11/05/2009 by Carol Frischmann
Fall is here. When the clocks roll back, the cold rain falls in the lucky places, and snow and ice for the less lucky.
Imagine you and your dog come in from a run on a slushy trail or a walk in the park and have enough clean rags handy to dry your dog’s feet and fur. And a place to put your muddy or icy boots and hang your dripping coat. Ahhhh.
You can. Inventory old tee shirts, socks, towels, and dish cloths that are too horrible to imagine using any other way. Cut the tee shirts into squares. Use the socks, towels, and dish cloths as they are. Fold and pile in a basket near your dog entry. Super organized people have a second basket for the dirty towels.
The best of all worlds is to do your de-mudding in a mudroom, where you can also store your leashes, jackets, and ‘dog-walk-a-nalia.” If you hav
e no mudroom, you can fake it using gates that restrict children’s access or an exercise pen set up indoors.
In your mudroom or “holding area,” you can confine your dog, store your shoes, and hang your coat over water absorbent mat. This will prevent the human and dog from tracking mud and slush into your nice clean home.
After an initial toweling and drying of your precious pooch, allow her to munch a treat or lick a Kong on her great mat to allow the remaining mud to dry quickly. Then, gently brush the rest away—before you release darling Marley to jump onto the couch.
Think she needs a leash and a mudroom?
You can do this with a shallow bowl of water also. Use the command, “paw.”
Okay, other pets get muddy too.
Photo credit: Public Domain Pictures
Posted in Tip, home, pet, pets | Leave a Comment »
10/26/2009 by Carol Frischmann
Photos by Dick Seignious
Since owls are often regarded as birds of mystery, we offer a short profile of one owl that is associated with prairie dogs—the burrowing owl. These ground dwelling owls about 10 inches long, don’t share their burrows with ground squirrels and prairie dogs, but prefer to move in to those rodents’ abandoned excavations. Because of their close living arrangements, the Zuñi people called burrowing owls “the priest of the prairie dogs.” “Among the numerous Owl Kachinas the Shko’o’ko of Cochiti derives from the Burrowing Owl, even though there is nothing realistic about either mask or dress” (Tyler,
Pueblo Birds and Myths, p 161).
To some, this perky looking owl appears to walk on feathered stilts. Burrowing owls hunt morning and afternoon, hovering until they spot a small mammal such as a bat or shrew, amphibians such as a frog or toad, or insects such as crickets and sometimes dragonflies, which they catch in flight.
Burrowing owls will be new to those readers living in the Eastern United States, and to many living elsewhere in the world. Here’s the
sound a burrowing owl makes.
For more information, consult the
Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.
You can also view some great videos from the
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife:
Close-up: Twelve Owlets
Owls and Marmots Living in Harmony
Feeding Time
Photos by Dick Seignious
Posted in nature | Leave a Comment »
09/28/2009 by Carol Frischmann
There’s a contest for kitty companions who have eco-friendly habits.
Yesterday’s News® cat litter invites cat owners to share the simple ways they are incorporating eco-friendly habits into their everyday lives. Enter the online contest at www.yesterdaysnews.com/dogooder from now until Oct. 23, 2009. The three winning ‘Do Gooders’ will be awarded $5,000 for themselves and $15,000 for a local eco-friendly project to benefit their community. [Not to brag, but we talk about eco-friendly cat litters in Chapter 5 of Pets and the Planet.]
Cat-owning do-gooders are invited to submit a short essay (300 words or less) that describes how they “do-good” for their cat, home or environment, and to select how they would like to “Do Good” in their community from the following choices:
Provide an eco-friendly makeover of the cat habitat in their local shelter;
Participate in a green clean-up in their city or town; or
Create or enhance a local recycling program.
Double your fun. Share your tip with other readers by commenting below. Meow. Kitty loves eco-ideas.
Posted in contests, green, home, pet, pets, pets and environment, sustainability | Leave a Comment »
e no mudroom, you can fake it using gates that restrict children’s access or an exercise pen set up indoors.
