Jacqui Lowman, Author at BEYOND LIMITS: Awaken Your Potential

October 30, 2020

Treat or Treat

Why do people say Trick or Treat? I think we should cut to the chase and ask for what we
really want: treats, treats and even more treats. To heck with the tricks, that’s puppy stuff for
Saint and me. We are certified service dogs, and we won’t be doing tricks for anybody. We
talked it over, and my sister and I are going to ask only for treats.

I have newfound respect for cats. Wearing these ears gets really uncomfortable.

Hey everybody, Dusty here, and I’m so excited for Halloween this year! I know it must be
soon, because the leaves are crunchy on my paws. I can almost smell all the candy, and it’s
getting hard for me to wait! I haven’t quite decided on what I want to be, but even if I did, I
wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise before the Halloween party. Last year, my big sister Saint
and I were a huge hit. We dressed up as cats! It was hilarious! I mean, c’mon now, dogs as cats!
Does is get any crazier than that? It was a foolproof couples costume, and it’s going to be a hard
one to beat this year.

Last year was my first Halloween at UMPI, but lucky for me, Mummy teaches a lot of
classes, and I got to party with all of them. All of the kids wear masks, and not just the masks
they wear on other days. These masks have faces on them, and some of the faces are really
scary. I hope there aren’t any scary ones this year, because Saint and I are going to six different
Halloween parties in one day. Even better, some of the kids bring candy to the parties! When
Mummy isn’t looking, I’m going to grab their wrappers out of the garbage. Goodness I love
Halloween!

Best wishes,

Dusty Lowman

October 21, 2020October 26, 2020

An Ode to Our Graduates, Our Friends.

This is a picture of Mummy and me from a few years ago. Dusty looks forward to taking a picture with me in her cap and gown someday.

Hi, friends! Saint here. We know it’s been a while. We’ve been doing well adjusting to our new normal with Mummy. Our summer felt longer than usual. We didn’t go out as much. But it
was nice spending all that time at home working. One thing that we really missed, though, was getting to see our friends wear their caps and gowns on stage.

Years ago, when I was a mere pup, a nice lady at UMPI made me my own cap and gown. She told me that I could only wear it on a special occasion once a year, and that she had a special one
she’d wear, too. Since then, I’ve attended eight graduations. This year was different, though, and I couldn’t help but feel sad.

Since all our friends left in March, Dusty and I had been feeling down. We missed seeing everyone come in and out of classes and we missed their smells even more. By the start of May, I had a feeling that our friends wouldn’t be coming back. But I had to remain hopeful for Dusty’s sake. I sort of hyped up graduation to her and told her all about the snazzy cap and gown that Mummy would surely be getting her, too. She had so many questions, such as, “Where’s everyone go after they graduate?” I had fun explaining that once they graduate, their Snowy Owl wings can take them anywhere their hearts desire.

As sad as we are that our many friends’ wings got to take them far away before we got the
chance to truly said good-bye, we couldn’t be prouder of them. We saw them work relentlessly
over their years at UMPI and we know their hard work is going to pay off.

It may be a little late, but here’s to our graduates. We miss you, but we’re so incredibly proud.

February 19, 2020

Our Weekly University Times Meeting!

Every Tuesday, we are lucky enough to attend the University Times– UMPI’s newspaper– in its meetings. Yesterday was extra special, though, because we got to wear our snazzy club T-shirts! Mummy and her editor, Abi, helped us get dressed. The reason for the photoshoot was to get some updated pictures for the club’s tri-fold display board. They use this board to show people who aren’t in the club what they do. I think the real reason they had the photoshoot, though, was to make sure Dusty was included in photos, as the old pictures don’t include her.

Once we were dressed, I took up my usual spot on Mummy’s lap. This left Dusty unsure of where she could fit in, but our friends Alyssa and Tiffany were quick to help her find a spot. Getting posed for the pictures was easy for me, I just lay there. I didn’t want to make it look like I was trying too hard. Dusty had a little trouble: she’s still kind of too short. Tiffany had to help her stand up enough to see over Mummy.

