Hoping this week goes better than last week. The terribleness of it all peaked on Saturday, when I was rudely checking my phone at the funeral of someone who died in a very sudden, tragic way, because my dad was having emergency surgery >1000 miles away.

Stay safe! I hope they find the guy soon.

The number one secret of dog training: It is just creating a shared language between you and your pup so that they can be successful.

Are they doing something you don’t want them to? Teach them what you want them to do in that scenario instead. For instance, my dog used to sprint towards the road when he wanted to cross. I taught him to sit instead, and then we crossed whenever he asked by sitting to reinforce the much safer behavior.

The point is to teach them how to tell you what they want/need in healthy ways, and actually listen when they do what you taught them. Another example, give them a way to tell you they need to go outside (bells they can ring is a good option) and then let them out when they ask in the way you taught them.

The Humane Society has some suggestions for how to protect feral cat colonies from coyotes. Not sure if you’ve already tried all of these or if they would even work for your location, but it seems worth considering.

That…was not how I interpreted the authors position.

What did you read that makes you think they specifically want Jesus to be taught in schools?

This sounds absolutely fantastic. If I could have ridden a train from Boulder to C. Springs in college, I would have never needed a car. With the number of commuters that live outside of Denver and commute to it (or more rarely in the other direction) having this option should greatly relieve the number of vehicles on I25

I haven’t made any this year, but I have in the past. My favorite flavor I’ve made is a chai ice cream (just brew the tea in the ice cream base).

I volunteered to moonlight in a second role at my day job. This week is the first time that the workload has been getting to me. I guess it’s just going to be a stressful couple of weeks and then I’ll get through it.

I’m sorry to hear you are struggling. It may take time and it may be a tough road, but you can absolutely dig yourself out of this hole.

I’d recommend focusing on one loan at a time, if the whole makes you feel overwhelmed. While I’m not the biggest fan, Dave Ramsey suggests paying loans off using something called the snowball method. I think this can help you, because it will allow you to have wins and see progress faster. Since it sounds like you are struggling with motivation and seeing progress, this method will be the most useful. Small, achievable goals are important!

Basically, you pay the minimums on all of your current loans. Then you pay any extra on your loan with the lowest balance. Once that is knocked out, you take what you were paying for the first loan (minimum payment plus the extra) and put it towards your second smallest loan. A secondary benefit with this approach is that you will reduce your required cash outflow if you do end up losing your job. Good luck!