This is what frustrates me. We have this idea that the outdoors is a wondrous fun playland for domestic cats, but actually it’s a terrifying ordeal a lot more often than we want to think. Everyone who has outdoor cats has some horrific story, and we just accept that like it’s inevitable, when really cats can have very…

If the birds and squirrels are doing better, it’s probably because you are feeding them, too.

My favorite tip is to stop washing your windows. Dirty windows are more visible to birds!

Unfortunately, it’s been shown that feeding outdoor cats does not significantly affect how many birds they kill, because cats will hunt even if they aren’t hungry. (It’s hard-wired behavior, so about the only thing that stops them from hunting is keeping them engaged doing something else, or keeping them indoors.)

(Also, if you are jumping in without waiting for a pause, isn’t that...interrupting? Is it possible that the reason the other person is doing that is because they feel like they are being interrupted by you?)

I wish that just occasionally articles like this would mention that sometimes the problem isn’t just the other person. Sometimes the problem is that you are making it very unclear when you have completed a thought (or not).

This is really a “know yourself”  sort of skill. Some people are terrible without a script! Some people are terrible with one!

It would be helpful to say what the symptoms are, because there are so many and a lot of people are still stuck at “cough with a fever”.

It would also be helpful to address the challenges of those of us who have these symptoms all the time due to chronic conditions such as allergies. And that the initial symptoms can…

Fun fact: You actually can bring multiple bags in one load if they all have wheels, you just attach them together to make a little train! However, this is annoying to you and everyone around you, and I don’t recommend it unless it is absolutely necessary.

At what point does a euphemism become just a synonym? “Passed away”, for example, never means anything other than “died”. It’s not really avoidance at this point, it’s just another way to say it. Compare that to “crossed the rainbow bridge” (for a pet), which is still pretty obviously a euphemism.

So, if washing depends on the filler, how would you go about finding out what kind of filler you have?

When I flew to Norway a few years ago, Iceland had this deal with the airline where if you had a layover there (common on flights from North America), you could actually leave the airport and stay for a while without increasing the cost of your plane tickets. Didn’t end up doing it due to scheduling, but it was a…

In addition to all of this, grief is unpredictable and it’s sneaky, and somewhere inside your head, it’s all connected.

Wingspan, because then at the very least you’ll get to look at pretty birds. It’s competitive enough for people who really want to be competitive (avoiding the stress of failing at cooperative games together), but also, you can just collect pretty birds. You don’t even have to count the points at the end! Did I…

Wingspan, because then at the very least you’ll get to look at pretty birds. It’s competitive enough for people who…

I suppose the standard caveat should be that individual experiences will still depend on individual allergies.

I don’t mind flowers, it’s just that the last time someone gave me flowers, I put the vase in the dishwasher afterwards and it dyed the interior racks (but for some reason not the utensil bin or any other parts of the dishwasher) a lovely deep shade of pink. It appears to be permanent.

You’re quite right that in some places it would be considered disrespectful, and in that case, I would respect the wishes of the people who run the cemetery even if I disagree with them.

But FYI, the actual signs are often due to liability concerns. Keeping up with small holes and dips in the ground is a real…

As someone who has worked with several different cemetery associations, I just would not recommend actually running among the graves themselves, just because of safety. You often can get little dips or holes where you don’t expect them, and it would be very easy to turn an ankle that way.

It’s disrespectful to leave your dog’s “business” in a place where people walk, regardless of what else that place is used for. It’s okay to walk your dog there, just clean up after it, as you would in any other public place.

I expect most people haven’t read the book. I find the best way to address that is to tell them that it’s hilarious, and they’re so lucky to get to experience it for the first time!

To me they are really two different things. It’s a different kind of movie than it is a book. They are great for different reasons. The…