Betcha all thought I was talking about arriving in CO! Not! CO is still a long way off, but we're taking a much needed break here in New Buffalo, MI at the White Rabbit Inn. Gorgeous B&B, owned by our good friend AJ Boggio. Long, long ago AJ had me in to speak...and we fell in love with this place then.
Unfortunately, it took this road trip to CO to give us a chance to come back.
The Wabby, for those who are interested, is holding up rather well. She sits in her cat carrier right between us, on the front seat of our Uhaul (oh boy, is that a long, sad story!) and occasionally gets to sit on my lap to look out the window. At the moment, she is enjoying AJ's hospitality in this wonderful suite...including some salmon flavored Friskies treats (AJ takes excellent care of his clients!)
We are taking a much needed day off today (might do some shopping)...and then it's on the road again, tomorrow. We stop in
Lincoln, Nebraska at a pet-friendly hotel for the nite and then...on Sunday, we will pull into our new home in CO, but we'll likely stay the night at my daughter's as it will be late.
Moving is definitely not for sissies. Moving cross country is only for the stalwart! More updates to come as we get Internet connections! Oh, and the Wabby says she'll have some Breaking Mews to share later on. (I think 2/3rds of the way through yesterday she had had enough...she would not even lift her head to acknowledge me when I talked to her; no doubt she'll tell you her side of the story tonight!)
Off for some decent food in AJ's kitchen. Toots!
Can't resist sharing this "Breaking Mews" with all my cat lover friends! Whoohoo! Friskies® (yes, that Friskies, the Purina® cat food Friskies) has a cat cam that is showing off some of the best videos on the net. Here's the scoop, mews...
Friskies, the cat food (a Purina product - and just 'cause I'm talking up Purina doesn't mean you should leave; Purina does lots of fun stuff, and besides...I feed Purina to Wabby, so I can brag if'n I wanna) recently launched "a first of its kind focus group". They gave 50 cat owners cameras to attach to their cat's collars. The idea was to help Friskies understand and answer the question, "What does my cat do when I'm not at home?"
Oh, but the results was interesting. The result of this study was that cats spend a lot of time watching out the window.
I wonder what the Wabby would think of that. You see, I'm home most of the day cause that's where I work...and we could attach a camera to her collar but all you'd see is...her underbelly. She pretty much sleeps all day.
I got her a perch once, so she could sit on it and look out the window and she totally ignored it. Sometimes she'll go in the kitchen and lie in the sun, watching out the sliding glass doors...but mostly, she'll sleep there, too. (I gave the perch away and the cat I gave it to loves it!)
The good person who alerted me to this study sent along her favorite pic and...I'm a little confused, it's not a cat!!! Ok..well, maybe the cat in this household prefers watching his dog sleep - or, wait, maybe he was spying on the dog! We all agree it is 'his' or 'her' dog, right? I mean, cats being cats and all. <LOL>
I love the idea. I love the site Friskies created. I refer you to the Friskies blog, The Scratchington Post, for more info. And, I invite you to join up and send in some video.
We wrote about Wag World™ in our "Top 10 Togetherful Cities in America" last summer, and I just found out they have something new going on. Looks interesting so I thought I'd share. Everyone knows that Wag World is a Beneful® site (and therefore part of our sponsor, Purina pet food), right? Well, you do now.
That's our open and honest disclosure statement.
Let's move on to the good stuff. Wag World is offering the first 2,000 members who post content on WagWorld.com a free Loofa™ dog toy. See pic. You can go to the site and join, then post a fav place on the map, write a review, upload a photo, and just be sociable. How hard is that?
The offer actually started on October 15th so...they are probably closing in on 2000 entries. You need to get over their today and add your stuff. (and then come tell us about it - we can share on twitter). The offer closes when they run out or on May 1st 2010.
Wag World is dog-friendly to the max, if you ask me. I just did a search on where to stay as we travel cross-country with the Wabby, and it gave me more than a dozen options that are pet-friendly! Okay, Wabby is a cat, not a dog, but really...the hotel/motels that are pet-friendly don't discriminate. And, cats are way easier to manage than dogs - in the sense that they kinda keep to themselves.
Anyone traveling with a pup, should visit this site and find out where to stay on layovers. It also has dog friendly parks and is a great place for YOU to share your pet-friendly locale so we can visit you, when we come to your town. Well, if we come to your town. Hey, you never know!
I like that the site is user-friendly, inviting, and gave me a reward (options on where to stay) within seconds of my search. It also has some good articles.
Now, I don't have a dog at the moment, so I am not in the market for the Loofa toy. But, I know lots and lots of you do have dogs...and you know your dog would go wild over this Loofa toy. So, get over there and make a big splash with your advice, pics, or whatever.
And, stay tuned. I will be sharing more pet friendly travel ideas as we move along on our trip. Now, Tom says I have to get back to packing. (and the Wabby is giving me the evil eye - all this commotion is not to her liking; wait till we get on the road! I bet she'll have a whole lot to say about being uprooted from her lovely, soft, cozy spot on the master bed!)
Love is a word that gets used a lot. In fact, it is thrown around so carelessly much of the time that it loses its true meaning for many of us. Genuine love is more rare. That's the love that comes with no strings attached. It's unconditional.
On today's Scratchings and Sniffings Out Loud podcast Dr. Grace and Dr. Larry discuss a serious but often manageable disease: diabetes. Interestingly enough, November is National Diabetes Month. As you can see on this CDC page for Diabetes, this disease is a "leading cause of kidney failure, blindness" and worse! What you might not know is that it affects dogs and cats, too.
Today, on our podcast, we will cover what it is and what to watch for. Next week, we will have Part II - with information on how to manage diabetes if your cat is diagnosed with it by your vet.
