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No. Just don't submit to more than one person at an agency where there are many agents. And trust me... 50 queries and every one of them wants something different. They sit on your manuscript for a couple of months before they say no. I've got an agent in Canada who is still sitting on my manuscript for Sam Woodard, even though it's already been published. I don't have the heart to tell them. I get a note now and then saying they're "still deciding." It's their great pleasure to tell you no. Been there...

Ha. ha... great description. I got that same feeling after I befriended someone recently and then got a "thank you" note with an invitation to "chat." I didn't respond, thinking I'd wait and see. I'm going to guess, without mentioning the name, that this was one of them...

MJ

You’re right. I never use OTC anything for my tribe. The Bravecto I use actually comes from Canada Pet Store. My vet used to carry it, but as always, new products come on the market and vets get a percentage for selling the latest rage. But Bravecto has been my go-to for so long, and it works, that my vet just sends the prescription to Canada. Shipping is taking longer now… I won’t go there… but that’s okay… lol! 

You’re right on the dry food causing bladder stones. They need plenty of water if they’re on dry. My boy Levi was one who would only eat dry… I kept an open fountain of water going all the time, but he still got the bladder blockages. That was 12 years ago, and that vet stay and surgery was $5,000 with no guarantee he’d pull through. But he did. No more dry food for Levi after that. Science Diet only.

Sounds like you’ve got a spoiled baby already, which is wonderful! That’s what they’re there for. He will be sleeping with you next!  Ha! Love it.

MJ

Oh, wow, those were some good ones! I'm sure it was difficult to choose, but congrats to all the winners!

Happy trails,
MJ

I’ve  always found that cats learn their names faster if they’re more than one syllable. That steady two-beat call will whip their little heads around like they just heard a can opener. Of course, they’ll immediately ignore you afterward, but at least you’ll know their necks still work.

I usually wait to see which name actually fits the furball. Because what you name him as a calm, angelic ball of fluff won’t work when he’s hanging from your curtains like Spider-Man at a crime scene.

I once named a cat Sweetie. Seemed perfect—gentle, affectionate, sugar-pie vibes. But after the third midnight ambush on my toes, the new name became Satan’s Spawn.

Usually, it’s not the name you chose, but the one he earned!

MJ

Hooray for me! The ginormous, finger-mummifying cast has finally been swapped out for a sleeker, keyboard-friendly model. My fingers no longer resemble Vienna sausages crammed into a Ziploc (Vern’s favorite snack), though this new contraption still isn’t exactly launching me back to my Olympic-level typing speeds (100 words per minute… give or take half of that). Anyway, I can now resume answering the reviews I owe—oh, and prepare some good old-fashioned retaliation… er, I mean, reciprocity. Totally reciprocity.

Happy trails,
MJ

“Thanks all,” said one sad little Vienna sausage.
“See ya soon,” another one blabbed.
Bernice the cat walked across the laptopppppppppppppuuutrdcewsw.

mj

I get the optimism—we really need it. But hope alone won't save us. Every time someone pushes for real change, there's a crowd of people who are too lazy, too cynical, or too entitled to help. They'll argue online all day but won't actually do anything. They act like they know everything but won't plant a tree, clean up trash, or even recycle. They expect someone else to handle it.

Well, those "someone elses" are gone. We've pushed away the people who kept our food system running—field workers, laborers, the people who actually do the work—and now farmers can't find help. The privileged class won't step in because they think manual labor is beneath them. They'd rather complain online than get their hands dirty. Our supply chains from other countries no longer exist thanks to a man who never got past page 1 in Economics 101, the part where tariffs are explained in detail... that says tariffs levied on other countries only mean higher prices for the consumers of those products, which of course are you and me. Example: Mexico just cut off their supply of tomatoes to the US due to imposed tariffs, while the US sits with fields of tomatoes rotting on the vines because there are no workers to pick them. Wonder how that happened? This only means that for Thanksgiving dinner, you can expect to pay $10 for one tomato, if you can find one.

We've got a "leader" (somehow that word doesn't feel right) whose only plan is "drill, drill, drill," selling off public lands to the highest bidder. Goodbye, Yellowstone. He doesn't care about conservation or climate change—just money and power. And we've got corrupt judges, including Supreme Court justices, who've been bought and paid for. Corruption is so bad it's basically official policy now. And goodbye, Big Bird and Ernie... PBS was just slashed because it didn't feature anyone with an orange face. Kids grew up on Sesame Street, which taught them how to do good, how to be neat and tidy, how to care about others, how to be a friend, and how to live in these times. For some kids, that's all they had because their parents are too busy for them. But no more. No more Public Broadcasting System. Gone by the wayside, soon to be replaced with only one TV station, and for those of you who are smart, you know who that TV station will feature non-stop. Ask North Korea what that's like.

So yes, George, you're right in that we shouldn't give up. But let's be honest: we're not just fighting climate change and trash. We're fighting greed, laziness, entitlement, and a system that's falling apart because nobody cares anymore. If we don't start being real about what we're up against, we'll just sit here watching everything fall apart, wondering how it happened.

Where is that asteroid when you need it most?

Oh, yes, about those temperatures... we are back to normal today, but that's because it rained last night and it's raining here today with thunderstorms, gigantic cracks of thunder and lightning.

Call it what you will, but this heat is unprecedented. I've lived in this same place for thirty years, and I've never experienced anything like this July. Since August is typically our hottest month, I'm dreading what's coming next.

Today was slightly better—"only" 105 degrees, a full five degrees cooler than yesterday's record-breaking 110. We're still looking at another night of thunderstorms with lightning and dangerous winds, which has become the nightly routine.

The only comparable year I can remember was 2007, when we went more than three months without rain. That summer, I watched our hay fields turn brown and crisp, leaving me scrambling to buy hay from south Georgia where they'd actually had rainfall. By summer's end, I was trucking hay in from Texas because the entire East Coast looked like it had been torched.

If this July is any indication of what August holds, we might be looking at 2007 all over again—or worse.

And you're only about 50 miles north of me. I heard we were supposed to be cooler, too... maybe it will be 105 today instead of 110. Wow, it's a scorcher. I've given up on my garden... can't keep it watered enough and everything is dying.