The most recent hand-washing study mentioned at the end of this podcast was published in the Journal of Clinical Outcomes Management. In this study, the effect of hand-washing as a way to prevent the spread of methicillin-resistant Stapholococcus aureus (MRSA) in a hospital was studied. Over a 3-year period, hospital-transmitted cases of MRSA declined by a significant 49%, even though the number of patients admitted with the bacteria increased during that same period. However, in order to ensure compliance, the researchers had to develop what amounted to a hand-washing police force, individuals who would constantly remind the medical staff
Read more →In case you wondered how I resolved my dilemma… These are the evening primrose and the long-stemmed white flowers whose name I always forget the mallow and astilbe, the last of the sweet William and flourishing Korean willow, the last lupine, some newly blooming daylilies, an unidentified insect, and the lawn.
Read more →There’s a Bamboo tale that goes with this podcast. Just as I was editing the last bit of it, he stepped on some combination of keys on the keyboard that put blue bands at the top and bottom of the sound track and itty-bitty arrows in it, plus caused it to do weird things when I clicked the cursor or hit control z in an attempt to undo the damage. In a panic about losing all that work, I did what I always do in a computer crisis, I called one of my sons, this time Jeremy. He had
Read more →I tried to get some pictures of those feline-canine interactions currently going on in my house that I could allow to generate fear if I chose to go that route. But as it turned out, many times as soon as the animals see the camera, they immediately stop what they’re doing. Instead, Frica freezes and shuts her eyes lest the dreaded flash goes off while the others scurrying toward me to see what I’m doing. In fact, these results are sufficiently consistent that I bet I could create an entire training program based on the timely use of a
Read more →If you read the blog about the new addition to my household, you probably guessed that a podcast about Bamboo was inevitable. As I write this, there’s dirt on the floor where he raced through a large plant on his way to the desk where he knocked over a picture before leaping onto an old piano roll cabinet where he knocked over a carved Russian monk on his way to window sill to see what was going on outside. Never a dull moment! Bewitching………………..getting ready to bother and bamboozle
Read more →This is kind of a heavy podcast, but I think it’s important because it’s about something that can mean the difference between treatment success and failure: commitment. And no, this isn’t one of those “Blame the owner” rants. Instead, it’s about one way we can stop spinning our wheels and summon the commitment to get the job done right.
Read more →No, this isn’t about some dread new disease that attacks male dogs or cats without warning and causes them to go blind. On the contrary, this podcast is about a human affliction, but probably not the one you might have in mind. For whatever reason, BeeBee and Ollie thought this podcast would sound better with a background of jangling tags and general canine fooling around. I’ll let you be the judge of that.
Read more →If I had edited out all the parts of this podcast with dog-noises, there wouldn’t have been anything left. In fact, the sight of the recorder now so reliably triggers BeeBee and Ollie to engage in raucous play, I’m thinking about getting a patent on this use and making millions. Until that lucky day when I can afford a pet-free recording studio, the barks, growls, grunts, jingling and all the other sounds associated with two young dogs tearing around the house oblivious to their detrimental effect on my recording career are doomed to remain. For those interested, the tall
Read more →No, this isn’t a podcast about the relationship between animal bellybuttons and the animal’s behavior or some such thing. This is a podcast about the two kinds of relationships people may have with animals: those that come from the outside in and those that come from the inside out. Confused? If so, hopefully the podcast with make this clear.
Read more →I decided a few visuals would help, but I had no desire to recreate the fiasco. Instead I took the following from the top of the slope which, I admit, make the it look pretty lame. This one is taken looking down on the tree with its killer bittersweet on the left. The bright green is early wild rosebush foliage: I admit it doesn’t look like much. Here’s a picture of the trailer from the top of the slope: And how it initially looked to me after my fall from grace: It’s amazing how little time it takes the
Read more →