We did it!



Gracie on her school rug working





A few little kisses;
doggone good too :-)

Fall semester is over; it's a wrap!  What a semester!  What a dog!  With five classes (18 credits), keeping to my code of quickly returning student work graded and commented on  has been a challenge.  I do try to keep my comments on student papers pleasant but guess I was not always successful there as one student suggested I include smileys with my comments to help students better guess my mood ( : /  :)  : 0 ).  Having Gracie as a constant companion has certainly improved my mood--no smileys needed there.  Not only is she a calm presence, but she insists on a walk or change of scene that I might otherwise not indulge myself in taking.  For example, though I love the Woodduck Trail on the Century College campus, I might have walked it once this fall instead of the many times Gracie and I walked it.  Had she not stood up to look out the car window with her tail wagging each time we turned into the campus parking lot, I might not have approached the days with as much enthsiasm.  Had she not been with me for the last class of each of my on campus courses--the other three being online--saying good-bye to the students might not have been as much fun.  Without Gracie, I could not have brought Hershey's kisses for our last meeting and called them "a few little kisses from Gracie."  Without those kisses, they might not have lined up to give her a good-bye pat.  Had Gracie not been with me at the duty day potluck lunch and long, long, long department meeting, my colleagues would not have thrown smiles my way--directed at Gracie but deflected in my direction.  I must admit that Gracie has more patience during long meetings than I have.  Of course, I can't take credit for her wonderful personality--she gets the credit for that--nor can I take credit for the training that Gracie takes seriously.  I have to give that credit to IHDI.  As Bruce tells me, I'm lucky.  Gracie is the perfect dog for me.  She is.  I hope Gracie thinks she's lucky too. 



The First Semester of "Dog-in-Tow" Draws to a Close

This is Week 16 of the community college where I am currently employed's 16 week semester.  As I write, Gracie dozes deliciously on the bed behind me.  I have a gazzilion papers to grade--the catch 22 of teaching English composition at a community college; otherwise, I would be taking a snooze with her.

Gracie has been a great ally this semester.  Except for occassionally barking at intruders who suddenly appear at the threshold of our office cave, Gracie has been a model of self-control and easy-going companionship.  Without question, Gracie has improved the quality of my life.  Though some in the English Department persist in asking what she does for me and then not listening to what I say, most have quietly accepted having her around.  Most students seem delighted.  Gracie attracts lots of smiles as she saunters down the hall.  Those students who have been less than delighted I suspect of having had bad experiences with dogs in their countries of origin.  I do not press the point with them.

Once the finals have been delivered and scored, Gracie and my biggest worry will be how to snowshoe and maybe even ski without poles (as I am sure she will not like poles because of her aversion to any stick-like tool whether motorized or not: rakes, brooms, vacuums, etc.).  I am counting on our mutual love of snow--my gliding over it and her sticking her nose in it--to see us through.

Well, back to those papers.  Some of them are really pretty good, which I am taking as a sign that maybe, just maybe, America is not going to hell in a handbasket after all.

Winter Arrives!

I am not sure why the first snowfall of the season is so surprising.  It is, though.  Yesterday, well into November with less than a week to go until Thanksgiving, we had our first snow. That shouldn't have been so surprising, but it was. First it was sleet; then slowly it turned into snow and began to accumulate.  We had errands to run and would have done them sooner had I not had a morning Webinar with my composition 2 online class which is currently engaged in writing a longer paper using both primary and secondary sources.  I'm not sure who is more challenged by this: the students who have to write the paper or me who has to guide them through the process to ultimately leave them feeling successful and empowered.  Anyway, when I finished with their Webinar, I felt I had to also review their working bibliographies to make sure they were on the right track documenting their source material.  As usual, some were and some were not.  It was the "were nots" that made the task take until almost noon.  At almost noon winter arrived.

We set out on our errands shortly after twelve, flakes falling and wind howling.  I cavalierly thought we would hit the pet store first to stock up on dog food.  As soon as we reached the entrance ramp to the highway, however, I realized that we had set out at about the same time as the other 90% of the city set out.  The highway was more congested than it is on either end of rush hour during the working week.  "Is everyone crazy?" I made the mistake of saying out loud and realizing as I did that I was one of "them" as the 12 angry jurors say with such emphasis in the film I'd just watched with my campus based composition 1 class.   Our errands took longer and were more work that I had planned.  Gracie was her usual patient self through it all and amazingly seemed to get cleaner the more times she got in an out of the car--even her paws looked cleaner by the time we got back home than they had when we left.

I don't like driving in crowds on a slippery road, but I do like winter.  I do like snow.  So, leaving Bruce to unpack the groceries, Gracie and I grabbed a ball and headed for the park.  Though this had not been evident in the process of running errands--maybe because I wasn't paying attention--clearly Gracie LOVES snow as much or possibly more than I do!  She pranced.  She bounced.  She used her little black nose like a scoop and shoveled up blobs of snow with it that she then licked off with her tongue.  She shagged the purple tennis ball which quickly became white and eventually seemed to disappear.  Gracie tracked it down by running her nose through the snow like a snow plow.  She doesn't bring the ball back to me when she finds it or stops it.  Instead she stands over it waiting for me to come get it.  Sometimes I wonder who is giving whom exercise.

Today, we went back to play in the park some more.  Gracie's long toes and nails and her ability to spread her toes make her a great snow dog.  She is also fluffing out with a very thick but soft winter coat that seems to be water resistent.  She isn't too fond of any long object: brooms, shovels, carpet sweepers, etc.  I'm afraid she isn't going to like ski poles, so we may not be able to cross-country ski together.  However, she might enjoy snowshoeing with me.  Gracie just might be the perfect winter dog despite her small size!  So, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!

Bracing for Winter

Fabulous Fall!

