Jul 8, 2010

Work and The Dog

I'm here at the ranch, and the director graciously lent me a computer to use while I'm here tonight. There is a girl here for respite who has Prader-Wili syndrome, and needs one on one supervision, so I'll be here for a couple of weeks, mostly full time I think. The shifts run in 24 hour periods, so no matter when I'm working, it's going to be at least an over night.

Porter is turning out to be a great guy! He is very gentle with the residents and has so far stayed calm through both tantrum and seizure. He tells me when he's has enough for the moment and goes to the door. Sometimes I'll see him looking in the screen door, but when I open it for him, he just stays on the step and declines to come in. He just watches from the door for a bit, and when he's ready to join the group again, he lets me know. The residents love him and he seems to understand that this is our work now. He's always ready to go home to his own house and yard, though. For me, as well as Porter, this job is a challenge and a learning opportunity that seems to have come along at just the right time.

I now have cable TV, telephone, an internet service, but unfortunately no computer yet. I've gone shopping for one, and was amazed at the desktop computers that are available now. Monitor and CPU all in one unit! Touch screen. ...and everything sold separately. No more of everything in one box. It was a little daunting for me. I didn't have the money to buy one (luckily), so I have more time to figure out what I want and what I need.

Thanks again for thinking of me and for leaving me the great comments! And to the people who leave me comments in Japanese: I'd be happy to publish your comments if they were in English, and of course not spam, but I can't read Japanese. Please leave your comments in English so my friends and I may enjoy them.