u/buddrball

My golden retriever loves people and kids. His mom was a therapy dog, and he has her calm demeanor. I am wondering if there are any programs on the island or surrounding areas where he can volunteer. It will make him so happy to be in new places, meeting new people. And if he makes others happy in the process, that’s a huge win!

I’ve heard of kids reading to dogs, dogs visiting hospitals/retirement homes, and dogs meeting college students who may miss their own dogs. I am struggling to find who organizes these events, on the dog volunteering side. And more importantly, I can’t find information on what training requirements are needed.

Please share any recommendations to get us started. Or if you’ve seen a program like this. Thanks!

I have an Ultra 2. It works beautifully except after some software updates.

This happened before: Watch updates. I charge the watch (on an official apple charger). The heart rate monitor needed 20 mins to several hours to work again. The battery also drained exceptionally fast for the ultra. I needed to charge is daily while this was happening. I found the thread below and tried everything. Ultimately, I needed to get the software reinstalled at the Genius Bar.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AppleWatch/s/CGcusu78UR

I meant to turn off auto updates after this, but I forgot. I was fine for a while, but the exact same issues popped up after updating to watchOS26.5. The heart rate monitor won’t activate and the battery is draining exceptionally fast. I am heading straight to the Genius Bar rather than spending hours trying to fix it myself.

Is this happening to other folks? Any tips besides reinstalling the software and turning off auto updates?

Wanted to share a personal story of how Downton impacted me. Trigger warning for fertility journeys and loss.

I’ve been doing IVF for 1.5y as a 40yo after suffering the loss of my first pregnancy at 20w. I’m on my millionth rewatch, 2nd rewatch in the past two years. I have a better appreciation for Cora’s loss and what she would have gone through. And she didn’t have modern medicine or pain medications to help her in her delivery.

But on a happier note (and I promise it gets happier!), my IVF cycles had not gone well for the first year. We got two embryos from 4 cycles. I was on my 5th cycle while watching season 6, and I was tickled by Anna and Bates shouting “bad harvest” to trick the gods into letting them have a baby. I started saying “bad harvest” any time I would think of the outcome. I said it at appointments, washing the dishes, driving around town, while gardening. My husband started saying it with me. We both said it as the last thing going into my egg retrieval. When we got the results a month later, I was shocked. We got 5 healthy embryos. It took a week for me to believe they had it right. I still tear up thinking about it. This is only the first step for us, and we will likely need a surrogate…but you better believe I will be shouting “bad harvest” at every next step in the process.

So here’s to wishing a bad harvest for everyone with whatever ambition you have your heart set on. Thanks for reading