Minnesotans (including Gracie and I) have been enjoying a protracted and unusually beautiful autumn.  We've seen frost on the grass only one morning so far.  Leaves have fallen, but the trees are still not completely bare despite more than a few extremely windy days.  I have been noticing that even the red oaks--often just a dried out brown around here in the fall--are a deep, rich red this year.  I love fall and wish it would last forever, particularly colorful ones like this with little rain, warm days, crisp nights.  Unfortunately, winter will come.  It could come any day now and come suddenly without warning.  Precedents exist for this.  Watching the activity in our neighborhood like the neighbor with the leaf blower (could it be a new one?) who seems to sit at his window waiting for a leaf to drop so he can dash out, gas up, and blow the thing into our yard or into the gutter along the street in front of our house attests to this as clearly as the squirrels madly burying nuts does.  Actually, the longer the weather stays this nice, the more frantic the activity of that neighbor...and the squirrels.  Though I wish he would pick up his leaves rather than sending them over for us to pick-up, I agree with the sentiment that has him doing this.  We all want to be ready: leaves off the grass, garden put to bed, shovels (or in his case snow blower) out and ready to go.

Gracie says, "I'm ready.  Are you?"

This will be my first winter with Gracie.  Though she is probably not preparing for winter consciously, she is certainly doing so.  Her fur is thickening up and fluffing out.  As I brush her these days, I can't help but plan what I will do when she is wet and probably a bit muddy.  Wet dog is not my favorite perfume.  More than that, though, I worry about wet dog at school: wet foot prints, dripping belly, and that wet dog smell.  Students have not minded Gracie being with me in class.  I think they even enjoy the idea of it--so far, at least.  Will that tolerance wear thin when winter presents its inevitable challenges. though?  This winter, I will be able to continue keeping our dog supplies in the office I share with one other part-time instructor who is scheduled to be on campus the days we are not (a fortunate occurrence that luck alone can take credit for).  However, the true occupant of this office is returning at the end of Spring semester.  He is a full-time faculty member who has been on a protracted leave of absence that ends just in time for the summer session.  Gracie and I will be evicted then and undoubtedly sent to the huge, communal adjunct office where nothing of a "personal" nature can be left even overnight much less over the semester.  Thinking ahead about totting our dog supplies in an out daily has me thinking of how to accomplish this now, our first winter.  I imagine needing a towel and a dog brush and maybe even a hair dryer in addition to the water bowl, dog treats, poop bags, and chew toys that we have already filled a desk drawer and part of a book shelf with.

Trail behind Century College

The other challenging aspect to winter will be managing toileting breaks for Gracie.  So far, we have been able to go outside between classes and either take a short walk between entrances to the west campus building or a longer walk around the building or into the woods.  When it gets colder, I will need my coat (another thing to carry or wear to class and then stow while teaching) and will have to deal with Gracie getting wet again.  Short breaks will by necessity be longer and more involved once we have snow.  If we have anywhere near the amount of snow we had last winter, very involved!  Because of this, breaks will take more time, and that time is time away from office hours etc.  I am not looking forward to all this, but at least I know it's coming.  If anyone who has been there and done this--taken a service dog into a part-time teaching situation with all the temporary and volatile circumstances that this implies--has a tip, hot or otherwise, please do not hesitate to share it.  Having access to a clothes dryer while at school would be nice but is just not in the cards in any foreseeable future!  Oh, well.  We're plucky and will, as usual, find a way to manage.  After all, as recent research has concluded, we European Americans are only 4% Neanderthal, which is not enough to keep us peering out from our preferred cave until we become, as they did, extinct.  Instead, we will pull the retracting handle from our rolling briefcase and roll on.

First Flight!

Making tracks on Oceano Beach

For the past few years, we have been taking advantage of the Minnesota Education Association (MEA) fall convention with its two days of no classes to take a fall trip.  This year, we decided to fly to California and revisit the town of Oceano, which is very slightly south of Pismo Beach.  We think is it one of the few beach areas to allow all and any four wheel drive vehicles to drive on it: dune buggies, pick-up trucks, and even huge (really HUGE) motor homes.  Though this steady stream of vehicles parading up and down the beach is odd, it has kept the beach from achieving the kind of popularity that drives prices up and regular, non-extremely wealthy people such as ourselves away.  The vehicles drive slowly and the ocean drowns out their noise.  Call me crazy, but I find this peaceful and a bit of a return to a California past: Beach Boy days, Happy Days.  Throw in the Oeano Diner and the dune buggy store called Kick Sand, and Oceano is the perfect place to get away from the present...a good vacation indeed! 

Visiting the Reagan Presidential Library

Gracie had been with me for a couple months when we decided to go on this trip to Oceano, and thanks to the excellent handouts that IHDI provided, we knew to tell the airlines that we would be traveling with a service dog.  Because of our advanced planning and Bruce's professionalism on the phone, Delta assigned us bulkhead seats both going out and coming back becasue we were to be traveling with a service dog.  I'm not sure what might have happened had we purchased tickets at the last minute.  The bulkhead seats are the ones right behind the business class section and so have no seats that recline into the space.  Delta also told us we would need her shot record from the vet, which I got the day before we left.  We needed to show that when we showed our tickets and our own IDs.  Going out, we were in a larger plane, so there was more room on the floor for Gracie.  Our plane coming back had less space directly in front of us for her.  Of course, she was more nervious going than coming back.  As a result, she spent some of the time going in my lap.  She stayed on the cabin floor on her rug the whole trip back.  I brought the rug (bathmat without rubber backing) that she is used to lying on at home with us for her.  When I put that on the floor of the plane, she got right on it and settled.  Can every IDHI trained hearing dog be as wonderful as Gracie?  If so, I am truely amazed at their ability to select and train hearing dogs.

Hiking the Bob Jones Trail in Pismo

I also followed IDHI's advice about feeding before traveling.  I gave Gracie less food the day before the flight.  The morning of the flight, I took her for a long walk.  Then I fed her a tiny bit (she is used to eating right after a morning walk, I so I fed her) and let her have a small drink of water.  As soon as we got off the plane in L.A., I found a grassy area that the LAX has just for dogs (pretty neat!  I might not have noticed this place otherwise.  And, like much of the public areas that we saw in California, including the beaches, this area had a dispenser of pick-up bags for poop.

We met Bruce at the rental car bus stop.  When the bus arrived, Gracie hopped on, welcomed by the driver.  In fact, we only had one incident in California where Gracie's presence was questioned and that was at a small beach grocery store.  When we explained that Gracie was a service dog, though, the clerk said, "Oh" and allowed Gracie to stay in the store. 

