Life As I See it 2013

Friday, January 25, 2013

25/340

B and I took a drive over the bridge to the barrier island. To our surprise the road blocks were down, we traveled south to the State Park and again to our surprise we were allowed entrance. After a brief discussion with a State Trooper, we learned the park still has a large population of red fox. They have survived the storm. Although the temperatures are in single digits and the wind chill made it feel like negative numbers, we took a brief walk to the beach. The smell of salt air was refreshing.

Backtracking we found ourselves at the southern end of the boardwalk. Like the northern end, it too suffered great damage. Funtown pier was ripped and torn apart. It’s amusement rides falling to the ocean.

Nearly three months have passed. We have read about, heard about and seen photos of the massive devastation which occurred in the beach front towns. Today the previously off limits ocean road was open. Nothing could have prepared us for what lay ahead. Our hearts are heavy, our hopes are high and we remain thankful lives were not lost.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

24/341

During their months of training, Seeing Eye dogs are taught to have “intelligent disobedience”. They learn to disobey a commend if it will put them and their person in any kind of danger. They will not move forward across a street if a car is coming, they will not go down steps if they appear unsafe, and they will walk around obstacles. They are taught to stop and recalculate their path.

B and I raised Willow as part of the Seeing Eye dog program. She, however, decided upon a different career path and came home to live with us.

This morning it is 8 degrees Fahrenheit. Which, if my math is correct, is 24 degrees below freezing!

When I kindly asked her to get off my bed (the one with the electric blanket cranked all the way up), she could apparently sense the danger of freezing her rear end off. Oh, I know she could hear me but used what she had learned to disobey my direction.