My wife and I were brought up in families with dogs. In her case, Corgis with the unfortunate name of Haggis. In my case, Welsh Terriers with the more prosaic name of Taffy. When we married we still wanted dogs, but what sort? The first was a mongrel named Lemon Curd. The second a Dalmatian named Miffy.
By now we had moved to a house in 8 acres and had 3 young children. We had chickens, ducks and goats and hit on the idea of breeding Airedales. As much as anything to give our children an insight into nature’s cycle of life. Our aim was not to make money but to have fun.
My wife bought Troubadour a young male from one breeder and Misty, a young bitch, from another. Both were the offspring of Champions with no evidence of in-breeding. We set about training them, going for walks, playing with them and generally having a great time. My wife had read that it was best not to breed in the first season as this gave the bitch time to develop and mature. So as the second season approached we began our preparations.
After the pair had mated I built a large pen with foot high sides in the utility room. This was to keep the puppies contained but allow Misty to get in and out at will. Lots of newspaper was laid as bedding and we awaited events. The births were all straight forward and Misty had presented us with nine jet-black puppies. We were all excited, especially the children. All the puppies thrived, the Vet came to inoculate and dock them all and before we knew it they were ready to be weaned. Also they were developing their different characters and their coats started to turn brown. Organising the feeding of nine puppies was a challenge and we have many photographs. One very funny one is of a line of nine puppies all with heads down in their bowls and tails in the air.
At about six weeks Misty had had enough and we put them up for sale from 8 weeks. People came to view and that was interesting too. Pretty well all wanted to buy and by 10 weeks they were all gone. We were tired, relieved and also sad. The 8 weeks had simply flown by.
Trouby sired and Misty bore us another two litters with a seasons rest between each. Each litter was of 9 puppies in each. The cycle of events was the same each time and we thought we were becoming experts in the field. Unfortunately Misty was then hit by a car and killed. We did not have the heart to buy another bitch and Trouby enjoyed a long and peaceful widower hood. When he eventually died of old age, the house seemed very empty.
Imagine my surprise when six months later my wife said she had been very naughty and presented me with two young puppies. She named them after two favourite maiden aunts, Bess and Nell and 12 years later, we still have them.
Barry Gorman writes for Dog Primer, an informative website dedicated to all things canine.
If you are new to working at Home and growing a business, you will more than likely experience what I like to call “The Home Based Business Blues” resulting from perceived isolation as you adapt to being at home earning a living versus the office setting you were in. The best way that I have found to deal with this dilemma is through networking opportunities either in your area or outside of it. A perfect example, join your local Small Business Association, Chamber of Commerce or a Networking Club. Make plans to attend their meetings this will work for you in two way’s it will help your business and it will give you a reason get away from the house. You could make the acquaintance of the person that will help you expand your business. These types of exposures are always productive even when you think your time was wasted.
When you feel the walls are closing in on you, this is the time to go shopping, not for “Feel Goods” but for home business supplies, go to the grocery store, take some time to study the competition by visiting local businesses, or look up something you need to know at the library. Give yourself a day or two to relax and recharge your battery. Alternately, you can also make a date with your spouse, a friend or a prospective client for lunch. Since you must eat, you are not really taking much more time or altering your schedule much, and it will break up your day and give you a new perspective which will probably improve your work productivity since you should feel refreshed.
Do something that you really enjoy that gets you out of the house and around other people during the week and then do it at least once a week. Consider doing a home sales party for your Home Business a minimum of once once per month if you are involved in sales. It gets you out of the house and helps you meet people and possible networking opportunities as well as lets you work your business while having fun and adding variety to it. And remember, your Home Business should be fun!
The most important thing to remember is why your there, what where the circumstance that made me make the decisions that I made about giving up the corporate rat race and coming home to earn my living. Having the ability to call your own shots, be your own boss, visit with your children when they come home from school, take a moment and say to your spouse, hey I Really Love you and Thank You for supporting me in this decision. The little things are what you were looking for when you made this decision to come home, so do not cheat yourself out of doing those things!