Gracie cuddles with Bruce

Gracie settled right in at the one-room condo we rented two block from the beach and across the street from a state camp ground.  She loved walking on the beach, and when I started picking up sand dollars (the Oceano beach is litered with them--if one gets there before the vehicles run them over), Gracie started to help me by digging them out and then picking them up in her mouth.  She was also interested in catching one of the nimble sea birds on the beach.  The birds were not interested in being caught.  The contest gave Gracie a lot of good exercise...until a bird-loving beach life guard called her out.  "No dogs on this beach, " he told us--we were on our way back to the airport at this time and very close to L.A.  When we told him she was a service dog, he reminded us that a service dog had to be on a six foot lead (she was) and under control (she was...but didn't appear to be).  I reigned her in, of course.  I don't really think she was terrorizing the birds, but rules are rules.

Gracie listening for rattle snakes

I'd like to report that air travel with a hearing dog is a snap.  For much of the trip, it was.  Making travel plans early and alerting the airline to get bulkhead seats, having the dog's vet records for the pass through security (I also had the laminated cards IDHI gave me but no one asked for them.  Still, I am glad I had them because having them eased my mind), following the IHDI feeding before traveling advice, bringing along objects that the dog is familiar with to lay on and to chew, bringing along enough of the regular food the dog eats and some of her treats was also a must (we never would have found a place to buy her brand of dog food easily) all contributed to making Gracie happy, so we could relax and have a good time.  

The hardest part of the trip for me was going through airport security.  I knew from other things I have read that I would have to take off her collar and lead.  I didn't know that I would have to take off everything, including her vest and carry her through the scanner, though.  I am so glad that she is such a clam dog and small enough for me to carry at about 20 pounds.  Still, reassembling ourselves after taking all of our stuff off and out (laptop, cell phone, shoes, watch, etc.) was an ordeal.  Somehow, I was supposed to get all the bins of stuff and the collarless, leadless dog away from the end of the conveyer belt to do this.  Somehow I did.  In L.A., though, they made Gracie and I go though the scanner repeatedly until the only metal I could think of that might be left was the filling in my teeth.  I was so rattled after that ordeal that I almost left without my laptop and cell phone.  One of the inspection crew shagged after me.  This act of kindness successfully removed any resentment I might have been left with.  If you are traveling with a service dog, though, be prepared at the check-in.  You will have to wait in line with everyone else, and you will have to remove everything and get your dog through the scanner without a collar or lead.  I even had to remove my hearing aides, and this made following all the direction that several people were issueing all at one time VERY hard to impossible.

Gracie keeping an eye on sea birds

The trip was worth it though.  California is beautiful and hiking the hills and trails and beaches with Gracie was wonderful.  We even let her share the king size bed with us at night since we didn't have her bed with us.  If we were to go on another mult-day flying trip, I would seriously consider bringing her crate with supplies like her bed, food, bowls, etc. packed inside of it.  I would check this through like baggage.  We were okay without all her stuff, but were we to stay longer, the stuff would be nice to have for all of us.

At School: Week 8

How did I navigate the world without Gracie?  I can't imagine doing so now.  Did every week used to have highlights?  I don't think so; at least, I can't remember them if they did.  I am like Dorothy moving from the black and white world of Kansas to the technicolor world of Oz.

Entrance to the trail

1. Tuesday is our best day at school because we only have one class and an hour in the office.  This past Tuesday was especially beautiful.  Instead of hopping right in the car for the 50+ minute drive home, Gracie and I decided to take a stroll on our favorite wood duck trail.  We had just reached the practice fields--usually deserted--when Gracie spun around.  Of course I turned too and was just in time to move out of the way of a herd of men, probably a gym class out for a run down the trail.  Ball shagging was out, so instead, we left the tail and discovered a beautiful little lake nestled in the woods that made me long for my kayak.  It didn't take much imagination to picture a tiny house nestled on the shore of the tiny lake with my blue kayak  resting next to one side of my lawn chair and Gracie lying on the other side.  So, of  course, I had to recite Robert Frost's "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening" for Gracie.  She seemed suitably impressed.

Tiny Lake in the Century College woods

Our second highlight of the week happened Thursday when Gracie and I picked up Nate at his apartment after we finished at school and used a Groupon to have lunch at the 50th Street Cafe.  Graice liked it because the booth was spacious and the floor was carpeted.  I liked the green beans in Asian dressing.

Gracie says, "Let's get out of here!"

Friday, Gracie and I went to the English department retreat, arriving at 8 a.m. as directed with our bottle of cranberry juice and bag of pretzels to contribute to the potluck breakfast.  This is usually an all day affair, but we left early--actually just a little bit earlier than the adjuncts in general who were to stay for lunch and then leave while the UFTs made their plans: summer classes and whom to hire and how. Because our Friday afternoon class meets only once a week and Week 9 is a short week, we decided two weeks in a row with no classes at all was a bad idea and resisted canceling class as the department apparently did.  It was a long day for us both as a result, another Fried day.  We were glad to be heading home at 4:30 p.m. in the afternoon and didn't even mind the rush hour traffic with its periodic stops due to frantic lane changes by the foolish people who persist in thinking that squeezing into the moving lane will get them wherever it is they are rushing to faster; instead, this action, particularly when practiced by so many, is what causes the traffic to stop.  For me the rush of lemmings to the sea is no mystery.  Lane changers reincarnated is what those lemmings are, justice meted out by the universe. 

We saw Nate again Saturday when he came over to do his laundry.  The washer, which has been not working well for awhile, didn't get all the water out of his clothes due to weak spinning.  As a result, the weight of his wet clothes did the dryer in, which led to the third highlight of the week--a trip to Sears with Gracie.  Saturday afternoon, we purchased a new GE washer and dryer from Sears and allowed the hyper salesman to talk us into buying an extended warranty.  Our salesman was like someone out of a 1950s TV comedy, *December Bride* or *Ozzie and Harriet* and the desperation he was giving off was like a cheap perfume.  Fortunately, the pair is being delivered tomorrow, just in time to wash clothes to take on our trip next week.  Gracie rides the airplane.  How to prepare?  Suggestons welcome.

View from the bridge joining the east campus to the west campus.
Century College, White Bear Lake, MN

Back to School: Week 7

Gracie reflects

It's now safe to say that my presence at school with Gracie is "normal."  This means that the highlights of our week at school together are rather dull, so we will turn to other highlights of the week.  There were lots of them!

The most beautiful fall ever!

