Every time you turn on the television or open a general interest magazine these days, you are bound to be confronted with a story about the startling and ever-growing worldwide problem of obesity. More and more people are unhealthily overweight, to the point where eating can actually endanger our lives. There have always been some individuals that have eaten unhealthily, mainly because naughty foods taste so good, but the population as a whole now has to consider how our diets are affecting us. We can become sluggish and lethargic if we are getting the wrong amounts of nutrients and so conscious thought about what we put into our bodies is essential, and that especially applies to seniors.

As we get older, our metabolism slows down and we can no longer burn calories at the same rate as we used to. It therefore makes it easier for us to put on weight but harder for us to shed it. However, putting on weight has a more negative affect on seniors than it does any other age group. Being overweight can put unnecessary stress on the joints and thus accelerate the affects of arthritis, osteoporosis and other bone and muscle disorders and illnesses. It can also bring about the onset of diabetes, which is more common in seniors than in any other age group as it is. Whilst any senior should enjoy a little of what he or she loves to eat every now and again, no matter how unhealthy it may be, a regular balanced nutritious diet is just what the doctor orders!

A typical senior diet should consist of:

• 5 to 10 servings of fruit and vegetables a day, although more of the latter than the former
• 6 to 10 servings of complex carbohydrates a day, which incorporates rice, pasta, bread and cereals
• 2 or 3 helpings of calcium-based products, which includes milk, cheese and yoghurt (although the low fat variety would work out best)
• 2 to 3 servings of meat, poultry or fish a day o provide the body with protein
• A large amount of fiber throughout the day, which can also be found in the cereals, fruit and vegetables mentioned above

All of the foodstuffs in the list above are finely balanced as far as amount are concerned. This diet would fulfil every nutritional need that a senior has and would encourage good health. However, dietitians do advise that seniors stay away from saturated fats and sodium. The latter, also known as salt, is a factor of increased blood pressure. Therefore, salt should only b used sparingly. Most natural foods do contain salt, but in healthy doses, and so excess salt should be avoided. Avoid baking with it if at all possible, and try to resist that liberal sprinkle on your main meal! Saturated fat is actually resistant to the body’s nutritional process. That is to say it is not broken down and used for good within your body. It just sits there and clogs up your arteries. As a result, it is a factor in heart disease, forms of cancer and gallbladder disease, as well as the widespread obesity in society today.

A well balanced diet can boost your health, but a poor diet that does not fulfill all bodily nutritional requirements can actually cause it to deteriorate. In seniors, this is especially dangerous. After all, if you struggle to move the how are you supposed to work off the excess weight? If you are in shape you can avoid immobility. It is therefore a vicious circle that may relate directly to your diet.

All seniors should enjoy life to the fullest extent, but eating healthily on a regular basis can actively extend the amount of time you have left to enjoy it! Make the most of every opportunity because you only get one chance at life. Revolutionize your diet and reap the rewards!

Many pet owners find that they are in a losing battle when it comes to controlling the pet odors in their home, especially in carpet.  However, it is also extremely important that you realize that you do not need to take a significant amount of time or trouble to clean your carpets daily in order to avoid pet odors.  For most pet owners, simply making a few small changes to the way that they handle their pets and carpets are enough to take care of the odors that could happen in the future.

Your first step to avoiding pet odors in carpet is to obviously keep pets away from carpet, but considering that most homes have at least 1 or more rooms with carpet, this is not something that is very easy to do.  Instead, it is extremely important that you take some time to at least limit your pet’s interaction with the carpet if possible.  Baby gates and even the more expensive pet gates are all effective tools for helping to keep pets out of restricted areas.  If you have any real questions about the effectiveness of the pet or baby gate, you need to watch to see if your pet is able to get around them.  Most smaller dogs are not able to get around them and this can be a huge help.  However, for cats a gate is not likely to be as effective.

You need to also ensure that you are regularly cleaning the carpet.  This means keeping pet hair up, and making sure that you empty the vacuum frequently so that it is the most effective also.  If you barely ever vacuum the area, you will find that pet odors start to build up much faster than you would like.  A quick vacuum can be extremely effective in helping to limit the odors, plus it will also help you to make certain that there is not an excessive pet fur problem either.

Another suggestion to follow is not allow your pet onto upholstery, bedding or carpet if they are wet.  Whether from a bath, playing in the rain, rolling in a puddle or just sweaty, this can help spread pet odors quite quickly.  Always towel dry your pet before you allow them to get back onto any bedding, upholstery or carpet to ensure that the wet pet odors are not transferred to another area.  This takes only a few minutes to do, but can save you a lot of time and hassle when you are trying to remove the odors.

You should also look for a special type of sealing cleaner for your carpets.  This would allow you to quickly and easily remove all traces of the odors when they do occur because the carpet has a protective layer on it, which prevents it from actually absorbing the odors.  This will help you to speed up the cleaning process significantly and makes absolutely certain that you are not fighting with the cleaning process, but rather enjoying your time with your pet.

Small steps such as this will allow you to quickly and easily work towards getting the results that you are looking for, rather than struggling to control all of the pet odors in your home.  Prevention is one of the best things that you can follow in order to effectively deal with pet odors.

Accounts Receivable Factoring – A Viable Cash-flow Solution for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises…

The pace of change in today’s business environment is staggering. Growth of e-commerce; changes to business structures; evolving relationships; changes to funding arrangements; access to capital and its sources. All occurring at increasingly exponential rates. Fast. The fact that there is more computing power in the average notebook computer today than it took to put a man on the moon should illustrate how fast things change, and whether in senior management or a business owner you need to keep pace.

In particular, you must stay abreast of changes in your competitive environment, and remain fully apprised of mechanisms that will enable a response fast enough to keep you in the game. This article will look at one of those mechanisms, access to capital and through that, free cash flow. In doing so we’ll use an intuitive framework, peppered with some economics. Why? Intuitive analysis is ideal for answering specific questions; in this case ‘What will best enable my firm to manage rapid changes to competitive economic conditions and stay in the game?’ And I’ll use economics because of Steven Levitt, America’s most outstanding economist under-40, who along with Stephen Dubner considers that ‘if morality represents how we would like the world to work, then economics represents how it actually does work.’

