Chiropractic Care

aniel D. Palmer: Founder of Chiropractic care 1897. RINGLING BROS. AND BARNUM & BAILEY first to implement care on animals. If your domestic animal has a walking, hip, or back issues CHECK with your vet first. IF no oblivious issues like broken bones, go to chiropractor. Hip replacement and major operations should be done last, not first. Learn to read your animals back for signs of misalignment.

Going to the Market

Going to the market sounds simple doesn’t it. Well, for the basic bread and milk, yes.

Approximately thirteen years ago I left what was known to me - New England. First living in the Rocky Mountains then in the Sierra Mountains.

I always loved knowing or exploring what was around the corner, or taking people out and about.  Perhaps one could say that I am no different than “Janey” in the late 1700’s.  I have seen all contiguous 48 states in the USA.  For Canada I have traveled between Toronto and Nova Scotia.  I did visit Victoria in British Columbia.

I crossed the mighty Mississippi eight times, and for fun I touching the Pacific Ocean and Lake Tahoe on the same day.

Even my first life companion dog, Vangogh, visited 22 states, been to both Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, swam in all types of lakes across the USA, and played in 3 Great Lakes.

I drove the entire length of route 1/101 West coast from Canada down to 30 miles shy of Mexico with my dogs (sorry southern California, was not impressed after Oceanside.). With the East Coast, yes I drove ¾'s of 1/101 of east coast; need to finish. I also need to research and find out when it is a good time is to drive with a dog down to Key Largo.

Overall, not bad for a 44 year old female.

With all that traveling that I have done, I am now back in New England.  Back to the original thought to this blog entry, going to the markets, or more simplistic – food shopping.

This new adventure I jumped into without hesitation or regret, but with a full joy of life that led me to a unique issue with traveling (or in this case moving) with my dog – food.

Let’s start with shopping for my canine companion. With regret my German Sheppard has a food allergy to grains. (Also 1 grass, 1 weed, and 2 molds). He is now turning 3 this Tuesday. I found alternatives to steroids and Benadryl for my loyal friend. From Homeopathy to special diets, I am able to keep his aliments at bay, however finding stores for his treatments are a challenge.

The food I like to give my dog, at the moment, is Taste of the Wild – Salmon, with fresh boiled chicken mixed in.

Finding the food he needs is not easy at times. Each region you need to hunt and scout. Even though I plan ahead (I am a pain in the butt for planning) you may run out of supplies. Before going to a different region than you are used to, find the local feed store that carries your brand. IF the driving distance you decided on does not have your brand of food or supplies, call ahead and inquire if they would be willing to special order your dietary needs for your much loved canine.

I know it would be much easier if Wal-Mart made deals with real healthy no grain dog food, perhaps next year.

Now for us two-legged creatures.

If you really REALLY want to know the people, don’t go to the local bar or the local fast food place. Go grocery shopping for your favorite foods (other than potato chips and dip. You know, the cuisine you would consider “comfort food”.)

Now living out on the west coast, the food, well, in the region that I lived in for ten years, had little English/Germanic groceries, mostly a California base mix of Mexican, Asian, Indian, and Muslim.

Fruit and Vegetables – ah, no comparison to the rest of the United States; and that is not an insult! This is just a fact. Corn on the cob from May through November.  Fresh strawberries - three picking seasons.  My roses in my garden, without any kind of spray or fertilizer – in the mountains - bloomed from March through to the first snow fall of mid December. Just a different clement that requires a lot of watering from May through October for there is no rain fall.

Living out in California for 9 years I found and modified my own guacamole recipe (no different than some of my specialty recipes that I have for New England style cooking. One always takes a recipe and then tweaks it to a better perfection, or so we all think. Notice I did use that awful word assume.)

To buy my ingredients in a ruralish (not according to the stores, but according to big cities) I took hours in two well know established chains. Established chains are like IGA, Stop N Shop, Safeway (seems to be near identical to Stop N Shop), Piggly Wiggly, Yvonnes, Shaws, Albertsons, and Kings to name a few larger chains.

From basic fresh fruit and veggies, to can goods you will be hunting half a day to make the desired dish for your family and friends. The meat selection varies also. For example in the northern Midwest region you will find every kind of sausage. Every kind. (However, one of the best sausage places I ever have been too was in Lockeford CA called Lockeford Meats. One word FRESH! And description – OMG!!!).

Now settling in and settle for what is available until you are able to create your favorites from scratch. Once you find the local unique and special flares, you will be on your way to reestablishing you roots in a new locations with ease, be it for a return visit or a permanent move.

Side note to end:

They say you can never return home, however that is only partially true. There is a saying that change is good, however it is comforting to know that a few things do not change. For instance the fast food Chinese restaurant serves the same dishes that I recall over 30 years ago. Then a nice treat happens when you walk down the street and you are remembered as someone’s daughter and not by your own name.

