Recycling What?

I maintain a few blogs, each with a specific focus or interest. I'm not one of those people who hosts a ton of them for profit or anything like that, but I found that I was digressing from my topic in my original blog, so I added a couple more. You might have noticed the ads from Google along the sides of my blogs, or you might not have, since many of us tune those out automatically. I pay more attention to them than most people since I'm ultimately responsible for whatever shows up on my pages.

Last week I wrote a post on my Organizational Management for Moms blog about recycling, yea! Recycling is good for the Earth, good for you, and, as I pointed out in the post, good for your wallet. Nothing but love, happiness and warm fuzzies, right? Well, fuzzy was right! Imagine my shock when I see... Beaver Recycling! Could it be that someone, somewhere is not only dispatching beavers, but recycling them? As a dedicated fan of the now-defunct Nickelodeon cartoon The Angry Beavers, all I could think of was Daggett saying, "That was nuts!"

It turns out that Beaver Recycling is the name of a large scrap metal recycling facility in South Florida. In fact, they look like a state-of-the-art recycling facility, and probably do a lot of good for the Earth, the environment, and ultimately, beavers. But from now on, I'm definitely watching those ads more closely. What's next? Turtle wax?

W.T.FURminator?

While visiting frugal friends over the Fourth of July, we finally got to try a FURminator. FURminators are pet grooming tools designed to remove that downy undercoat so many dogs and cats have beneath the fur we see. Some breeds have amazingly thick undercoats, especially over the winter. In fact, this spring Orion changed color from almost white to wheat just by shedding so much of his winter coat. The dog killed our Dyson Animal with this spring's shedding, just to put it in perspective. (The Dyson was taken to a local vacuum hospital where it was lovingly nursed back to health, and has returned to work in our home with no restrictions.) Anyway, we tried the FURminator on all the dogs and it worked wonderfully. I knew that it's an expensive tool, but if our financially savvy friends deemed it worth the money, we knew it would be a good buy - especially if it saves us from repairing the Dyson again.

When we got home from our trip, there was a flyer from PetSmart in the mail with, GASP!, a coupon for $ 3 off the FURminator! How did they know? In my head I figured the tool itself would be $25, maybe $30, so $ 3 off was a reasonable deal. After dropping Orion off at daycare one morning, the kids and I headed off to PetSmart. There, in the back of the store, across from the professional groomers, were the FURminators. At sixty bucks each. I put back each of the packages my enthusiastic son had thrown in our cart and announced in utter disbelief, "We can't afford this!". A few of the people dropping off their pets for grooming stared, but the PetSmart employees at least had the good sense and decency to be embarrassed.

When our cat needed emergency dental care, we found the money. We've never hesitated to provide our rescued pets with preventative medicine, and we donate regularly to the local Humane Society. Our pets even enjoy toys and fancy bedding (Orion has his crate bed, his cedar bed, and a special bed for the SUV - talk about spoiled!). But $ 60 for a comb? I could feed my family for a week on sixty bucks. Including Orion. I've since seen the FURminator for less on some websites, and the reviews are consistently great, but even people who love this tool can't understand why it's so expensive. And, it turns out, you have to buy replacement blades! So for us, sadly, unless I find one at a yard sale or the Pet Santa puts Orion on his "Nice" list, our dreams of a FURminator have been terminated.

Doggie Daycare

I used to think that doggie daycare was just for yuppie puppies in urban high-rise condos. That was before we adopted Orion. He's 100+ pounds of love. And neediness. And separation anxiety. Orion was abandoned as a young dog, and there's no way to tell how long he was alone before being brought to the Humane Society. The wonderful people at the shelter here gave him food and love and after about two months with them, Orion found a home with us. We love him, and we try to work around his issues as much as we can. The problem is that he cannot be left alone. Ever. We can't kennel or crate him, or he rubs his nose and paws raw trying to find us. We hope with time and training he will learn to trust that we'll never leave him, but right now, he's simply too scared of being abandoned again to leave him at all.

I realize most people reading this are probably thinking, "Oh for Pete's sake! He's a dog. Let him bark or cry, eventually he'll get used to it." Worse, I've had people tell me to my face, "Forget that! I would have just returned him by now!". That mentality always ticks me off, since it was selfish people who made him neurotic in the first place! We're just trying to make up for the mistakes of others, since neither Orion, nor any other dog (or animal, for that matter), ever deserves to be mistreated, neglected, abandoned or abused. Even if you don't agree with me, or perhaps especially if you don't, but you have a pet, please keep reading.

We found a solution in a local doggie daycare. Our daycare lets us drop off Orion any day of the week. We bought a package of 20 days, so each day only costs us $9. He has constant companionship, a small pack of friends he plays with once a week, and humans we trust to watch over him. This daycare and boarding facility is part of a pet complex run by a vet, so in case of an emergency, Orion would get immediate medical care. It is also a regular sponsor of the local Humane Society where we got Orion, and some of the employees work at both places. They know about his individual needs and have worked with us week after week to make Orion more relaxed and happy with us and with them.

Each Thursday, Orion can't wait to go to his "puppy playdate", and I can run all my errands or go on outings I couldn't do with the dog. I've noticed that I get more done and spend less money when I plan ahead for my Thursday shopping. In fact, I'm usually so organized that I can do several weeks worth of errands in the one day, and enjoy the next few Thursdays at the beach or the bookstore or anywhere else I want to go. This time apart is an important part of Orion's therapy, learning that we'll always come back for him. It's also some breathing space for me, as if my toddler was at Grandma's for a few hours. The socialization he gains playing with other dogs helps boost his confidence, and he simply loves it. To be honest, he's socializing us, too, since we've met some wonderful people because of Orion. If we ever do leave Orion for a few days, we know he'll be safe and happy with people he loves in a familiar environment.

