Tag Archives: cats

Adopting When Renting

As I’ve stated many times before, I’ve been an animal lover for as long as I can remember. I began the process for adopting a dog and then a cat as soon as I knew I would be able to take good care of them. I knew that my husband and I wouldn’t have the easiest time adopting a dog because we were renting an apartment. I thought it might help that our apartment was part of an actual house; our landlords were fine with most breeds of dogs and had their own cat. Many rescues in our area, however, … Continue reading →

The Big Move

Cole did enjoy all of the stacked boxes during the move. Between Christmas and New Year’s my husband and I moved from our apartment into our first house. The move was only across town so we didn’t have far to go, but we knew that the distance wouldn’t make much difference to our pets. We especially anticipated Cole needing at least several days to adjust to our new home, as he’d loathed an afternoon trip to a friend’s house during a flea bombing. However, this time Cole was feeling so off-balance that he wanted even more reassurance that he did … Continue reading →

Caring for Pets in Cold Weather

In June I posted about the dangers of heatstroke for animals. Now that we’ve entered the opposite extreme of seasonal weather, I’d like to take a look at ways to keep our pets safe when it’s cold outside. The ASPCA has a list of several things to remember when looking after pets in the winter. Just as leaving a dog in the car is dangerous in the heat the same is true in the cold. Especially when it isn’t sunny outside, cars trap the cold and can drop to dangerous freezing temperatures. If you must leave your pet in the … Continue reading →

A Merry Christmas for Pets

For Chihiro and Cole, seeing a rabbit this close is like Christmas My extended family used to have a unique Christmas tradition. As we circled around the living room to exchange gifts, pet-owning relatives handed out special presents to other family members with pets: presents to dog and cat cousins from each other. That’s right: my aunt’s dog Chessie might receive a wrapped bone from my other aunt’s cat Patches. I have no idea how the tradition started; it’s one I remember always being there as I grew up. When my family finally got a cat we were then included … Continue reading →

Snapping Spectacular Sunset Shots

If there is any time of the year to snap a spectacular shot of a sunset it’s now. Summertime means frequent trips to the beach and whether you are spending time at the shore on the East Coast, a coastal retreat out west or camping in the heartland you are bound to witness an awe-inspiring sunset at some point. The trick is doing justice to its beauty with your camera. The following are tips to consider before pointing and shooting at the horizon this summer: PLAN AHEAD Think about your composition. Do you want a simple shot of the sun … Continue reading →

Backing Up Your Digital Photos

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Here’s a scary thought…your computer just crashed, and all your photos are gone in the blink of an eye or the strike of lightening. All of them. Gone. I don’t think any of us are prepared to walk away from all our photos without some emotional attachment. I know I’m not. If you ask many people what they’d grab out of their burning house, many would reply that they’d save their photos (or these days the computer that houses those photos). They’re the physical reminder of the memories we’ve built up over the years. So it makes sense that we’d … Continue reading →

Photo of the Week

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I’ve been looking around for a great photo to start off with as I write about great photographs and why they’re important to me. I am a believer that we all like specific photographs for a certain reason that’s personal, but that’s not always explored. I mentioned in an earlier post that I took a class that focused on the rhetoric of photos (basically, what the photos communicate to you in a visual way). I think it’s important to analyze different photographs and how they communicate because I think it makes you a better photographer. You understand better what end … Continue reading →

An Unusual Mother for Bobcats

You’d think with all the stories that periodically break, we wouldn’t be so surprised and fascinated when we hear about animals caring for the young of a different species. Yet it seems we can never get enough of such stories (at least I know I can’t), and it always comes as a bit of a shock to see a gorilla, for instance, cradling a kitten. This time around, the odd couple’s at least sort of from the same species. In South Carolina, a domesticated house cat is nursing a litter of baby bobcats. MSNBC reports that the baby bobcats were … Continue reading →

Photoshop Elements 8 New Features

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Have you seen the new features in Adobe Photoshop Elements 8? There are some pretty cool things they’ve added that will help you make your photos just what you want with less effort. One of the things I love about Photoshop Elements (verses the full version of Photoshop) is that it’s target use and audience is for touching up photos easily and quickly. There’s no need to be a Photoshop guru to use Elements because it’s made easy for the end user with presets, menus, and these fabulous new features: Have you ever noticed that you tend to want to … Continue reading →

Kitty Tantrums

While researching my heatstroke article from Tuesday, I came across a statistic from the Humane Society saying that cats are the most popular pet in America. With around 93 million cats in American homes compared to 77 billion dogs, cats reign supreme. I love dogs and cats equally, so I didn’t bring up the statistic to laud the superiority of cats. Instead, I wanted to posit why cats might be more popular: their greater independence. Nowadays most busy American households contain two working adults, so owning a pet able to look after itself, that doesn’t mind being alone for awhile, … Continue reading →