By speaking to specific anchor points, strategic issues affecting the access to capital problem can be explored and initiatives developed to allow a timely solution. In short, it’s the fastest and most accurate way to answer the question you face, because it’s easier to understand and doesn’t get bogged down in extraneous, unnecessary analysis.

One of the anchor points in contemporary business is access to capital, especially when it helps maintain free cash-flow. In many respects they are one and the same thing, the difference merely being access to capital is a necessary precursor to free cash flow (you can’t use it until you have it). And everyone needs it. Payroll, materials, overhead, and debtors taking anywhere from 45 to 120 days to settle their accounts, using your firm as a surrogate line of credit.

Access to capital becomes an even larger issue in the business environment described earlier, where speed to market and the ability to ‘tool-up’ (increase production) are crucial to meeting ever shrinking delivery timelines. Many of us have experienced the elation of being awarded a large tender, something that will fill the order book for the next six months, immediately followed by the hangover that comes with the realization that the firm will struggle to fund the project based on existing and forecast cash flow.

Small-to-medium enterprises encounter particular problems when it comes to cash flow and capital access to fund growing operations, to the point where lack of access is an issue that can threaten continuing operations, even in a rising market. Balance sheets take time to build, and it is against this security that banks will lend.

Developing initiatives to tackle this problem involves looking at some existing options and making a comparison, arriving at a decision that best enables a solution to the problem at hand. In this instance, a comparison of bank funding against invoice factoring provides insight into possible solutions for the capital access / cash flow problem.

Everyday economics can inform this comparison, particularly the study of incentives – how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. Let’s start with banks.

Bank lending requirements are invasive and restrictive. They often engender a feeling that you have to ‘bare all’ to borrow a nickel. They would naturally dispute this claim, but let’s return to the incentives – what is their incentive for lending you money? To earn a return off your efforts. Certainly nothing short of this, and these days they also use lending as a lever to win the biggest ‘share of your wallet’ from their rivals, trying to have you as a customer for life, ‘growing with you and your business.’ When you add the fact that a surplus of people requiring credit exist in the market, they can afford to be choosy and do the economically rational thing – be risk averse. Risk aversion drives the mortgage a bank puts on your house to ensure they get paid, and is what drives them to lend against strong balance sheets. They look at balance sheets in an accounting fashion, weighing up tangible, realizable, liquid assets like cash and real property, apply a formula and lend in accordance with how the result stack up against their risk matrix. Your continuing success is of interest to them only to the extent that it enables you to service (and ultimately repay) your debt, generating an ongoing margin on their investment.

An overly simplistic description, the point being to illustrate that all of this takes time, and is structured around heavy regulation and evaluation constraints. Lots of time, and lots of influential rules. First, for you to build your balance sheet, and second, to get it appraised to a point where your banker might open or extend your credit facility. During that time, the window of opportunity to fund that large project, manufacturing expansion, or operations in a rising market quickly passes, leaving you out of pocket your application fee and if successful, servicing an even larger debt you might not need.

Turning to invoice factors, the incentives might seem the same, but how they view obtaining their return is slightly different. While banks rely on their acumen in accurately predicting your ability to repay a debt, invoice factors rely on their skills in accurately assessing the ability of your customer base to pay you. A lower perceived risk aversion with invoice factors plays a small part, but it is how the factor views the overall situation that is different from traditional lending. To begin with, factors recognize your accounts receivables as assets, just like the bank. The difference is that an invoice factor considers your receivables a quickly realizable asset, and is prepared to purchase the rights (and risks) of collecting your outstanding invoices.

Put another way, in economic terms the invoice factor recognizes your receivables as assets with a future value in cash flow terms, and provided their assessment of your customers is favorable, they are prepared to effectively ‘provide a market’ for those assets. This ‘market’ closes with your transaction selling them the invoice however; there is no secondary market like junk bonds or other derivatives.

Access to capital through factors is more expensive than traditional lending, and this is due to the risk premium attached not to you, but your customer base. This is not surprising, and you and I would probably do the same. Returning again to economics and our study of incentives, a rational person requires a premium for every extra unit of risk they take on. A bigger incentive for a perceived higher risk. In the case of factoring, the premium is higher than equivalent bank lending rates, as the risks are considered slightly higher when the security is not real property, rather a first position claim over all of your receivables. Your risk exposure is lower than collecting the receivables yourself (invoice factors are very good at mercantile operations) – the higher fee charged by the factor compared to the bank is simply the premium you must pay to lower that exposure.

The difference that factors provide is speed of access to capital, and what happens when you default. Default on the bank loan, you can lose your business, even the family home. Factoring is not quite as drastic, although the sums of money involved are invariably smaller. There are two types of factoring products available, recourse and non-recourse, and again, the difference comes down to assumption of risk, and the premium asked to assume the risk of non-payment on an invoice. With recourse factoring, you remain liable for non-payment by your customer, and with non-recourse, the factor assumes the risk up to a point, and at a higher premium.

In summary, there are merits and pitfalls in both traditional lending and factoring. These are volatile economic times, and having been burnt a number of times during boom times of the previous two decades, banks are far more risk averse, holding tight reign on their credit standards. So in light of this information, we return to our problem, looking to answer the question: ‘Which of these approaches best delivers the flexibility I require to allow me the opportunity to prosper in a fast-changing business environment?’

For many businesses, the answer lies with invoice factoring, which delivers in excess of $1 trillion in credit across the continental United States. As with all business situations there are caveats, or described another way, arrangements that if not continually monitored can become a comfortable security blanket that might actually be slowly suffocating you.

It is easy to become accustomed to continuing access to cash flow through factoring. It is also easy to feel at ease knowing you are backed by a massive publicly traded institution like your bank. Management and owners of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises should continually remind themselves that the study of incentives works for them too. Constant review of your capital funding and cash flow arrangements is essential to ensure that the deal you end up with is the best for your firm, and not others. It’s all about getting what you want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing.

There is no need to get 4 season tents for gentle summer camping. Even if there is a heavy downpour, the use of sleeping pads combined with adequate planning should keep everything fairly dry. The important thing is to not camp at the bottom of a hill, to make sure the rain fly is secure, and to take advantage of natural cover.

But, a four season tent can be a nice thing to have for extreme conditions, and if you have the money to spend on one, it is a luxury that can really improve your camping experience.