We had a lot of fun, though. It was nice to see all our friends and take some nice photos. Abi said that she is going to print some off for Mummy’s classroom bulletin boards. We can’t wait to see what we’ll be doing at next week’s meeting!

A candid shot that Abi took of us all, family picture!

July 1, 2019

Happy July! Saint and Mummy in Idaho and Montana

Hello, Everyone. Saint, here! I’m sorry that I’ve been out of touch for so long. Mummy and I have just been so busy and had so many adventures. But I didn’t want you to worry, so figured that it was time to catch up a little.

It was so much fun in Oregon, but we were happy to get back to Idaho.

The night that we got back to Idaho, we went to the Boise airport and picked up Aunt Kimmie. She came such a long way to spend some time with us. I was so excited and happy to see her. I think that she must really love me a lot to come all that way.

Since Aunt Kimmie came, we have been seeing lots and lots of places. We explored southern Idaho. Another day we drove up a scenic byway, the Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway. We saw the Sawtooth Wilderness and Sun Valley.

But you know what was even better? We saw a town called “Lowman”! We just couldn’t believe that. Mummy figures that one of her ancestors from Utah must have started it.

After spending some time in southern and central Idaho, we headed up to the panhandle to stay in Coeur d’Alene. On the way there, Miracle started making funny sounds with her brakes. It was rainy and very windy and we were so thankful to make it to our destination safely. The next day, Mummy and I took Miracle to a Doge dealer. Turns that she needed new brake pads and rotors. Now she feels like a new car.

From Coeur d’Alene, we took a trip over to eastern Washington, to the Spokane area. We went to the campus of Eastern Washington University, where Aunt Kimmie got her graduate degree. We traveled up as far as the Canadian border before circling back.

After a few days, we traveled down from Coeur d’Alene, across Montana, to Billings. That’s been our base for the last few days.

In all modesty, I must say that I’ve become an expert on rest areas and carpets to roll on in hotels. Mummy says that I am a connoisseur—whatever that means.

Yesterday we did something incredibly neat: we went to the Battle of the Little Bighorn National Monument. It’s hard to imagine what happened there 143 years ago. Now it is so peaceful. Mummy said that it made her think of Arlington National Cemetery.

We have more wonderful adventures planned for tomorrow. Then we will head up to the northwest corner of Montana. It’s sure to be amazing.

I’ll try to keep you posted.

In the meantime, hugs and wags to you all.

Love,

Saint

June 23, 2019

Mummy and My Adventures in Oregon

Hello, Everyone! Saint here.

Happy Summer. I hope that yours is starting off as well as mine is with Mummy.

We’ve been on the move again. Yesterday, Saturday, June 22, we drove from Logan, Utah, up to Boise, Idaho. We had a chance to go through Pocatello on the way. We surely saw some pretty country along our journey.

Then today, we set off for Oregon, which is very close to Boise. Mummy had never been to Oregon. It was the last of the lower 48 states that she had not visited. We decided to go to Bend, Oregon, which is a great place for adventures.

Mummy decided that we should take an Oregon Scenic Byway, Oregon Route 26. That was an amazing trip.

One of my favorite parts was when we met a herd a cattle. Cowboys were driving the cattle across the road, riding horses and ATVs. They told Mummy and me that we should gently go through the herd. The cattle took their time. That is, until some people on motorcycles came along. The poor cows were scared and came running at us. We were very brave, though. I guess that makes me a cowgirl!

We saw some other neat things, too. We stopped at a rest stop and saw a Conestoga wagon.

We went to the John Day Fossil Beds.

And we got a wonderful view from the Larkspur Overlook.

Tonight we are in Bend. I bet we’ll have more adventures tomorrow. I’ll try to catch you up soon.

In the meantime, hugs and wags.

Saint

June 20, 2019

Saint and Mummy’s Adventures in Northern Utah

Hello, Everyone! Saint, here. Boy, have Mummy and I been having some wonderful times these last few days. So I had just had to share a bit with you.

