If You Like PAWS...

Estimated reading time for this post: 2 minute 48 seconds. Read it Later?

My family has gotten our pet from PAWS in the past and although we currently do not have any pets, I respect what the Aberdeen PAWS is doing. I would love to volunteer time or money but just like many others, both are in short supply these days. I know I tend to forget that we are not a large community and there are not many options for stray or unwanted animals in Grays Harbor. That is why I believe it's so very important that we help keep these important organizations open.

I saw an article in the local newspaper this morning and they are so shorthanded/ understaffed that they are taking the month of March off from accepting animals. The article listed a few things that they are in need of so I'll list them here:

• Paper towels
• Dry cat and dog food
• Kitty litter
• Garbage bags
• Clorox(r) wipes
• Hand sanitizer 
• Copy paper

And of course monetary donations are greatly needed and appreciated.

*** This group doesn't even have a website! Imagine how many more animals might be placed in homes if they had pictures on the internet! ***

For those who have time but not the money, they can use your help. If you only have an hour a week to spare, which is NOT much at all, they will be glad for the help. Simple things like doing laundry, cleaning pens, feeding and watering the animals are all easy tasks that anyone can be shown how to do.

My main reason for writing about this is that I know the core group of volunteers are getting older. The time is coming soon for them to pass the responsibility of keeping PAWS' doors open to a younger generation.

It breaks my heart that animals are neglected, abused or forgotten. I might not agree with every political view involved with animal rescue services, and this blog isn't about that anyways. What I do agree with is that we humans, created this domestic animal problem, and (particularly if you are a pet owner) it's our job to help correct it. Maybe I have seen too many episodes of Confessions: Animal Hoarding but I really want people to be responsible pet owners. If you have a pet, why not buy two bags of dog food and drop one off at PAWS. If you have a cat or two, maybe pick up an extra bag of kitty litter. I am sure every little bit helps.

I don't currently have any pets but I have every intention of calling Val West (360-533-1141) and donating a little bit of money. And when we get ready to adopt a dog, I know that the money I pay for my new little buddy will go towards spaying and neutering more just like him. All in helps to control the pet population and to give these animals a second chance on life.

If you'd like to make a donation of any kind please call Val West at 360-533-1141. I wouldn't recommend dropping anything off unless you have called first to make sure someone is there and available to accept your donation.

PAWS
800 W. 1st Street
Aberdeen, Washington 98520
Phone: 360-533-1141


And in the immortal words of Bob Barker,
"Remember, have your pets spayed or neutered!"

I LOVE October!

Estimated reading time for this post: 2 minute 30 seconds. Read it Later?

I love October. I am not entirely sure why but my suspicion is that I have visions of beautiful fall colors, orange pumpkins, apple cider and warm fuzzy scarves. In western Washington though, you are lucky if you get a few fleeting days before the leaves are blown and rained into oblivion, only to clog gutters and get stuck to your shoes. I refuse to admit that it's entirely possible that my affinity for October lies in the fact that it is also my birth month. I'd sooner admit to enjoying dressing up for Halloween. No, I am certain my longing for the autumn is based on the promise of those temporary jewels that disappear as quickly as they arrive.


This year has been totally different. We had a rough start, with a weak showing this summer, but just as I had been dreaming and hoping (for a couple years actually), the month of October has been simply wonderful. Just yesterday, I was staring out the window while forcing myself to jog on the treadmill, (not a happy point in my day), when I noticed something. Outside it was the beginning of sunset but across the parking lot of the gym was a street lined with maples that had turned yellow. At this time of night, they looked almost luminescent. It was a total trick of the eye but it was like the trees were glowing and I was captivated. It’s moments like that where a picture could hardly do it justice but the memory will stick with me.

There is nothing I love more than crisp, sunny mornings where the leaves are starting to turn yellow and you can see your breath!  Defrosting the ice on your windows only takes a few moments because the air really isn’t as cold as it first seems. And I don’t even mind because I know that bright blue cloudless sky will be worth the extra few minutes of warming the car.

There is another reason I love this time of year and it helps me get over the very short window of color October provides me. I must confess, I am a bit of a scarf wh*re, (my family reads this) and I have probably 20-25 different colored scarves, although I haven’t counted in a year or so. And yes, I try to wear them all at least once. Blues, oranges, pinks and greens, you name it. And all these colors cheer me. They give me joy on the grayer days of winter and I’m pretty sure I’m a little addicted to buying them.

So for this October, I’d like to thank Mother Nature, Steve Poole, and my mom, because without her, I might have been born at some other time of the year. I hear the rains are about to start at the end of this week so enjoy these short days.

Now let’s all get ready for one heck of a La Nina this winter. Get ‘cher umbrellas and boats ready!
Thanks!

Calculating Estimated READING Time for your Blog

Estimated reading time for this post: 2 minute 17 seconds. Read it Later?

It is nearly impossible to find a direct calculation method for determining reading time for a piece of writing. This made me mad, and made my head hurt trying to figure it out myself. So I am going to post this on the web, where I can find it again the next time I need it. (I know I had it on a Post-it® somewhere around here….) So here is how I estimate the reading time for my blog posts. This is specifically for my web articles but technically this could be used for any piece of writing.

Accepted average for words per minute that an average person reads:     200-250 wpm

Armed with this knowledge I give readers the benefit of distraction and possibly their sleepiness level. I use 200 wpm to do my calculations. If you read faster, then that is great. If not, then this is sufficiently low, as any lower and I would recommend Tim Ferriss’ PX Project for training to read faster.

So here are the numbers you will have to come up with:

• Choose an appropriate average wpm count for your reading audience. (On my work blog I use 250 because our audience is normally Graduate Engineers with Masters degrees or higher. For this example however, I will be using 200 WPM.)
• Total Word Count for the document/article/piece of writing

This blog entry has 455 words. Trust me, it does. So let’s use that as a word count. Here is your first equation.

455 tw / 200 wpm = 2.275 minutes

tw = total words
wpm = words per minute (average)

Now that’s all fine and dandy but what is .275 minutes? It’s not 28 seconds! So here is the last step to get the number into a for that makes a little more sense. Take that decimal part, .275 minutes, and multiply that by 60 because that is how many seconds are in 1 minute.

So:

0.275 minutes x 60 = 16.5 seconds

Since this is a decimal I would just round up and say 17 seconds. If you were incredible anal and thought milliseconds on the ESTIMATED reading time really mattered, you could do more. I, however, will go no further.

So here is the math equations in its entirety and the formatted solution.

(# of Total Words) / (Average WPM) = Reading time in Minutes

455 / 200 = 2.275

Take and remaining Decimal from the “Reading Time in Minutes” answer and multiply that by 60 to get your Seconds.

0.275 x 60 = 16.5

2 Minute 17 seconds to read this article. 

(Of course I include the disclaimer that this time is Estimated. ;)