Friday, August 20, 2004
"camping"
Well, I guess it has been nine days or so since I last blogged. To all my loyal readers, I'm sorry. If at one time I actually had a loyal reader.
This week has been kind of busy for me. On Monday I went camping with the residents from work. I should have known it was going to be a bad trip when it took us seven hours to make a three hour trip. That's the result of having to stop to use the bathroom at every rest stop along the way and one flat tire that forced us to turn around though we were so close to our destination.
Now when I say camping, I mean "camping". When you go camping with Developmental Options, you get to stay in a big old condo. Well, it was talked up as this wonderfully big condo where we would all get our own rooms, but it ended up to be a two bedroom condo with a loft that had six beds and only one bathroom for the eleven of us. I got my own bed though...on the first night.
Tuesday started out as such a nice day. It was nice and sunny and we were having a good time getting ready to fish. Our relief staff was going to come that afternoon and we had visions of shopping and boozing it up in West Yellowstone. Well, the sun only lasted till about lunch time. We got a little bit of fishing in, but seeing as how boats cost $18 an hour to rent, we had to fish from the "shore". By "shore" I mean a slippery pile of rocks next to the water. We didn't catch anything. In the afternoon as we watched the rain from the comfort of our condo porch we get the phone call telling us that there will be no relief staff. Yeah. It was kind of a long day.
Wednesday we came back. On the way home we stopped at a place called the Riot Zone in Rigby. The hour we spent here seemed to be more fun for the residents than the whole rest of the trip. We rode on go-carts and bumper boats. Here's my go-cart story. So you think that people who worked regularly with the developmentally disabled would kind of have an understanding of their abilities and limitations. Then we go and prove you wrong. We took three of them on the go-carts. Two of the residents would ride with staff and one would get her own car. Now the goal of Developmental Options is to help our clients be more independent. So I, wanting my buddy Rey to experience a bit of independence, let him get into the driver's seat. I figure that if we have any problems I could reach over and steer and the brake would be the pedal on my side of the car. What? Am I English or something? The brake is the left pedal. So we drive around the track taking every hairpin turn at full speed. Fortunately, I was right about the part where I could reach over and steer if necessary. So we avoided most of the potential disasters on the track. I say most because then there was Misty. Yeah. Apparently she is supposed to be the resident with her head on straight. On the first lap, Rey and I are coming around the final turn and who should we see in front of us coming head on the wrong way down the track? Yeah. Never mind the announcement from the park staff telling us which way to go coming out of the start and the four big arrows that point which way to go. It's a good thing that the go cart was kind of small for Rey and me, because we were too big to fit in the seat belt. The only thing that kept us from flying out of the car was the fact we were packed in there like a couple of sardines.
When we get home in the afternoon, do I get to go home? Nope. I have to stay until 10 pm to work out my regular shift. Um yeah. It's fun to work late after spending the night with residents who don't realize that night time is for sleeping and not yelling at each other. Not only that I had to sleep in a bed with one of them because they wouldn't stop pushing each other out of bed.
That's my great camping story.
This week has been kind of busy for me. On Monday I went camping with the residents from work. I should have known it was going to be a bad trip when it took us seven hours to make a three hour trip. That's the result of having to stop to use the bathroom at every rest stop along the way and one flat tire that forced us to turn around though we were so close to our destination.
Now when I say camping, I mean "camping". When you go camping with Developmental Options, you get to stay in a big old condo. Well, it was talked up as this wonderfully big condo where we would all get our own rooms, but it ended up to be a two bedroom condo with a loft that had six beds and only one bathroom for the eleven of us. I got my own bed though...on the first night.
Tuesday started out as such a nice day. It was nice and sunny and we were having a good time getting ready to fish. Our relief staff was going to come that afternoon and we had visions of shopping and boozing it up in West Yellowstone. Well, the sun only lasted till about lunch time. We got a little bit of fishing in, but seeing as how boats cost $18 an hour to rent, we had to fish from the "shore". By "shore" I mean a slippery pile of rocks next to the water. We didn't catch anything. In the afternoon as we watched the rain from the comfort of our condo porch we get the phone call telling us that there will be no relief staff. Yeah. It was kind of a long day.
Wednesday we came back. On the way home we stopped at a place called the Riot Zone in Rigby. The hour we spent here seemed to be more fun for the residents than the whole rest of the trip. We rode on go-carts and bumper boats. Here's my go-cart story. So you think that people who worked regularly with the developmentally disabled would kind of have an understanding of their abilities and limitations. Then we go and prove you wrong. We took three of them on the go-carts. Two of the residents would ride with staff and one would get her own car. Now the goal of Developmental Options is to help our clients be more independent. So I, wanting my buddy Rey to experience a bit of independence, let him get into the driver's seat. I figure that if we have any problems I could reach over and steer and the brake would be the pedal on my side of the car. What? Am I English or something? The brake is the left pedal. So we drive around the track taking every hairpin turn at full speed. Fortunately, I was right about the part where I could reach over and steer if necessary. So we avoided most of the potential disasters on the track. I say most because then there was Misty. Yeah. Apparently she is supposed to be the resident with her head on straight. On the first lap, Rey and I are coming around the final turn and who should we see in front of us coming head on the wrong way down the track? Yeah. Never mind the announcement from the park staff telling us which way to go coming out of the start and the four big arrows that point which way to go. It's a good thing that the go cart was kind of small for Rey and me, because we were too big to fit in the seat belt. The only thing that kept us from flying out of the car was the fact we were packed in there like a couple of sardines.
When we get home in the afternoon, do I get to go home? Nope. I have to stay until 10 pm to work out my regular shift. Um yeah. It's fun to work late after spending the night with residents who don't realize that night time is for sleeping and not yelling at each other. Not only that I had to sleep in a bed with one of them because they wouldn't stop pushing each other out of bed.
That's my great camping story.