Basically, the difference between 4 season tents and regular tents is that a 4 season tent is tighter, with heavier outer walls. When it is all zipped up, there is no space anywhere for the elements to get in.

In addition, 4 season tents are often stabler so that they can resist extremely heavy storms if need be. This does not mean, however, that you cannot use 4 season tents in nicer weather. Many styles of 4 season tents come with the ability to unzip the outer fly so that you can keep cool on summer days, while still braving near-arctic temperatures in the winter.

You will find, however, that the more extreme the conditions for which it was designed, the more specialized a 4 season tent will be. For example, some true mountaineering 4 season tents are not things that you would like to take camping on a warm summer night.

The ventilation panels are small, with the result that it will be stuffy and hot at night if you are camping during the summer with them. Additionally, they are made of heavier, stronger material, and as a result are an added burden for your normal camping trip.

And of course, good 4 season tents can be prohibitively expensive, running upwards of $500 dollars sometimes. Compare this to a 1-2 person summer tent that you might buy at your camping store.

I got mine for $30 dollars and, although it provides little warmth, it works alright during the summer when combined with a decent sleeping bag.

The truth of the matter is, it is important to think about what you will be doing before you go out and buy expensive mountaineering equipment and 4 season tents that you will not need. You must make sure that your equipment fits its purpose.

Bareboat sailing means that the yacht you charter does not have the amenities you would have with a crewed or luxury sailing charter. You don’t necessarily need to have sailing experience as you can have a captain and crew along on these charters as well. If you book a bareboat charter, you have to supply all your own food as well as that of the captain and crew. You will also have to pay these people yourself because that cost is not included in the quote for bareboat sailing yachts.

You can book a bareboat sailing charter in just about any part of the world where there are sailing charters available. You can sail the yacht yourself if you have the necessary qualifications. However, in many parts of the world where there are navigation hazards, such as in the islands of Greece, you may need to have an experienced captain along with you for bareboat sailing. The charter company will supply you with all the navigational charts you need and will give you the instruction you need so that you can have a safe sailing charter.

Have you ever considered bareboat sailing along the coast of Turkey? The yachts available for these sailing charters are well maintained and the budget price will provide you with a cheap vacation. The major cost involved in this type of bareboat sailing charter will be the travel costs associated with getting to Turkey. The cost of living is quite low in this part of the world, so the cost of the bareboat yacht is not expensive at all. In addition, the cost of groceries you need to take with you are also very inexpensive.

Bareboat sailing in Turkey will enable you to charter a yacht that is easy to handle as well as able to accommodate a small family or several couples. The protected bays and inlets along the coast are easy to navigate and will provide you with an exceptional view of Turkish culture. With a bareboat sailing charter in Turkey, you will enjoy sunfilled days, exotic scenery and turquoise waters. There are many itineraries for you to choose from if this type of bareboat charter appeals to you.

Choosing Turkey as your location for bareboat sailing will offer you a stress free holiday. There are no tides, currents or high waves to worry about and there is usually a steady afternoon wind in the summer, which makes for ideal sailing conditions. The temperature of the water is perfect for swimming in the summer, so your bareboat yacht could become your diving platform. When you consider bareboat sailing, there are so many places in the world you can go that you will have a difficult decision to make.

There is something magical about chartering a boat and sailing the clear, turquoise blue waters of the Caribbean. There is no finer way to get a break and relax than to sail from island to island. At some point during your Caribbean sailing experience, however, you will want to stop. Whether you want to fish, swim, snorkel or dive, have lunch or stay overnight, you will need to find an anchorage and either anchor or use a mooring ball. Anchoring a boat securely is one of the most basic skills in boat handling. The key is preparation and slow maneuvering. If you miss the first time, do not be embarrassed. There is not an experienced sailor afloat who has not encountered this problem. Just go around and start again. The important thing is to have it right! By anchoring poorly, not only are you endangering your boat, but also the other boats anchored nearby. By following these suggestions and techniques, you can feel confident that you will have safe, hassle-free anchoring.
Selecting the Anchorage

The first step in anchoring is to pick an anchorage. Try to arrive at your anchorage relatively early enough in the afternoon. This allows you enough light to avoid any shoals or other hazards like rock/coral heads, fish nets or boats, ferries, freighters, mooring balls, crab pots and cables. In addition, during peak season (December to April) many popular spots throughout the Caribbean become very crowded. By arriving early enough, you have extra time to go somewhere else before nightfall.

When choosing an anchorage, there are several things to consider. For instance, is the anchorage protected? A good anchorage offers protection from the current weather conditions and will also offer protection from the expected weather. Are there any local weather (wind) conditions or exposure to swells that could make the anchorage too rolly? How well is the entrance and anchorage area charted or marked?

How good is the holding? Charts should indicate the type of bottom. Generally speaking, most anchors will hold well in sandy bottoms. Rock, coral and shale prevent anchors from digging in. If possible, avoid grassy bottoms, where it is very difficult to set the anchor. How crowded, noisy, dirty or smelly is it? Is the band from the beach bar going to keep you up until the wee hours of the morning or is the diesel smell of the inter-island ferry going to detract from your ideal scent of paradise? How pretty is the anchorage when you sit in the cockpit enjoying the dawn or dusk? How long a dinghy ride is it to shore and is there a decent place to dock the dinghy? What amenities are available on shore? What is the depth and tidal range? Enough depth is needed so that low tide does not present obstacles your boat might swing into and it is also important when determining scope. Finally, is there enough room? No matter where your boat is anchored, the largest possible swing range should be considered.

Getting Ready

Once you have decided that the anchorage is the perfect spot to stop on your Caribbean sailing adventure, there are several steps to take before actually anchoring. Before doing anything else, work out a system of communication between the person at the helm and the crew member dropping the anchor. Remember that your engine will be running and therefore you will be unable to communicate verbally. Hand signals usually work best. Furl the sails and generally make the boat shipshape before entering the anchorage. Also, shorten the dinghy painter (the line that attaches at the front of the dinghy) if you are dragging the dinghy behind you. This prevents it from being sucked into the prop when you put the engine in reverse. Open the anchor locker hatch, and if your anchor has a safety line attached to the chain (usually found only in mono hulls), untie and release it. Get the anchor ready to be dropped by disengaging the anchor from the bow rollers. This is done by using the remote control windlass (found in most Caribbean sailing charters) to lower the anchor about two to three feet. Make sure all fingers and toes are away from the chain! Finally, take a tour of the anchorage at very slow speed to get a sense of where you would like to be.

