Jo's Old Site

As I was looking for information on the benefits of walking regularly, I came across a website called Go For Your Life and this web site tells people that we should aim at doing ten thousand steps a day. And as walking is a low impact or weight bearing exercise it is a good form of exercise for most people; whether they are physically disabled but mobile, and elderly people can also do it too. Also it is a good form of exercise for people that are overweight.

The website also explained the health benefits too, as it also reduces the risk of heart disease, stroke, and can lower high blood pressure, and encourages people to walk at least thirty minutes a day, and I can do that amount of time easily although I’m not up to ten thousand steps yet. I also do more than two thousand steps a day as there is a fair amount of walking when I train Ilse and I also go shopping but also know that I can do better too as what I got from the website is something to aim for. The Go For Your Life web site also had other great tips too such as we should wear a pedometer as it will help us become aware of how many steps we take and can encourage us to move more often. And then another thing it explained is that we should drink water before we exercise and after. Then if you want to read more about it here’s the web site address:

http://www.goforyourlife.vic.gov.au/hav/articles.nsf/pages/Walking_for_good_health?open

Lately I have been walking Ilse around our round driveway, and that is just over a hundred steps for me each time we go round. I have been doing ten laps for a while, and now have increased the distance to twenty. Also when I saw a doctor about hydro therapy one of the questions he asked me was how far can I walk? And I told him that I can do ten laps of the driveway which is just over one hundred steps for me (as that was what I was doing at the time) and I think he told me that I had to do thirty laps to get around a shopping centre. I also been walking Ilse for three to four weeks, and it is starting to feel like it is a regular routine. Mum and Dad have both commented on how well Ilse, and I walk together and she is also doing well when I train her. It also felt a bit funny doing fast pace as I haven’t done it for some time but I just take small steps and don’t try to rush it. And I know it will get easier as long as I keep doing it. Mum has also told me that she doesn’t think I’ll be able to use the walker in a trial but the walking stick is okay. I decided to get the walker as I didn’t have a lot of confidence doing my version of fast pace and I used both walking aids, and neither of them bother Ilse. It is also useful to get a dog used to different objects like that right from a puppy, though I have heard that most people with disabilities get older dogs.

In this lesson Brenda gets us to draw a manga character called Bitty, and I had to draw a square that was big enough for a head and hair, and then we draw a line across the middle and make another line from top to bottom that is also in the middle. This is so it makes it easier to try and get things like ears and eyes in the right places. However, in my first attempt I didn’t make my square big enough so some of Bitty’s hair is outside the square. I also have noticed in these C lessons that all Brenda wants us to do is to draw heads.

Linus The Lion is the next cartoon we had to draw, and again I had a few goes at drawing the shapes. Brenda also says that learning to draw cartoons is a fun way to learn how to improve our observation skills.

Sometimes when training a dog, a trainer throws their dog’s dumbell and then they may find that their dog doesn’t fetch it; despite being told to and so what can a dog trainer do when this happens? Well, if their dog has got a check chain on it’ll probably be tempting to the dog’s trainer to give them a check.

But their dog may refuse still so if this does happen the best way for a trainer to react is simply go out to the dumbell with the dog, (without pulling the dog towards it). As all I’m suggesting is to walk out with them walking freely by the trainer’s side and when the trainer and their dog gets near they then tell their dog “fetch.” And pretty soon, they’ll find that their dog is fetching the dumbell by themselves again. Then another thing that a dog trainer needs to take into consideration: is how long the dog has been doing it? And if they haven’t done any fetching for a while. As to be able to get the dog to fetch this way the trainer needs to know that their dog likes to carry things in their mouths and does this without any prompting from them. Then another suggestion is to use food. Also the dog’s trainer needs to know that their dog understands the word “fetch,” as even though they might have a dog that likes to carry things naturally their dog still needs to learn to do it on cue. So if the dog can fetch the dumbell on cue when it is held out in front of them, then gradually lower the dumbell lower and lower and the dog’s trainer also does this until they can place the dumbell on the ground in front of the dog, and then on their trainer’s command the dog fetches it.

When the trainer and dog get this far the dog’s trainer can then throw the dumbell a short distance away, and they might want to add stay and then block their dog with their free hand, and if the dog doesn’t go when told then try my suggestion and walk out to the dumbell with them and after they done that for a while see if the dog will do it on command by themselves.

This is the second of Brenda’s C lessons where we have a go at drawing Kayla the Koala and try to get the proportions right, and although I can see that my drawings have improve I still need to work on getting the proportions. But that will come with practice. Though at least my drawing does look like a koala, and I might have another go at it some other time.

Last Thursday, as I was unloading the trolley that I was using a woman noticed that I had 4legs dog food and asked me does my dog like it? I then told her yes she does, and then the lady told me about her dogs being fussy etc.

Anyway, I got onto the 4legs dog food web site and found out that they have at least two other varieties made with lamb and turkey which the shop at Plainlands don’t stock so I might see what they have in town sometime. I also found out that some people feed their dogs 4legs because their dogs are fussy and so kept feeding it because their dogs like it.

However, I came across a couple of comments that weren’t so positive. And for those who are interested in finding out what other people are saying here’s a web site address:

http://www.4legs.com.au/testimonials.php

They also talked about 4 legs dog food on the Dogz Online Forums.

This is the first of Brenda’s C lessons that is titled “three families of lines,” and in this lesson she explains that lines visually separate and/or define forms, shapes, and patterns; also a line can be straight, angled, or curved. Brenda then tells that straight lines can be vertical, horizontal, or diagonal, and they can also be thick or thin, long or short, and be drawn in any direction. She also suggests that we practice drawing some of her examples, and then explains what angle lines are and they occur when two straight lines join together and sometimes take a form of a square, rectangle, or triangle. Then Brenda says a curved line is created when a line curves or bends, and then another type of curve is a compound curve such as the letter S as it is developed when a curve changes direction.

I never have drawn a horse’s head before, and in this lesson that is titled “seeing shapes of a horse’s head” Brenda shows us a photo of what looked like a palamino horse where she outlines the shapes that we should see; she also draws our attention to the different shape ears. And I was pleasantly surprise with my version of the horse, as once again I found that her instructions was good like when we are drawing, we should draw as slow as we can as speed isn’t necessary important. However what is important is accuracy.

The sixth B group lesson is titled “Grendel Gremlim” and in this lesson we have to follow step by step instructions to draw the gremlin. Also I had a few goes at drawing the egg shape head that it had and I found Brenda’s instructions are very good as through it she explains what we should try to concentrate on and at the end I was happy with my drawing.