With two face to face (on campus/F2F) classes, two hours of compulsory time in the department's writing center, and 100+ minutes times three spent in the car going to and coming back from White Bear Lake each week, three online classes and the weekly Webinars I hold with those students, all the papers and assignments to go through from all those people, plus Gracie's walks and grooming etc. does not leave us with much extra time.  This week, however, the weather was too beautiful to ignore.   So Gracie and I stole time we didn't really have and the highligts for this week are the things we did instead of what we usually do which is answer student questions posted in Discussion or sent in an e-mail messages, plan classes and Webinars, all the stuff previously mentioned, and correct papers non-stop like that woman in the fairy tale locked in shed where she was commanded to spin gold out of straw.

Highlights of Week 7: 





The Monster lurks.


1. Going to a movie--Moneyball-- with Nate and Bruce (and Brad Pitt) was highlight number one.  I had popcorn, and Gracie had her dinner.  Then we all went back to Nate's apartment for sandwiches--subs, really. Gracie sat on the couch...but don't tell Nate's girlfriend, who was out of town Monday, about that.
2. Taking not one but two long bike rides around Lakes Harriet, Calhoun, and Isles was highlight number two +.  It was at Isles that we spotted the roving dinosaur that last fall was in Lake Harriet.  We were so excited we had to stop and try to capture it...in a picture.  Here you see the beast hiding in the weeds with downtown Minneapolis in the background.





Gracie rides


3. One day we shot home from the campus earlier than usual.  Of course, we put in our office hours and spent our time in the writing center and taught our class.  But we are not being chased out of the office that we are so graciously allowed to use by other part-timers this fall as we were all of last year and so have been staying a bit longer to try to stay on top of all that straw that must be spun.  This day we didn't though.  Instead we hurried home to ride our bike to Lake Calhoun for a walk and lunch with Bruce and his cousin Idy.  Idy had not met Gracie before, but no one would have known that by the enthusiastic way Gracie greeted Idy.  We ate at the Tin Fish, which was scheduled to close for the season today--but how can they as the 80 degree weather persists?  Thanks to that 80 degree weather, the Tin Fish was not out of chowder like they usually are by two in the afternoon.  Ahhh.  When we returned to our locked bikes, we were greeted by a couple with two miniature dachshunds.  The couple was very interested in Gracie's bike riding arrangement.  I expect to see the four of them zinging around the lake in a similar rig next time we manage to get away.
4. Friday I now call Fried Day because it really is too exhausting and by the end of it, both Gracie and I are fried.  We have to be on campus by 10:30 a.m. (four hours later than usual but with a three hour class planned and in the can); in the writing center by 11:00 a.m.; and in front of students from 1:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m.  They don't always leave right away.  We often end up staying until 4:30 p.m. or later.  Then there is the rush hour traffic mingled with the heading-up-north traffic.  We are lucky to get home by 6:30 p.m. 



Early morning is spectacular

5. Saturday, to atone, we got up at 3:30 a.m. and got to work grading student work and doing site maintenance for Week 8.  At 6:30 a.m., I got this picture of the sunrise.  At 7:45 a.m., I put Gracie in her kennel box and went to the YMCA for the Saturday morning Body Flow class.  Of course, Gracie and I had to take a long walk when I got home.  Then back to work until 4:20 p.m. when we went to Zach's to pick him up to go to Bruce's cousin Joni and her husband Steve's farm outside of Prescott, WI.  What a beautiful place that is.  And what a perfect opportunity there for Gracie to practice her dog to dog etiquette, which is admittedly a bit rusty.  After some early growling and lunging, however, Gracie went into tolerance mode.  I suspect she wanted to run around like the other dogs, but I kept her leashed to me, as the good service dog she is.

Today--Sunday--we were up again before dawn and back at the computer.  I think I am nearly up-to-date.  None too soon either as two classes are turning in papers tonight (electronically) and one class will be turning in papers Tuesday night and another class Thursday morning--hard copy, the only one that comes in that way and a sort of treat for me as I get to write on those papers with a green ballpoint.  Then one more class turns in their papers Saturday night before 11:59 p.m.  Though the weather this week was wonderful, Gracie and I are hoping the weather this coming week is not quite so inviting.  As I relate the story of the week past, I realize that what has been sacrificed is my sleep (since Gracie works in her naps while I'm grading, peddling, driving, etc.) Maybe we'll go to bed early tonight.  Say good night, Gracie!

Good night

Back to School: Week 6

Hightlights of week 6:

1. Being stopped by the campus security:  "You can't bring a dog in here," said the head honcho, approaching us rapidly down the still deserted hallway--deserted except for the three of us, that is.  "This is my service dog," I said calmly.  I had my backpack slung over my right shoulder, Gracie's leash in my left hand and the handle of my briefcase on wheels clutched in my right hand.   It was 6:30 a.m., and Gracie and I had been up since 4:50 a.m., taken two walks, had breakfast, and driven for 50 minutes through not quite rush hour traffic.  We were alert, in other words, and looking our best.  "Oh," the security office said.  "I didn't know."  Then he bent down and patted Gracie on the head. 
2. Taking a poetry walk at the Silver Lake Regional Park: Dogs are allowed on paved paths, so Gracie wasn't the only dog there.  I'm still avoiding other dogs a bit because Gracie is definitely nicer to people than she is to other dogs.  We walked on the paved trails, stopping now and then to listen to local poets read their work.  It was delightful.  If we had thought to bring her life jacket, we could have gone canoeing too.  Drat.
3. Getting a compliment from a colleague:  While I was sitting at the instructor's table in the campus writing center and Gracie was on her bath mat under the table, another member of the English department stopped and said, "I wish my students were so well behaved."  I assumed she meant Gracie though I was well behaved as well.
4. Going to the Unitarian Society to watch Nate's documentary film:  This was a new place for Gracie since we stopped attending before she joined us--years before, actually.  The film was all ready running when we arrived, so we slipped in quietly and sat in a chair by the door.  Gracie sat in my lap.  Then she sort of guarded the door, growling softly each time someone came in, peeked in, or even passed by the door.  Though I'm sure her intentions were good, I had to tell her no each time.
5. Going out to eat after the film with Nate and Bruce:  I wasn't sure how this was going to go since Gracie not only sat through the film and the question and answer session afterward, she had also gone to school with me earlier that day for what is out longest day: an hour in the writing center, an office hour, and a three hour class.  She was terrific though.  Gracie knows what a restaurant is--even this one where she had never been before.  She settled right down under the booth until we got up to leave.