On Wednesday, June 19, we left Cedar City. It was kind of hard to go and leave all those wonderful memories. But Mummy reminds me that we always carry memories in our hearts.

We were heading up to northern Utah. But on the way, we stopped off in West Jordan, a suburb of Salt Lake City. There we spoke with the West Jordan Rotary Club. What a wonderful group pf people. They made us very welcome. We talked about BEYOND LIMITS and our philosophy of building community and defying the notion of “can’t.” One of the Rotary members works in a doggie bakery. So she brought me some special treats, including a “pup cake.” Boy, dogs in Utah have some really neat things.

The West Jordan Rotary is where we met up with our friend Pete Cardon.

After the Rotary meeting, Pete took us over to the Field of Dreams. This is a fully accessible ball field that the West Jordan Rotary built with know-how, perseverance and lots of guts and determination. The greater Salt Lake City area probably has more than 1 million people in it. So there are lots of little ones who can benefit from a field in which they can play ball and be like anyone else. That meant a lot to Mummy and me

Then we headed up to Logan, Utah, our destination for the next few days. There were lots of highways and lots of road construction along the way. It was very warm and Miracle was really hot from having been shut up while we were visiting in West Jordan. Mummy props her phone, with the GPS, across the dial indicators on her dashboard. The glass must have been really hot. Suddenly, Mummy’s phone, Vicky, flashed a terrible message: iPhone too hot—shutting down. We didn’t know where to go. So we pulled off the highway and blasted the air conditioning. Then Mummy held Vicky in her lap for a while. After that, Vicky felt better.

We continued and found the Quality Inn in Logan, our base for a few days. The hotel is a little old, but the staff are super nice. We needed to get a good rest, because we had wonderful adventures planned for the next day.

The next day our friend, Pete, came up to Logan to show us around. Pete used to live in Logan, so he was a wonderful tour guide. Mummy really wanted to see Utah State University. That’s where her daddy went to school. Going to the school made her feel very close to him. So of course, I loved that, too. We rolled around the old quad where there were building that Grandpa would have gone into. One of my favorites was Old Main.

When we were done at USU, we headed up Logan Canyon for the scenic drive. That was spectacular. The best part came at the top when we saw Bear Lake. Bear Lake is amazing. Pete says that it is probably his favorite lake in the world. It changes color, depending on the weather: sunny, cloudy, stormy. It can be blue, green, aquamarine. As we approached and first saw it, it was aquamarine. While we there, it changed color a bit.

Then we drove down to the lake to LeBeau’s, a Logan/Bear Lake institution. There Pete got one of their famous raspberry milkshakes.

It started to rain, so we were off for the lovely drive back to town and to have a late lunch/early dinner. Pete treated Mummy at the Beehive restaurant. Mummy had a wonderful veggie stir fry. We haven’t been eating out on our trip—not much fun with just us—so I was glad to see Mummy have a good meal with a good friend.

Afterwards, we had to say goodbye to Pete. He had to get back to work. But we will see him this fall at a conference. And we have invited him to Maine to come hike with us. We would love that—I so love camping and sleeping in our tent.

We have a little more time in Utah and more adventures planned. I’ll try to blog again, soon.

Until then, hugs and wags.

Saint

June 18, 2019June 18, 2019

Mummy and My Adventures Around Cedar City

Hello, Everyone. Saint here! Mummy reminded me that it was time to check back in with you all.

We have been seeing so many wonderful things. I would have to write books to tell you everything. But I will try to give you a few highlights, at least.

We came to Cedar City, Utah, on Saturday, from Wyoming. We drove through mountains, so the road was really curvy. I sure am glad that Mummy is such a good driver.

We got to the hotel and got settled. We wanted to get some rest for our big day on Sunday.

On Sunday, we went to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It is much less traveled than the South Rim. Mummy said that she has always preferred that side. It is several thousand feet higher than the South Rim. So it is not open in the winter. We got some amazing views. We even drove around Cape Royal and Point Imperial.

