[nagdu] Living in the country and NFB convention

Fri Jul 3 11:42:18 UTC 2015

Hi Can, 
Yes, living in the countrx has some major drawbacks. As I still live at hkme in the country with my parents on a farm with cows and garden. I honestly can't wait to go back for my fall semester to campus because yay more travel for me. However, in mx situation my dog gets plenty of practice between college breaks at country travel and ignoring cows, horses and loose dogs. Luckily, 2 of the loose dog here happen to be our cattle dogs who love to test her skills by standing in front of her so she has to stop and indicate them or go around them or just flat out laying on the ground and not moving whch she guides me past them so to the 2 Australian shepherds we have I thank them for their help in training because I can trust them. Also, at my grandparents she gets to walk past horses and about 5 loose dogs dogs which I know very well however 2 of the pups still like to bark at her to plax. I know some of you may find this annoying but I like the opportunity to teach my dog to ignore dogs who try to get her attention when we are out and I can do this with dogs that I know and have freqently interacted with and pbbayed with so I know the dogs aren't going to attack her. And I will be at convention next week! 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jul 3, 2015, at 5:00 AM, Dan Weiner via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Debbie.
> First of all I wanted to tell youI totally understood the points you were
> making about summer jobs for blind folks in the other post, but I just
> didn't want to send a post saying "I agree totally"--smile.
> I, personally  can think of nothing worse for my mobility and independence
> prospects than living in the country.
> Yes, I love animals and nature, don't get me wrong, they facinate me, but as
> far as being a self-reliant person I'll take the city or at least the
> suburbs.
> I know people who live in the country who have to drive seventeen miles to
> the nearest grocery store. So, if you are blind, or in any other way or for
> whatever reason dependent on someone driving you, what do you do if you
> can't get a ride...if you are blind and live in the country, I don't
> criticize you by any means, but you'd really better feel secure about your
> network of friends and family.
> Look, even in the city or in my case the sort of half city half suburb area
> you have to worry about how to get places--lol.
> And of course I'm making all these comments based on being unexperienced at
> living in the country, I never did it, just visited, so maybe there are some
> tricks that I don't know about. I mean, I loved visiting farms and the
> country,(animals of all kinds facinate me),  but I don't think I'd choose to
> live there for the reasons stated above.
> 
> Having been in situations in my life where I felt very dependent on rides
> and so on I'm very sensitive to where I live and would be very careful about
> moving somewhere I couldn't at least do somethin, even if it 's something
> little, myself.
> 
> And now on a completely different subject, who's going ot my home arrea
> Orlando for convention? I'm still trying to figure out how much walking I
> can do after my silly ankle surgery but I'm pretty sure I'm going to make an
> appearance and it might be fun to meet up, anyone intereted you can
> certainly write here or write me privately at :
> 
> dcwein at dcwein.cnc.net
> 
> 
> Yours most cordially,
> 
> Dan W. who shouldn't be up this early and Parker who says:  oh good you're
> up, it's breakfast time"--lol
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Debby Phillips
> via nagdu
> Sent: Thursday, July 02, 2015 11:09 PM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users;
> nagdu at nfbnet.org
> Cc: Debby Phillips
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Sidewalk-less walking?
> 
> I'm really glad that there are people who like living in the country.  For
> me it was dreadful.  First of all, we were 14 miles from a small town of
> about 5'000 people.  The only way to get to town was for my husband to drive
> me.  We had about a half mile lane, which was nice to walk down, but it got
> pretty boring.  The main road that goes past that house is the county
> highway.  There are lots of big trucks that go up and down that road.  The
> other problem with it is that there were shoulders on the left side of the
> road, but then they would drop off and be on the right side of the road,
> with an edge that just dropped off.  Plus there were curves and trucks and
> cars would come around the curves quite fast.  So for me, it was total
> isolation.  I love living in Spokane, it's a nice sized town, not huge like
> Seattle but there's stuff to do, public transportation and paratransit.  And
> sidewalks! Lol.
> 
> When we first moved there, we had a Lab pet.  Jake was awesome.  
> I will never know how he knew to do some of the things he did.  I was afraid
> of the cows, even though they were on the other side of the fence.  Jake
> would walk next to Cleo who was guiding me, but he would always put himself
> between me and the cows.  And one winter day, we had very steep steps.  I
> was afraid to go down them because they were very icy.  I did not say a word
> to Jake.  
> I was thinking about how nice it would be if Jake would come up and be on my
> other side.  But I did not audibly call to him.  He came up on my right
> side, allowed me to hang on to his fur, and walked down the steep icy steps
> with me.  When we got to the bottom, off he ran, tail wagging.  How in the
> world he knew to do that, and to keep between me and the cows I'll never
> know.  The how he knew to come up and let me hang on to his fur to walk down
> those steps is beyond me.  I really wonder if dogs sometimes can have some
> kind of ESP or "sixth sense" or something? I know not 
> every dog has it, but Jake sure had something.    Debby and Nova
> 
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