The Pet Series works every bit as well as your upright, but will vacuum your home up to 7 days a week. Yes, you have to clean the bin and brushes more frequently than your upright, but the time savings is appreciated.  Further, you can program it to vacuum when you’re not home.  Imagine, being able to check a chore off your list so you can spend more time with your pets! 

THANKS, iROBOT!

What every pet home needs -- a robot!

PHOTO STOLEN FROM iROBOT.

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Orcas Pictures

It’s been a couple exciting days for Southern California boaters, and whale watching tour operators are rejoicing!  The wild orcas are putting on a show!

A few days ago off the Ventura coast, fishermen encountered a playful female orca who really was ready for her close up!! On June 1, Captain Dave from Dolphin Safari in Dana Point video taped an 8-orca pod feeding.  (Thanks, Captain Dave and Fishermen Greg and Richard for shooting the video so those of us who are desk-bound could revel with you!) I’ve included links to the stories below!

It begs the question: Who’s watching whom?

REMEMBER: Keep our oceans clean! Make sure your trash gets into the appropriate cans and keep your cigarette butts off the street!

http://www.whalewatchingtv.com/Orca-LIVE.html

http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-orcas-dana-point,0,4262348.story

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/station/as-seen-on/Close_Encounter_With_Killer_Whale_Captured_on_Video_Los_Angeles.html

People who’d overnighted at the beach dumped their trash outside their RV. A trashcan was a mere 10 feet away! The beach was littered with trash. 

After watching whale rescue teams cut a giant ball of garbage off a 26 foot baby gray whale, named Lilly, the question I have is this: How can you NOT police your trash?

Lilly died, but her passing won’t be in vain. A local OC woman is planning a memorial of sorts and encouraging folks to be mindful of the oceans. READ MORE HERE:  http://bit.ly/c44NHe

Remember: Your efforts are important because all paths lead to the ocean. Putting your trash in the appropriate bins is important wherever you may be — on the beach, in the parks, on a hike.  Clean up after your dog. Keeping your cigarette butts off the streets will prevent them from getting to the beach!

Regardless of who you are or how important you think you are, make a promise to leave places you visit a little better than you find them. 

Keep our beaches clean; they're counting on us!

Urine on carpet – Blot. Lay a few paper towels over the spot and put a weight on top. I take an old metal tray and add a few weights.  This will sop up the urine. To get the SMELL out, mix a 50/50 solution of white vinegar and water. Dampen a paper towel with the solution, cover the spot and add weight. In about 30 minutes, pick it up.  The vinegar smell will disapate, and you won’t have soap residue on your carpet. A bonus: Vinegar has anticeptic properties.  Vinegar shouldn’t bleach your carpet.

Fecal Matter on carpet - Hopefully, you’ve been feeding a good diet and all you have to clean are well formed stools from your carpet.   If so, just pick them up and use the 50/50 vinegar solution to disappate any odors. 

If you have a sick pup with loose stools, you’re going to need a little more firepower.   Butters got sick after eating too many biscuits.  You’re going to need paper towel, plastic bags, something you can scrape with that’s disposable may be helpful, too and hopefully a small carpet cleaner.  Clean up what you can with the paper towels and scraper, e.g. paper plate, dust pan, etc. and place in plastic bags. (take those to the trash.) Spritz the remaining stain with the vinegar and water solution, then use the small carpet cleaner to finish the job.  You may want to respritz with the vinegar solution.

An alternative to the last spritz with the vinegar solution is to spritz with water that’s been laced with 20 drops of tea tree oil.  Tea tree oil is an anticeptic, but also has a really nice scent.

Vomit has acids. So proceed with the clean up procedure for loose stools but you may want to mix a baking soda solution to neutralize the acids. 1 teaspoon baking soda to 1 cup water dampen a paper towel and weight. Follow up with a spritz of tea tree oil solution and let dry.