Dropping and Setting the Anchor

After your tour of the anchorage, pick your spot. As the newest arrival in an anchorage, you must anchor to keep clear of boats already at anchor. Allow for any change in wind direction. It is always safer to leave extra space around your boat. Make sure you will have enough room to fall back on the anchor without lying too close to any vessel anchored behind you once you have laid out a 7 to 1 scope. In normal conditions, if you are using all chain, a safe minimum anchor scope ratio is 5 to 1 (chain length to depth).

In heavy weather, the scope ratio is 7 to 1. Depth is the depth of the water at high tide plus the height from the water line to the bow roller. Scope is the actual amount of anchor line (chain) paid out when the boat is safely anchored. For example, if high water is 20 feet deep and your bow roller is 5 feet above the water, you need 125 feet (5 x 20 + 5 feet) of scope to anchor if using all chain, or 175 feet if using a 7 to 1 scope. Remember, putting out too little scope is one of the most common mistakes cruisers make when anchoring.

With the bow to the wind, slowly motor up to the desired spot. Stop the boat exactly where you wish the anchor to lay and take note of the depth. Remember that if you are chartering a catamaran, a cat offers less resistance to the water than a mono hull and thus takes more time to slow down than a mono hull. Make sure the catamaran has completely stopped. You can keep a cat straight into the wind by using both engines at idle speed. Once your vessel has lost all forward movement, it is now time to drop and set the anchor.

Despite the term, “dropping anchor”, you never want to throw the anchor over the side or let it run free immediately, because the chain will run out at a tremendous speed and pile on itself rather than laying out straight on the sea bed. A piled anchor chain prevents the anchor from setting properly and may actually foul the anchor. Instead, with the windlass, lower the anchor quickly to the bottom. Let the wind slowly push your boat back- do not try to reverse. Let out adequate scope as the vessel moves aft. If you are in a mono hull, do not worry about being broadside to the wind. When the desired amount of scope has been let out, snub the chain and allow the wind to straighten out the boat. Once the boat is headed with the bow into the wind, gently put the engine into reverse and throttle at 1500 rpm’s for about 15-20 seconds. This should set the anchor and the anchor chain should start to straighten. If it vibrates or skips, let out more scope. An anchor that is set will not shake the chain. Once you are satisfied the anchor is set, turn off the engine. Put on your snorkel gear and visually check the anchor to ensure your boat is secure. If the anchor is lying on its side, caught in coral, or the chain is wrapped around a coral head, reset it.

When the anchor is firmly set, look around for reference points in relation to your boat. These can include other boats or fixed landmarks like a house, rock formation or tower. Over the next hour, relax in your cockpit and make sure those reference points are in the same place. If not, you are probably dragging the anchor.

Dealing With the Dragging Anchor

If your boat is dragging anchor during the day, it is not a major problem. Start your engine and put it into idle gear. Try to let out more chain. Wait a few minutes to see if the anchor sets itself. If not, you will have to re-anchor. If you boat is dragging at night, it becomes a little more challenging. If you are sound asleep and you do not bump into anything, you might not even know you dragged until the next morning when you wake up in a different place. I have friends who are extremely experienced sailors. They actually woke up in an entirely different anchorage after a night of dragging. On the other hand, you might become aware of night dragging when other people in the anchorage start screaming and flashing lights at your boat. Start your engine and keep it idling. Try to let out more chain and wait to see if the anchor resets itself. If not, you will have to re-anchor. Use your depth sounder to try and find another spot to anchor. Keep all the lights on the boat off to get the best night vision possible. Slowly move to another spot with extreme caution. If your neighbor’s boat is dragging during the day, try and get their attention. Put out fenders to avoid damage to your boat. If nobody is on board the dragging boat (they are onshore drinking at the local beach bar), you can either get aboard their boat and reset the anchor, or if you are not comfortable doing that, you may have to move your own boat. During the night, if you are suddenly jolted awake when another boat hits yours, immediately start the engine and keep it idling. Wake up the crew of the other boat (yell, flash your lights, etc), put out fenders and do the same as during the day.

The Mooring Ball Option

Throughout the Caribbean, but especially in the British Virgin Islands, professionally maintained mooring balls are located in many anchorages and are available for overnight use for a small fee. A mooring is a buoy connected to an extremely heavy anchor or weight. Besides protecting the coral from damage done by an anchor, picking up a mooring ball has three other advantages. First, you do no have to go to the bother of using your anchor. Second, the mooring’s anchor probably is never going to drag. And third, because the mooring’s anchor is so heavy and deeply imbedded in the sea bottom, less scope is needed and, therefore, the boat will swing around in a tighter radius than it would on its own anchor.

As in anchoring, approach the mooring area slowly with your dinghy pulled in on a short painter. Have a crew member ready with a boat hook at the bow to direct you and to pick up the mooring pennant (a line with a loop at the end). Have one end of a line attached to a bow cleat with the free end close by. If you have chartered a catamaran, one line is sufficient. If you have chartered a mono hull, however, attach a second line to the opposite side bow cleat. Point the bow of the boat into the wind and slowly approach the mooring ball. By shifting alternately from forward to neutral, you can coast towards the ball. Shift into reverse to stop the boat as the crew member lifts the pennant on board and passes the free end of the line(s) through it. Quickly cleat off the free end of the line on the opposite bow cleat for a catamaran or on the same side for a mono hull.. On a mono hull, the two lines prevent chafing and limit the risk of breaking free from the mooring ball. On a catamaran, the line hangs low enough that chafing from tension is rarely a problem. Again, do not be embarrassed if you miss picking up the pennant the first time- it has happened to all of us! Just circle around and try it again. Once secured, adjust the lines, if necessary.

To leave a mooring ball, make sure the dinghy is again on a short painter. Un-cleat the line(s) and simply let go of the pennant. Take care not to run over the mooring buoy and pennant as you leave for your next Caribbean sailing destination.