On Monday, we took Miracle in for a spa treatment. We have put lots and lots of miles on her and she needed some TLC.

Then we called the sexton and met him at the cemetery. Mummy had wanted to see her daddy’s grave—my grampa—for so many years. I never met him but there was such a feeling of peace there. I lay right down by his grave. Mummy gave me a big hug. She said that Grampa would have been crazy about me.

Tuesday was our last full day with Cedar City as a base. We wanted to really explore. We took Utah State Route 12, a Scenic Byway designated an All-American Road. We went by Bryce Canyon National Park, Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument and Capital Reef National Park.

And on our way back to Cedar City, we went by the boyhood home of Butch Cassidy. Can you believe it!

Tomorrow we head north. I’ll try to update you all, soon.

In the meantime, hugs and wags.

Saint

June 15, 2019

Mummy and My Adventures in Wyoming

Hello, everyone. Saint here! I’m sorry that it’s been so long since I last wrote. Mummy and I have been having so many adventures that it’s been tough to find time to blog.

Mummy figured that the best way to see the big four western states of our journey would be to have a base camp in two different parts of each state. Then we could travel out from the base and return at the end of the day.

In Wyoming, we planned to stay in Casper and Pinedale. But despite calling the actual hotel, explaining our situation, holding the room with a credit card and getting a confirmation, someone else got the room in Casper.

So we went to Cheyenne, instead, and that worked out fine.

From Cheyenne we went to Sundance one day. That’s where the Sundance Kid got his name—when he was in jail for horse stealing. Another day we went to Gillette.

Wyoming has lots of fuel industry—oil and gas. We saw lots of activity.

And we saw lots and lots of animals. There are so many cattle. Mummy saw her beloved sheep. We saw buffalo. The antelope were so cute. And we saw something called a “prairie dog.” I don’t know why they call it a dog, though. It doesn’t look like any dog I’ve ever seen.

A lot of Wyoming is very dry. But they still manage to have rest areas. One of them was so neat. It had a skylight for lighting and a composting toilet.

We went to Casper and saw the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center. It talked about the famous trails that went west from Casper: the California Gold Rush Trail; the Oregon Trail; the Mormon Trail. It took people months and months to make it. They faced such hardship. It made me extra grateful for Miracle.

After several days in Cheyenne, we drove across the state to Pinedale. Pinedale is at the foot of the Wind River Range of the Rocky Mountains. Mummy really loves mountains so of course, I do, too. It is a big jumping off point for outfitting.

While we used this as a base, we traveled up to the Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. They are so incredibly beautiful. There were lots and lots of people there. And you know what? Parts of Yellowstone were closed off because Vice President Mike Pence was also visiting that day. I wonder if he was looking for us?

Despite everything, we did manage to see Old Faithful. People were pretty excited about that. I just enjoyed the time to lie in the sun.

I think that Mummy and I liked Grand Teton National Park best. We even saw a herd of buffalo!

On our last full day in Pinedale, we did a couple of neat things. We took a drive on Skyline Drive up to the Jim Bridger-Grand Teton National Forest. At the top, we were at almost 10,000 feet and could see Fremont and Half Moon lakes.

Then we went to the Museum of the Mountain Man. The mountain men are so famous. Most of us know something about them. They trapped beaver for high fashion clothes. But within 20 years, they had run out of beaver.

I’ll try to write more again, soon. Thanks for following us.

Hugs and wags.

Saint

June 10, 2019

Mummy and My Adventures in Denver

Hello Everyone. Saint here! I’m sorry that I’ve been out of touch for a little while. Mummy and I have just been so busy with adventures. But I didn’t want you to worry, so I thought that I would catch you up a little on our time in Denver.

We went to Denver so that we could attend the GlobalMindED annual conference. The conference focuses on helping First Generation and At-Risk students. Mummy learned a lot and got very inspired. I learned, too. But, just between us, I also did take some naps during the presentations.

