Friday, April 24

Work and Fun on a Beautiful Day

The grandsons had a holiday off school today for Professional Development, so we decided since it was such a beautiful day, we'd do a bit of work in the yard. The boys enjoy helping and it allows them to learn about seasonal outdoor household chores.


The garden that we just cleaned out needed an edging. I would have liked to have bought landscaping bricks to match the garden closer to the door, but since that is out of the question right now, we decided to use some bricks that match the house.

Above, Brandon is taking care of Dakota and Jordan is carrying bricks. Grandpa is digging the border to insert the bricks.




Now it's Brandon's turn to carry the bricks while Jordan looks after Dakota and Grandpa is placing the edging.

Dakota is getting strong and almost too much for Jordan to control, but we let him take a shot at it and he didn't do too badly. Dakota needs a Gent*le Lead*er like Meeko had, but Meeko's is still too big for him and we haven't been able to find one that will fit him.

Here is the flower bed and the edging is pretty much in place. Mmm! I must step outdoors and make sure hubby picked up the shovel. If not, tomorrow we won't have it.

After the work was done, the boys took Dakota to the park across the street. They put him on the long lead we bought him last week and took the ball along.

It was a beautiful day and the boys tired Dakota out for me. He's been a very well-behaved and quiet puppy tonight. I know that if he doesn't get enough exercise he will be hyper and so hubby and I really need to get him out more. I did help a bit with the edging by carrying a few bricks and letting hubby know when the bricks weren't staying in proper porportion. Supervisor, I think it's called.

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Yesterday I posted about the young autistic man in Newfoundland who was arrested when the police thought he was intoxicated. There were a couple of questions that I'd like to address:

First of all is Dawn's. She asked, Didn't they make him take a sobriety test?

Dawn, the paper said that the young man wouldn't let them smell his breath. It didn't state if he was given a breathalizer when he got to the station, so I can't answer your question. I suspect they did because that is the usual procedure, but can't be sure. They certainly had no grounds to hold him.

The second question came from Hootin' Anni. She asked, But, I need to ask, just what kind of training it would be to differentiate?

Anni, apparently this must have happened before because the Newfoundland Constablary had contacted the Autism Society a few weeks ago and asked for help in training their officers in the symptoms of autism. That is now in the works. As far as Downs Syndrome, I'm not sure how officers could be trained to recognize it, but that is another disorder they need to be able to recognize.

Dawn, your comment about the autistic boy who was so violent that he killed his mother made me sad. That young man should have been given some help to overcome his violent tendencies. This goes to show you how those affected by autism fall through the cracks. He should have been in a group home or other facility where he could have been treated.

My point here is that Dane was not given his rights when he was arrested. First of all, the police didn't understand the symptoms of autism. Then, they denied him his right to a phone call when they took him to the station. This is a right that all Canadian citizens are entitled to. If it had been me or any "normal" (I hate that word) person, we would have been granted that phone call, but because this young man was different and they didn't understand him, he wasn't granted his rights.

Thank you all for the questions. I hope I answered them to your satisfaction and promoted Autism Awareness. Have a great weekend. ~Blessings, Mary~

19 comments:

  1. Great post.We had a great day here as well and are supposed to have agreatweekend.Hugs.

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  2. We had a beautiful day asa well but you got more accomplished than we did!

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  3. Back to the article I read - I believe, if I remember correctly, the mother didn't want her son to be in a group home, but I need to find the mag and read it again. Really sad.

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  4. I expect Dakota wasn't the only one tired. Nice edging to the flower bed. You do good supervising! LOL

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  5. Such a wonderful post, enjoyed it.

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  6. hey Mary, it looks like the boys are having fun with Dakota. How is the autistic man doing since then?

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  7. Happy you are finally getting some nice weather. It is good to be outdoors. The boys are learning valuable lessons. We always had to work before play. Not much of that going on any more it seems.
    Mama Bear

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  8. Mary
    Cannot wait to see what you plant. The bed looks like it will get lots of sun. Because of all the big trees here, we either get morning or evening sun. Most of the evening sun is down the hill side so it makes planting a challenge for me. Dakota is really growing. Peace

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  9. Yes, it's called supervisor. :) What fun! I just read about that young man who was arrested and as sad as that was, the good news is it's bringing awareness to something that needs awareness.

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  10. I can understand the police making a mistake in judgement, but I can't understand denying him a phone call.

    Enjoy your weekend.

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  11. Now where did my comment go..... could have sworn that I left a comment here........ oh well...... Love the pictures and so glad that your weather is beautiful and you and the boys are out making Canada a beautiful place....... Have a good weekend....... I am not sleeping , got to figure out what is going on..... I slept 2 hours last night so it has messed up my Saturday..... oh well.......

    Love ya,,,,,,,

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  12. We had great weather today. I'm looking forward to the day when I have grand kids to come and visit. Kids love helping when they are that age.

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  13. It looks like you all shared a lovely day together. Dakota is getting so big...as are you grand-boys!! I can't wait to see your garden grow ;D

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  14. Looks as if you had a very productive day with the grandsons. Love the flower bed edging.

    My, my, Dakota is sure getting big.

    God bless.

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  15. It was beautiful on Friday here as well and I was able to clean out all my flowerbeds and rake the grass. Felt so good to be out there in shorts! lol The boys looked like they were enjoying helping and of course keeping Dakota busy:-) Yesterday it poured rain all day and the temps went from 20c to 2c by evening...I thought for sure we'd wake up to snow this morning. Enjoy your Sunday, dear Mary, I'm off to the auction this morning:-) xoxo

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  16. Wonderful!!! I always think that working in the yard [even tho it's backbreaking work]...there is so much accomplished and everything looks clean and pretty once again. Y'all did good.

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  17. We had a beautiful weekend here too.
    What a great time to be out in the yard...although we are not supposed to plant till after Mothers Day.
    I think your bed looked great..how cool that hubby got out and helped.
    Looks like fun was had by all...and I think the bricks you used looked great.

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  18. Hi Mary,
    What a great help your grandson's were with the yard work! I know you both appreciated what they did.
    Dakota is just growing by leaps and bounds, isn't he!
    Hope your knee is feeling better Mary!
    xo

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  19. I almost never leave remarks, but i did some searching and wound up here "Work and Fun on a Beautiful Day".

    And I actually do have a couple of questions
    for you if it's allright. Could it be only me or does it look as if like a few of the responses appear like coming from brain dead individuals? :-P And, if you are posting at other online social sites, I would like to follow everything fresh you have to post. Would you list of every one of all your community pages like your Facebook page, twitter feed, or linkedin profile?

    My homepage ... https://cowib.csa.ou.edu/?q=node/39714/

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