Cougars and Kitties and Bike Rides

Last night, just before bed, I was surfing through Facebook (yes, it is a bad habit) and saw that Currently Cumberland (my village’s little newspaper) had posted a village safety notice: A cougar had been spotted yesterday evening and disappeared into the bushes behind the houses… since I haven’t been here that long, I needed to look up where it was.  Thankfully it was on the other side of the village – but since the village is small, well, cougar sightings are something to take to heart and pay attention to.

I promptly did some Cougar Safety research and determined that I really and truly do NOT want to see one up close and personal – either in my back yard OR while out riding my bike.  Thankfully, Environment Canada notes that sightings are rate and attacks on humans even rarer that that.  I’m still not going to go looking for trouble, thank you VERY much!

This in mind, I decided that yes, I would still go for my planned bike ride with Jasmine this morning – just a teensy bit later to make absolutely certain full daylight was upon us. It wasn’t a glorious sunny morning this morning – overcast and a little humid in preparation for the forecast rain we are to get today – but it was cool and crisp. The trees are in full push for pollen and the air smells like honey dust. 

Home again, I fed Jasmine and took the garbage out to the curb in preparation for the wonderful waste removal people to take care of today on my way back into the kitchen to make my lunch,  I saw this through one of my windows:

Missy enjoying some early-morning fence-sitting time

I guess that when I get around to replacing my back-yard fences, I’ll need to make certain that there are suitable kitty-sitting spots available…

With love across the waters,

Hey – Do You Have a Neti Pot?

A few years ago I had a call from my best girlfriend Dar. She was VERY excited and told me all about this thing she saw on Dr. Oz’s show called “Neti”. The conversation went something like this”

“Hey – I was watching Dr Oz-“

“Who?”

“Dr, Oz – you know, from Oprah?”

“No, but never mind – you were watching his show?”

“Yeah, and he talked about this thing called a Neti-pot”

“un-huh?”

“Yeah, you fill it up with water and then, this is kind of gross, you flush out your sinuses with it…”

The conversation went on from there…

Oprah’s show talked about how it can help with allergies, and I was living in Ontario at the time and suffering them horribly. So, while incredibly grossed out at the idea of sticking this thing that looked like a miniature teapot up a nostril and letting water flow through my sinuses - being the “new-agey” person I am, I just had to get out there and give it a try.

Yes, just so you know, it is incredibly gross. Just as gross as you would imagine. No, stuff doesn’t come out (that you would notice anyhow) and yes, you need to hang over a sink to do it. Oh – and yes, you need to hang your head down and blow your nose in a big way after you are done, but yes, it really does help with allergies.

I’m guessing the part that really helps is the fact that, by using the Neti-pot, one essentially flushes all of those nasty allergens OUT of the sinuses and into the sink.

Some things to know in advance:

• Yes, the temperature of the water is VERY important (too cold and you have an ice cream headache without the benefits of ice cream)
• Yes, the salinity levels are important (if you use the saline version – to much salt BURNS)
• Yes, it can help with allergies. It can also help with sinus infection healing – but should not be done in lieu of taking those pills the doctor prescribed.

With love across the waters,