Weighing Anchor

Before raising the anchor, preparation is again necessary. Make sure that loose items are stowed and hatch covers are closed. (The anchor locker hatch cover should be open). Shorten up the dinghy painter again. Start the engine. Most charter boats require the engine on to operate the windlass. Have a crew member stand on the most forward point at the bow with the windlass remote control. Using hand signals, the crew member instructs the helmsman to move the boat forward very slowly in the direction of the chain. Make sure the helmsman stops the motion of the boat before overshooting the anchor. While the chain is slack, start cranking it up. When you get to the snubber, put down the remote and remove the snubber. Then resume cranking. When the chain is taut again, with hand signals, instruct the helmsman to move the boat forward again in the direction of the chain. The whole idea of this is to avoid using the windlass to move the boat forward, as this causes incredible strain on the windlass and on the chain roller. At one point, you will find the boat straight above the anchor. Finish cranking the chain until the anchor is all the way up and settled on the rollers. Signal the helmsman that the boat is free. Reattach the safety line to the anchor chain if it has one, stow the remote control and secure the anchor locker hatch. Then return to the cockpit to help raise the sails.

No matter where your Caribbean sailing adventure takes you, at some point you will want to stop. Anchoring is among the most important activities you will do while cruising. Anchoring is as much an art as a science. The helmsman and crew have to orchestrate their efforts with the wind, current and vessel. The important thing to remember is not to be embarrassed. Even the most experienced sailors have difficulty anchoring at times. As the old adage says, “Practice makes perfect.” To perfect your anchoring skills and enjoy the most relaxing vacation ever, contact Virgin Island Sailing to arrange your charter. Nothing else beats Caribbean sailing!

Are you suffering from mild to severe pain and discomfort?  Whether it is your knees, hands, neck, back, fingers, toes, or another part of the body that hurts, you may be ready to schedule an appointment with your primary care physician.  This is nice, but have you considered chiropractic care?  If not, you should.  It is similar, but also very different from traditional medical care.  How?

Natural versus Artificial

Over the past few years, a lot of focus has been placed on natural and organic.  Many Americans are making the switch to all natural and organic foods and supplements.  This nice, but many of those same people turn to traditional forms of medicine and over-the-counter pain relievers to seek relief.  This is not natural.  Chiropractic care is.  Chiropractors may use x-rays and MRIs to diagnose a problem and decide on a course of treatment, but that treatment is done with the precision of the hands.  It is manual therapy.

Medications

Medications are commonly prescribed in traditional forms of medical care.  They are not with chiropractic care.  In fact, chiropractors are unable to write prescriptions.  Some believe this is because they “aren’t enough of a doctor.”  This is not true.  The main reason for their inability to write prescriptions is because they do not believe in their use.  Patients are not discouraged from seeking temporarily pain relief with over-the-counter products, but it is only temporary.  Chiropractors prefer to make adjustments to treat the problem of pain at it source, not mask the problem with prescription medication.

Side Effects

In keeping with medication, it is important to note the side effects.  They are common.  It is rare to find a prescribed pain reliever without side effects.  Even little side effects, such as an upset stomach or dizziness, can have a profound impact on your life.  When seeking medical care, you want to seek relief, not have a new set of problems to deal with.  That is why chiropractic care is best to treat pain, discomfort, and decreased mobility.  Since there are no drugs prescribed, you will not experience side effects.  But, you will get positive effects from either proper adjustments or therapeutic massages.

Safety

In terms of safety, there are little to no risks associated with chiropractic care.  In fact, care is recommended for individuals of all ages.  Both those young and old can benefit from chiropractic care.  With traditional medical care, there are more risks present.  Many of the medications prescribed are only safe for certain individuals.  For example, those under the age of 4 can rarely seek safe pain relief from over-the-counter or prescribed medications.  They can, however, get a safe therapeutic massage or undergo a safe realignment to treat pain and discomfort.

Complications

Chiropractors cannot perform surgery.  In most cases, it is not needed.  Patients who seek medical care experience pain, discomfort, and decreased mobility.  As previously stated, realignment or a therapeutic massage may do the trick.  Since surgery is only considered a last resort and performed by surgeon, there is little risk of complications.  Surgery opens up a world of complications, including the invasion of germs and infection.  Since the body is naturally healed using manual therapy, complications are non-existent.

NOTE:  Chiropractors encourage those suffering from pain, discomfort, and difficultly moving to seek chiropractic care.  What they don’t encourage is avoiding all traditional forms of medical care.  Some conditions, such as the flu, cancer, and diabetes cannot be treated with manual therapy.  Never put your health at risk.  Chiropractic care is best to treat pain and discomfort.  Always keep your primary care physician in mind for other non-pain related medical problems.

In short, there are many differences between chiropractic care and medical care.  So, which should you opt for?  If you suffer from pain or experience difficulty moving, contact a local chiropractor.  See what they can do for you.  Since there are little to no risks, you have nothing to lose.

Chiropractic Care and Back Pain…

At one point in time, we all experience back pain.  For some, it was just exercising too hard or improperly lifting a box.  These types of back pains are usually minor and the pain will subside with time and self-care.  There are however, instances in which back pain is more serious and when medical care is needed.

When suffering from back pain, most individuals head to their primary care physician.  If this is your only option, this is fine.  But, if you have the financial resources needed to pay for your own appointments or if chiropractic care is covered by your health insurance, head to a chiropractor.  Why?  Because the care is better and safer.

What is chiropractic care?  Chiropractic care is the natural practice of medicine.  It relies on manual therapy.  This involves the use of the hands.  Medical tools, such as sonograms, x-rays, or MRIs, may be used to diagnose a problem, but the hands only usually provide treatment.  Popular procedures performed by chiropractors include therapeutic massages and chiropractic adjustments.  This involves using precise force to thrust a joint back into place or to extend it past its current ability to move.

How does treatment for back pain vary from traditional forms of health care?  If you visit your primary care physician to seek pain relief, he or she will usually tell you to take an easy and prescribe pain medication.  This only temporarily relieves the pain.  Not all forms of back pain heal themselves.  A slipped disk or another spinal or joint problem may be to blame.  Pain pills and rest will not solve the problem, but chiropractors do.  They will manipulate the spine and the back to elevate pain and improve mobility.