I was quite a hit at the conference. And you know what? There was another service dog there, too: he had a visually impaired mom. Mummy was the only one who had a beautiful wheelchair, though.

Mummy and I are not really city folks, but as far as cities go, we liked Denver. We made sure to drive into the city in the early afternoon to avoid rush hour. (Why do they call it “Rush Hour”? No one rushes then, that’s for sure.). We found the hotel pretty well, but finding the parking was a challenge. We got that, though.

The people at the Sheraton were so nice. We did find that our accessible room had some major issues, though. The bathroom did not work well for Mummy and most of the things in the room that she wanted to control—thermostat, draperies, clothes rod—were out of reach. There weren’t any automatic door openers on the outside doors, either. Mummy talked with the management to explain the issues. We hope that when they remodel the hotel in the fall that they will fix the problems.

While we were in Denver, Mummy called our next planned stop, the Super 8 in Casper, Wyoming. She was disappointed to learn that even though she had made the reservation for a wheelchair accessible room, gotten a confirmation and held it with a credit card, they had given our room to someone else. I could tell that Mummy was worried. She wondered where we would find a place to stay at such a late date. Wyoming isn’t a very populous state, so our options were limited. After a lot of calling around, Mummy found us a room at the Holiday Inn Express in Cheyenne.

We found a nice park—the Civic Center Park—a few blocks from the Sheraton. So Mummy and I would walk there every morning and evening. It had gardens, statues, fountains.

While we were in Denver, we had the chance to reconnect with some folks from Mummy’s past.

On Thursday evening, we visited with one of Mummy’s former students from the University of North Dakota, Michael Tanner. Mummy hadn’t seen Tanner in 12 years. He teaches kindergarten near where we were staying. It was wonderful for Mummy to have the chance to catch up with him. He and I got along great, too.

Then on Saturday, before we left for Cheyenne, we had a chance to visit with Mark Yaeger, a friend from Maine. We became friends with Mark when we were first going to start hiking. We hadn’t seen Mark in a couple of years, so it was wonderful to fill in the blanks. And he even cleaned our windshield for us (we had every bug from Maine to Denver stuck on Miracle).

We don’t have many more visits lined up. But maybe we’ll make some new friends. And I know that we’ll have lots more adventures to share.

I’ll try to blog again soon. Until next time, hugs and wags.

Saint

June 6, 2019

Some Adventures Getting to Denver

Hello, Everyone. Saint, here! Mummy and I have been having so many adventures. I will have to write for a very long time to document everything. But for now, we just wanted to share a few.

It’s such a privilege to be able to drive across the United States. You can’t really grasp what a big country this is if you fly. We’ve driven through some big cities—Chicago, Omaha. We’ve seen all kinds of farm and range land.

Mummy’s ancestors walked partway across the country to Utah. We learned that Iowa City, Iowa, was a prime location for the Mormons to get their pushcarts and continue their journey to Utah on foot. That was very moving.

We also had a huge treat in Iowa City. One of Mummy’s former students, Jackie DeMolee, works in the registrar’s office at the University of Iowa. So we were able to stop and visit with her for a few hours. Mummy hadn’t seen her in more than a decade and I had never met her. But we took to each other right away. I can’t wait to see her again.

When we got to Lincoln, NE, we learned that even though we had a reservation at the Red Roof Inn and had held it with a credit card, they had put someone else in our room. It was the end of a long, hot day and we really just wanted to rest. The lady at the desk was nice and called around and got us into another motel.

Mummy was a little nervous about driving into downtown Denver. The traffic is pretty different from northern Maine. But we made sure to get here before rush hour and really didn’t have much trouble. After we checked in, we found a nice park nearby so that I can walk and do my thing.

Mummy’s looking forward to learning lots at this conference. I figure that I will get a chance to catch up on my sleep. I try to pay attention, but all that talking makes me so sleepy.

I’ll try to write again soon to keep you all posted. In the meantime, hugs and wags.

Saint