The best part of no change are true and dear friends. Unconditional in their care for you as you care for them. They never change who they are in their hearts.

Vomit bags located at front desk at Quality Inn

I do not mention people by name in a negative way, however I hope management by noticing the time and date will address their staff on how to represent their establishment.

I was checking into the hotel approximately 7:30 pm. I was at the desk for approximately 8 minutes. No clerk to be found. I even tried calling the hotel direct phone number. A few rings and then the phone went dead.

I glanced down the hall and saw this women saunter down to the office door to the reception desk. A non caring attitude was given.

I requested a first floor room. The facial expression from the clerk was like I was asking for the keys to the golden palace. I also noted to her that I requested a pet friendly room. She snootily stated that it cost 15USD extra. I informed her that I knew.

Not to impress with the service, I was thinking that the room would be less than acceptable. The hallway was quite loud. You could hear the people above walking to and fro.

The room was not bad. Sheets clean and wrapped in the middle was a thin feather quilt. The carpet not too shabby either. The noise heard in the hall was not heard in the room.

The few drawbacks with the room were the mold in around the ceiling/wall in the bathroom and the poor caulking around the shower drain. The shower – well, gosh, strong and powerful, where the drain could not keep up with the force. The other two things I noticed in the bathroom were first that the chain in toilet was too long where the water pressure to flush would not work, so I tweaked it. The second was the chemicals from the cold water.

Walking my dog for the last time of the night I was planning to go out the non parking lot door. Well, a few steps down the hall, I started to gag, and so didn’t my dog at first. Then like all canines he did not mind the putrid smell. The stench of bacteria combined with mold and an unknown stink was so strong that I barely held back my weaken stomach. Needless to say, I did not continue walking in that direction, and went out the parking lot door.

Now being in the city and summer time, it still was amazing that other hotel guest would be loud and boisterous at 2:30 in the morning, and with young children running around screaming.

A request for an early wake call did not happen. I asked in person and then later confirmed with the desk clerk, prior to retiring for the evening, face to face, a wakeup call.

Shortly after not receiving the call, come to find out, the midnight staff also was not monitoring the desk!

Well, the call never happened, until 2 hours later – just as I was getting ready to leave!

After loading up the car and returning to the desk to check out, two people were working behind the desk while talking to the maintenance crew.

Neither desk person turned to look at me; it was a maintenance person who pointed out that there was a customer at the desk. The female clerk turned said I was checking out of my room, I was dismissed in the attitude, okay, and then turned away. I then quite loudly stated I have complaints. The gentleman next to her was the manager.

After stating everything I received 20 percent of my bill, and he took notes for the owner.

I am sorry, city or country, customer service was less than friendly in Chicopee at the Quality by Choice Hotel.

The only two things that got a positive were the shower and the clean bedding. Other than that, you need to think twice for the lack of quality service.

European on a dime…ish? Erie, PA

Another trip to Eire Pennsylvania – East bound. This time I checked around for another location other than my favorite Marriott Residence Inn.

If you look back to that adventure at the beginning of May 2010, you will see I paid about 85.00USD for the room.

Two reasons why I did not stay at the Residence Inn are: 1 – Tried to offer another hotel to compare; and 2 – Trying to park a U-Haul towing a vehicle at the Residence; not a smart move if you want to watch your truck and belongings.

So, I looked at each dog friendly hotel’s parking lot. I decided on Microtel, mostly on the parking lot. The price for one night in a basic no frill room was 78.00USD. (Residence offers cocktail hour with food, and a huge breakfast, besides a sitting room with a kitchen and a separate bedroom.)

Well, by the time I got through the bad weather to Microtel it was about 11:00pm.

Swinging in with a 17ft truck with a flat bed, I could not turn left to the front office, for other lodgers cars would have had a new ‘look’ to them. So I turned right and circled 270 around the building – near a side door.

The evening clerk – professional, polite, and all the charm you want when checking in; 100 percent the customer.

She noted where my truck was and found me a dog friendly room close to my truck, where I could view it, at the same time easy access to let my dog out for a run or two.

Well, upon checking into the room, you could see that the carpet needed to be vacuumed in each corner and along the sides of the room. There were stains on the office chair as well as the bench cushion. The sink had a crack with rust and then there is the tub… of course the tub. Well, the tub did not drain; AT ALL. So I called down to the desk and asked if they had Draino. They called back and said they had liquid plumber. So, I went down and grabbed it. Poured it into the shower, and then walked my canine companion.

Guess what. I was nose to nose with another self moving truck. They were just getting out and I said I cannot swing by them. Their reply:  "Oh, you are fine" and then they left.