Does chiropractic care automatically mean ongoing care?  No.  Many people mistakenly believe that once you visit a chiropractor, you must continue going.  Some chiropractors do recommend continued care, but not always.  For example, if an adjustment or spinal manipulation is used, you may need to return for a small amount of therapy or just a follow-up appointment.  During that appointment, your chiropractor will share ways to stop pain at home.  This will include showing you how to properly lift boxes, sit at a computer and so forth.  They may ask you to return in another six months to monitor the progress.

How does one find a chiropractor?  Unless you already knew the benefits of chiropractic care, you might not have given chiropractors any thought.  You may have driven by two or three offices a day and never noticed.  It is easy to find chiropractors.  They are everywhere.  Your town or a nearby town should have at least two to choose from.  As for how you can find them, local phonebooks, online business directories, insurance providers, recommendations from those you know, and by performing a standard internet search.

How does one choose a chiropractor?  You now know how to find chiropractors, but how do you choose one?  If covered by health insurance, check with your provider.  Some offer moneysaving discounts to those who go with special in-network providers.  If not, opt for a chiropractor who accepts your insurance.  If uninsured, opt for the chiropractor with the most affordable rates or one who offers flexible payment plans.

In conclusion, if you suffer from back pain or discomfort, don’t suffer in silence any longer.  Don’t just mask your symptoms.  Recurring back pain is a sign that something is wrong.  A licensed chiropractor cannot only find the problem, but treat it with no surgery, non-invasive procedures, and with no medication.

An Online Job Search for Any Economy…

In these days the job market is flooded with those who are looking for employment. With the economy in a downturn and the national unemployment rates on the rise there are more and more people flocking to job search websites to find new jobs. However, even when the economy was stronger there were still many people using online job search websites. The main difference though is in a poor economy there are many recently laid off workers look for employment while in a strong economy the job search market is flooded with those who are currently employed but are looking to advance their careers on the coattails of the sturdy economy. This article will provide insight into how you can improve your job search success in any type of economic conditions.

Making a good first impression is always a good idea. Whether employers are hiring tons of new employees or whether they are only seeking a select few, the competition is likely to be intense for these positions. For this reason you should make sure your resume and cover letter are in the best possible form before you even begin your online job search. It is not enough for these documents to be free of grammatical errors and well formatted. They also have to be well written to really showcase the skills and previous work experience that make you a strong candidate for the position.

When searching for a job online in a poor economy you are likely to become easily frustrated by the lack of jobs available. This is understandable because there will be fewer jobs available than there are when the economy is stronger. However, there is no need to give up your job search in frustration. You may just need to get a little more creative. Try experimenting with keywords for your industry that are a little more obscure in addition to the more obvious keywords. This may help you to locate at least a few additional job openings for which you can apply.

Another tip for searching for a job online in a poor economy is to carefully consider which industries are most likely to be hiring. Study job trends to see which industries are still hiring despite the downturn in the economy. Armed with this information you can make important decisions which can greatly impact your career path. It may be worthwhile to consider a change in careers in an effort to find employment in a difficult economy. This may mean taking classes or starting out in entry level position but with dedication you can make a career change and find a new job.

Finally, when you are searching online for a job in a difficult economy it is a good idea to consider enlisting the help of professionals in the job placement industry.  The state of the economy will dictate the job market will be flooded with highly qualified candidates and competition for job openings will be more intense than ever. By having a professional such as a job placement specialist, human resources consultant or professional resume writer assist you in your job search you will gain an advantage over the competition. These professionals have the knowledge of what hiring managers look for when during the hiring process. They can tell you which mistakes can prevent you from being considered seriously for a position and what you can do to really stand out.

Arranging Your Breeding Schedule

Arranging your breeding schedule is an important part of the breeding process. Of course dates could change depending on the timing of your bitch’s heat cycle but it is important to have at least a general idea of when you expect the breeding to take place. This will help to ensure time is not lost and your bitch’s heat cycle does not end before you are able to complete the breeding process. This article will provide some tips on how to arrange your breeding schedule to try to avoid potential complications.

Knowing the heat cycle of your bitch is a very important part of the process of arranging your breeding schedule. Most responsible breeders wait until the bitch is at least two years old before the first breeding. There are a number of reasons to do this but one of them, which is relevant to the breeding schedule, is it will help the owner to determine the time of the heat cycle more accurately.

Another factor to consider when arranging your breeding schedule is the availability of the stud dog. Responsible breeders will select carefully evaluate stud dogs and make a decision on which one to choose well before the bitch is due to enter a heat cycle. When the stud dog is selected it is very important to inform the owner of the estimated timing of the heat cycle. Based on this information the owner of the stud dog can tell you whether or not the stud dog is available for breeding around that time frame. If the stud dog is available and you enter a contract for stud dog services, the owner will attempt to keep this time available. This does not guarantee the stud dog will be available when your dog is in heat though because the heat cycle of your bitch may not occur during the estimated time frame. The stud dog may be providing services for other bitches as well and their heat cycles may interfere. For these reasons it is worthwhile to select a backup stud dog.

At the first sign of your bitch entering a heat cycle, it is time to contact the owner of the stud dog and begin making arrangements for the breeding. If the stud dog is local, these arrangements will be fairly simple. However, if the stud dog is not local you will have to make shipping arrangements. During this time you will also want to take your bitch to her veterinarian for testing. Progesterone testing will help you to pinpoint the ideal time to start breeding and minimize the potential for the breeding to not be successful. You will also want to schedule testing to rule out brucellosis to assure the stud dog owner that your bitch is free of this venereal disease before the breeding.

The bitch should arrive at the home of the stud dog when she is ready to be bred. All of the necessary paperwork, including health certifications, should arrive with the bitch. If you are driving her to the location can bring the paperwork with you and make arrangements to ensure the stud dog will be available at the time of your arrival. If your bitch is being shipped you will have to provide the stud dog with the shipping information and make arrangements to ensure the paperwork stays with your bitch and is transferred to the stud dog owner. You will have to contact the airline handling the shipping arrangements about the proper procedure for this. It may be as simple as taping the information to your dog’s crate or they may provide an alternative method for handling this paperwork.

You should expect your bitch to remain with the stud dog for approximately one to two weeks. This will allow adequate time for the breeding to take place. When the bitch returns home to you, you should also receive paperwork detailing when the breeding took place. You should also receive health certifications, contracts and pedigrees relevant to the stud dog.