Back to School: Week 5

With five weeks of being back on campus under our belt, we are now 30% done with fall semester.  We are also being subjected to a tsunami of student papers: the good, the bad, and the ugly.  I always feel a bit like the poor girl in the fairy tale who was told to spin gold out of straw, which is something like making a silk purse out of a sow's ear.  But then a few students actually do the assignment they have been asked to do and write a paper that is interesting and free enough of surface errors to make it swift reading.  This almost makes up for having to spend so much time in front of the computer rather than outside walking around the lake or biking to the bakery or tossing a ball over the hill in the park for Gracie to retrieve.  Almost.

Gracie models her Target raincoat

Tuesday, our first day of the week on campus, Gracie and I awoke to rain.  Luckily, I was prepared with an umbrella for me and a raincoat for Gracie.  She was not too keen on wearing the coat's hood but did not object to the coat itself--purchased at Target for a reasonable sum.  We did not check to see where the raincoat was made and hope it was not made on some island prison by children chained to little sewing machines.  It really did keep her dryer than she would othewise have been, especially underneath.  Tuesday is our easy day. 

Wednesday, usually our day to exercise and grade student work, was Student Success Day.  In honor of student success which both Gracie and I believe in strongly, we hosted a one hour, noontime Webinar, broadcast live from our broadcast studio in the sunroom of our lovely St. Louis Park home.  With extra credit promised for attendance at this Webinar (or any other Student Success Day Presentation up to three), we had twenty students in attendance.  This is less than used to attend my Raising Readers presentation but more than I would have been able to meet with had I spent two hours of the day driving to and fro from the campus.  Anyway, we toured the library and saw how to sign up to use and then use Smarthinking.

Gracie and my photo for the
English department rouge's gallery
of instructors

Thursday, Gracie and I went in early to open the writing center.  I get a bit wound up gathering all the things we need to take with us for the day.  Gracie stays calm though and this calms me down.  She now knows the writing center and is very well behaved while there.  This Thursday, we had papers to return to the students in the 7:45 a.m. class that follows our writing center stint.  I had the papers in a box on wheels.  This is pretty awkward to drag around and doing so managed to eat up the time between writing center and class that we have been using for a quick trip outside for Gracie to relieve herself.  A true trooper, Gracie did not complain and, instead, waited like a lady until class was over and I had returned the box to the office for her visit to the great outdoors.

Excellent portrait of Gracie by son Nate

Friday is our hardest day.  Since we don't go to the campus as early, I have been mistakenly telling myself that we can do a lot of things before we leave.  Unfortunately, this is not true.  We have been leaving a little late, and I have had to almost speed to get to the campus in time to get us to the writing center for our second hour of the week spent there.  On Friday, Gracie and I sit at the instructor's table.  I sit there, and Gracie sits under the table on her rug pressed up against the glass wall sometimes dozing and sometimes staring at the students working in the booths in the hallway outside the writing center.  Students usually come to us for help, but sometimes make us come to them.  When this happens, Gracie goes to the student's computer or the student's table with me.  This Friday, the writing center was surprisingly busy.  Perhaps students were inspired by Student Success Day to make use of the writing center with renewed vigor.  Anyway, Gracie and I were kept hopping.  Then we had a short break before our three hour afternoon class (which is like eating an entire pie right before going to bed).  Thursday on our way home, we had stopped off for more dog food and got Gracie a bone stuffed with cheese and bacon (or something meant to simulate there things)for her to chew on during this long class.  Happily, it kept her busy while I worked on keeping the students busy by pretending to have more energy and enthusiasm for coordinating sentences than I actually felt.  Viva the conjunctive adverb.  And then our week was over...Not!  Those darn papers followed us home, I'm afraid!  Argh!!

Gracie and Laurie thought to escape, but the students' papers followed them home.



Back to School: Week 4

Gracie shows off her Elvis comb over;
thinking ahead for Halloween!

Gracie loves to know that she knows what is happening next and where she is going and what she is supposed to do while there.  Monday, we went to Century for a department meeting and going in on Monday, later in the day, and then going to a department meeting was unfamiliar.  Instead of being up in front of the room on my feet talking away while Gracie dozed, I was in a desk  like a student.  I hadn't thought to bring her bath mat, and the tile floor was cold.  She sat next to the desk after I asked her to settle but then couldn't get comfortable.  On top of that, the person from counseling who was speaking to the department kept rushing forward and then backing up again as he spoke, a rhetorical style that had Gracie on edge.  I finally decided to invite her onto my lap.  She jumped up and stayed there quietly through the very long meeting which mostly addressed full-time faculty concerns; though, we did learn that the current chair was moving up to become the temporary dean so that someone would need to fill in the department chair spot.  This, of course, affects scheduling of part-timers for fall and perhaps for summer should the full-timers not take all those classes as they did not last summer and the summer before that.  We, of course, have no control of this, but still, it was interesting.  After the meeting, I was going to do some work in my office since my office mate did not show up for the meeting; however, Gracie had other ideas, so we came home.  She is so wise!!

Tuesday was like the previous Tuesdays, and Gracie was great.  Ditto for Thursday.  Friday, our long day, found me about 10% off my game.  This confirmed for me that driving the hour to White Bear Lake and the hour back four times a week was one time too many.  Eight hours of driving cuts seriously into my ability to assess student work, meet with students in Webinars, respond to their postings and email questions.  Considering MY problems, Gracie was once again great, especially in the Writing Center and during my three hour late afternoon class.

Highlights of the week include walking on the Woodduck Trail and spotting a horn toad and a very large painted turtle; playing ball on the soccer field; running up and down the hill in the park behind our house; and a short shopping trip to the co-op for raddish sprouts.  We also picked a few peppers, attempting to beat the hard frost.

We are definitely ready for Week 5!

