we all wanted to say

mom dad, erin, and i are all looking at your blog and wanted to say hello. we miss you and can not wait to see you. erin loves your dog already. we love you and may God Bless.

Egypt's Sister

Hey everybody, I'm back with some pretty cool news. So the other day at the relieving circle, Egypt was doing a great job pooping and I heard one of the Re-Train's dogs name was Eden. So, I started thinking Egypt and Eden.. both names have an E and there could a possibility that they were sisters. So I asked one of the staff members if the dog's files contained the names of their siblings and they told me no and asked why. I told them that I was just curious if Egypt and Eden were sisters, another staff member heard me and he said he thought they might be sisters.. So I asked them to ask the Re-Train Terry when Eden's birthday was and low and be hold it was July 11th! So I wanted to meet Terry but didn't have a chance that night but the next night when I went downtown, I was hanging out in one of the rooms and Terry came in along with Eden. So it seems like the two dogs instantly recognized each other because Egypt stood up and Eden went crazy. The two dogs are complete opposites from each other, Egypt being more relaxed and Eden being hyper. Eden is a lot smaller than Egypt, about 50 lbs and only 20 inches tall. So, it was really nice getting to meet her and the dogs played around for a while and had a lot of fun. Hopefully soon I will some pictures put up of the two dogs, I hear both of them look pretty similar, with Egypt being the prettiest of course. Thanks for reading, take care and I'll have another one up soon.

Darrell

Posting # 2

Ok everyone sorry its been so long we have been extremely busy but now I finally got some time to write. Well lately I have been working with Egypt around the town. We have done very well and I have gotten a lot of good feedback from my instructors they say I am a very good follower and she is a great guide for me. Some of ya’ll might laugh but we walk very slowly haha she walks right at my normal pace from the time I could see. She does really well in watching out for me and making sure I walk safely. When I walk sometimes my feet scoot on the ground and my instructors told me that everytime that happens she looks back to make sure im fine and it has come to the point that if she thinks I might scuff my feet on something she will show me. … So enough about some serious stuff for right now. Let me give ya’ll some advice, never get your hair cut at supercuts in san rafeal. I went to get a LIGHT trim, but nooo.. I almost got scalped. The lady was of asian decent. That shoulda been my red flag to turn around and cut it myself, so I went and told her a light trim and she told me “ohh ok, so you want tiny bit shorta then your hair is now” I told her correct a tiny bit shorter. She prceeded to get the buzzer and I thought she was goin to clean up my neck first. Ha! i was wrong again. She went from the neck up with a pretty short guard on. So I stopped her as soon as I could and told her no no no scissors, she did a great job blending it, but there wasn’t much conversation after that haha. All that for a good picture… So today Thursday we did traffic checks. The name has nothing to do with it, basically it was to see how the dogs reacted to a car pulling up in a driveway if we are crossing or about to cross or if the car is in the way of our route and to see how the dog solvles the problem of goin around. Naturally… Egypt passed with flying colors she gave me a buffer of 12 feet on average which means she is very careful with me. And they did a thing called the chase where a car is pulling up behind us. She took off trying to get me outta the way and I didn’t speed up fast enough so she was tugging with all her might to get me outta the way. Needless to say I wasn’t really going to get run over it was an instructor driving. I bet sometimes they don’t wanna stop for some students haha. But I was very proud of the way Egypt protects and watches me. Hopefully I will have somemore pictures for ya’ll I have some good ones waiting for ya’ll but till next time Love ya’ll and thank you for taking the time to see my boring life. Take care

Darrell

Hey

Just checking to see how you are doing. Have not see you post anything in a while and wanted to see how you and Egypt were coming along. What new things are you doing? How are you and Eqypt getting along. She looks like a wonderful dog and I'm sure she is gentle. Labs are great dogs.