Starting a Lawn Care Business for All the Right Reasons…

Starting a new business of any kind if hard work.  That is just as true when it comes to a lawn care business as any other field of endeavor.  Before you even start putting together a business plan or talking about the idea of owning and operating your own lawn care company, its good to make sure your reasons for starting a lawn care business are good ones.  The purpose you have for going out on your own will have has much to contribute to your final success as any other factor.

There is a certain pride that you will enjoy when you have your own business.  And it is true that people who start their own companies often become very wealthy.  But even more small business people fail or make a good living but never reach tremendous wealth.  Even if you do realize huge success, that success is built on days, weeks, months and years of hard work and careful planning and development of the business.  It is not a bad goal to want to own your own lawn care business to make big money and enjoy the status of being “the boss”.  But make sure that desire for money and glory is combined with a strong work ethic and a good grasp of the realities of what lies ahead.

Perhaps the best reason to start your own business doing lawn care for people is that you love the work.  Lawn care is a terrific career if you really like to work outdoors.  You get plenty of sunshine and fresh air working on making the lawns and gardens of your customers look great.  Of course, you do endure some difficult weather sometimes but for the personality that loves being outdoors whether it is hot or cold or even rainy, building a lawn care business will be a good fit to who you are.

There is also a lot of creative expression possible in lawn care work.  The reason people hire you is to take a lawn or garden that looks bad and turn it into a thing of beauty.  You use the tools you have mastered to sculpt that outdoor space into something your customers will be proud of.  That is a worthwhile advocation for anyone.  And when you walk away from a job well done and admire the thing of beauty you made, you can get that same thrill that artists get when they make the world a more beautiful place.

Your desire to own your own lawn care business may be that you know you can do a better job than the company you work for.  If you have built up strong relationships with customers, it is very common for a skilled lawn care professional to start a new business and be very successful taking away dissatisfied customers from another service.  If your focus is on the service you do and on making your customers happy and you know how to recruit and keep skilled workers, you have the basic skills needed to be a big success running your own business.

Lawn care can be a business that will keep you busy and making money for decades.  It is somewhat recession proof because everybody need to have their lawns taken care of.  Your business is built on relationships with long term customers and that means you may never have to spend a dime on getting new customers.  Good lawn care businesses thrive on word of mouth and once the word gets about the quality work that you do, you will have more customers than you know what to do with.

If you have the skills, the aptitude and the right motivations, you can be a success starting your own lawn care business.  The research process to learn more about what it will take to start that dream business will give you the “nitty gritty” about the work that lies ahead.  If your vision, your dream and your excitement for getting your lawn care business up and running cannot be diminished by the hard work that lies ahead, you are a great candidate to own and operate a business providing lawn care to dozens of happy and grateful customers all over town.

5 Tips for Planning an Affordable Family Vacation…

Are you ready to start planning your family’s summer vacation?  In the past, this was an exciting time.  However, the economy now has many Americans in a financial bind.  If you are one of those Americans, planning your family vacation may no longer be as fun.  In fact, it is something you may dread.  Luckily, it doesn’t have to be.  Although you are on a budget, there are many ways that you can plan a cheap, yet fun family vacation this summer.  How?

1 – Stay Close to Home

When many of us think of summer vacations, plane rides and faraway destinations often come to mind.  People like to getaway.  A family from New York is likely to opt for Hawaii or Florida as their summer vacation destination.  A family from Florida may opt for the Caribbean or New York City.  These vacations are nice.  After all, you get away and get to experience something new.  Nevertheless, if you are on a budget this year, you should think closer to home.  Plan a new activity each day and have a series of daylong vacations.  For example, visit a state park with a natural pool and hiking trails on day one, travel to a nearby museum for day two, visit a semi-local amusement park on day three, and so forth.

2 – Let Your Children Help Choose Activities

Staying close to home is one of the best ways to save money on a summer vacation.  If you plan a series of daylong vacations for the week, start close to home.  Your family can sleep in their own beds each night.  As you get farther away from home, book a hotel.  Unfortunately, with this arrangement many parents feel like they are shortchanging their children, especially if they were used to the above mentioned faraway vacation destinations.  Remember, you are operating with limited financial resources.  Planning activities you can afford is more important.  However, you can reduce boredom by letting your children help plan.  For example, your teenage daughter can plan day two of your vacation, your ten-year-old son can help plan day three, and so forth.

3 – Give Camping a Try

If you don’t want to stay close to home, you are likely to book your airline reservations and a hotel room.  Price compare to find the best deals.  However, you should never pay more than $100 a night for a hotel room.  This just gets too costly, especially if you are on a budget.  A good and cheaper alternative is to camp.  All across the country, you will find campground parks and state parks with camping accommodations.  Camping rates vary greatly, but most charge no more than $25 a night!

4 – Wisely Choose Your Travel Dates

If you don’t want to stay close to home, wisely choose your travel dates.  Since you are planning a summer vacation, you will find increased rates, but look at the little things.  It is cheaper to vacation at the beginning or end of the summer.  The middle is the most expensive.  You will find higher hotel rates and fewer available rooms when there is a popular concert, sporting event, or convention in town.

5 – Don’t Wait for Last Minute Travel Deals

When it comes to finding travel deals and discounts, many mistakenly believe you should wait until the last minute.  Yes, many hotels, airlines, and car rental companies offer last minute travel deals and discounts, but they are usually less common during the summer.  The summer is a peak travel seasons and they rarely have problems filling planes and hotel rooms.  For most, it is too risky to wait.  If you are one of those individuals, plan your trip in advance, but always be on the lookout for moneysaving deals and discounts.  Luckily, hotels, airlines, and car rental companies offer them all year round, not just at the last minute.

Even though the differences between non-hypoallergenic dogs and hypoallergenic dogs may not be huge, they are enough to reduce the amount of allergy attacks that people have when they are around certain breeds of dog. For those who want to own a dog, not being able to be in the same room with one for long periods of time, can be frustrating. Buying a hypoallergenic dog may be the only way they can have a dog in their home. While they may still experience allergy attacks, these attacks will be less frequent.