Back to School: Week 3

We started Week 3 of the incredibly long 16 week semester with a plan.  Tuesday at school--just a 1+ hour class and some time in the office--went smoothly.  The class--composition 1--met in the same classroom as usual and Gracie settled on her bathmat just where we have been putting her bathmat very nicely indeed.  All but two students made it to class.  We spent part of class talking about State Fair food. About half the class always goes the MN State Fair we learned via a show of hands.  I explained how relived I was not to have to go anymore and to now, after a number of years, not feel guilty about that.  I was brought up to consider the fair an end of summer ritual and thought that smelling hot farm animals, dodging agressive bees, eating grease soaked food, and being spun on potentially dangerous rides was how one would finally accept that school was starting and might even be glad that it was.

Wednesday I had to give my ENGL 90 students feedback on the work they had submitted by Tuesday at 11:59 p.m. in the class's course delivery site.  Somewhat counterintuitively, this class meets less often and  less frequently than the more advanced (composition-wise) class.  Trying to get them to a place where they not only pass the class but pass ready for the next class in the sequence is an enormous challenge.  I didn't have much time to play with Gracie as a result, so we went to the park a couple of times to run up and down the hill.  With the neighborhood kids thankfully in school, the park is relatively free of activity late in the morning and early in the afternoon.  This worked.  I got my work done, and Gracie was happy to hang out while I did after having a chance to run and roll in the grass for a bit.

Thursday, we opened the writing center.  Gracie stayed with me while I turned on all the computers and unlocked the various doors.  She stayed behind the desk until it was time to leave.  This week we couldn't take a quick break outside because the class was meeting in the open computer lab to start in on peer reivew of their first essay.  This location was problematic I learned once we were actually in there because there was really not enough space without tons of cords for Gracie to get comfortable.  Finally, I clipped her leash to my belt (a metal Target special) and let her walk around with me.  We finished the day at school in my office where Gracie snoozed while I started getting the material for my Friday class organized.

After the 1+ hour Friday rush hour drive home.
Call her "school weary"...and me too.

Friday is our longest and hardest day.  The best part is that we don't have to leave home in the dark since we don't have to be at school until 10:00 a.m. or even a little later.  We arrived this week about 10:15 and took a nice walk on the Woodduck trail.  Once inside, we had time to get organized before going to the Writing Center for another 50 minute stint.  The walk helped settle Gracie, and she snoozed right through three student conferences and a talk with the English Department Chair who came in to tell me that he didn't have a fourth class Spring semester for me after all.  From the Writing Center, we went to the Open Computer Lab to pick up the TurningPoint clicker bag that I planned to use with my ENGL 90 students during our class that lasts from 1 to 4 p.m.  The clickers turn a PowerPoint about the comma, for example, into a game show.  I hope students like it because these are time consumming to create.  Happily, the lab stays open now until 5 p.m., so I am able to return the bag after class. 

Once back in the office, Gracie went back to sleep on her bathmat, and I worked on my virtual course sites in the course delivery system.  The full-time people (UFTs) get to set up schedules they like instead of grabbing for the courses that others didn't want like us contingency folks, so most of them had lit out to start their weekends.  The hall was quiet and the often busy back door by the door to the office I use was not swinging open and shut as it often does.  Suddenly, Gracie barked.  I jumped!  I can't always hear her growl, even in a relatively quiet room, but I can sure hear her bark.  I looked up to see a startled student standing in the door.  Gracie barked again.

"No, Gracie," I said.  "No barking!"  Service dogs can be denied entrance to places if they bark and growl and misbehave in other ways.  Barking is definitely not good!

"Sorry," the student said edging backward slightly.

"No, no," I said, my hand now in Gracie's collar.  "She shouldn't bark.  Come in," I insisted.  As soon as he sat down, Garcie wiggled away from me and rush him, her tail wagging.  Since he didn't look like he was interested in petting her--who could blame him?--I reigned her in.  We talked briefly; then it was time for class.

I had planned all week to give Gracie another rawhide stick to chew during the long 3 hour class.  I did, and she chewed on it the entire class, for 3 hours!  I hope she wasn't imagining that it was the student that had startled us (just kidding). 

So that was our week.  Nearly--but not quite--a total success.  Next week we have to go to the campus a fourth day for not-to-be-missed department meeting.  I wonder if the adjuncts like me who don't usually go but seem to get four classes every semester will come? I wonder if they get great schedules because they don't come?  I suppose now that I am an adjunct on just one campus, I don't have the excuse that work on the other keeps me from the meeting.  Politics.  I have never been a willing player in them.  Thinking about how to prevent another episode of barking is much more interesting to me at the moment anyway.

Back to School: Week 2

As those that teach know and those that don't probably don't know, teaching is a very labor intensive occupation, especially for contingent (part-time, adjunct) faculty like me.  If Gracie could talk, I know she would confirm this as our days together have taken on a more cerebral and less physically active demeanor.  I also am no longer able to write as much or as often either.  This is not just a matter of actual time, though that IS an issue. There is also the matter of mental space to think and dream.  Students and their writing as well as the management of my online course spaces and the planning of my two different on campus class sessions gobbles up 90% of my creativity.  Alas, the remaining 10% is not exactly the cream at the top of the bottle either.  That tends to go as soon as the cap if off the bottle and bottle is tipped to pour. 

Gracie was tolerant of this during week one of being actually back at school with students.  I think there was also the newness of it for her. Week two started out with a bang: the rabies shot and physical for Gracie followed by getting our orange collar and leash.  Then a bit of malaise settled in.  At least, that is how I felt.  Making Gracie rush through her morning routine has meant no more second walk to the edge of the creek to stare at the ducks and the stubby docks those lucky enough to live creek-side have.  Instead, I was telling Gracie to hurry up in the dark and to not bark at the paper delivery person.  Then I was encouraging her to wolf down her food so I could get dressed and we could head out to make the hour long drive to White Bear Lake, the sun rising in our bloodshot eyes. 

Wednesday, Gracie pulled out the sun room doorstop and started to chew it.  I was too absorbed in responding to students' e-mail questions to notice until Bruce came home, saw what was happening, and took it away from her. 

Thursday at school, she went after the wooden doorstop in the office I am currently using (along with other part-time instructors at Century College).  Clearly, all the watching me teach and watching me work on the computer and not having me play with her was creating some oral aggression; I needed to find something more appropriate for her to chew, something that she could enjoy while I was in my office.  I  picked up a bag of rawhide chews at Walgreen's that promised to be especially digestible.  Inside the wrapping--extra bonus--was supposed to be some meat paste.  Since Gracie likes the chicken flavored toothpaste that we've been using, I thought this paste would add a bonus she would like.