Hey Darrell, Kevin and Tasch here. Oh my gosh, she is a beautiful dog and we can't tell you how excited we are for you. Reading your tidbits, it is easy to see how excited you are of what the two of you are already accomplishing as a 'team'. YOu sound like a proud papa! We were at high school graduation for Hayden yesterday evening with the whole Greer gang; the entire family is sharing your excitement and everyone sends their love and congrats from Conroe. Your ears were probably burning last night as we all talked about you througout the evening! You are such an inspiration to so many people and we just want to tell you how proud we are of and for you. Can't wait to meet Egypt in person when you get settled in at home and hear about your adventures in California first hand. We'll head to the river house for some water fun and to hear all about it whenever you're ready. Sending all our love and support your way. Tasch

Good Morning

It was great talking to you yesterday. I'm looking forward to meeting your new companion. From what you told me, she sounds like a great dog. I don't know about greater that Colt..lol. but close. J/J. Well bro, later days...have a great weekend and talk to you soon. God Bless You and Love you.

ah Yeah......

Good Thing I'm not an English / Grammar Teacher.
Oh, OH ho ho...do not, I REPEAT! do not forget to say hello to Governor of California "to bad i can't type it the way he pronounces it"...lol
Tell'em I loved him in (Kinder garden Cop).

Great dog!

Can she fetch birds??? lol j/j. no really, can she.....lol Congrats. She's a beautiful dog. She's excellent, I really excited for you...Good thing I gotta truck, so when we make our rounds to the pawn shops and sub-way...she can pay for us. Anyway, enough of the playing round. Good English by the way. I just said good bye to my last student for the year, no More kids for a couple months. I'm looking forward to summer and starting my masters. And of course fishing if God gives me health and life. I will call you. I hear Calif. has Great Whites of it's shores. Love YOU! God Bless.

These are some pictures of our first minute!! Nat says she is really pretty..

Hey everyone! Well I’ve had a bit of trouble with this blog thing,but ehh.. I found a way… Well a lot has happened since I got here as you’ve heard… The food is awesome. Haha I can’t remember what I had because right after I was put in a food coma,haha just kidding. Well the past two days we have been doing some obedience training with JUNO. That is the standard name for their simulation training. That’s the “dog’s” name. we mostly did the sit, down, stay, and heal commands. More will come. Ya’ll are probably noticing my grammar and punctuation and yada yada isn’t all to par with a future English degree… but o well. Haha. Yesterday and today we went to the downtown lounge and we did some juno traing with an actual harness but it was being controlled by an instructor. On Tuesday we did get a taste of a real dog but they were just beginning their training for a guide dog so they still gogt distracted a bit so it gave us a look at what to expect for corrections and bad behavior. The traiing went well downtown as well all the holding on to shoulders gave me a lot of practice for walkling with the harness so I got a lot of good remarks about that. Soooo… to the big day. I never thought it was really going to come from the time Nat got me their number to apply till about 3 o’clock today..I finally got her… Egypt… She is a yellow lab and she weighs 61 pounds, and is 23 inches tall. Her birth day is July 11th and she will be 2 this year. So when she walked in the room I was grinning ear to ear… to bad the lady didn’t have her haha. How cruel right… But then about 10 seconds later the right lady came in with her… It was awesome she came right p to me and started licking me… and the camera… but the only thing I could think was wow. Right when I hooked my leash up to her she made a few circles like if she were preparing a nest to sleep and she sat right between my legs. When it came time to do some healing exercises… and no she isn’t a priest haha. She did surprisingly well. Everone was having to correct their dogs several times but I only had to correct her twice. She loves to shake hands so ya’ll can try that some day… … Readers discretion advised… She pooped pretty well with me to. They say they take a while to get comfortable but she did it like a champ… I’m so proud haha not really I’m gonna have to do a lot of cleaning. Well I need to take a shower cause she licked literally every bit of exposed skin and hair she could. I will have more to say once the excitement dies down a bit, but tune in for more sometime. Haah take care everyone love ya’ll and hope to talk to you soon. Feel free to call me I have my phone on vibrate so if I miss it I will get back to you as soon as I can. Bye

Question

What's brown and sticky????

A stick!!!!