I let the front desk know, and the same nice receptionist said she took the note to make sure they would remove their vehicle when I was ready to leave.

I also requested a 6:00 morning wake up call. Well, I was up by 5:30 in the morning, for my dog wanted out. However I never got the wake up call. About 5 minutes after 6, I called the desk; night shift was on. He said: “well, you are up now. You should NOT depend on us to get you up.”

Oh, I forgot to mention, while going for the morning walk, another truck pulled behind the one who was nose to nose with me, and they took the rest of the width of the parking lot; at a corner, no less.

So, I went down to get the continental breakfast, which was not too much of a wow factor. I grabbed some juice, and then went to push the button for coffee – 50 cents! They were going to charge for coffee!

When I was about to check out, I asked the desk to get the vehicles out of my way. I arrived first, and they blocked. Well, the night clerk said to me that he did not want to disturber and impose on hotel guest. Ah, impose? People really should not get me going before my coffee.

Well words were exchanged and finally the day supervisor arrived, and called those other rooms to have them move their vehicles. She apologized. She then asked me about the rest of my stay. Well, with still no coffee, I started out nice.

The sheets were clean. So clean that I could clearly detect the amount of bleach used to whiten the sheets.

Then there was the however. I mentioned the spots on the chair and the brown stain on the cushion, besides the carpet filthy and the over plug show drain. I do need to add, and if you are squeamish, STOP READING. There was pubic hair behind the bathroom door on the floor.

I received 15 percent off my bill and free dog stay. Was it worth it? Well, for just about the same price, if you are not driving a moving truck and towing a vehicle, and if they actually clean this basic European design room, I would not stay at Microtel in Erie Pennsylvania.

Twelve years ago I stayed at a Microtel in Iowa. The chain just opened there. It was a wonderfully clean place. A dark comparison in what was offered in Erie. Sorry Microtel. You failed.

PS:  Can you tell me what this stain is on this... sitting area...  care to sit there?

What's bugging them....

Upon returning back east of the Mississippi, I remember a gentle treatment for insect control.

Remember, when flies, mosquitoes, and fleas are bothering your dog, try natural rosemary spray. Simmer fresh rosemary until water is fully infused with the oils from the plant. Cool and place into a spray bottle. Spray daily. Your canine companion will be bug free and have a fresh scent about them.

2010 Winner for Staying with dogs - or for me at least.

So where would I stay again doing the same route?

Factors are:

1. Room Cleanliness;

2. Convenience for dog walking;

3. Safety for dog walking;

4. Local Eateries or Hotel Restaurant;

5. And Morning Breakfast.

Winner, AmericInn, Sidney Nebraska.

Remember, these Hotels were in the same price range between 85.00 and 110.00. I factor in the pet fees which make them closer in cost than just the room and the taxes.

A Holiday at Holiday? or Not?

Holiday Inn Grand Island, NY

It amazes me that hotels love giving pet rooms on the upper floors and at the far end of a hall. Apparently hotel owners who set rooms aside for dogs never had to walk them quickly when they need to go!

I requested a water front room, assuming that I would be on the lower level; I was actually on the fourth floor – second wing.

Well the room is narrower than the photos seen online. The balcony was a nice feature, however no chairs or anything to sit on. It was evident that the balcony was never cleaned. Layers of bird poop.

The old heater/cooler ran loud, and there was green encrusted food and dust under the 8 inch gap to the wall.

With regard to the bathroom, the hot and cold water was reversed. However, comparing to the previous hotel, the toiletries for the room were a bit more than average.

The bedding and sheets were old, and the second bed in the room had a torn box spring. The office chair for the desk could not lift up.

Now room service was quite quick and the staff friendly. Their Sunday fare was fair. The cocktail lounge was closed on Sunday. Is it a state law or just the staff did not show?

The other two issues with this hotel are as follows:

First was the wake up call. I asked for 5:45am call. I got up closer to 7:00am. I called down to speak with the desk clerk, which was the same one from the night before. He said in a huffy tone… “Well, I entered your wake up call.” Ah, huffy, before my first cup of coffee, not a smart move.

Second was housekeeping. I had a do not disturb sign on the door. They were using their pass key and with my bar across the top the door kept trying to get into my room! I said don’t come in, and the woman still tried for another 15 seconds.

I called the hotel front desk and explained how wonderful of a morning I was having with their staff. I asked for the hotel manager. Not in. I then asked for their voicemail. The desk would not put me through, but I could leave a message. I did. No real apology.

I don’t know about this hotel to stay at again. It could have been do to all the tourist from Canada flooding into the hotel for the Niagara Falls tours that the staff cannot keep up with the cleanliness and politeness. The staff forgets that the people staying at the hotel are paying their wages indirectly.