HoundsGood: Chronicles of a Virtual Volunteer

Trivita is offering a free sample of Nopalea cactus juice and challenging people to a 30 day challenge to see the results of drinking the juice for themselves. But there is an asterisk next to “free.” You pay a $9.99 shipping fee. I have seen all of the products offered on television and I swear you are not actually getting anything free. Rather, everything is built into the cost of the shipping.

In this case, the shipping charge might be closer to legitimate with the rising prices of postage and the shipping weight of 32 ounces of liquid in a bottle. The liquid equates to about 2 lbs, plus the weight of the packing materials and the bottle itself. That part of it isn’t prickly.

The juice isn’t touted as being a cure of any sort specifically, but there is a chain of reasoning that because it contains betalains, which reduce inflammation and toxicity, and inflammation can cause illness, then the juice must improve overall health and wellness dramatically?

Betalains can also be found in:

• Spinach
• Rhubarb
• Beets
• Quinoa
• Other Cactus Fruits

In other words, this juice isn’t your only and last chance to take advantage of a certain level of nutrition, and in fact, eating these other foods regularly can give you a larger amount and greater nutrition.

If you are not allergic to secondary ingredients, a fruit or vegetables based fruit or juice is worthy of a try, but keep in mind, overall health and diet is the most important. There is no magic bullet. No one food, even oranges for Vitamin C or Tomatoes for Lycopene are going to protect you against aging or disease. It takes a balanced diet full of variety and balance.

All charities appreciate cash donations. Most charities also have a “wish list” of items that you can donate in lieu of cash as an “in kind” donation, particularly small grass roots groups and animal charities. Several church and childrens groups look for suitcases for foster children to carry their personal possessions in when traveling to a new foster home. Homeless shelters look for hotel sized toiletries to give out to guests as well as provide for those who need to carry them along.

If you are short on cash and want to donate something meaningful to a group, sometimes you can stretch your donation in one of several ways if you purchase items.

1) Join the loyalty program at the supermarket for pantry donations and at pet stores. They are worth a few cents or a few dollars off promoted merchandise. This seems automatic when you are have pets, but if you don’t but like to lend a hand, it is worth having. This also goes for toy stores if you regularly purchase for children’s charities or Toys for Tots.

2) Use coupon codes online. Dog food can be expensive to buy on the net with shipping costs, but there are free shipping offers, discounts for bulk purchases and offers for buying in multiples. I once found Purina coupon codes for items that a shelter was asking for. They preferred the brand because it was easy for people to donate as it was so widely available, and because a store once donated a quantity to them and they wanted to continue. I never thought of buying it online, but the deals made sense.

3) Buy seasonally. Some charities cannot store items for a length of time, but if you can set aside a bin for donation, hold onto frequently requested items to donate later. Buy basic office supplies, such as paper and pens at Back to School time. Sometimes the stores announce when they will issue their deepest discounts. After Christmas, purchase elf collars for pictures with Santa or wrapping paper for the next wrapping booth if your local group wraps presents at the mall for donations.

4) Ask your charity about upcoming events. Usually, a group is planning an event a six weeks to a full year before it is announced to the public. If you know a group is having a Dog Walk in 8 months or a charity auction in 6 months, you can be on the hunt for bargains for specifically needed items.

Remember to ask for a receipt twice. Make sure you print out your receipt when buying online or ask for one at the register. It is helpful to keep it for when the charity issues you a donation receipt for your taxes, you will have a record of the purchase amount.

Of course, you can always gather up gently used items, but in some cases something brand new is called for. How have you cut corners without cutting corners?

Looking for the right tutor can be daunting, with schedule coordination being the biggest obstacle at times. If you are in the UK and are looking for a tutor for anything for Math to computer science or even anthropology, there is an online resource called Tutor Hub. You can find home tutors that will meet with you online.

The rate works out to around £20, but you can hire a tutor for a shorter length of time by the minute. Either you can search for a tutor, or post a question in Q&A about what you are looking for and receive responses from tutors that match your subject. Rifling around, I found folks asking about human resources exams, compounding interest and classical design. You are sure to find something today…or at 3:00 am.

Though I am glued to my cell phone, it is not really possible to take a good pulse for a person or pet in an emergency using my cell phone timer. Nothing beats a sweeping second hand.

More and more, I am going back to wearing a watch. After my cell phone conked out and my clock on my car was naturally not set since the last time the battery was replaced, I was a little lost. Did I have time to stop and charge my phone somewhere or not? I made it to my appointment in time and charged it there.

I recommend including a traditional time piece in your emergency kit. It’s best to wear it, but having it in your glove box or wildlife rescue emergency kit, or even your emergency kit for car emergencies is so important. It is not only important to have an idea what time it is, but to measure time if you are checking a puluse.

Some watches are up to the task of dog slobber and extracting exuberant Labradors from decorative fountains and some are not. I was not aware of what all of the

Bulova Precisionist Watches are rated for water resistence up to 30 meters and my vintage Timex, well…who knows.

