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I'm currently going through one of those periods in my life where my legs are just not cooperating. They're hurting somewhat, but I can manage that with pain meds. What's really bugging me is that they are extremely fatigued. They're getting tired quicker than usual and really limiting my mobility. And there ain't no pill for that. I bought a pair of forearm-crutches last year just for times like these. The beauty of these crutches is that they can reduce the weight on my legs and allow me to be more mobile. And, I can use them in non-wheelchair-accessible environments, like private homes. Unlike regular under-the-arm crutches, forearm-crutches reduce the pressure under the arms where most people will rest their weight. This can cause nerve damage under the armpits and down the arms (like I need more nerve damage). What's also nice about forearm-crutches compared to under-the-arm crutches is that when you need to grab something or open a door, the top sco...

'Paraplegic' Leaps From Wheelchair, Flees May 11, 9:34 PM (ET) SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) - Authorities said a woman who claimed she was a paraplegic and repeatedly filed claims and lawsuits for noncompliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act was a con artist without any physical limitations. After her arrest this month by Las Vegas police, Laura Lee Medley, 35, leaped from her wheelchair and ran for freedom, officials said. Complaining earlier that she was having medical problems, police took the woman to a Las Vegas hospital for treatment, said David Wert, spokesman for San Bernardino County. "That's where the great miracle occurred," he said. Medley "made a break for it," leading police on a brief foot pursuit before she was captured, Wert said. Medley's claims against public entities - including San Bernardino County, South Pasadena and Long Beach - claimed a bus dropped her off near what she called a non-ADA compliant roadway or curb, ca...

May 18, 4:56 PM (ET) LOS ANGELES (AP) - A dog survived a plunge from an oceanside cliff and his owner had to be rescued when he got stuck searching for the animal. Pepe, a Jack Russell terrier, darted over the cliff's edge in the upscale Pacific Palisades area while chasing a squirrel on Tuesday. He landed next to Pacific Coast Highway, where he narrowly avoided being struck by a big rig. Motorist Jenny-Lyn Marais stopped and coaxed the dog into her Range Rover. "I leaned across and opened the door and whistled for him to come," said Marais, who works in a Santa Monica dental lab. "He was so gentle and so grateful. He jumped right over on my lap and started licking me." Meanwhile, Pepe's owner Brandon McMillan drove down to the base of the cliff and began climbing back up in search of his pet, but got stuck about 15 feet from the top when the ground began to give way. Firefighters rescued McMillan, and a man who had been on the beach below told him that some...

... I now own a snake! About 2 weeks ago I read an interesting article in Reptiles magazine about Rough Green snakes . I did my usual web research and got even more intrigued. Then 2 days ago I put a post on my Herp Society forum asking my local herpers about this snake. I get a reply from Timmy (head of the herp society) saying to CALL HIM. Then I get an email from Timmy saying CALL HIM (he's so demanding!). I call. I drive up to his house. And now I'm the proud owner of a Rough Green Snake!!! That was fast! Now here's the story behind the story: About two years ago, Tim was on an outing releasing a clutch of baby Coral snakes. Of course, while out, he's on the look-out herping. He comes across four eggs that were just hatching, each with little tears in the eggs. He looks closer and they are little Rough Green snake hatchlings. Of course, he takes them home. One of the four doesn't make it, but he's had the remaining three now for about two years. Just a few...

As most of my readers know, I'm wear many different hats in my life: Dog Trainer, Wife, Computer Genius, Lizard Lady. And the area I'm currently still learning the most in is with my lizards. Well, something happened the other night that I'm at a loss to explain. I have a Prehensile Tailed Skink (aka: monkey tail skink, Solomon Islands Tree Skink ). Her name is Baby Doll and she's a very kewl lizard. I usually keep her tank lid open so that she can climb out onto a fake ficus tree I put next to her tank. For the last year, she's been keeping to her tank or that tree, never venturing any further. In the last few months, all that has changed. She's been wandering. One morning, I got up and she was no where to be found. I searched the house as best I could without wearing myself out, and then figured the hubby could do a more thorough search when he got home from work. Later in the day, I heard a noise behind a speaker in my studio. There she was, and boy, ...

