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SongDragon
05-16-2007, 03:38 PM
I got home about five or six days ago (Friday of last week?) and haven't been alone for five minutes since. Neither has my sister since I picked her up on Saturday. It seems to melt all the stress away... honest... I just don't get as much sleep (or time to write) as I'm used to. My first night home, I'm not used to locking bathroom doors, so I was taking a shower. First the dog came in, all quiet, and just lay down on the outside. So I decided to leave her. Then, through the other door, came the cat, and lay down across from the dog. Mom just laughed, as now both doors were open and all the cold air was coming in, and reminded me, "You're not going to have any privacy with those two." So far, she has been right on. My cat (Dew) is a little more roly poly than when I left him as he has taken to eating the dogs food. (the dog)is as thin as ever, but has a few more gray hairs (she's only eight!). The bird (Sneezy) is noisy, but at first was rather reluctant to get out of her cage as she was rather grouchy with us.

Now we're training the bird (a gray cockatiel) to fly to us. We have been using unsalted roasted sunflower seeds (she is not a fan of salt). Unfortunately we would like to eat them, too, and she objects. But the training is going quite well, as already she is flying onto people's shoulders (rather than way up high as she used to, which is not fun for the people of this household, all of us averaging five feet) even without treats. There is one downside, we're now trying to add in commands, because otherwise she spent all morning flying from one to the other trying to take a snitch of our breakfast to try to get a reward! Hopefully I'll get to go up to New Hampshire soon, though there's always the problem with "what if" someone opens the door and either lets the bird fly out or the indoor cat out without a human (if there's a human around he'll stay in sight). The dog is probably the reason we still take the animals up to the lake. She loves to swim and that's probably the only chance she gets to do it on a daily basis!

Just thought I'd drop in and say: I'm not stressed anymore! Even though right after coming to Connecticut, while getting Caroline from Long Island, I got lost in Delaware (don't ask) and then the Bronx, New York, where I couldn't understand the directions they tried to give me. It was San Francisco (only scarier) all over again. I really need to get the hang of not getting lost for once...

~Song

Bat
05-16-2007, 06:16 PM
I really need to get the hang of not getting lost for once...


Oh, Song. There is that old-fashioned liney thing they call a 'map'.
OR, If you're not a Luddite, and comparatively well-to-do, you could get a GPS for your car.

I plan to drive to CA this summer, but I'm going to stick close to the edges of the country for the most part, so I don't get lost.

Rkitko
05-16-2007, 08:59 PM
I plan to drive to CA this summer, but I'm going to stick close to the edges of the country for the most part, so I don't get lost.
Be sure you don't fall off the edge. Never know where'd you end up... Arkansas?

SongDragon
05-16-2007, 09:07 PM
Going across the country didn't seem as hard... Because you stick to these major highways. It's when you have to get off places... Then again Dad also planned the route for that (though I don't think "planned" is the right word as my father doesn't plan anything).

Yeah... I actually don't get lost going up to New Hampshire. And didn't get lost going up to Maine. However that might be a part of the "homing instinct" my entire family has. We don't get lost as easily once we're headed for home, even if we don't know the roads. I do know how to use a map... I'm just not very knowledgeable about which roads are best (as I've never been on them) and so often choose the wrong ones (Grandpop used to make me plan routes when he was teaching me, but then he would fix them so we wouldn't hit traffic). I had never had problems with Google maps before that... But this time I definitely did.

But now, as far as driving is, I can still go all over Litchfield. I just feel a little nervous. Some how I never noticed how narrow these country roads are.

~Song

DaveM
05-16-2007, 11:12 PM
I shall be driving from Dallas-Fort Worth to the Waco area some time this fall. Am already terrified. Wanna drive, anyone? Sister Rose?

lucille
05-17-2007, 05:14 AM
Since I moved to Geelong from Melbourne I have been using whereis.com and find it to be great. It is a little like GPS except you have to read it, but it is just as specific. Geelong is on a river and a bay, and has many hills and curved roads. When I first got here I lost all sense of direction completely. Of course, I reckon if I can navigate Melbourne 2.5 million, I should be able to handle Geelong 150,000. :)

RedjackRyan
05-17-2007, 07:26 AM
A dragon that can't navigate, thats a frightening thing. Still, you seem to do better than Diverboy so thats something at least :D