Fridays, we leave a little bit later in the day than we do on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  However, I had created a clicker presentation (Turning Point) on the sentence to use with the three hour, pre-composition 1 class I'm teaching this semester and spent that morning time, fine tuning that instead of running with Gracie as we did the previous Friday.  We have a long day Fridays: an hour in the writing center, another hour in my office, and, finally, a three hour class.  We take a break midway through that class, but I am unable to leave the classroom since doing that would require making everyone leave the room and then locking the door.  In addition, students often want to talk to me or ask questions of me during the break. 

We got to the campus a little early.  I had a few things to print, so I gave Gracie one of the rawhide, paste-lined chews.  She loved it and dug right in, settling with it under the desk.  When it was time to go to the writing center, however, Gracie was not interested in leaving with me.  Several of the full-time and therefore highly judgemental members of the English faculty were standing in a cluster outside my office as we emerged.  "She wants to stay and chew her rawhide," I explained as I more-or-less dragged Gracie out of the room.  They gave me a look that I'm sure someone from IHDI would have given me too as this was a very unprofessional looking scene.  Of course, I looked like a bully for making cute Gracie go where she didn't want to go.  

Gracie was restless and needed to be petted during our entire time in the writing center, leaving me to help a couple students with one hand on the table and the other on Gracie under the table.  The writing center staffer on duty when we are likes faculty to walk around making sure students are on task but the center was crowded and I didn't want to chance another "dragging" or appearance of dragging scene.  

After our time there was up, Gracie practically dragged me back to the office.  I thought briefly about bringing the chew to class but decided that her consumption of it was potentially distracting--crunching and tearing and slurping--for this particular class.  Gracie was not any happier leaving this delicious and satisfying treat a second time.  The chew as turning out to be too successful.  For most of the class, Gracie stood by the desk starring at the students.  At one point, she started to chew on a cord coming out of the technology desk.  Luckily the TLC tutor spotted her and alerted me so that disaster could be averted.  At that point, I attached Gracie to me by clipping her leash to my belt with our trusty carabiner and circled the room helping students who were now working at individual computers.  This held her interest and she even managed to elicit a few forbidden pets from them.  At the end of class, Gracie again dragged me back to the office to get back to her rawhide chew.  I decided to stay while she finished the darn thing up.  I recalled then how she had gone back to the spot where she found a chicken bone I wouldn't let her keep this summer repeatedly for over a week until, I suspect, the smell of the darn thing had been finally washed away by a combination of rain and that neighbor's built-in sprinkling system (the one that waters the lawn even during an actual rainstorm).  Obviously, Gracie is a very unusual dog with a highly developed long-term memory.

So, what am I to do?  Here is my new plan for week 3.  I will not give her another one of those rawhide chews until Friday at the beginning of the long class.  Then she will not have to leave it anywhere that she is then obsessed with getting back to.  Maybe given three hours, she will finish it up.  If not, we can stay on campus doing maintenance work on my online course sites in my office until she does since the campus is staying open until 6 p.m. now.  The traffic is better from 5:30 p.m. on and all the other English faculty will be gone.  What about before that class; what about the rest of the week?  I will pay more attention to her, for one thing.  We will also go for a run together Friday mornings to burn off a bit of her extra energy.  Will all this work?  I'll let you know next week. 

Day 100: Milepost!

Today started out like any day...recent any day.  Gracie woke me up when she heard the alarm, and we hurried outside.  Back inside, Gracie passed up her breakfast. No amount of coaxing would change her mind.  I had to wonder if she knew that we were scheduled to visit the vet this morning for a check-up and a rabies shot.  I know that sounds far fetched, but Gracie is amazingly intuitive.  I had an 8:30 a.m. Webinar (in the sun room, how nice!) with my composition 2 students this morning and was tempted to do some online course maintenance after that ended.  But I wanted Gracie to arrive at the vet looking her best, so, instead, we furminated.  We went to the vet on the bike and arrived right on time and so went right in. 

If imagining a trip to the vet dampened her otherwise healthy appetite, you wouldn't know it by the way Gracie schmoozed up the vet's assistant.  "Can I give her a treat?" the assistant asked.  I told her sure.  Gracie snapped up the offered treat before I could see clearly what it was--it seemed good-sized, though.  Apparently, Gracie's appetite had returned.  Then, without anyone asking her to, Gracie stepped onto the scale and sat down, weighing in at slightly over 20 lbs.  I had thought she weighed that when she arrived and said so.  The vet, by then in the room with us, said that no, Gracie had weighted 23 pounds when she arrived.  "She's still a bit chunky," he said when I said I thought our high level of activity had slimmed her down.  "We like to feel her ribs."  I assumed by this that he couldn't feel her ribs, at least not without trying a bit harder to feel them than Gracie might like.  The scale became an elevator, and Gracie was quickly raised up to the level of the vet's waist.  The assistant gave another treat, which Gracie accepted voraciously.  "Not all dogs behave like this, " the assistant said dreamily.  "You should know this.  She's exceptionally calm."  I assured her that I knew this about Gracie and found it a fabulous trait.  After the vet finished with Gracie, the assistant took her away to cut her nails.  The vet stayed with me and told me about his experience training service dogs to work with people in wheel chairs.  It was a long story and still Gracie was not back.  Finally, the vet left me in the examining room and went to track down the assistant.  Apparently, Gracie was not quite as docile while having her nails clipped as she had been while being petted and fed treats, the reason I have avoided doing nail trimming myself!  But finally, the assistant brought Gracie back, and we left.

We ran a couple more errands on the bike and then went home. I was back on the computer working on reading student journals when the mail arrived.  In it was a package from International Hearing Dog, Inc (IHDI)!!  It was the package Gracie and I had been waiting for: her orange leash and orange collar and our team ID.  Again, you might not believe this is true, but Gracie was as excited to see her new collar and leash as I was.  So, Day 100.  Gracie is slightly pudgy (and so am I!) but otherwise in excellent health.  I think I am too.  Her shots are up to date.  And today we are an official team.

Gracie proudly displays her new "hearing dog" leash!

