On being a PAT dog

Paddy here, just to give you an update on the little white thing and his therapping.

Yesterday, Jenny took him to meet the area co-ordinator, who was taking them both on one of her visits to a nursing home. 

They were away ALL afternoon and skipped off at lunchtime without so much as a backward glance. It's lucky for me that Keith was still here, although he was outside most of the time playing some game arranging bricks in the front garden. All beyond me, but I expect Jenny will get round to telling you about it some time soon. 

Of course, when they finally did come back, Jake's head was bigger than ever. (I really am going to have to take him in hand and remind him who's boss!) He was strutting around telling me about how the people at the nursing home had thought he was absolutely wonderful and one old lady had wanted to keep him! Unfortunately, he didn't give me her name so that I could contact her and say, "She's all yours, Missis!"

Mind you, he did seem quite tired and spent most of the evening asleep. Jenny said that the lady who took them had a black labrador called Bill and, when he was not being fussed over, Jake spent most of his time with his nose 'in close proximity with Bill's posterior.'

Of course, being only a humble dog, I have no idea what that means, but I get the feeling it's not something to boast about...

Says it so well

Stolen unashamedly from a status on my Canadian friend, Dale's Facebook page.

Good, eh?

Failed again!

A few weeks ago, Jenny decided that it would be nice if she could take us to visit residential homes or special school, or even the local hospital so that elderly or ill people or children could have the chance to spend some time with us. Apparently, a lot of research has been done which has shown that contact with animals, nice ones, of course, can be very beneficial to people's health. Well, they didn't need to do research to discover that; I could have told them long ago if they'd only thought to ask.

Anyway, to get back to the subject in hand, she contacted a charity called Pets as Therapy and booked Jake and myself in for an assessment. Well, I suppose she had to include the little 'un. Wouldn't want him to feel left out, but we all knew how this was going to end, right? I was going to be welcomed with open arms.
Unfortunately, the lady who assessed us was obviously having an off day and was less than receptive to my charms. Well, I can't think of any other reason why the white idiot should pass and I should fail! Something about 'pulling on the lead' - just an excuse, if you ask me and of course, little Fatty has been trotting around with a head twice the size of normal, crowing about how he would soon be 'off to therap people!'
My attitude is, if they don't want me, that's up to them, but they don't know what they're missing. The letter did say something about trying again in six months, but I don't know if I shall bother, you know.
It's just SOOOO unfair!

Now that's clever!

Sent to me by a friend. It is Dutch but don't worry, there is no need for words!

HS2 - What a good idea!

If you feel emotional about the recent fiasco regarding the government's insane determination to spend £33  billion on HS2, watch this. It may cheer you up or ...
it may make you feel even worse!

(Link courtesy of The Telegraph, for which, much thanks.)

The minutiae of daily life

OK, I know I have been neglecting this blog for a while now, but I've been doing things, you know, and it is a recognised scientific fact that, as one gets older, time goes more quickly, so while it might be two weeks since my last post, to me it seems like only two days. Well, that's my excuse anyway.

So, during the last few weeks, while I have been neglecting the blog, the dogs have been walked, the shopping and housework done and life has meandered on. Welsh lessons have started again (good) and autumn has arrived in all its damp greyness to take the place of the summer that never was (not good). No magnificent Indian summer for us this year, then.
As clients for counselling continue to be rather conspicuous by their absence, I have cast around for other useful things to do and have come up with Pets as Therapy. The idea is for people to take their dogs, and in some cases cats, into old people's homes, special schools and sometimes hospitals, to provide contact and stimulation to the inhabitants. There have been studies which have concluded that contact with animals can help lower blood pressure and be beneficial for those suffering from depression and dementia. So, in a few weeks, Paddy and Jake could be hard at it therupping any poor unfortunates that we happen to descend on. Now, isn't that a thought to dwell on!
Then I decided that perhaps I would like to be a 'lady who wheels the sweets and newspapers trolley round hospital wards' and I applied forthwith. You see, I am going to great lengths to keep myself out of trouble. Within a week, I was invited to the local hospital for what I thought would be a brief interview.
"Just put your coat and bag over here," said the man, when I arrived.
"Oh, I didn't think I was coming to work straight away," I said.
"Oh, I thought you were," he said.
The upshot of this brief conversation was that I did the shift with a very nice lady and, by the time I had finished, the man was gone, so I left my phone number for him to contact me.
But he didn't, so that one's on the back burner for now.
But in between, I have been spending many hours researching how to root a tablet and flash a phone, both of which I have now done. Clever, eh?
And so much more interesting than the housework.

A green environment

An interesting video. It's a bit lengthy but, stick with it. It's worth watching.

"This is a spectacular example of sustainable living architecture that will live grow for generations.

In Meghalaya, Northeast India, the rivers during the monsoon season are wild, unpredictable and impossible to cross.

But the people there have created a beautiful solution: bridges made of roots that last for hundreds of years and will survive any deluge! These living bridges are part of a network connecting the valleys of Meghalaya.

In this visually stunning video, a man teaches his niece to care for a living bridge, which he started with a simple fig tree 30 years ago. He shows her how to coax the roots to the other side where they will take root.

No man can complete this task in his lifetime, so they must teach the young, who will teach their young. This living bridge will grow for 500 years.

What will it take for us in the West to begin to incorporate this level of imagination, resourcefulness, working with nature...and thinking 500 years down the road?

-Bibi Farber"