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Diary of a Cat Care B&B: Contagious Cautions

Not all boarding facilities are equipped to handle guests (feline or otherwise) with health issues. Because we’re owned by and attached to a veterinarian’s office, the staff at the cats-only boarding facility is trained to do some unusual things. We administer oral medications (pills and liquids), topical medications (like creams applied to the inside of the ear), injections (like insulin for diabetic kitties), and even subcutaneous fluids (for guests who are dehydrated). But sometimes, we get a guest with a serious health issue that could possibly be contagious to other guests. We work very hard to ensure that the ill … Continue reading →

Koshik the Talking Elephant

Could our next best friend be an elephant?  Maybe not for most of us here stateside, where we’re not exactly equipped to properly look after pachyderms.  But the news out of a zoo in South Korea, reported by BBC News, shows that an elephant has entered the next stage of the human-animal bond: talking. Before now, the only animals we could conceive of really being able to replicate our speech were parrots.  Now elephants are joining the list.  Koshik is a 12-year-old Asian elephant that lives at a zoo in South Korea.  When he started making sounds that his keepers thought … Continue reading →

Beware the Green Eyed Monster: How Jealousy Can Impact Your Blended Family

I tiptoed up to the topic, believing that most of us are pretty sensitive about it: “Sometimes step parents feel…I don’t want to call it jealousy, but…” at which point Kelly, eight years into her step mom experience, interrupted, “Oh, you can call it jealous! I was definitely jealous!—of a six year old, no less!” We were talking about what can often become a defining dynamic between children and step parents, and consequently, a divisive issue for a biological parent and their spouse. It’s not an emotion many of us are willing to cop to, especially if the trigger is … Continue reading →

Positive Steps to Confront Stereotypes

In recent blogs I talked about anti-immigrant feeling in America today and whether it will have an unintended impact on our adopted children. I was thinking primarily of our Asian and Latino children, but a third-grader from Ethiopia was recently taunted in my neighborhood and told to go back to her country. In some parts of the U.S. the immigrant African population may be larger than the African-American population, so possibly more and more people will assume that African-heritage children are immigrants as well. And some of them are—Haiti and Liberia have been native countries of significant numbers of adopted … Continue reading →

Is One Really Enough?

I got into weightlifting when I was a freshman in college. I was dating a guy who was obsessed with bodybuilding. He was competing for Mr. Wisconsin… or was it Mr. Universe? In any event, A. couldn’t go a day without working out (or eating egg whites), so needless to say, much of the time we spent together was at the gym. And while our relationship may have failed (he loved his body way more than he loved me) I left with a great parting gift—-a toned body and tight grip on how to design a fitness routine that worked … Continue reading →

Kinship Foster Care

My last two blogs defined kinship adoption and discussed its advantages and disadvantages. This blog is about the related topic of kinship foster care. Some estimates say that nearly half of the children in foster care are living with relatives. This is very hard to measure, as many families may be taking care of grandchildren, nieces or nephews informally. As with kinship adoption, the major advantage of kinship foster care is that the children are with someone familiar instead of being further traumatized or frightened by being placed with strangers. Many children also find living with relatives to be less … Continue reading →

A Passion for Rhodesians: An Interview with Author Maris Soule

I’m kicking myself for not getting my tail in gear and publishing this interview last week. Posting romance (and mystery) author Maris Soule’s interview on Valentine’s Day would have been mighty apropos. Ah well, I goofed. But…at least it’s still being posted in February, the month of love. That works. What does Maris love? (Besides writing.) Well, I’ll give you a hint. They’re often furry, four-legged, and what us other pet lovers love…our animals! Below she tells us about what kind of animals grace both her life and her work. Courtney Mroch: What kind of things do you write about? … Continue reading →

What Homeschoolers Should Know About the Universal PK Agenda

If you don’t know it, Universal PK is a push towards creating free, publicly funded preschools. In other words it’s public school for preschool aged kids. Doesn’t sound too bad right? The NEA loves to tout research on how kids who go to a good preschool tend to earn about $2000 more per year than kids who didn’t and all of these other benefits that kids who don’t go to preschool miss out on. But behind the Universal PK agenda, is a push towards lowering compulsory attendance laws. Fundamentally, the message to parents is: ‘You can’t do this. You’re not … Continue reading →

Tips to get better Customer/Tech Support

One of the most frustrating things can be calling a company for customer or technical support and getting unsatisfactory service. I’ve had this happen and I’m sure most of us can tell horror stories from our past. I also have a slightly more unique experience with this topic and that is working on the other end of the phone. While in college one of the jobs I had was customer support and then tech support for one of the top three cell phone companies. There are many things that can frustrate us when we are calling for help. Long hold … Continue reading →