Get A Coupon!

Only a month to go until the Funky Find Spring Fling!  Around my house it's time for me to drive everyone crazy with "requests" (that's a nice way of saying "demands") for help to pull it all together.  Wait until there's only a week to go; it will just be me and the dog.  The rest of the family will be staying with my folks until Her Majesty, The Drama Queen leaves (ha).

Here's a picture of my banner.  If you plan on coming to the Spring Fling, be sure to look for it and stop by for a visit.  If you'd like a 10% off coupon, email me your name and snail mail address, and I'll send you one.  I won't send you anything else either, so don't worry that this is a lame ploy to send you junk mail.

Hope to see you there!

How Not To Give A Dog Medicine

There is a right way and a wrong way to give a dog medicine, and I think I have all the wrong ways down pat.


My golden retriever, Merle, has to take medicine for his sensitive skin, and outsmarted me at almost every turn. I think he did this for spite. Half of his medicine ended up a gloppy, semi-dissolved mess on the floor, and so did I. However, when I took Merle back to the vet to tell on him, Merle happily took his meds for the doc. There’s that spite again. It couldn’t possibly be me.

So here is a list of everything I did wrong

1. Put the pill in your hand and say, “Here ya go,” like you’re handing him a treat or something. Merle gave me an arched look that said, “Do I look that stupid?”
2. Hide it in food. Now that he’s on to me, Merle ate around the pill and spit it out.
3. Here’s my fave. The vet said to put the medicine in Merle’s mouth, lift his snout and rub his throat. Magically, he’ll swallow the pill. Ha. The first time I tried it, Mr. Merle chewed the capsule, getting granules of medicine all in his mouth and on his lips. The capsule part was partially dissolved and stuck to the hair around his mouth. Pretty! And pretty stinky! I thought I was successful with attempt #2, but the little sneak cheeked it - he put it between his massive floppy cheek and gum – then spit it out when I wasn’t looking. I swear that dog has it in for me.
4. Wrestling. He won.
5. Pretending to take it and acting like I feel so much better. The performance got a yawn.
6. Begging. He won.

In the end, I took him back to the vet where I got personal lessons on the rub-the-throat technique. The vet was very supportive, but Merle smiled gleefully, knowing that once again, he had shown himself to be smarter than I am.

Be Nice To Your Mail Carrier

Today is Thank A Mail Carrier Day! We have the sweetest “maillady”. The kids started calling her that early on, and the name stuck. We have the drive-up-and-put-the-mail-in-the-box delivery system. If a package is too big for the mailbox, our maillady will come to the door (with the rest of the mail), ring the bell and wait for someone to answer. She also says hello, pets the dog, and asks how our day is going before she heads back to the truck. It doesn’t matter if it’s raining or cold or sleeting. I know she has Monday off because if a package is too big for the mailbox, her substitute leaves it on the porch, and doesn’t even do a ding-dong ditch. The rest of the mail is in the mailbox.

So today I will be waiting for her with a beverage of her choice as just a small token of my appreciation of her hard work and excellent customer service. I’ll be waiting inside though so as not to give the neighbors something to gossip about. It would be my luck that she’s sick today and a substitute is driving the truck - another good reason to stay inside and listen for the familiar squeak of the postal truck brakes.

If you decide to thank your mail carrier today, here are a few tips:

1. Don’t run outside, waving your arms, shouting, “Thank you! Thank you!” Your mail carrier might just keep on going, dialing 911 at the same time.
2. If you have a mail carrier who walks your route (i.e. your mailbox is attached to the house), don’t wait by the door then spring out with a loud THANK YOU!  The results might not be to your liking (heart attack, mace to the face, any number of bad things).
3. A really good way to show your appreciation is to tell the boss! Everyone calls to complain about the post office, but I bet hardly anyone calls to say, “good job”. Contact 1-800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777) and they will be happy to document your compliment.

Thanks Maillady!

Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo

Fran's Button Corner is celebrating the last week of the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo by discounting all mixes with red, white or blue buttons by 15%! No waiting for a PayPal refund or a revised invoice either. Red, white and blue button mixes have already been marked down! Hurry, sale ends February 7.

To read more about the Stock Show, go to http://www.fwssr.com/.  To read the Hog Blog (I am not kidding), go to http://www.star-telegram.com/stockshow/.  Great pictures and video!