Today I wore my Mirabel dress (from Disney’s “Encanto”), and I think it made me into a hero!
The day started off easy enough. I took Felix to the NAMI Hut to hang out with other facilitators. My friend Marija was there, and we chatted with Julia and her baby Addie who work there. Well Julia works there, Addie plays there! We had a fun time talking.
Felix did a very good job most of the time we were there. He lay on his mat and was well-behaved and quiet. I even got in some stay training with him, though we are still struggling with a walk around him while he’s in a stay.
When Addie woke up from her nap, she started crawling around. Even though Felix has seen that happen before, he barked a few times! So I picked him up and put him in my lap and he was calmer. Addie is such a good baby. She likes Felix, but doesn’t try to approach him. She just lets him be.
I came home to eat lunch and feed Felix, and then I met Sabrina at her doctor’s office. She needed to get an echocardiogram, and didn’t know if her service dog Indy would fit in the room with her and her wheelchair. So I came with to hold Indy if necessary. Since I knew I’d be sitting a long while, I brought my wheelchair so I’d be more comfortable. Plus, my foot was hurting, as I got a splinter last night and digging it out caused some damage. Everyone was so happy to see the two of us in our wheelchairs with our service dogs!
Luckily Indy was able to go back her, so I just waited in the waiting room with Felix, reading Lord of the Rings.
When Sabrina got done, we headed to Starbucks! It was too hot to sit outside, so we sat inside and got drinks with straws so that we could easily sip from straws under our masks. We sat near the door, too, so we had better airflow. It was the first time Felix had been inside of a restaurant-type establishment for any longer than it takes to wait in line somewhere! He did a pretty good job. At first he wanted to wander and explore, but after a few minutes he settled onto his mat. We got some great pictures of him relaxing while we drank our drinks and chatted.
I am wearing my Mirabel dress and Felix is a sable and white Japanese Chin wearing a purple service dog in training harness. Sabrina is wearing a multicolor tie-die dress and has short blond hair. We didn’t get any pictures of Indy, as she was on the other side of Sabrina. Most of the pictures are of Felix on his mat. In one of them, I’m leaning over to be in the picture with him. We also got a selfie of Sabrina and me.
Near the end of our time at Starbucks, Felix started to get bored. He kept wanting to get up and move. So I picked him up and put him in my lap. I guess NAMI Hut plus Starbucks made for a lot of boring sitting for him.
Sabrina wanted to go to Ollie’s to get a cat tree that was on sale, but I thought Felix had had enough for the day, so I took him home. I had been home for about 15 minutes when I got a phone call from Sabrina that was about to put my hero side into gear!
Sabrina had gone to Ollie’s and parked way out at the end of the lot near some gravel and grass to let Indy go potty. She had gone about a foot off the pavement onto some gravel and gotten stuck! She was panicked and called me.
I immediately dropped what I was doing and ran out the door without a dog or a wheelchair. I may have broken a few speeding laws getting to Ollie’s in record time! Sabrina called me just as I was pulling in to tell me she had called the fire department to come get her out.
I parked and got out and assessed the situation. She wasn’t as badly stuck as she thought she was. It wasn’t something one person could’ve gotten out of. But with one person driving the wheelchair and another pulling on it, I thought we might be able to shift onto more solid ground. So we gave it a try. Sabrina sat in her chair and drove it, while I gave it a few good yanks from behind. And we did it! We got her free from the gravel and onto the pavement! Yippie!!!!!
Poor Sabrina was really in a state about the whole thing, and just as we were about to call the fire department back and tell them not to come, they arrived. I guess I’m quicker than 911 LOL! The firefighter came over to us and took down some information, then left.
I asked Sabrina what her plan was, and by golly, she said after all that, she is GETTING that danged cat tree! I didn’t think it was good for Sabrina to do it alone, but I hadn’t brought my wheelchair, so I figured I’d see if they had any store carts.
We were all the way at the far end of the parking lot, but I was able to walk to the entrance without too much difficulty. They didn’t have any electric carts for the store, but they did have a store wheelchair, so I pushed myself around the store. Luckily it was a pretty nice wheelchair and the store’s floors were really smooth and flat. So it wasn’t too hard for a short time. We found the cat tree, and got on out of there!
I kept telling Sabrina that together we can do anything! We can make it through any kind of misadventure!
I was just happy I was able to get there quickly and help! I think the Mirabel dress gave me some sort of heroic powers or something today.
The pups were all happy to see me when I got home, and Sabrina has vowed off gravel for good (she got stuck in it once before with me!).