Day 99: A Day of Rest

Actually, Gracie and I don't get a day of rest.  In trying to get the schedule of very early mornings firmly established, we are getting up to the alarm at the same time every day.  We hurry outside first thing for Gracie's toilet.  We then come back inside for my coffee and her breakfast.  After she eats, I either get ready to go to campus or go to the sunroom where the computer is currently residing to check in with my classes in the campus e-mail or course delivery sites.  Gracie likes either option because it means taking a morning nap for her.  Martha called Gracie lazy when she was here, but I think that might be unfair.  Gracie snaps too when called on to do so; however, she is the queen of getting herself comfortable. 

Today, being Sunday, a larger than usual newspaper is on the kitchen table waiting to be read, but Gracie does not like being in the kitchen for too long because it is not very comfortable for her on the cold, linoleum floor.  I had just gotten the editorial page spread out today when she demanded that I follow her into the sunroom with her open-toed "touch."  (The "touch" is when a hearing dog jumps at a person and then away before making full, knock a person over contact.)  She was insistent--her nails need trimming, which we will hopefully take care of tomorrow but which currently add extra emphasis to her "touch"--and here I am.  The course delivery system is  down for maintenance, so I can't do my Sunday class maintenance on my two composition 1 classes until 9.  So, I'm going to end this and take Gracie for an early morning run.  I see the sun on the tops of the trees and, blessedly, no lawn mowers seem to be up yet.  Maybe after we run, Gracie will be willing to curl up in the kitchen while I read the paper.  It's worth a try, anyway.

Days 97 and 98: Week 1

The first week at school is always exhausting for me:  meeting new students and answering their questions, discovering that I left remnants of a previous semester on a course Website, and so forth.  This week, I added Gracie into the mix.  This meant keeping track of even more things, getting up even earlier than usual, factoring in breaks for her, and more.  Friday was especially trying as we had a campus writing center hour to put in during the busiest time of the day followed by a three hour class.  The class lasts until an hour before the building closes and the computer lab people turned off the computers in our classroom when they were shutting down the lab causing us to lose ten minutes of class time.  Some students were then unable to finish the work on the classroom computers before the class ended and were left at lose ends because of it.  By the time Gracie and I made it back to my office, there was just 1/2 an hour to go before the building was scheduled to be locked down.  Facing the traffic jam of Friday afternoon rush hour traffic was not appealing.  I considered spending time on the Wood Duck trail and then heading straight to the U of M campus to meet my youngest son for his birthday dinner, but someone with a large, unleashed dog--a golden doodle perhaps--was heading for the Wood Duck trail.  Besides, it felt both hot and humid.  I decided to brave the traffic.  We made it home just in time for Gracie to eat and then to head out again.  Dinner was in an Italian restaurant and, though a bit restless, Gracie did an admirable job after all the sitting she had done all day on campus.  I wonder how long it will take me to integrate the extra things I need to keep track of for Gracie into my own routine?  Gracie inspires me by how quickly she adapts.  Of course, she is a lot younger than I am. 

Days 95 and 96: Amazing Grace

Gracie and I now have one campus class and all the online classes up and running.  We have just one more campus based class to go. Today, Gracie was very excited to get back to the campus after our Wednesday working from home--preparing class for today and keeping tabs on the online class discussions.  She knew where we were going--up to my office--and practically pulled me up there.  Today, though, instead of going right to class from the office the way we do on Tuesdays, we spent 50 minutes in the Writing Center.  On Thursdays this semester, we need to be opening up and turning on the Writing Center by 6:50 a.m. so the doors can open for students at 7:00 a.m.  I had a little trouble finding a suitable place to attach Gracie behind the desk.  But she has adapted magnificently to the idea that her rug/bathmat is "her place" and is happy to curl up on it while I help students.  Attaching her to something isn't really necessary, though it does signal that I don't want her wandering around.  Our writing center stint might as well have been our 30th session instead of our 1st, leaving me to wonder why I spent any time at all worrying about it.  She was the perfect dog during class too.  After class, she convinced me to take a walk on the Woodduck Trail...and a lovely walk it was.  Tomorrow we face a new challenge: a three hour afternoon class in a different classroom than the one the Tuesday/Thursday class meets in.  We will also spend another class hour (50 minutes) in the writing center during a potentially busier time.  I'll worry about these new challenges because that is apparently what I do.  Gracie, however, is both calm and enthusiastic.  She likes riding in the car, she likes going to class, she likes curling up in the corner of my office while I am on the computer, she likes going to the English department mailroom with me when I jump up to get my printing, she likes walking on the Woodduck Trail, and she likes coming back home.  I like having her with me.  Eventually, I may even have to give up worrying.

Day 94: Gracie Meets the Students!

Gracie says, "4:50 a.m.? You've got to be

kidding me!!"

Though we have been on campus several times, this was the first day that Gracie came to class with me.  The class starts at 7:45 a.m. and the drive to White Bear Lake where Century College is located is a 50+ minute drive from where we live.  Though I teach composition, I am able to do the math.  Adding in the morning routine we have developed so that Gracie is comfortable--fed and toileted at least, I decided we needed to get up at least by 4:50 a.m.  I was a bit nervous because we missed the alarm on Monday and overslept.  Nature must have tuned in and decided to protect me from oversleeping again because about 4 a.m. the wind began howling and a thunderstorm blew in.  We waited until the alarm went off before getting up though.  We got in a walk, Gracie's breakfast, a shower for me, and managed to be out the door, dashing through a new wave of thunderstorm by 6:00 a.m., our goal time!  Once we arrived on campus, we took a brief walk, dodging a garbage truck at the mouth of the Wood Duck Trail, amazingly not flooded today!  We took the elevator to the third floor since I had my rolling briefcase and arrived at the office about the time we need to arrive on Thursday in order to open the campus writing center for the day at 6:50 a.m.  Gracie strolled right in and settled on the bath mat rug from Target.  While she dozed, I went over my class plans another time and had just finished that with the student tutor that will be working with the early Tuesday/Thursday class arrived.  He met Gracie: two calm, friendly souls, they hit it off right away.  We went over the get-acquainted activity and then down to the classroom on the second floor the three of us marched.  I put Gracie's mat in the corner and she again settled right in.  Gracie was terrific.  If my children had behaved this well, I would probably have twelve of them instead of just the two!  If the rest of the semester goes this well for Gracie and me, we might not be ready to take our show on the road, but we will certainly be ready for Spring Semester and just maybe anything anyone cares to throw at us.