I have heard of putting a clock( such as an old fashioned alarm clock) that ticks fairly loudly wrapped in a towel and a heating pad in with puppies. I don't know if this would work with kittens or not.

Someone suggested living in a pop up trailer and I wanted to mention that travel trailers are not a nontoxic enviornment. Some of them have high levels of formaldehyde. Some of the families that lived in them post-Katrina were sickened by the offgassing.

We have 4 young chickens that are currently living in a pen/tractor we made using instructions from Mother Earth News http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yourself/2007-04-01/Portable-Chicken-Mini-coop-Plan.aspx I move it every day or two and the grass and weeds have not been damaged. Therer is a more recent article in Mother Earth News about various approaches to keeping chickens and he is in favor of pasturing them rather than using a tractor or other movable pen and moving them between pastures. I do not use this approach because in our locatuiin if I did i would probably just be raising hawk food. I think that when there is significant damage form a chicken tractor it is related to the number of chickens being raised because some of the pictures in this article show significant grazing after a short time but there seem to be more chickens in the pen than most people are inclined to keep for eggs for their family. I was going to link the article that I read but I cannot find it right now.

There is a Fresh Market that has some things but the things you mentioned do not sound familiar. There are other health food stores but I do not know names without checking the yellow pages.

I used to take allergy shots and when I had one hit a bad spot I would take as hot of a bath as I could stand. Warm to hot compresses also may help.

At our old house we had issues with some packages(mainly neighborhood kids helping themselves to the contents), so when we moved I signed up for a box at the closest UPS store. I have been very happy with that solution. They are friendly and helpful and there is rarely a line. They email us when a package comes in and we pick it up.

One thought is for your daughter to offer to resume care of the goats and to sell them on behalf of the original buyer less a commission for selling them and any veterinary expenses. She would probably lose some money on the deal (food before they sell and space to contain them) but she would not have the money she spent to buy them back at risk. The first buyer would be able to have the goats gone(most likely her immediate goal right now) and the possibility of getting some of her money back. The goats would be getting well cared for and the first buyer would not be getting an immediate financial benefit for her lack of responsibility. What breed goats are they?

This page on the Weston Price Foundation website has articles about all three of these "foods": http://www.westonaprice.org/Modern-Foods/

I believe that there is set of puzzles from Kumon that is gradually advances in difficulty but I am not sure where to buy them or if they are available in this country yet. This is what I did find: http://www.kumonbooks.com/catalog/catalog_coming06.aspx

I have severe allergies to both foods and inhalents and received shots for both as a child. If I missed my shot on Friday all my symtoms began to come back by Sunday. Most doctors do not offer the food shots now but I went to a doctor who was doing research on these treatments. This was in the early seventies and there were not very many other options available. Another option to consider if most of her allergies are to pollen is local honey. It actually works on the same principle(desensitization therapy) as the shots and is much more pleasant.:D

I had a cat with similar coloration named Pansy when I was little.

We have a total of five dogs, one cat and four young chickens. Two of our dogs are large enough that people who drive up are generally reluctant to leave their car with out asking if it is safe. One of the large dogs is (we think) a Bloodhound/Golden Retriever cross that weighs about 100 pounds. The other is a Belgian Malinois that weighs about 80 pounds. One of the three small dogs is a Miniature Dachshund that is a paraplegic. Another is a healthy Miniature Dachshund. And the final dog is a Miniature Dachshund/Pomeranian cross. Both large dogs are rescues. The Miniature Dachshund/Pomeranian cross was born after his mother was rescued but she was pregnant when she was rescued.

I would try hairspray. My mother used it to remove a major pen explosion from a white sweatshirt of mine when I was younger.

I live on the Mississippi gulf coast and I have also heard of people being able to smell the oil at their homes already. Fortunately we live about 10 miles inland so I cannot smell it yet. I hope the smell doesn't reach our home since I am asthmatic and I do not know what the impact on that will be. I am very concerned about the impact on the fishing industry in our area. It has already taken several relatively recent hits due to Hurricane Katrina and low priced imports. I hope that the industry survives.

I have read all of the Grammar Stage section (parts of it several times), all of the Coming Home section, and parts of the rest. I have the third edition and my dd is 5 so I have been prioritizing the Grammar section for now.

If I recall correctly there is a hotel (maybe in New York) that has bookshelves in all the bedrooms. Each room has a different literary theme. If they can convince people to pay to sleep in bedrooms/libraries, I don't see why someone couldn't use the same decorating approach in their home. I wonder if I could convince my Dh that this would be a good idea?

Is it possible that the OP's DH is still not over the death of his dog since he was so attached to it?

Would it be easier to transition her to using both her index and middle fingers to point with and then eventually drop the middle finger? Just a thought.

Another series that I remember from my childhood is Encyclopedia Brown. The Bobsey twins books are long but fairly easy. They might be a good early chapter book when you are ready for that stage.

I remember that I enjoyed the Bobsey twins, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and Trixie Belden books. One point to consider, I read both "boy's" books and "girl's" books. So she may enjoy some of the same books a boy would.

Do you know of any Arabian organizations in your area? Someone with an interest in acquiring an Arabian horse might check with such an organization. are there organizations for the type of riding that she is trained for in you area? That would be another place to leave information. Unfortuinately, my understanding is that the economy has made horse ownership much less popular in the past few years. There just are not as many people who can afford to purchase or care for a horse.

I plan to have some goats at some point in the future and based on what I have read everyone said that disbudding is best and ultimately the most humane option. If the males will not be used for breeding they would probably be more desirable if they were neutered.

I mentioned industrial meat because I can tolerate most organic meats just fine. I strongly suspect the bovine growth hormone is problematic for my system. In fact, I do not know of any synthetic hormones that work correctly and do not cause major problems in my system. And that definitely includes the pill.

I have had problems with endometriosis and ovarian cysts myself. If you don't mind a suggestion, have you tried eliminating caffine from your diet(unfortunately including chocolate)? My system also does not tolerate industrial meat and dairy well but I suspect that those impact the ovarian cysts more. Have you considered Time4Leaning.com? I don't know how high they go grade wise but that could help some. Also or alternatively, you could outsource some of the math help to something like Kumon or Sylvan? I believe that there are also online homework sites if you could assign work for your daughter. I realize that these would not be ideal but that would be one option to consider. You could tell your MIL where you are at and review the curriculum with her but I doubt detailed lesson plans are necessary and if she is a retired teacher she is probably very familiar with creating lesson plans if she feels she needs them.

Last year or the year before my dd5 was at a church Easter egg hunt and found an egg on the swing. She carefully removed the egg set it to the side and started swinging on the swing.