PET

Cats and dogs 2009-07-19 — Farley believes all cats should adore him.

Should all characters get along? #writetip. Definitely not. But why not spice up a scene by forcing two characters who don’t get along into a situation where they must.

Put their lives in danger. Make them rely on each other. But the whole time, they really can’t stand each other.

Then give a character a life altering decision. Character A must risk their lives to save Character B. Do they do it? Or do they leave the person to die. This will say volumes about your character, and maybe scare your reader at the same time.

Farley playing with the cat made me think about odd pairings and how sometimes life surprises you, but also how fiction should surprise you.

Kayak safety 2009-09-10 — Farley gets a ride

If you plan to cruise with a dog, one thing you might want to consider is your pet’s safety gear.

Farley has his own life jacket, a gift from Chopper’s Pet Supplies in Invermere BC, but doesn’t wear it all the time. He’ll wear it kayaking in rough weather, or if we are kayaking along a rocky shoreline where he couldn’t get ashore himself.

When we are underway, Farley has his own tether and harness. He is not allowed out of the cockpit unless he is tethered to me or the boat. He has a safe spot to curl up when the boat is rocking.

We keep him in a harness instead of a collar when we are underway, so if he gets jarred his neck won’t het hurt. It also makes it easy for us to hoist him onboard if we have to.

Farley has a dog tag for each collar or harness wears. That way we don’t forget to put a tag on. His tags are engraved with his name, our email address, boat name and phone number. If he gets lost, we are easy to find. I’d love to hear about any other safety gear used by cruisers.