Here is the low down:

• If a watch is rated for 30 meters, you can be caught in the rain, get your wrist slobbered on by a dog, but you can’t dive with it or swim with it.
• If the watch is rated for 50 meters, you could swim with it on. Stay away from deep sea diving and snorkeling The watch will not hold up to the change in pressure for deep sea diving, nor the consistent immersion.
• If you really want to do any diving, select a rating of 100 meters or greater, with only ratings of 300 meters or greater suitable if you are using a scuba tank.

The bottom line? Save any watch with no rating for the night out. If you are looking for a good all around watch for working with animals, choose a water resistant model for the occasional water trough spill.

So…have you gone retro?

I have some exciting news!

Saving Shelter Pets, Inc., is holding its Spring auction online.

Donatons are currently being sought to auction off in this event. If you are an artist, collector, business owner, or just an individual with something to donate…. send an email at info (at) savingshelterpets.com with your contact information, and a description of the item you would like to donate. You may submit a clear, quality photo and ship the item at the conclusion of the auction to the winning bidder, or, if you prefer, mail the item to an SSP volunteer who will ship the item. Deadline to submit items is NOW, so if you are interested in contributing, make like a duck and…nevermind. Tell em you head about it on HoundsGood! For bidders, the auctions starts April 23rd.

The spring 2011 auction raised $1242.00 after fees. Let’s dust off our shelves, dig through our china cabinets and our wallets to make this one even better…can we go for $1500?

Examples of Popular Items of the Past:
Gift Certificates to your business or popular retailers
Dog/Cat toy and supply gift basket
Autographed books
Collectibles
Handmade jewelry, handbags, accessory
Christmas Decor – Keepsake Ornaments and Tree toppers
Hotel gift certificates and getaways
Art work
DVDs
….Whatever your imagination inspires.

Please spread the word so we can make this auction a huge success for all the dogs & cats helped! Saving Shelter Pets, Inc., a 501(3)c charitable organization, has several wonderful programs including Spay & Neuter, Puppy Promises (puppies are intercepted from ever entering a shelter environment), Bernie’s Buddies (help for heartworm positive shelter dogs), TNR programs for feral cats, Rescue & Transport and more!

This auction will benefit the Puppy Promises Program. To fight the overpopulation problem at the shelters they work with, the Puppy Promises program intercepts pups before they enter a shelter environment, where they often contract Parvo and pass away or sometimes are euthanized for space. If the owner who is dumping the pups agrees to take them home for another 14 days, SSP vaccinates them and at the end of the quarantine period, places them in rescue. In addition, the mother of the pups as well as the other adult dogs and cats are spayed or neutered at SSP’s expense to prevent additional unwanted litters. A family’s pet number remains manageable, making the chances of them abandoning their adult pets much more slim. The now-neutered adult pets are also less likely to wander from home, reducing pet losses due to traffic accidents, poisoning, wildlife injuries and more accidental litters.

Click the banner to travel to the SSP site, or click HERE to read previous stories from this blog on SSP.

About Saving Shelter Pets:
Saving Shelter Pets (SSP) strives to eliminate euthanasia as a method of population control for homeless companion animals, by providing no-kill alternative solutions and pro-actively addressing the problem of pet overpopulation.

SSP is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization with supporters nationwide. Please see our FAQs for more information.

Wishing you and ALL of yours a blessed Easter from HoundsGood.com

Ah, the good old days when everyone, particularly women, had perfect posture. Some of it was due to its prize place in social circles, but the other part was due to good old fashioned girdles and boning. While it may not be practical to muck stalls or crawl under trees to assist injured wildlife in a corset or a girdle, many health aches and pains that can turn into health problems for women can be avoided with the proper undergarments. In fact, it can prevent a trip to the doctor’s office. Shoulder, back pain and knots can develop if a woman is wearing a brassiere where most of the support is coming from the straps or is just wearing the wrong size. So, don’t play hanky panky with your back.

As the saying goes, a certain percentage of women are not wearing the correct bra size. While the statistic varies from 50-70% depending on where you read it, I have found it to have merit. I was told by one fitter that wearing the correct size changed a woman’s life, and I know believe that to be true. Darts on blouses and suit coats will line up where they are supposed to instead of looking puckered and pulled, or resorting to one size up and swimming in clothes. The important thing, of course, is back and shoulder health and ultimately breast health.

Of course one option is to wear a seamless bra that just comes in S, M, L, etc like the ahh bra that is advertised on television, but not everyone receives the right amount of support, so set an appointment with a professional fitter who can steer you in the right direction. Look for specialty stores that carry a very wide range of sizes. Don’t worry about the number size or the cup letter, or if you are fitted in some plus size lingerie when you don’t want to be. Size is just a number and you could actually look thinner when everything is in the right place. In the end, it will change your posture and your health dramatically.