Prada and Tigers and Hair, Oh My!

Wow, I've been so busy lately I actually had to look back at the blog archives to figure out where I left off! I've got quite a bit to catch s’all up on so I guess I'm back to reviewing one or two days at a time until we're back on track. Starting with...

Friday, July 31st
A friend moved into his new apartment that morning so I took Prada along as I helped him move furniture. This is really only an event worth mentioned because I want to give a shout-out to the wonderful landlady who didn't give us any trouble whatsoever about bringing a service animal into the apartment. Some of the retrains told me horror stories about landlords/ladies that really didn't like service animals, so here's a salute to the landlady at Alpine Village Apartment Complex on Fairview Avenue! Much thanks!
That evening I stayed at my best friend's overnight. Prada refused to eat that night and the next morning, then that evening we went to my cousins' house to celebrate my grandmother's 75th birthday combined with my cousin's 21st and Prada wouldn't eat there, or at grandma's the next morning (we stayed overnight there).   A friend and I went out to a mall that evening (Sunday the 2nd of August). At the mall in a parking garage I stopped to feed her in an empty parking space, not really thinking she'd eat there because she doesn't eat at strange places. I had to try, though. Apparently she was hungry after skipping four meals, 'cause she ate every kibble! Prada had a long few days, there.

Now, we get to back up a bit to the afternoon of August 2nd.

Leah (the friend I was at the mall with) took me out to the property of one of the members of her church who owns tigers, wolves, skunks, peacocks, a bobcat, chickens, goats, horses, and dogs. Jim, the guy that owns this menagerie, charges $100 to pet the tigers, unless it's your birthday. I will be back in Alabama on my birthday so Leah, being the sweetheart that she is, arranged with Jim to let me meet them this Sunday.  Here are some pics of me and Sasha, the orange Siberian tiger. She's about two years old, roughly 700 lbs.

Jim brought Sasha out on a leash to the wide, flat, graveled “parking area’ in front of his house 9which sits waaaaay back from the road up on a hill).  This is one instance in which Prada remained in the car and did not participate with me.  Tigers are still feline, and she and Prada still have deep-rooted instincts that do not need to be challenged. 700-lb tiger vs 60 lb shepherd…yeah, you do the math.  Anyway, after we got back in the car to leave, Prada decided it was her duty to rid me of all tiger scent and fur by licking my hands clean and shedding all over my legs. "MY person!"

Tuesday, August 4th will have to wait for another entry because I need to do some research to help explain everything that happened that day. Basically I went to my ophthalmologist’s office for the day and Dr. Weleber explained a lot of stuff about my vision, its causes, and current and future research on genetic eye disorders like mine. So the next post will have a bunch of links and technical terms and definitions and a cute puppy story about Prada at the office. There's also a development on the grandma fixation thing.