Monday jump start: Great reads from Teh Interwebs
By Gina Spadafori
September 14, 2009
Rained buckets here last night, the first real respite from dry weather since the night the puppies were born almost six months ago. The noise was so loud it woke us all up, and I went out with the dogs on the back patio to enjoy the storm’s passing, sometime in the wee hours of the night. After the deluge slowed to sprinkles, we went back to bed.
My writing partner, our Dr. Marty Becker, called a little after 6 a.m. I’m usually up an hour or more by then, so he was surprised and apologetic to find he’d caught me sleeping. He was on fire, though, jazzed to the gills and stepping on to a plane in Spokane , heading east. These days he’s in NYC so often I tease him he ought to find an apartment, but I think the very idea offends his country boy soul. I know he thinks NYC is a great place to visit, but Idaho is home.
I dragged myself out of bed after the call, fed all the assorted critters and then headed back out with four fresh ears of corn for the chickens. They get cracked corn every day as a treat, but the dried stuff doesn’t compare with sweet summer corn, and they’re going to miss it when it’s gone. I put one ear in with the new hens (that’s one of them, above), and left them to figure out what a treat they had in front of them.
Heather picked at her breakfast, but otherwise seems to be feeling pretty perky for the second day in a row (that picture is her, taken yesterday).
Now I’m going to look though my notes for things I’ve seen over the last few days that are worth sharing, so keep hitting refresh as I keep adding — and please, if you have something good, toss it in the comments.
***
“The Dr. Oz Show” debuts today, and I know they’re worked up and excited: I had three e-mails from Dr. Becker’s producer by 8 a.m. ET (I’m helping with the next segment). The show sent out a media release about Dr. Becker, and it’s here. … Watch Wednesday for Dr. B’s debut, check here for local time and channel. This should be fun!
Pet Connection BFF Dr. Patty Khuly is too busy to return my phone call, but there’s a good reason why. The Bloggingest Vet on Teh Internets is now writing a second blog, the Daily Vet for PetMD. She’s also the new pet-care columnist for USA Today. And pulling ER shifts, too. Yo, PK, when do you sleep, girl?
Someday, maybe, I will have discretionary income again. When I do, I’m going here to spend it. … September is National Pet Health Insurance Month. I’m a believer. “Economic Euthanasia” is not something I want to be dealing with. …
I really hate Women’s Health magazine, which I don’t think I subscribed to but it keeps showing up anyway. Why do I hate it? It’s just a new take on the same old crap of women’s magazines forever, dished out to make women feel bad about themselves (you’re too fat! you’re too ugly! You aren’t appealing enough to get and keep a man!) – enough so to buy more stuff to fix everything as if by magic (yesterday’s quest for thin thighs is today’s obsession with a flat belly). That said, here’s a great tidbit from the current issue: If you’re going to cry, clear your throat. It temporarily flips off the sob switch. Good to know, especially if you have a sick older pet. …
The guvmint has a new food-safety site: foodsafety.gov. Dr. Marion Nestle on what is it and what it means. Oh, and if it’ll help at all. … Nathan Winograd writes on how to change the thinking in shelters that they must kill because the public can’t be trusted with animals. I see that allll the time, and it’s what’s behind mandatory spay-neuter. We must punish! … The incredibly talented equine photographer Sarah Andrew writes about the one-year anniversary of the death of her lifelong friend, Alibar. His fly bonnet is retired, but his memory lives on. Get out the tissues. And clear your throat.
Update — a good-news one! — on the English shepherds of Montana over on Raised by Wolves.
That’s it for now …
There is a new website about food safety from the government. I am suppose to get notices from Sebelius (spelled name funny) so if I get the website notice again, I will give the web address. I have already signed up.
Comment by Colorado Transplant — September 14, 2009 @ 8:40 am
Love this picture of Heather and her distinguished gray highlights.
Comment by keenwell — September 14, 2009 @ 10:40 am
Still too woozy post-surgery to read this start to finish, but I thought it might be of interest:
http://www.time.com/time/magaz.....ml?cnn=yes
Comment by The OTHER Pat — September 14, 2009 @ 12:01 pm
The new chicken looks like she should be in a fashion show walking down the runway. “And now, wearing the latest hot chick fashions…..”
Comment by Verde — September 14, 2009 @ 12:16 pm
For hens, chicken feathers are the “in thing”,I guess, and the colors available seem endless.
Comment by Colorado Transplant — September 14, 2009 @ 12:30 pm
For the fashionable hen, special designs by
Chicken Dior, Cluck,cluck chanel, and Oscar de la Rooster….
Love the picture of Heather!
Comment by Verde — September 14, 2009 @ 2:47 pm
Great job on the English Shepherd’s (update), but we still have some left. :-) I do know of one that I will see from time to time at agility trials who was sent to a perfect home.
BTW I love this photo of Queen Heather.
