Final day in Nashville

Howdy ya' all,

Those of us who didn't have to return home today met again in the Governor's Suite and discussed Nigel Manning's paper that he wrote specifically for our meetup. We waited to no avail for the rain to ease up to go out to see the town. So we took off in two cars to the Pathenon anyways and took some pictures of this very beautiful place. Please excuse the 'wet chicken look'. We had a nice lunch/dinner at Chili's and took one of us to the airport.

Vallie was such a good puppy! She always goes under the table and sleeps while we eat. She's so good, the waitress didn't even realize we had a dog with us! What a good girl! She's so loving and nurturing. And she's such a fun-loving pup!

We're back in the hotel now. Vallie was initially very much afraid of the glass elevators that just seemed to be going upwards! She would ' hit on the breaks' with her front pause when we tried getting her into the elevator, but now she's gotten more used to it. She doesn't like the loud birds in the cage at the lobby - they're too loud. She couldn't understand why she couldn't drink from the lobby fountain, after all, she was thirsty. I must have seemed like a terrible person to her, and she silently cried...

Well, Vallie is going to start her first TMA scent odor lesson. Those of us remaining are going to do saliva swabs with a cotton swab and put each in a container and freeze it. Tomorrow they will be taken to Franfort, Kentucky, and the one of the person diagnosed with TMAU will be used to teach Vallie to identify the scent. Then the other opened containers of the saliva swabs will be lined up about 10 feet away, and Vallie will be asked to find the ones with the same scent. She will be performing her first TMA search and find job! She's done it with other scents already. Then we'll see if she detects it in our other samples, and the sufferer will be advised. Afterwards, the sky is the limit!!!

Hope you enjoy our pictures and upcoming videos in the weeks to come.

Maria