Because We Can - Fulltime RV'ing

 

What Did We Do Today?

Saturday May 30 Livingston, TX

A Training Day

It was our first of two shadowing (training) days at the Escapee's Care Center. But first a word of explanation. There will never be any photos that include the residents during the month we are here. This is their home and we respect their privacy.

But back at our home Red was happy in his watery home and I can take photos of him because whenever I ask him if it okay to take his photo he never says no. He is a growing boy as he has doubled, or maybe even tripled in size since we brought him home. At times he eats so much I think he is going to explode. The biggest problem is getting him to hold still long enough to take his photo. No matter how many times I tell him to hold still so I can get a good photo, he always moves when I point the camera at him. Could it be that he is merely copying what I do when Linda asks me to do something? Maybe I should rename him Bad Red.

Before I go any further let me say I am simply flabbergasted at how smart the residents at the Care Center are. While I am having a problem remembering any of their names, everyone of them always calls me Bob. It's really unbelievable how sharp they are.

But enough of that. Her I am flunking the eating utensil wrapping exam. I thought we were supposed to take a knife, fork and spoon and roll a napkin around them. Not so according to Linda, who I suspect got a Masters Degree in EUW, i.e., Eating Utensil Wrapping, sometime in the past. Come to think of it, she was in school when we met, so maybe that was what she was studying. Baffled Bob.

As far as the science of wrapping was concerned, I discovered it wasn't. What it was was an art with adjustments made by look and feel. It was quickly ascertained by she who was attempting to teach me that my skill set in that area was sadly lacking. How was I to know the napkin had to be turned in right manner to begin with, one tip pointing directly away from me. Then the knife had to be laid on the napkin, exactly in its center from left to right, with the end of the cutting section a quarter inch below the tip of the napkin.

Next the fork was laid on the knife, the tips of the tines 1/2 to 3/8ths of an inch below the tip of the knife. Finally a spoon was to be placed precisely on top of the fork. Of course every time I let go the fork to get a spoon from the spoon container the fork slide off the knife. It took a while but eventually I was able to position the spoon correctly on the fork with the fork positioned correctly on the knife. The next step was to fold the left side of the napkin over towards the right so the two tips of the napkin lined up perfectly.

The above folding was to accomplished in one deft move, but my tips never seemed to line up, forcing me to attempt the fold once again, but not without the knife, fork and spoon coming unstacked on occasion. After a while I did get it correct. That meant it was time the fold the excess napkin at the bottom up towards the top. That was assuming all the stacking, restacking, folding and refolding hadn't caused said three utensils to become so disoriented spatially as to have no excess napkin left to fold.

Once the above was accomplished Ms. Perfectionist's satisfaction, the entire pile was rotated to the right, rolling everything into a nice neat cylinder which was then placed upright in the proper container. If it all sounds difficult let me tell you it far harder than it sounds. The result was that I was only able to properly wrap just a few sets while Linda did dozens of them. I felt very bad that Linda had to do almost all of them I while contributed very little. Bob the EUW Dimwit.

Based on the above I think the following Mark Twain quote is quite appropriate: "Everything has its limit - iron ore cannot be educated into gold."

 

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