AHAHAHA!!!

hey bro

I'm not much of a blogger am I? Two messages in a row now. I hope that your stay at the school is a great experience. I pray God Blesses you with all you deserve and more as he always has. You are an inspiration to me, I think about the so called "hard times" I go through and then I'm reminded how blessed I really am. For being the person you are despite all you have gone through. No one has the right to complain as I admit I have done much of my life. You know, at this very moment I'm experiencing the same darn symptoms of back and leg pain I did a few months before my 2nd surgery and writing to you and knowing the human being you are reminds me that I lack "it" where it counts. I wish I were more like you. I would be better off. So thank you! Thank you for reminding me that life goes on and that God has his reasons for everything and everything that we go through. I'm alive, your alive, and we have people who love us and who share in our trials too. I'm glad your family Darrell, and I'm glad that I know you. I love you bro! If your the GREATEST now, I can hardly wait to see what will become of you later on. We are all going to need you. When you get back, we need to fish some. But I will not be able to give you a piggy-back ride on the jetty this time. Remember?

hey, how is it going? nae was writing to me and said was saying in japan till june 16 but last night said coming back on her normal day 31st.... who knows... do you have a dog yet? send me a photo... thanks debbie

Hi

Hello Darrell,

Hope all is well with you. I'm excited for you. Hope you get the lab you want. If not, I'm sure they will match you well. Looking forward to seeing you when you get back. Have a good trip. Love Uncle John.

Not sure if i'm doing this right?

Miss you bro., I should have seen you before you left. I'm sorry. Love you and may God Bless. I'll call and try to be good about posting messages often.

HI DARREL HOW ARE YOU DOING.

HELLO, DARRELL. HOPE YOU ARE HAVING FUN.. I WISH I CAN GO SPEND TIME WITH YOU. SHOWS LIKE YOU WILL BE HAVING A GOOD TIME.. I WILL WRITE YOU LATER SO LET ME KNOW HOW IT IS GOING AND HOW YOUR CLASSES ARE. I WENT TO PETCO AND DONATED TO THE TEXAS ONE HERE. YOUR MOM DID IT LAST WEEK AND WHEN I WENT AGAIN I DID. SEE YOU LATER

Trip to San Francisco

Darrell and I (Cindy) flew into San Francisco and were met by two people from the Guide Dog for the Blind School. There were a total of eight people flying in that morning from all over the U.S. to join in the program. It took sometime for everyone to get to San Francisco but within three hours everyone was off to San Rafael to the school. San Rafael is twenty miles north of San Francisco, it's a beautiful area with the redwood forest trees and the bay. Once they arrived at the school they had an orientation and were settled into their rooms. Darrell has a 24 year old roommate. There is also a 19 year old and one more twenty year old. The others are in their thirties, fifties and sixties. Everyone has some vision except for Darrell. He said that everyone is real nice and helpful.

That evening they were treated to prime rib for dinner. There is a cafeteria where everyone is assigned a seat and they are served their meals. This cafeteria is available all day long for them and has an area for quick snacks, like peanut butter and jelly, there is also fruit at the tables and vending machines. For breakfast the next day they had pancakes and for lunch there was a choice of minestrome soup with a sandwich or a caesar salad and lasagne. Needless to say, he is provided with an abundance of food.

On his first day at the school they were taken to a downtown area to navigate through the streets and cross sections. They were also allowed to utilize a dog that is still in training so that they could also learn how to give commands to the dog. He was also issued his leash for his dog and a bag of doggie snacks. On Thursday, he should be assigned his dog. They will match the dog to his personality and style. He has requested a female golden lab but he doesn't know what dog he will be matched with. He is also hoping he gets a dog with an easy name. We'll soon find out.

There is also optional classes in the evening like yoga or a music room that he can utilize. Darrell did not take his computer but they do have a computer lab on campus but Darrell did say it was at the other end of the school. Since Darrell has limited time to communicate to all and the computers are not too easily accessible, we decided to create this blog for him to communicate to everyone. Whoever talks to Darrell, please leave a message on the blog so that everyone is up to date on his time at school. Please also feel free to leave messages for Darrell so that whoever talks to him can read them to him.