Tips for taking your dog camping

by Donna Thacker guest author

For a lot of us dog lovers, taking poochie camping with us is as natural as taking our children. Doggy is a part of the family and we would never think of leaving him or her behind, or boarding them in a kennel while we go off to enjoy ourselves. Our loving family pet deserves to go on a little vacation, and enjoy "family time" as well as we do.

Camping with your pet can be an enjoyable time so long as you are prepared for anything that comes along. First and most important, your family pet should be up to date on their shots and vet check ups. Don't take them camping if they aren't feeling well either. Sometimes dogs feel a little "under the weather" just like we do, and just want to lounge around at home.

If your dog is good and healthy and raring to go, that's great. [continued]

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Reprinted by permission from Donna Thacker. Read Donna's profile at Helum.com

Sometimes pedestrians DON'T have the right of way!

At least five people nearly died earlier this evening, because one driver decided to yield to pedestrians in a very dangerous way. You won't ever read about it in a newpaper because nothing horrible happened. My kids, however, can attest to my bad language under heavy stress.

Do you drive through controlled intersections at full speed? Luckily, I usually don't. Tonight's incident occurred on a busy four-lane highway under a standing green light. I doubt I was going faster than about 45 mph (in a 55 zone) at the time. In addition to the four through-lanes, this highway has two dedicated left turn lanes, one from each direction. That way, you can be out of the way while you wait for the all-clear.

The offending driver, coming at me (northbound) from the opposing left-turn lane, was trying to beat me through the intersection. I was going straight, headed southbound in the right-hand lane, with my two boys in the other seats. He stopped directly in my path, perpendicular to my 6,000-pound truck. Why? Because the driver realized, well after committing to this ill-advised turning attempt, that the crosswalk contained two pedestrians: appeared to be a dad and daughter walking their bikes. Pedestrians "always" have the right-of-way, goes the common wisdom. So he stopped to wait for the walkers. Stopped right there in front of my moving vehicle. Brilliant.

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Why are you still reading this?

What makes others read our blog ramblings? How can we attract and keep readers? A good friend sent me the link to a recent guest posting on Write to Done ("...articles on writing, twice weekly"). The author is Shilpan Patel of Success Soul, "whose meteoric rise in the blogging world has attracted much attention" [blog author].

Don't miss 7 Certain Ways to Crucify Your Content by Shilpan Patel. His words are short and direct, and his advice rings true.

Lake George weekend without the camper

We thought of towing our camper to Lake George for our final summer weekend trip; but at ten MPG and four dollars a gallon it just didn't make sense. We chose instead to spend our money on an in-village room at a hotel with a pool.

The weather was perfect and Lake George was booming. We ended up settling for a suite and begged the manager to waive the two-night minimum. He did. We got an unexpected bonus, in addition to having a living room and kitchen: the hotel had an outdoor ping-pong table! The boys loved it, and spent a couple hours in fierce competition.

We walked the whole resort from north to south, saw a vintage boat show, ate a meal overlooking the lake, and visited the 100-mile view peak just west of the village. The kids enjoyed a surprisingly scary spook house tour, and we all played mini golf at the "site of the oldest miniature golf course in the USA." My oldest son won the round.

I'll post a free plug for the resort hotel: we stayed at O'Sullivan's on the lake. It was an older venue with dated decor, but otherwise very nice. I'd stay there again without hesitation. The days of hauling our 19-foot Shasta on 500-mile trips may well be over. Then again, our camper offers neither pool nor ping-pong table. Any way we can get to Lake George for a vacation is fine with me.

What's in your Writer's Toolbox?

by Amanda Sugden guest author

You want to be a real writer. Or maybe you just want better grades. But you don’t know where to start. It’s ok. I didn’t either. But I can tell you now one great way to start: build your toolbox.

Great writing doesn’t come naturally. It’s an art, a skill to be learned and refined. Every great writer has his own tools. Even if you just want to make it through college papers, you’ll need your own tools. You can pick up any of these cheaply at your nearest used bookstore, or at websites like half.com. Here are my suggestions:

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Reprinted by permission from Amanda Sugden, author of My Writing Help