Blog - Page 73 of 91 - Karen Shanley

Five Ways to Set Up Your Blog To Chase Readers Away

July 16, 2007 / On Writing / By Karen Shanley / 29 Comments

If you’d just spent a good bit of time getting your place spiffed up for company, and you were really looking forward to having them come and visit for awhile, would you then welcome them by piling some of your furniture in front of the door for them to climb over? Surely not. Yet, metaphorically speaking, this is what some bloggers do to their visitors.

A blogger friend and I were just discussing this very phenomenon; annoying stumbling blocks bloggers … Read More

Dog Lovers and Others

July 16, 2007 / My Dogs and Me, The Mail Bag / By Karen Shanley / 7 Comments

From the mail bag: Kevin writes, I love dogs and live with a partner who doesn’t. She merely tolerates them because she loves me. I’m wondering how you and Andrew work out ways to keep everybody happy.

Dear Kevin: I was born with an affinity for dogs, and was permitted to have dogs from an early age. Andrew was never allowed to have pets growing up. So he’s never had the experience of being changed by a dog’s love. I … Read More

The Fruits of My Labor

July 12, 2007 / Nature's Grocery Store / By Karen Shanley / 12 Comments

In varying stages of ripeness…

Leaves of Three – Let Them Be

July 10, 2007 / Cait and Me, Nature / By Karen Shanley / 16 Comments

I thought I was immune, but I guess I’m not anymore… For the first time in decades, I’ve got Poison Ivy. I got it pulling some vines off my trees. My hands are a blistered mess, which makes typing interesting. In others words, this’ll be a short post. Just a quick refresher for those who might have forgotten what Poison Ivy looks like.

This is what’s left of the vine that I foolishly grabbed with my bare hands.

Poison Ivy … Read More

There’s a Whole Big World Out There, Kid

July 9, 2007 / Finnegan the Coon Cat, My Dogs and Me / By Karen Shanley / 9 Comments

Back when Finn was just a little thing (now he’s almost as big as Graidy), he followed Kiera everywhere and wanted to do everything she did. Including using the dog door.

He never quite figured it out and got stuck a couple of times half way in and half way out. Kiera would push him back in with her nose.

Now that he’s a big guy, he’d give anything to get to go out. But we have too many wild

Like Mom, Almost Like Daughter

July 3, 2007 / Cait and Me / By Karen Shanley / 11 Comments

Don’t all parents try to pass on their passions to their children? I know I try to at least share with Cait all the activities I love. Of course, the ulterior motive is to see if she’ll pick any of them up as interests, so that we can have things we enjoy doing together.

Naturally, some activities have clicked better than others; hiking, biking, going to the ballet, water color painting, and playing the piano. Most of my other interests … Read More

What I Don’t Subscribe To

July 2, 2007 / On Writing / By Karen Shanley / 4 Comments

Heather from TopBlog Magazine gave a few of us writers this assignment:

…This is your invite to write something for the next issue. The theme is “I don’t subscribe to…” but don’t use that as your title…

I scribbled down a few ideas that popped into my head. For my own use, I left the “don’t subscribe to” as my jumping off point just to get going. I’d come up with titles later.

Here are some of the unedited ideas … Read More

Boarding Your Dog: Tips and Warnings

June 28, 2007 / Dogs in General / By Karen Shanley / 19 Comments

With summer vacations fast approaching, and having to make a decision on where to kennel my own crew for an upcoming annual family vacation, I’d like to share some tips and warnings on where and how to leave your pets behind.

Years back, I started with a highly recommended dog boarding kennel that I will never, ever use again! From there, I went to a kennel I adored that had been recommended by a dog-trainer friend, then moved on to … Read More