Choosing and Raising a Cat

Cats are probably the most popular pet in the household. In the United States alone, there are already millions of cat owners from the country and the city. Cats make wonderful, independent companions, and they often live to be as much as 15 years old.

If you lead a busy life and you often leave your home, a cat is the best pet you can have. Cats can be perfectly happy by themselves. Leave them food and a litter box and you wouldn’t have to worry about them for the entire time you’re away.

If you want to raise a cat, you may want to educate it early on. Get a kitten not younger than 10 to 12 weeks. Younger kittens may have been weaned too early from their mothers. No matter how adorable, they may not have been properly litter trained and socialized. Such a kitten may grow up into an irritable cat that wouldn’t cooperate with anyone.

If you don’t have the time or patience to watch over a kitten, consider adopting an older cat. Choose one that is healthy, stable, well-mannered, and loving. The best cat or kitten has been raised as a member of a human family. This cat knows and trusts people and is not timid or withdrawn. Male cats are generally more affectionate than female cats.

If you’re having a male, you’ll want to have it neutered. An unaltered male will grow into a wandering feline who often gets into fights. Females, too, should be spayed to prevent yowling, rolling, and carrying on during heat. An altered cat of either sex makes an excellent pet.

Bring your cat to the veterinarian for regular checkups. This is to make sure that your cat lives with you for a longer time and is prevented from suffering illnesses.

Gardening Tip: How to Divide Daisies

Do you have a dense mat of daisies growing in your garden?  Daisies are ‘wild’ perennials that can be quite invasive if left alone for several years.  The good news is, you can actually tame and manage these daisies with little effort. How? Divide, replant and share them.

Note: Apply this process only if you’re growing the following types of daisy:

• Shasta daisy or “Becky
• Ryan’s Pink daisy
• Ox-eye daisy

How to divide daisies:

1. Work from the outer edge of the clump. Use a sharp spade to dig around and to lift large sections of the daisy foliage.
2. Gently separate each small plant cluster with your hands, carefully untangling roots as you go.
3. After you dig and divide the daisies, prepare the bed for replanting.  You can improve the quality of the soil by adding soil conditioner or organic compost to the garden.  Make sure you mix the conditioner or compost well with the garden soil.   
4. After separating the thick tangle of roots, replant the daisies spacing them 8 to 10 inches apart. 
5. Once the flowers are planted, fertilize with a timed-release, granular product.  Water thoroughly.
6. Share the excess daisy clusters with neighbors or gardening friends.

Additional tip: Other pass-alongs flowers include cosmos, cleomes, zinnias, morning glories, and moonflowers.  You can share the annual seeds of these flowers. In autumn, share iris, daylilies, ginger lilies, and black-eyed Susans.

Choosing the Right Colors for Your Home

Colors enrich our world. When we are surrounded by colors, we are able to create a particular atmosphere that suits our needs. This article lists four tips on choosing colors for your home.

We can harness the strength and benefits of colors when we use them to enhance our home. Blending colors successfully can help create a harmonious environment that is calm and relaxing or lively and energizing. Here are four tips on how you can enhance your health and well-being by choosing the right colors for your home:

Sumersault Window Valance- Geo Girl

1. Let the yellow sunshine in 

When you are designing your home environment, consider the amount of sunlight that enters each room. Make sure you get enough glow from the sun’s beams. When sunlight is received into your mind and body, it will give you a feeling of purification. Allowing sunlight to flood into dark corners also rids a room of its staleness and kills some bacteria.

2. Choose colors that heal and inspire 

When you are decorating, think about the effects of color on the room itself and its future inhabitants. How will the room be used? Who will occupy it? Will their problems be alleviated or worsened by your color choices? What are their ambitions and aims? An orange room, for example, will instill cheerfulness into its occupants.

3. Match color with size

Before choosing colors, consider the size and shape of each room. The stronger the color, the smaller a room will appear. Small rooms tend to look more spacious when decorated and painted in pale colors. In larger areas, colors may appear to be more intense. Avoid using a strong color for a big room as it can cause claustrophobia. For dark narrow rooms use light, clear colors.

4. Light and shade 

Before using white, check how much daylight the room receives. A bright white room can be tiring for the eyes and cause frustration. Deep colors may look good with a room that gets plenty of sunshine. When deep colors blend with sunlight, they become several shades duller at night, but can look cozy on firelight or candlelight. If you are painting only one wall in a different color, do not choose a wall where there is a door or window as this dissipates the color energy.