There's a first for everything, and yesterday, my first was that we got into a slight wreck on the way to the base to work Velvet. It was, as I said, slight, and Velvet, myself, and my Dad are ok, but it was an experience, especially since it could have been worse if the person who refused to yield to us at the base gate right in front of the guards had hit my door rather than hitting the right front fender. Needless to say, after an hour of sitting in the warm truck, a citation was issued, and we went on into the gate. The odd thing about it was that it was literally 20 feet from the gate and the guards saw everything. The older lady felt really bad about it but what's done was done. All Velvet did when it happened was sit up, then after she realized that nothing that interesting and ordinary (in her calm dog brain) was going to happen, she laid down and went to sleep. The airbags did not deply, and even if they had, she was laying in the floor boards so would have been ok, but it was kind of freaky since I've never been in an accident with a guide.

It didn't phase her though. Her work on the base was really great. We crossed a few intersections, one with an island, and though wary of the traffic, she did well. We probably walked about a mile or so in total, basically tracing a path and then retracing it back to the injured, yet drivable truck.

This morning, I'm going to go to church. I have some time, so I thought I would write this entry. It should be interesting to see how she reacts in church, especially with the billion kids that will be all interested in my new dog, but I'm sure, as always, that it won't phase her too much, especially with her work clothes (the harness and leash) on. We don't stand up and sit down too often in the meetings, sometimes never, so that should be helpful and causing her to, like many of the older--men especially--go to sleep.

I spent much of yesterday filling out, or refilling out I should say, my security form. I had it about half filled out on Thursday night, and since I don't have Acrobat, couldn't save the form. Thursday night, my computer decided to go onto Microsoft Update and update itself (oddly), and after rebooting itself at 3:00 A.M., powerless to do anything in my sleepy state, I lost the form. I'm close to being back to where I was, but it was still painful, especially since I had to call some people back that I'd missed. My friend Neil and I went to Chili's last night, and again, Velvet did well. She only went after one piece of food, and I caught her before she could ingets it. I'm still not sure if I would trust her in a steakhouse/salloon where they throw peanut shells on the ground, but maybe we'll get there.

Friday I went to high school with my Mom who teaches there. They are getting to the very end of the year, so it was pretty laid back, morseo than usual, in her classes. We worked the perimeter of the chool building, and we even practiced a cafeteria line. After going through the line at lunch time, she didn't want to go through the cafeteria, but kept steering me to the actual line. Perhaps she feels that I need to gain some weight?

After school, we went to the police station in town to get my fingerprints done. She put her feet on the counter once, probably since the officer who did the printing talked to her, but that was the extent of her revelry. I thought it was really cool that my fingerprints were done in the main interrogation room. I wouldn't let the officer put the cuffs that were attached securely to a custom built hulk of a counter, but it was still cool to play with them and roll them around on their rail. Apparently they can cuff five or six people at a time, and apparently, according to the officer, "Not even the strongest convict has been able to break it--and we've had some ruffians in here". It could have been a growing fish tale, but I doubt it. That thing was solid.

Provided I don't take a long nap this aftternoon, expect an update from the last two days in training. Until then, later.