Part Pug , Part Beagle, The Puggle Captures The Hearts Of Dog Owners May 21, 2006 "They were hard to sell 'cause people would ask what kind of dogs do you have and I would tell 'em I had a beagle crossed with a pug and they'd laugh and say they didn't think they wanted one of those." Wallace Havens, inventor of the Puggle A Sunday in the park with dogs can be a lovely outing for a couple, as long as the couple can agree on what type of dog to own. What if one person likes pugs, and the other, beagles. What's a couple to do? Call it quits? Go on Dr. Phil?, CBS Sunday Morning contributor Bill Geist asks. One couple found their miraculous answer in a pug and a beagle rolled into one -- a puggle. Another relationship saved, thanks to modern canine breeding science. The puggle is, currently, the most popular of the new designer dog breeds that now number in the hundreds and can cost in the thousands. They're trendy and pricey. Like handbags and shoes, puggl...

May 17, 4:13 PM (ET) GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - A Labrador retriever rescued a 9-year-old survivor of Hurricane Katrina from a river after the boy's raft hit a log and he fell overboard, authorities said. Ryan Rambo, 9, whose family moved to this western Colorado town last year after the hurricane struck their Marrero, La., home, fell into the Roaring Fork River on Sunday, Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario said. The 2-year-old Lab, named Zion, jumped in the river and swam to Ryan after he began screaming for help, said Chelsea Bennett, 13, the dog's owner. Ryan held on to Zion as the dog swam back to the bank. The boy suffered only a scratch, said his mother, Deana Rambo. "How ironic, isn't it?" Deana Rambo said. "We come here to get away from flood waters, and he nearly drowns in the river." Filed under: News

May 16, 5:26 PM (ET) NEW YORK (AP) - It's on to the next caper for Fred, the crime-fighting cat. The feline, part of an undercover sting in February to get a man pretending to be a veterinarian, is in the process of being certified as a therapy cat, according to his owner, Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney Carol Moran. She told Newsday in Tuesday's editions that once the paperwork is filed, Fred will be part of a program that will bring him into schools to show children the importance of animal care. The tabby received high marks on a behavioral test, Moran said, because he was comfortable with being petted and held by strangers and being in crowded spaces. Fred posed as a patient as part of a sting operation that netted a man who allegedly treated an untold number of pets without a license. Filed under: News

A few weekends ago, I took Frankie out to his first outdoor festival. It was the Red Poppy Festival , held in Georgetown, TX . The town closes off a whole bunch of streets and vendors take over the town. Everything from classic cars and live music to the usual arts and crafts. In addition, my herp group had a tent display of snakes, tortoises and other kewl critters. This is (of course) where I was headed! Now, my long-time readers know that I usually avoid taking my Service Dogs to work at outdoor festivals . It's usually very hot (we are in the deep south, after all) and there are usually Stupid "Pet" Dog Owners With Flexi-Leashes out in droves. But on this day I had no choice. The hubby was volunteering a model show (no, not "those" kind of models... model airplanes, cars, etc) and so either I didn't go at all or I worked Frankie. Since this was Frankie's first time at this type of event, I didn't know what to expect. There are so many d...

Even though I have no human children of my own, I have of course "adopted" many fur-kids and repti-kids. This post is dedicated to all moms out there, whether you've squeezed them from your loins, or adopted kids with or without fur. Thanks to All The Moms! Filed under: Pictures

It's a miracle! May 12, 9:03 AM (ET) LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A wheelchair-bound Los Angeles woman, who has repeatedly filed lawsuits over access for the disabled, got up and ran after police arrested her for fraud, authorities said on Thursday. Laura Lee Medley, 35, had sued in at least four California cities over injuries she claimed she sustained while trying to navigate her wheelchair before she was suspected of fraud. Medley, who claimed to be paralyzed from a drunk driving accident, was tracked to Las Vegas where police there took her into custody and then, when she complained of medical issues, to a local hospital, Long Beach prosecutor Belinda Mayes said. "She gets to the hospital and while she's waiting for an examination, she gets up from the chair and runs," Mayes said. "Somebody remarked, 'That's where the great miracle occurred.'" Medley sprinted through the hospital corridors but was quickly apprehended by police and booked pending e...

