Jo's Old Site

Yesterday morning I was sitting on the lounge, and when I looked down at my bare feet I saw a fly walking on my left foot and I couldn’t even feel it; as all I could feel down there was icy coldness.

Then later that day, mum got back from nan’s and after mum, dad, and I had dinner I went back to my room, and when mum came in I told her that I was paralysed by coldness; mum then told me that she liked the description “paralysed by coldness.”

Ranger’s Apprentice: The Icebound Land is the third book of John Flanagan’s Ranger’s Apprentice Series, and its ISBN is 978 1 74166 021 0 and 1 74166 021 1 and like book one and book two which I have also reviewed it is published by Random House Australia.

But before I start my review of Ranger’s Apprentice: The Icebound Land book I also want to add that at the end of Ranger’s Apprentice: The Burning Bridge, Will and Evanlyn are captured by the Skandians and are taken to Skandia and we are also left pondering how much Will means to Halt. The third story also starts at the end of The Burning Bridge and the voyage to Skandia also means going via Stormwhite Sea but this is interrupted by a vicious storm, and the Skandians take their ship called Wolfwind to an island called Skorghijl where they knew they could stay until the storm season ended. Also while they were on this island Will is told by Evanlyn about her true identity, and wisely they decide to keep this to themselves. Will and Evanlyn are also trying to figure out how to get off the island, and Evanlyn had planned to reveal her true identity to the Skandians but after finding out that Will discovered by overhearing that the Skandian Oberjarl back at Hallasholm had made some kind of oath called a vallasvow, she then changes her mind. Then sometime after a failed attempt of escape Wolfwind then gets sailed back to Hallasholm, and Will and Evanlyn then start a new life as slaves, but their experience as slaves weren’t for long as Erak then decide to plan how Will and Evanlyn are going to escape.

Today mum told me about a young kookaburra that she saw yesterday that has broken his leg, she first saw it on the gate but Ruebens scared it away; but sometime after mum spotted this bird again on the closeline and hurried to give it some mince. The kookaburra definately appreciated mum’s kindness as it was back again on the gate, and this time mum gave it a bit of chicken carcass; she also told me she was worried that the carcass was a bit big for the bird but then saw it had no problems as it was bashing it against a tree.

Last Sunday mum and I took Ilse to puppy class, and Donna from Dog Sense gave me notes that I missed because mum and I were unable to come. Anyway, these notes I read gave me detailed information or a training program that explains how to give dogs less tidbits; so all this week I have been training Ilse everyday.

I started off by getting Ilse to do ten sits and rewarding her for each one, and Ilse had a habit of getting up straight away so I also had to tell her stay for a while; the aim was to give her one hundred tidbits and we do this in lots of ten. When the dog has an accuracy in the high ninety’s, we then move on and also reduce the tidbits they get to fifty (thus rewarding our dog on every second sit they do). After that the tidbits get reduced to thirty as we then reward them for every third sit and then after that we reward them randomly.

Also this method is only so we can wean our dogs off from being rewarded for every sit, but we don’t wean our dog’s off it totally and while we do this we can also praise our dogs, and when we praise our dogs we should try doing so in a really happy tone as dogs really respond to that. Patting our dogs is another form of praise, and I just thought that after Ilse had done her ten sits I reward her again in another way and that is by having a game with her toys; or getting her to do tricks as she can roll over, and also sit up and beg, crawl, and shake hands.

Yesterday mum and I went to the new shopping centre in Ipswich somewhere, and as I sat on a seat outside the Target store as I was waiting for mum to come out a Chinese lady came and sat on the seat too. I knew that she was people orientated as she was calling out to people who went by and then she asked me what’s wrong with your leg?

I then told her I have cerebral palsy, and she said that can be bad can it? I then said yeah it can be with some people, she then replied you do well and then she saw someone else she knew.

Last Friday Claire the physiotherapist came to deliver my walker, and yesterday mum and I took Ilse to a park in Laidley so I could give my walker a test drive and it went very well; it is also exactly the same as my nan’s but the only difference is that mine has got bigger wheels as mine is designed to be used for both inside and outside use.

Mum also asked me yesterday if I found the canadian crutches better than the walker or vice versa, and I told her that I thought the walker is better; as occasionally when I use the canadian crutches I still experience some doubt about my balance.

Then today I took Ilse for another walk, this time by myself with Ilse and after I came back mum told me I got a surprise for you and she showed me a photo of me walking Ilse with the walker, mum then told me that she thought Ilse walked better for me than she thought she would and said she is a amazing dog.