No matter where you live, or what you've heard about doggie daycare in the past, I encourage you to consider if it's a resource that could improve the quality of your life and your dog's. Most people aren't dealing with the severe emotional challenges we see in Orion, but as you can see, there are lots of benefits to finding good canine care, both for the dogs and their people.

*** Update: Although we are still fans of doggie daycare, we experienced a number of issues with "Play N Stay", resulting in a sudden falling out, as it were. I would no longer recommend their daycare (nor anything else to do with them, for that matter). I've also seen some so called "daycares" that were worse facilities than the animal shelter. Be very, very careful whom you choose to watch your pets, and change plans if anything doesn't seem on the up & up.

Mom's Secret Weapons

Last night our whole family "camped in". That means we unfurled the sleeping bags and lanterns in the living room, fired up the fireplace DVD (hey, it was pouring here and real fires are against neighborhood bylaws), and settled in together. My kids are little, 5 and 2, so they snuggle down in my double bag with me (hubby gets the air mattress). The cats curl up at our feet, and the dog passes out at our heads. It's a little goofy but really, how often do we moms get to enjoy the whole family snuggling up and sleeping in our arms? I treasure it all the more knowing each time may be the last time as the kids grow older and more independent every day.

Of course, being mom, it was up to me to turn off the "fire" after everyone fell asleep, and settle down the restless sleepers and nightmares one by one. At one point I even checked to make sure our old Maine Coon cat was still breathing (he was, rather huffily after I disturbed him, actually). So it wasn't surprising that at dawn, it was also me who heard the dreaded, "Voopa, Voopa, Voopa..." of a pet about to barf. With appropriately cat-like reflexes, I located said pet, our Tortie cat, Callie, and scrambled to intervene. The urge to purge had apparently stricken her while she was reclining on my ecru chenille rocker, because it was from this perch that she was presently heaving. I tried desperately to grab a nearby baby blanket to throw in front of her, but I was pinned down on both sides by sleeping kids, and the dog, sensing my panic, thrust his gigantic head in my face, blocking any forward movement. Callie, 1, chair, floor, two pillows, and my arm, 0.

Fortunately, I have a few weapons on hand for just these kinds of messes. After washing off my arm, I removed the pillow cases and threw them in the washer with OxyClean on the auto rinse & soak cycle. For the chair and the pillows themselves, I grabbed the Folex carpet cleaner. A few years ago I tried it on a rust stain nothing else had been able to remove. Folex got it out with almost no effort at all. Now I find myself reaching for it whenever I've got a soft surface crisis on my hands. The floor was the easy part, since she missed the carpet. For hard surfaces I use Simple Green, quick and easy.

By about quarter past dawn, the crisis was over. My toddler slept through the whole thing, right there in the middle of the floor. That's just fine with me, because all those products I reach for time and again are non-toxic. In spite of their more annoying attributes (like bulimia), we love our pets. Putting up with their messes is one way to show them, cleaning up with eco-friendly products is another. It's a good thing Mom's arsenal holds some great (not-so) secret weapons.

Avoid Anything That Eats

Avoid anything that eats. Have you heard that old adage? If you never have a plant, a pet, or a kid, you'll save yourself lots of money and headaches. It costs $16,000 to own a medium-sized dog over his lifetime, and hundreds of thousands of dollars to raise a child from birth to 18 - college not included! Think those cute kittens are free? How about $80 at the vet, or $ 18 of cat food every few weeks. Even the plants will cost you. First you have to put them in something, then something bigger, and bigger, and in the meantime you have to water them, too. At some point, your cat will eat and barf up your plant, so you'll be shucking out more cash for carpet cleaner, too. Right now our $ 600 Dyson "Animal" vacuum is in the shop (again) so we had to spend another $300 for a "back-up" vacuum. I'm no neat freak, I confess, but even I can't go more than a few days without a vacuum in a house with 2 cats, a dog and 2 kids under six. I'll be using said back-up vacuum to clean up the shards and splinters of my bedroom door, which my "free" rescued dog just mauled. He just missed me (aw, isn't that sweet?). I can't imagine what it will cost to replace the door frame, since the cats have always focused more on destroying soft surfaces. I think I've curbed the spending for today at least. I put the dog outside, next to the cheap furniture. I'm almost certain he won't destroy that. Uh-oh. I think I see him eying the door frame there, too. I may have to intervene soon.

Of course, if you're reading this, you're probably already a mom. You're thinking, "Oh Great! Now what do I do with these kids? If only I'd known!" No worries. Although kids and other things that eat do cost us a lot of money, and time, and patience (and money, if I hadn't already mentioned that), they do bring something to the table. Love, fulfillment, purpose, and fun, just to name a few perks. It's sometimes hard to remember the intangibles when you're staring down the bills or cleaning up yet another mess, but if you stop and just take a moment to appreciate how much they add to our lives, I think you'll find the benefits outweigh the costs. Even big dumb dogs are worth it.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to call the dog trainer about his bill and learn how to install replacement moulding around a door. Oh, $%$#@!, he's going for the window now, and I don't do windows!