As Jennifer folded her towels, she realized one of them was breathing. Filed under: Pictures Funny

Buddy contimplates leaping off nearest tall building. Filed under: Pictures Funny

A sure way to kick that nasty heroin habit. Did he or didn't he? Filed under: Pictures Funny

'Dog Whisperer' Sued by Pet Owner May 5, 5:07 PM (ET) By SOLVEJ SCHOU LOS ANGELES (AP) - A television producer sued dog trainer Cesar Millan, star of TV's "Dog Whisperer," claiming his Labrador retriever was injured at Millan's training facility after being choked with a collar and forced to run on a treadmill. In the lawsuit filed Thursday in Superior Court, "8 Simple Rules" producer Flody Suarez said he took 5-year-old Gator to the Dog Psychology Center on Feb. 27 to deal with fears of other dogs and strangers. Hours after dropping off the dog, Suarez said, a worker called to tell him the animal had been rushed to a veterinarian. Suarez later found the dog "bleeding from his mouth and nose, in an oxygen tent gasping for breath and with severe bruising to his back inner thighs," according to the lawsuit. Workers at the facility were accused in the suit of placing a choke collar on the dog, pulling him onto a treadmill and forcing him to ov...

Ahh, finally a town that gets it. If they only could enforce the law during the day also! Here's my Training Tip for curtailing barking in your dog (or your neighbors dog if you're so bold!). Norwegian Town Plans Curfew for Dogs May 5, 8:14 AM (ET) OSLO, Norway (AP) - A small Norwegian town has grown so tired of its barking dogs that it plans to pass a curfew forbidding noisy animals from leaving their homes late at night, an official said Friday. Erik Schult, the head of forestry for the municipality of Fjell in western Norway, has proposed a new regulation stating that "barking dogs have to be indoors 10 p.m. at the latest every weekday." Schult said the curfew is aimed to prevent noisy dogs from keeping neighbors awake by barking all night, although it will not make it illegal to take quiet dogs on a late-night walk. "It is the notorious yelping dogs that we are aiming at," Schult said. "Those that stay out and bark through the night." Dog own...

By Mark Hofmann DAILY COURIER Friday, April 21, 2006 Kelly Kent, of Connellsville, was surprised when her 2-year-old cat, Zoey, decided to adopt another mouth to feed, especially since Zoey already had a litter of kittens -- three to be exact -- on March 26. "This is Zoey's second litter," Kent says, "and she loves and cares for each of her kittens." But this wasn't another kitten Zoey took in -- it was a pug puppy. The strange adoption took place soon after Zoey gave birth to her kittens. Kent's neighbor approached her with a problem. The neighbor's dog had puppies at almost the same time Zoey had her kittens. However, one black puppy, a pug with no name, was a runt and wasn't getting fed by his mother. Kent, a self-professed animal lover with one dog and two cats already, in addition to the kittens, decided to take the puppy in and try to hand feed it with an eye dropper. She had no luck. "He wouldn't eat," Kent says. "He was...

If you're currently dealing with an undiagnosed medical condition, you may want to consider using Google to search the internet. I've used Google extensively to at least rule out many disorders, but I have yet to diagnose myself. That doesn't mean that you won't have better luck. Here are some tips on using Google to search the internet. These can apply to any type of search. CHOOSING THE BEST SEARCH TERMS The broader your search terms are, the more results you are likely to get. You may end up with thousands of vague results. Here are some basic Google search tips: Narrowing your search: To narrow down a search, try using multiple search terms; if you're planning a Hawaiian vacation, you'll do better with vacation Hawaii than with either vacation or Hawaii by themselves. Capitalization: Google searches are NOT case sensitive. Automatic exclusion of common words: Google ignores common words and characters s...

As most of my readers know, I'm also known as The Lizard Lady . I don't have a lot of lizards (well, I guess that's relative to most non-reptile folks), but I am currently breeding Leopard Geckos. I thought I'd give it a try to see if I could add reptile breeding to my currently short, but fun list of things I CAN do. I didn't start this breeding project for the money. It was more a social experiment for me, to see if it was something I could actually do. And it's working for me! It's been a lot of fun, but at times can be overwhelming. At this point, I'm trying to find homes for my babies. I've given 4 away to my local pet store and the store owner is selling them very inexpensively as a package deal with tank setups for them. The hubby and I like to support our local small businesses, and this seems like a great way to do that. I've put this store's info below. I currently have 5 babies, 6 if you count the one I'm keeping...