As long as she's acting relatively okay and you know she has urinated recently then waiting until tomorrow should be fine. Females can get blocked, but it's more common in males. And if that happens it's an emergency. She's a beautiful kitty!

We only use Gorilla or Duck brands for tape that really matters. Gorilla is significantly better, so we get it if we can.

I use diluted Mr. Clean and a microfiber rag for cleaning most things. As others have said, it’s really important to clean that filmy gunk off the inside of the window.

And I forgot to say earlier that sero -negative RA is a thing. Lots of people who get an RA diagnosis don’t test positive for RF or anti-CCP.

Katie, what you describe is similar to what I experienced. My mother had RA. For years I had symptoms in my fingers, wrists and a few other joints. I was always rheumatoid factor negative. Until I wasn’t. My rheumatologist says I had a classic presentation of RA. And FWIW my inflammation markers are rarely elevated, even when I have multiple swollen joints. And yes, controlling that inflammation is key to preventing damage. Take NSAIDs and rest your finger/hands. You need to have your anti-CCP level checked. It’s a marker that is even more specific for RA than rheumatoid factor, although like RF it often doesn’t become elevated until further into the disease process. There are several types of inflammatory arthritis. A rheumatologist can help sort things out. You can fiddle with your diet (not helpful for me, and according to the arthritis board I’m on not helpful for the vast majority of people with RA, but I believe others who say it helps them) or try some supplements (my rheumy recommends turmeric/curcumin) but you probably really do need a work up by a rheumatologist, especially if swelling and/or pain persist for more than a couple of months despite rest and NSAIDs.

Ditto about long wait times for repairs at RV dealers. We try to avoid using them. We aren’t particularly handy but have learned a lot over the years. We have a local mobile RV repair man we use when we can’t do something ourselves. And once we were in Williamsburg when temps were running around 100 and one of our AC units started acting up. We used a mobile repair man for that, too, and it worked out well. Most larger metropolitan areas and tourist areas where RVers are common will have at least one mobile repair, and some popular tourists areas have several to choose from.

We have lots of skinks that hang around our front porch and back patio, and I suppose they keep the insect population under control. I don't see many insects inside. Mostly what I find are centipedes, lady bugs and stink bugs in the sun room, rarely in the main part of the house. Ants are a seasonal issue, but (knock on wood) so far this year all I've seen have been in the sun room. The occasional fly, especially in another month or two when the humidity rises.

No. I have enough unavoidable stress in my life. In the absence of a clear cut reason or need to do so, I refuse to allow something like food, which should be one of life's enjoyable pleasures, to become another source of stress.

I read the reviews from people who said their Zinus mattresses didn't expand properly, and they did make me a bit hesitant. But both of the ones we bought expanded fully within 24-48 hours. They did have just a bit of an odor when first opened, but that dissipated pretty much by the time they were fully expanded. We opened both of them in rooms that had AC on and ceiling fans running; I don't know if that helped the odor dissipate or not. The instructions do say to open the box/allow the mattress to expand within a certain time after receipt. I want to say it's within seven days, but it may be ten days. I don't remember exactly, but I do remember that it was fairly soon after receiving. I don't know if people who had problems with theirs expanding waited longer than that, or if perhaps the mattresses had been in a warehouse too long before shipping. I suspect if you had a problem the company would send you another one and you'd have to dispose of the faulty one. But that's a guess.

I bought one of these for each of the boys last summer. DS23 was moving into his first apartment all of his own and starting his career, and DS20 was moving into an off campus apartment near his university. So they've been using them for about nine months now. And both of them are still raving about how well they sleep.

He's a double major with an econ degree and one in something that had to do with management (I don't remember the actual name!). He's employed by a major tech firm that has offices in Silicon Valley and Research Triangle Park (Raleigh/Durham area). He graduated from UNC, so in the same area as his employer.

DS23 wouldn't have the job he has if he hadn't graduated from the university he did, or from a very small handful of others. They have a blanket policy of only taking new graduates from certain unis. Many years ago when I worked for a huge, nationally known law firm it was the same--they only recruited from a handful of law schools. For some companies (and/or careers) it really does matter. For others it doesn't.

