July 17th, 2018
Just
wanted to share a silly story that involved my Partner Dakota & I.
At least one of you knows a bit about what happened yesterday morning,
but I'm still laughing and decided to share it, even though it isn't a
GSDC SV Inc. Meeting Brag.
Kalifornia Kota & I live in a nice gated Community with several very nice public amenities - including a huge pool of the MOST BIZARRE shape. My
dear friend Veronica (w/Hessie), inspired me to go down to our
Community Pool. I was sure there would be lots of kids and adults and
I'd have to leave, so I'd never tried it in the 6 years I've been here.
So after Veronica (she's got at least one Doctorate, and is the
President of the PSDP - Psychiatric Service Dog Partners - a 501.(c) 3
<-- They're a charitable organization, I just forgot the dang code!)
asked the PSDP List Serv for some positive vibes to help her go to a new
swimming club, I said I wanted the same. She inspired me to go to the
Pool here. It's only 4 blocks away, but I have to drive since I'm
bringing Dakota & her huge blue crate. Everything that transpires
below: both the very good and the very nasty sting is due to Veronica
being my inspiration to get off my butt and go swimming for exercise too...
Had
to walk a block or more from my parked SUV down to the big Community
Pool, where it took forever to figure out how to use the fob to open the
gate; where Dakota promptly went inside, while I'm fighting the
over-the-shoulder leash and trying to cram the crate thru the skinny
gate It was worse than trying to carry everything down to the ring when
we were doing conformation training classes in Rocklin & Loomis. It was 9AM, opening time;
but the assigned Security Guard wasn't there & never showed up, and
we had the whole place to ourselves.
Taught
Kota where the stairs SHOULD have been (this pool has NO STAIRS), using
the word command "DOOR". If I continue to swim there, and repeat that
command when we arrive and leave, then that word will eventually sink in as
the place for her to jump in and save me from drowning and the place she
should drag me to once i have her tail in hand. And yes, I taught her
how to open the zippers on her crate door. (So far she's only come out
for one perceived health problem, and once when she just HAD to get to
Frank & Carolyn's little puppies that were climbing on the crate and
into her duffel bag!) OH, if only she wouldn't choose to start her rescues
by climbing onto my shoulders and face, as experienced in my Mom's pool previously :) Put her in her soft crate and
dove in. [As an aside; NEVER dive into pool water that is clearly
labeled as 6 inches deep - ouch] I can't swim worth crap - I always sink
to the bottom, no matter what. I tried several strokes, but they were
all REALLY hard on my chronic back problem. Even the back-stroke and the side stroke were a FUBAR as I sank
after every single stroke, LOL!! Maybe I can find someone's used water
flippers - those black things you put on your feet and they stick out
with webbing and give your leg kicks so much more power? Then I could be
on my back and relieve my back of all the pain as I paddle about with the flippers.
The
deepest end of the pool is 6' and the lowest 6". It is a huge
meandering-around pool; sort of like 2 kidneys connected with a really
wide channel. There are grab rails on each side of the pool in the deep
end. I tried and didn't have the strength to pull myself up & out.
What a wuss! This old lady needs STEPS in the deep end! After 1 and 1/2
laps, I was exhausted so stayed in the shallow end by Kota and used my
hands on the pool floor to "walk", dragging myself around for as long as I
could take it. Looked everywhere when I was done, but couldn't find a
shower to wash the chlorine off my body, suit & shorts. YES, I do wear shorts over my swim suit due to some pretty scary looking scars.
And to finish my day in the pool, I saw a large yellow-jacket - or wasp?
- don't know the difference. He was floating on the top of the water
and I clapped my hands on him & the water & he flew away. But Mr
Yellow-Jacket or whomever, did not desire my applause, so he promptly
slammed his sticker in me! How rude! Well, maybe not since I WAS trying
to kill him... them he came back for another sting and I swatted him on my leg, which knocked his stinger out and into my leg by the inside of my right knee. The first aid kit with tweezers was clear up in the SUV, and I have no
fingernails. Took a while and a lot of ouches but finally got a hold of
it & think I have it all out. By the time we got home it had turned
an angry red and swelled up. (This AM, it's still red, a big hole, but
no swelling.) I promise not to applaud Yellow-Jackets or Wasps ever
again...)
As
I let Kota out of her crate, she immediately started to go down the spa
steps; crate was in shade next to the spa. Had to stop THAT in a hurry
before I got caught! The Management has already barred Dakota from the
pool, and I must assume they meant the spa too. The windows of the main
office look out over the pool, so I hope no one saw.
I
was so exhausted and starting to hurt, that I had to lay down on the
hot 'cool decking' and try to relax my back and the backs of my legs. THAT
pissed Kota off; there's no reason why she can't come out of the crate
and lie with me when I'm trying to relax my muscles and dry off a little
bit. Finally I made myself get up, threw everything into that soft blue
crate for my right hand, the keys I needed to get out of the pool area
into my left hand where I had a death grip on Kota's vest's bridge
handle to keep me from falling over AGAIN! Put the suicide leash on
Kota, grabbed the crate and held on to Dakota, She knew exactly where to
go, but first of all I couldn't get the crate thru the slender gate,
and second I couldn't keep up with her pace, and she was really holding
me tight.
I
hurt so dang much, I thought I'd never get to the SUV. 4/5ths of the
walk was all uphill, blech! And once everything was loaded (no, I didn't
forget my Partner), I crawled into the front seat where Kota
immediately Alerted on me. OK, fine, have it your way...got in the back
seat with her, she laying across my lap, and stuck my nose in her ear,
my left arm around her neck and feeling her heart pulse, her warm body,
and the Tactile Stimulation of her warmth and weight while using my
right hand to stroke her furries & fluffies and a couple minutes
later she let me go. Back into the front seat and practically yelled
every time I put pressure on any of the pedals.
When
we got back home, we both collapsed on the floor right inside the front
door. Dakota had gotten more than her daily allotted 2 x 10mins walks
& I was just an out of shape old lady who went beyond her physical
capacities. If anyone wants to come down to swim, we are allowed to have
guests with us. Bring FLIPPERS - that's the word of what I want! There
are plenty of chairs, plenty of those umbrella covers that stick out of
tables, lots of tables, and because of the VERY ODD shape of the pool,
there is some interesting landscaping. So you can sit in a chair in the
sun, in the shade, or stretch out on the shady spots that have grass and
flowers blooming.
OK, I do believe I have accomplished my mission: To bother and harass you. But you won't know that, nor that I sincerely apologize for typing so much, cause you probably haven't read the whole post - Tee-Hee-Hee!! So we both hope you all keep on keeping on...
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| Kalifornia Kota |
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