Comment by Jill — September 14, 2009 @ 2:58 pm
Heather is gorgeous. I hope I age half as gracefully as she has.
Comment by Susan — September 14, 2009 @ 8:21 pm
To the OTHER Pat:
I hope you will get better soon—no fun going through surgery and the post operative painful stage. May you heal quickly.
Comment by Colorado Transplant — September 14, 2009 @ 9:23 pm
Thank you. Today I’m going to start trying to transition down from Tylenol 3 to regular Tylenol. Prior to the T3 I was on Percocet (which had me sick as a dog - sorry dogs!) and I got myself off that as soon as the worst of the pain was over. I hope to have myself on a normal dose of regular Tylenol by tomorrow. I really hate staying on pain meds longer than absolutely necessary!
Again, thanks for your well wishes. A little better, day by day!
Comment by The OTHER Pat — September 15, 2009 @ 3:47 am
Oh - and as an aside - I just noticed the pain meds I got were generics from Teva Phaarmaceuticals. Eeeeeek! A friend was caring for me immediately post-surgery and today was the first day I’d read the inserts. Yet another reason to get off them as soon as possible!
Which leads me to a random wondering - in this age of insurance companies cutting costs by requiring you to accept generics (and mine was Workers Comp, so I probably had even less freedom of choice), I wonder what the reaction would have been if I had said I didn’t feel safe taking this drug since I knew one of their related divisions was currently the subject of an FDA action?
Comment by The OTHER Pat — September 15, 2009 @ 3:54 am
Heather is gorgeous. I hope I age half as gracefully as she has.
Comment by Susan — September 14, 2009
I already know I’m not. :)
Isn’t it funny how we cherish the gray in our beloved older dogs — the white eyebrows, the frosted chins — and cover it up like crazy in ourselves?
I’m just starting to go gray, but I love it. I have given names to each of the new gray hairs — book projects, mostly, although more than a handful are named “pet food recall.”
Comment by Gina Spadafori — September 15, 2009 @ 5:09 am
The Other Pat—The FDA will only care if you are part of a statistical group that gets sick.
Otherwise, no action will be taken. That is how I view them.
Everytime I take a vitamin or any other kind of pill, I wonder what negative effect it will have and where was it made.
Were you operated on carpal tunnel syndrome? You said it was hand surgery.
Gina, I think I have aged already, but my hair is not all grey yet. Just have wrinkles on my face and now people want to help me in all kinds of ways, even though I can manage by myself, thank you.
Wait till I am crippled, folks.:)
Comment by Colorado Transplant — September 15, 2009 @ 6:25 am
My surgery was called a “thumb cmc arthroplasty”. You can find a description here:
http://www.tattherapygroup.com.....tPubID=267
My favorite line from the article is “You may experience some discomfort and swelling.”. “Some”. Yeah. Right. Gotta love those “code” words . . . . .
But I had to laugh where you wrote to Gina “people want to help me in all kinds of ways,” A dear friend stayed with me for the required 24 hours after the surgery, and before she left, I made her stand by while
I proved to myself that I could dress myself, prepare/wrap new ice packs, etc. She said “It’s so HARD to watch you struggle! I want to help! But I know you need to be able to do it for yourself”
I very much appreciate her restraint! ~s~
Comment by The OTHER Pat — September 15, 2009 @ 9:57 am
loved the Raised by wolves update (hopeful and uplifting)and of course Winograd’s latest blog post “Good homes need not apply” is another bullseye summary on troubling adoption practices by some rescues/shelters - the man is a gift.
Comment by mary francis — September 15, 2009 @ 11:51 am
Thanks for the update, the OTHER Pat. After several months, you will be fine, the article seems to imply.
Oh, well, just keep blogging and reading Gina
and Marty’s books to keep you distracted. If I can’t get rid of pain, I keep as busy as I can so I won’t think about it.
Still hoping you have a quick recovery.
Maybe you can play with google’s new virtual cat, dog, bird. etc. I have virtual cat that on my google start page and he purrs, moves, whines, etc. I wonder what the dog and bird do, but I am too lazy to find out.
Just google it from google, if you are interested. As I say, it is the Virtual Cat.
(Maybe I should get rid of Inca and Sophie and just play with the Virtual Cat. Ah, I would miss the touch of fur, though).
Comment by Colorado Transplant — September 15, 2009 @ 12:34 pm
Oh, well, just keep […] reading Gina and Marty’s books to keep you distracted.
Comment by Colorado Transplant — September 15, 2009
Or … to help you fall asleep. :)
Comment by Gina Spadafori — September 15, 2009 @ 12:47 pm
Mmmff….bwuh’….sorry….just woke up…..did someone say something?
(ducking and running . . . . . . . )
Comment by The OTHER Pat — September 15, 2009 @ 4:12 pm
To all a good night—sleep well, everyone.
Comment by Colorado Transplant — September 15, 2009 @ 8:25 pm