We've been RV'ing for about 12 years now. I couldn't do it full time. Just thought I'd throw that out, FWIW. You might want to check out Long Long Honeymoon (LOLOHO) on YouTube. They're a couple who travels with an Airstream. They don't full time, and many of their videos are more general RV tips and not Airstream specific, but you might enjoy them. There are quite a few motor coach resorts throughout the southern U.S. that sell properties that include an RV parking pad and a smallish cottage. All the ones we've seen (or stayed at--we did it a few times when we had our large RV) are for Class A's only. But you might be able to get some ideas for floor plans of small cottages that work with an RV. Here's one (they call their cottages "executive suites or "RV port sites.")

Sure, there are groups who do dog transports. The longest one I've ever participated in was from NC (I was the first leg) to NYC. But there are groups who will arrange for even longer ones. And there are private animal transporters, too.

If they had in fact ordered the item they would probably have been able to follow the tracking via the carrier. I often get almost instant updates for packages. And I did have a snafu one time with Home Depot. It involved my items, items that were supposed to go to one person in Pennsylvania and items that were supposed to go to someone in Georgia. They apparently put the wrong labels on the wrong items. I was able to figure it all out through my package tracking data and through my account on Home Depot. Had the person who received my stuff been local rather than in Georgia I could have gone to pick my package up. But all that doesn't mean this instance wasn't a scam. You just never know nowadays.

It sounds as if it's time. I'm sorry. It's hard no matter how many times you've had to make the decision and go through it. I can't say for sure whether the first time is harder or not. Every single one seems uniquely hard to me. I think every pet owner hopes for their pet to go quietly and peacefully in their sleep. It rarely happens. As far as staying or not -- I do think that's an individual decision, although I would encourage you (or your DH--someone he knows and loves) to stay with him until the sedative takes effect. The right way to do euthanasia is for the vet to give the pet a heavy dose of a sedative before administering the euthanasia drug. The sedative usually takes just a few minutes to take effect, and when it does I don't believe a pet is aware of whether their person is right there with them or not. I've always chosen to stay, but IMO it's not wrong if you don't want (or don't think you can handle) that final injection being the last memory of your pet. Hugs.

My guess is any kind of oil would act as a barrier, and I don't think would cause any harm (other than blurry vision for awhile). Being sprayed on the eyelids, though -- Yikes. That is a whole different issue from protecting the eyes from the de-skunking solution!!

If you happen to have some nighttime eye ointment you can put some of that in the eyes to protect them from the deskunking mixture. Groomers often use something like this for regular bathing, but I think Refresh PM or similar human ointments would accomplish the same purpose.

My understanding is that the best remedy is to rub the hydrogen peroxide/baking soda/Dawn mixture onto the dog's dry fur. Massage it in well, then let it sit for a few minutes before rinsing. I'd follow up with a regular shampoo to make sure I had all the skunk mixture washed out.

I'm glad it's good news!! I started to post this earlier, but didn't want to be overly optimistic. But now I'll say it -- I had a young, seemingly healthy dog once with elevated liver enzymes. The vet said even something like getting hit/bumping hard against furniture in the area of the liver while playing could cause it. His were never elevated after that until he was old (almost 15) and at that point both his liver and his kidneys were going. I don't think developing liver disease in very old age had anything to do with the one time elevated enzymes when he was young, though. I think that was just some weird fluke.

Same. That said, I'm at the point in my life where if I started a business it could be for fun or simply to have something to occupy my time. That I wouldn't mind too much.

We have a programmable thermostat. Our AC is set to come on to keep the temperature in the house at 73. I don't know what the outside temperature generally has to get to for that to happen. I rarely pay any attention to when/whether the AC or heat are running, as long as I'm staying comfy. Opening the windows during the spring isn't really possible given the astronomically high pollen levels we have here, and by mid to late May the humidity is high enough that opening windows is useless for increasing comfort.

French fries Chex snack mix Lots of other crunchy, salty foods

My niece had the same problem when she was in her late teens/early 20's. The docs blamed it on having had mono a few years before and it still clearing out of her system (or some very similar reason--I know it related to her having had mono). And I do think some people are just more prone to having swollen lymph nodes than others are. I'm 56 and can only remember having a swollen lymph node once in my life (and coincidentally that was in my teens), and for no reason that my mom or I could figure out. That was back in the day before everybody went to the doctor for everything, and since I had no symptoms of anything else we never got it checked out. It eventually returned to normal.

It's horrible.