit. Shannon weighed the bag and it weighed 51.5 pounds. I was sweating it when we got to the airport. Thank goodness it weighed 47.5 there. The costs for taking luggage on the plane is getting crazy.
After 8:00 PARC time I went upstairs for a while and hung out with Shannon, Kyle and Kim. I finally left at about 9:30 and decided to check email for the final time and packed the laptop. I laid down listening to some OTR and fell asleep. I only got about 2 or 3 hours of sleep though. I kept waking up and checking the clock. I finally decided that enough was enough and started getting ready to leave at 2:30. Shannon wouldn’t call me until 3:30 but what the heck. I finished getting the last minute stuff into the laptop bag (Shannon took the big suitcase already to the front door prior in the evening). I then took the laptop bag to the front door but had to make three or four more trips putting stuff into it ;).
Shannon called as I was walking back to my room so I called her back. I took Rory out to PARC and she peed. I came back in and we did her ear (cleaning and medicine). I then went back to my room and waited for 4:15 to take her out again to she if she would finish her PARC schedule. With a bit of assistance from Shannon the mission was accomplished. I went in and sat on the couch in the front area of the Seeing Eye and waited for Jim to arrive.
Jim picked me up at 4:45 and off we went. We got there and I went to use the bathroom before we went through security and Jim went and parked the car.
Security went fine and so off to the gate we went. We sat for about 30 minutes and talked. Jim also wanted to play with the iPod Touch for a few minutes.
I got onto the plane and I think I have decided that I liked where I was seated. I had a who aisle to myself so Rory sat on the floor by the window seat and I sat in the middle and my technology sat on the left seat ;). I watched Star Trek episodes, listened to ABBA and the Beatles on the plane and the time went quickly.
I then took the Arizona Shuttle back to Tucson. The flight was very uneventful. Rory did awesome.
Keri met me after I got off of the shuttle and poor Rory started dancing as we got off of the bus due to the heat. Her boodies were packed in the suitcase and her harness also got messed up a bit so it was a bit of a challenge getting her to the car.
We got home and introduced her to the house, our cat and to her crate. The rest of the day went well. Later on in the evening Keri and me went to CVS to pick up some medications and Rory worked great in the store. We then went home and I fed and PARC’d Rory. It was then time for us humans to eat so we did that and I started to get sleepy.
I attempted to get my email read but we had major issues with Office so I sent Brian on a mission to get it fixed. Things are now working fine and I went to bed around 6:30 or so. Keri was up for a while longer (until 8:30). Rory slept through the night well and I got up at 5:00 this morning and got ready for the day. I fed her and took her out to PARC. She did awesome! I then came back in and did her ear and got ready to take the bus to work.
I am now sitting in the office as I write this and Rory is sleeping next to me on her dog bed. We will be leaving soon before it gets to hot.
More later and thanks everyone for reading the blog.
Have followed your training with great interest and would love to hear more about how you and Rory get on in the future. Wishing you all the best. Jay, from Australia
Congratulations on completing training at TSE. May you and Rory have many happy years of partnership together.