Radiant Rachel Reflecting on Ruby, Rails, Righteous Rants and Random Rubbish
Archive for July 15, 2009
Today is Pet Fire Safety Day
July 15, 2009
in Pets
What happens to me in an emergency?
Yes, it seems every stupid thing out in the world has its own holiday, but today’s “day” made me think.
I subscribe to the American Kennel Club newsletter and was alerted that today was “Pet Fire Safety Day.” What does it mean to have a Fire Safety Day? For humans, it’s easy. We teach kids to feel doors and door knobs to see if they are hot before you open a door and to crouch low when there is smoke, but how do we protect our fury friends who (as far as I can tell) are lost on the finer details of the English language.
I’ve thought about it before whenever I first moved into my own apartment almost a year ago. I’ve been good about keeping Isabella in the front room in her kennel so as to not let her wander around while I am gone until she is a bit older (she likes to chew on things and I have this fear she’s going to chew a wire and electrocute herself if left alone.) I also keep her leash right next to the door so I always know where it is, especially in the case of an emergency. I will now have to see about getting myself one of those nifty “Rescue Pets Inside!” stickers for my front window (I remember having something like that on my bedroom window when I was a kid.)
AKC.org posted a nice page on their website dealing with some of the helpful things owners can do.
- Extinguish Open Flames – Pets are generally curious and will investigate cooking appliances, candles, or even a fire in your fireplace. Ensure your pet is not left unattended around an open flame and make sure to thoroughly extinguish any open flame before leaving your home.
- Pet Proof the Home – Take a walk around your home and look for areas where pets might start fires inadvertently, such as the stove knobs, loose wires and other potential hazards.
- Secure Young Pets – Especially with young puppies, keep them confined away from potential fire-starting hazards when you are away from home.
- Keep Pets Near Entrances – When leaving pets home alone, keep them in areas or rooms near entrances where firefighters can easily find them.
- Practicing Escape Routes with Pets – Keep collars and leashes at the ready in case you have to evacuate quickly with your pet or firefighters need to rescue your pet.
- Affix a Pet Alert Window Cling – Write down the number of pets inside your house and attach the static cling to a front window. This critical information saves rescuers time when locating your pets. You can obtain a free window cling here or at AKC Responsible Dog Ownership Days events.
- Keep Your Information Updated – Firefighters are familiar with pet alert window clings so keep the number of pets listed on them updated. Knowing the accurate number of pets in the house aids rescuers in finding all of your pets.
- Use Monitored Smoke Detection Services – As an added layer of protection beyond battery-operated smoke alarms, smoke detectors connected to a monitoring center help save pets who can’t escape when left home alone.
Since I know many of the blogenning bloggers have dogs and/or cats, I thought this would be helpful information. 
“Cranialsacral Therapy” or “Why I’m Falling Behind”
July 15, 2009
in Health
Hello dear readers. It’s not news to you if you’ve been following the game along at home – but, I’ve been seriously lagging behind!
I have almost half a dozen “draft” entries here in WordPress but I haven’t been able to finish any of them due to the massive migraine I’d been babying the past week. Well, you should be happy to know that I have since been cured and can now enter in this entry before I can continue on with my “Females in Tech” series.
I’ve suffered with migraines and neck pain and Temporomandibular joint disorder syndrome for the better part of my adult life. It wasn’t until I met my (get ready for it) father’s college buddy’s wife who is a physical therapist that I started to feel noticeable and immense relief of my chronic pain.
She practices a therapy called Cranialsacral Therapy. Now, I’ll preface what I say with this warning, yes, I am aware that some people are of the opinion that the therapy and especially the developer of this therapy is crackpot. However, I can’t deny that this therapy and Linda Hanson have changed my life.
If you take a look at the therapy’s Wikipedia entry, first you’ll note that the article’s neutrality is disputed. But you can get an idea about what the therapy is said to do. Now, I’m not a physical therapist, nor will I ever try to pretend I know enough about the body to be an expert, but I think the therapy most likely works well because it basically gives the body’s fascia and muscles a chance to rest and “reset” themselves. My PT does not use a lot of pressure on my body at all but I noticed immediately after my first session that I was “one-thousand” times better than before I first laid on the therapy table and my body has since felt so much better after repeated sessions.
So, like I mentioned above, I had been experiencing a massive migraine since at least Thursday and I went last night to see Linda. She literally just touched my forehead and could feel how much tension I had been keeping. I hadn’t noticed, but it was difficult for me to even nod my head down because the muscles on the back of my neck and brain-stem area were so tight! It took a good hour, but by taking over the work of the muscles, Linda was finally able to get that area of the head to RELAX and my migraine was just about gone. You know you have a good session when the area right underneath your head, where your skull and spine sort of “meet,” is all mushy and relaxed.
Anyway, that is my story of success for this week. I hope I can keep my head more relaxed enough to keep up with my work at my job and my writing in this blog. 
