Okay, I haven't blogged here in a while, although I've blogged about my cooking efforts and about my foster dog.
I have yarn I haven't photographed, but I need to sort it, wind it, enter some of it on Ravelry--and I can't stop long enough to do it because I've got lots of knitting to get done. I'm still working on the baby blanket, I have a cousin expecting a baby in November, I have hats for charity to do, dog stuff (also for charity), and Christmas stuff. And I have to work and earn a living (sorta). And SEGA has had meet and greets at the Marietta Farmer's Market in the Square nearly every Saturday. This coming Saturday is the all-day Harvest Square, and Silver and I will be hosting SEGA's booth from 1 to 3.
And, because things weren't nearly hectic enough at this time of year, I've started getting the ball rolling for Silver to be a therapy dog.
Actually, we'll be a therapy team, Silver and me. It'll be my job to watch out for her--make sure nothing frightens her or hurts her while she's working. What we want to do is the R.E.A.D. program--where kids too self-conscious to read to adults read to dogs instead. There's an evaluation she has to do (this next Saturday, I think), then three visits that have to be observed (two to medical facilities like an assisted living home). At that point, she and I will have liability coverage with Therapy Dogs, Inc. Then I have an all-day seminar on the R.E.A.D. program (November 2), and we have to make a couple of supervised library visits. If all that goes well, we'll be working for the CAREing Paws group. In addition to hospice/hospital/nursing home visits and the reading program, CAREing Paws teams do stress-relief sessions at colleges at exam time, and other special requests.
Since some of our visits will be to an assisted living location, where patients might have breathing issues, therapy dogs need frequent baths to get rid of loose hair and dandruff. Silver got a bath at a do-it-yourself dog wash place that's nearby. We'll be going there once a month.
When you do the R.E.A.D. program, you look for things you can give the children as souvenirs: a bookmark, a sticker--something with a photo of your reading dog. Lisa Poole, who's a therapy dog partner with a couple of her own dogs, snapped some lovely photos I can use for Silver's souvenirs.