My name is Scott Blake and I have been both up and down the corporate ladder. I have a Beautiful wife and her name is Linda. We have Four children two boys and two girls, and five wonderful Grandchildren that we Love and Adore. We hail from Texas at this time but are quickly making plans to get back to Tennessee. My business past has been very simple, Sales, Marketing and Management. I found my strength in the teaching and training of sales and marketing. The good Lord blessed me with the ability to take what is sometimes a very complex career such as sales and present it to someone in such a way that it becomes a second nature. If my training got them what they wanted in life then I am fulfilled. I guess that relates back to my favorite quote from my favorite mentor Mr. Zig Ziegler. “I will get what I want out of life if I will only help enough other people get what they want”
Copyright 2006
“1 Step System”
http://www.paradigmtimes2.com/
It’s always intriguing to hear the latest survey related to sleep.
And they all have one thing in common and that is people are much better off getting the recommended hours for healthier living.
That doesn’t come as anything new but what are the prescribed hours we should be sleeping each night and what actually happens when we lay down and close our eyes every night.
Sleep for human beings is divided into two distinct states; “REM” (rapid eye movement) also called light or active, and “NREM” (non rapid eye movement), also called deep or quiet sleep.
When adults fall asleep we generally slip straight into NREM sleep.
Our bodies become motionless, breathing (becomes) is shallow and regular, our muscles relax and for all money we (are) become “out to it”. After about ninety minutes our brain begins to “wake up” and starts functioning on a different level, this is when we enter REM sleep.
During REM, our brain, it could be said, “exercises”, we dream, fidget, roll over, moan and talk in our sleep, even adjust the blankets without fully awakening. When we wake during the night, either for no apparent reason or to go to the bathroom it is from this REM state.
The average adult during a normal eight hour sleep takes seven minutes to fall asleep and spends around two hours in REM sleep and six hours in NREM sleep, rotating between the two states about every ninety minutes.
Infants on the other hand, especially young babies, enter sleep through an initial twenty or thirty minutes in REM.
This explains why a lot of people especially babysitters and people unfamiliar with babies sleeping patterns go to painstaking, meticulous and sometimes bizarre lengths to get baby off to sleep - only to have her suddenly wake when it looks like the “deals done”.
If efforts were to continue for an extra twenty or thirty minutes until baby has entered NREM sleep there is a far greater chance that baby will stay asleep.
One would recognize the transition from NEM to NREM sleep. Spasmodic twitches, muscle tightness, grimaces and even sleep grins would gradually give way to an overall limpness with breathing becoming more regular and shallow. If baby needs to be moved it’s better to wait for her to reach NREM state as she can be easily woken whilst in REM sleep.
Young babies spend approximately half their sleeping time in REM, dropping off to about twenty five percent by the time they reach four years of age. Infants sleep cycles occur about every sixty minutes (that is going from light sleep to deep sleep then back to light sleep).
Although it might seem like the ultimate wish come true when we hear about a young baby sleeping through the night, new research is showing that this might NOT be in the best interests of the baby.
Here’s why.
Babies are at their most vulnerable when they are very young. Their cardiopulmonary regulating systems are not developed enough to cope well with self arousal from long spells in NREM.
Alternating frequently between REM & NREM stops a baby from falling too deeply for too long into deep sleep from which she might not be able to self wake.
This is one of the main theories behind the incidence of SIDS.
Secondly, blood flow to the brain nearly doubles during REM sleep and researchers theorize this is because this is the time when the brain develops.
Learning is thought to occur as the brain processes information that was acquired while awake.
This is further reinforced by the fact that premature babies spend almost ninety percent of their sleeping time in REM - to protect themselves from falling into a deep state of sleep for too long and to help speed up their brain development.
A young baby has a very small stomach (slightly larger than her fist) and because she digests breast milk very quickly it is unlikely that she’ll sleep for more than four hours, and most likely for not more than 1 - 2 hours between feeds
After six months babies cardiopulmonary regulating systems have developed to the point where their bodies are better able to cope with longer periods of deep sleep and thus the risk of SIDS drops dramatically.
Adults need between 7 - 8 hours per day for peak condition. Adolescents need nine and a quarter hours per day, yet American adolescents average only seven and a half hours with up to 25% surviving on six and a half hours.
No wonder why they struggle to get out of bed most mornings and struggle with concentration during school!
Average Ideal Sleep Times
Newborn 16.5 hours
12 months 14.5
2 years 13
5 years 11
10 years 10
16 years 8.5
20 +years 7-8
Miha Thornton
Mothers of Home Based Business Resource Center
Empowering mothers to make money at home.
http://www.mothersofhomebasedbusiness.com