Non-hypoallergenic dogs tend to shed a lot. Their fur can be loose and dense, which means that it may contain a lot of dander as well. Dander is a collection of skin cells, dust, and other particles found in the air. As the dog sheds, these particles float around in the air and cause people to have allergy attacks. These dogs may also have an undercoat, which is a thick coat that protects them from harsh temperatures. This undercoat is what causes the dog to shed frequently. It can also trap dander and other allergens.

Some non-hypoallergenic dog breeds may also salivate more often than other breeds, which can also cause a person’s allergies to increase. Saliva contains bacteria that people are oftentimes allergic to. While these dogs cannot control the amount of saliva they expel, people who are allergic to dogs have a difficult time when these dogs are present. People with dog allergies may also be allergic to dog urine as it too can contain certain kinds of bacteria.

Hypoallergenic dogs have shorter coats. Some breeds do not have an undercoat. While this makes them unprepared for cold weather, they are perfect for those who have allergies. The hair on these dogs is more like human hair, which means it will not shed as frequently as non-hypoallergenic dogs. The hair will need to be trimmed every few weeks in order to prevent it from growing too long. Some hypoallergenic breeds do not have hair at all. They are considered hairless even if they have some hair on their paws and head.

Hypoallergenic dogs do not salivate as much as other breeds. This helps those who are allergic. This means that when the dog cleans itself, it will not leave as much bacteria behind. Urine from hypoallergenic dogs does not affect as many people either.

When looking for a hypoallergenic dog, you should research the following breeds to see if you are interested in any of them: Maltese, Terriers, Schnauzer, Bishon Frise, Portuguese Water Dog, Greyhounds, and Irish Water Spaniel. There are other breeds, but these are some of the more popular ones that people want to buy. This also means that you will have fewer problems finding a breeder in your area.

Learn as much as you can about grooming, brushing, and caring for your hypoallergenic dog. Most breeds are very friendly and will live to be at least twelve years of age. These dogs enjoy companionship and exercise.

Grooming your Golden Retriever is a never ending process.  The entire process should be down once or twice a week, and will take you around a ½ an hour of time.  Brushing your dog while he is shedding will help to control shedding quite a bit.  While outside, if your Golden Retriever manages to get burs or other defects in his hair, you should instantly take a few moments of your time and get the burs or other matter out of his coat.

When you groom your pet, you should always start with a good brushing.  Brush his entire body, then once you have finished brushing you can switch to a comb to get out any loose hair that remains in the coat.  While you are getting out the hair, you can also inspect your pet for ticks, fleas, and other types of skin ailments.  If you wish, you can also check his ears and trim his nails as well.

Bathing your Golden is essential to grooming, and can be somewhat complicated.  Before you attempt to give him a bath, you should always brush him first, to get rid of tangles.  During shampooing, you should always use shampoos that are specifically for dogs, since human shampoo can dry a dog’s skin out.  You don’t need to bathe your dog often, once every other week is good enough.  If you properly maintain your Golden’s coat, you’ll find it’s much easier to clean.

To prevent matting, which is very common with Golden Retrievers, you should always make sure that you brush your pet on a daily basis.  Metal combs and brushes work extremely well, and will help you to get a great deal of the hair out.  Although some people choose to use scissors and cut the mats, you can easily injure your Golden if he happens to move or jerk.  Scissors aren’t recommended, as brushing and proper bathing will help to prevent matting of the hair better than anything else.

When you cut your dogs nails, you should trim them a great deal, all the while avoiding going down into the quick.  You should never let your Golden’s nails get too long, as long nails can easily take the shape of the dog’s foot, resulting in a splay.  Therefore, you should always check your Golden Retriever’s nails and trim them every few weeks.  If you trim them just right, you’ll have at least 2 weeks before they need to be trimmed again.  If you do happen to trim the nails past the quick, bleeding will occur.  To stop the bleeding, always keep some styptic powder on hand to make sure that you are prepared if you do make a mistake.

With other types of grooming, you should also make sure that you clean your Golden’s ears as well.  They can get ear infections quite easily, if you don’t clean their ears on a regular basis.  To get the best results and protect your pet from ear infections, you should clean his ears once a week using a quality cleansing solution.  This way, you can rest assured that your Golden has healthy ears.

Grooming is an essential aspect to the health of every Golden Retriever.  All it takes is a little bit of time from your day to groom your pet and keep him healthy.  If you don’t have the time to groom your Golden, you can always take him to a professional.  Whether you do it yourself or take your Golden to a pro – grooming is something that simply must be done.

As a child grows into an adult, different aspects of his physical, emotional and mental self needs development. To help a child reach his full potential, it is necessary to recognize the child’s developmental needs and abilities. To be effective, after school programs should assist children with tasks they must accomplish during each stage of development.

A child’s growth curve can be divided into three main parts:
1) Young child (ages 3-5)
2) Middle school (ages 6-8)
3) Older school (ages 9-12)

The four important domains of development are: The Physical Domain, the Social Domain, the Emotional Domain and the Intellectual Domain. Each of these domains needs to be separately addressed during the various phases of a child’s growth. After school programs should concentrate on developing each domain as applicable to the age of the child.

Although the children participating in these programs may have similar developmental needs and age, do not expect development to be uniform. Children will develop as and when they are ready.

Physical Domain:
When children are young, they want to perfect skills that they have just learnt to control. A variety of movements such as jumping, catching and throwing delight them. The middle school child, on the other hand, wants to learn morecomplex skills and get involved in team sports. This is also the best time to learn about rules and discipline in sport. The older school child is ready for more adult-like activities that need greater structure and discipline, like dancing, gymnastics, music classes etc.

Social Domain:
Young children are observing others and will be interested in games where they play the roles of family members. They develop short-term friendships and need an adult’s presence to assure them. The middle school child is
intrigued by society and will love trips to factories, public buildings etc. They want to know the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of things. The older school child is ready to learn about different cultures, food and customs. They want to do some amount of social work too.

Intellectual Domain:
Young school children will practice what they are learning. Middle school children want to learn more skills and will show interest in reading, drama and problem solving. The older school children are ready to research and probe. They enjoy getting a puzzle and pondering over it.

Any after school program needs to address the interests of the child depending on the category he belongs to. Knowing the children in your program and appreciating their needs and interests will help staff to plan and structure programs that are most useful to that group.