Best Cat Litter For Odor Control

Cats are fantastic pets as they keep themselves clean by licking it all over. But however, they have to pee and poop which can cause a strong smell to prevail all over your house various measures can be taken to prevent your house with all these crap. This can be reduced by using cat litters which are nothing but small boxes in which you cats can be trained to poop. Bad odor can be controlled by using the best odor control litter available in the market. If you own a cat for a few days and do not have an idea on how to buy the best litter box for your pet, then you can find for the litter box with the following characteristics.

• Clumps:

the litters for cats must be mixed equally with the litter so that they can be easily removed by the owner. The formulation should be clumped together with the litter which is easy to remover after a certain period. The clumping power of odor control litter is very important when choosing the product. As it is the main factor that makes the litter reduce ammonia and thereby reducing the odor.

• Fragrance:

most of the best odor control litter of cats comes with the pleasant smell that combats the odor created after your pet poops. This is great as you cannot smell the odor of cats’ excretion during parties and while guests are coming over. You do not have to embarrass your guests coming to home with the bad odor from your cats.

• Minimal dust:

some of the odor control litters can produce dust and can cause harm to your cats. It is common but it should not affect the cat’s respiration and it can also cause damage to human beings. Hence the odor control litters should not produce dust that is allergic to both cats and humans as well.

• Natural:

find the best odor control litter that is made of materials naturally. The cats will not know the toxic substances and chemicals used and there are higher chances of getting into his body. If it is natural, it can also be disposed to the land which will be natural manure to plants. The chemicals used in non-natural litters can cause damage to both the cats and the environment.

• Choosing for multiple cats:

the best odor control litters can be chosen by the cat owners keeping in mind of the other cats also. Getting the cat litter for multiple cats can save you a lot of money but choosing them must be liked by all the cats.

• Paper-based:

the paper-based litters are very useful in absorbing the total moisture to the bottom of the box. This makes it odor-free and they also have scents which reduce the smell coming further. The pellets inside the litter box will completely absorb the moisture and will expand in size. This will layer up to the top of the box and can be removed easily.

• Using silica gel:

the silica-based litters are the best odor control litters as they are made of sodium silicate which is processed with oxygen and water. They have tiny pores on their outer surface which will absorb more water content from the solid litters. Most people misunderstand that these are harmful to their cats. They are not and litters with crystalline silicate are harmful.

• Lightweight:

the odor control litters you buy must be lesser weight. They are biodegradable and hence no harm can be caused to the cat as well as to the environment. Unlike clay litters, these types can absorb three times more liquid. It clumps like many other litter types and helps us to remove the wastes easily.

There are many companies that offer the best odor control litter for cats and other pets. But it must have certain factors like affordable cost and 100% natural in order to work properly. They must be made of natural produces so that it will not cause any damage to cats if they ingest them by accident. So before choosing the best odor control litter for cats, they should be natural, biodegradable and useful to cats for safe littering.

Memorial Day services set throughout county; Events planned in Raton, Springer; veterans memorial hosts annual activities

Memorial Day ceremonies and other activities are planned in Raton, Springer and at Vietnam Veterans Memorial State Park near Angel Fire as veterans who sacrificed their lives at war, as well as those who served their country and returned home, are remembered this weekend. In Raton, the local Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1793 has organized the annual ceremonies at each of the city’s two cemeteries. The Monday ceremony at Mount Calvary Cemetery (on Red River Road just west of South Fifth Street) will begin at 8 a.m. Monday, to be followed by a ceremony at Fairmont Cemetery (on Sugarite Avenue between Washington and East Boulevard streets), expected to begin about 8:45 a.m. The ceremonies are to include presentations from the VFW and its Ladies Auxiliary, American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, Elks Lodge, and United Mine Workers of America.

Following the ceremony at Fairmont Cemetery, the VFW will host a free community breakfast at the post home (106 Park Ave.)

Prior to the ceremonies Monday, volunteers will begin at 6:15 a.m. setting up flags around the Tourist Information Center at South Second Street and Clayton Road. They will then move on to set up more flags on the county building lawn (230 N. Third Street) and nearby in front of city hall (224 Savage Ave.). All volunteers are welcome to help set up the estimated 200 flags, as well as take them down that day at 4 p.m.

In Springer, flags will be placed at the cemetery beginning at 6 a.m. Monday, with a Memorial Day service planned there at 10 a.m. On Saturday, the holiday weekend gets underway with an open house at the Santa Fe Trail Museum (516 Maxwell Ave.) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Meanwhile, Vietnam Veterans Memorial State Park near Angel Fire will hold its annual Memorial Day activities during the long weekend.

Vietnam veteran and author Jack McLean will present a talk and sign copies of his book, Loon, on Saturday from 4 to 5 p.m. and again Sunday from 2 to 3 p.m. A prisoner of war/missing in action presentation is scheduled for Saturday from 3 to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 2 p.m. The presentation will provide information from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, which has a mission of trying to achieve the fullest possible accounting of all Americans missing as a result of the nations’ past conflicts.

The remaining schedule of events at the memorial:

Sunday: 11 a.m.-noon — Sandra Wasko-Flood, founder of Living Labyrinths for Peace, will discuss the history of the project and how it is used in healing programs for veterans. People will be able to walk a labyrinth nearby; 6-7:30 p.m. — candlelight vigil featuring speakers from veterans organizations.

Monday: 8:30-9 a.m. — Taos Pueblo shows how it pays tribute to its warriors as singers and drum songs will honor veterans; 9-9:30 a.m. — flag march in which volunteers carry a 40-by-60-foot U.S. flag from N.M. 434 and U.S. 64 to the memorial (volunteers can meet at the starting intersection at 8:45 a.m.); 9-11 a.m. — Ride to Pride, a Las Vegas, N.M.-based group, will be on site with a couple horses to talk about equine-assisted therapy programs for veterans and their families; 11 a.m. — Memorial Day ceremony.

Advice on Destination Weddings

Planning a destination wedding is one way for a couple to lessen the time it takes to plan the wedding. With destination weddings, the majority of the work is done by the staff and others at the destination. While these weddings are sometimes thought to be more expensive than a local wedding, there are some financial reasons why the destination wedding might be the best choice for your needs. As is the case with any wedding, planning ahead is the key to pulling off a successful destination wedding and getting to enjoy the accompanying honeymoon.

Getting Help
When you are planning a destination wedding, you need to find a wedding consultant or planner in the destination area that specializes in working with couples from out of town, especially if you are from out of that state or country. Most places require you to meet certain residency requirements. This is something an experienced wedding planner can help you with. An alternative to this is to get married on a cruise, as cruise ships usually offer weddings that don’t have residency requirements.

Financing the Event
According to Smart Money, destination weddings are often less expensive than traditional weddings. The magazine attributes this to the fact that certain colleagues, family members, and friends may feel obligated to attend a local wedding. However, a destination wedding provides an easy “out” for those people. As such, you won’t have to pay for food and other expenses for that person.

Faking It
When the requirements to have a wedding at your preferred destination seem to be daunting, there is an alternative to tying the knot there. Before you leave on your trip, you can get married by a justice of the peace in your hometown. Once you are at the destination, you can still have your “show” wedding complete with the wedding party, decor and gown. Your guests will never be the wiser unless you tell them.

Those Crazy, Angry Net Users

I spend a fair amount of time reading other sites these days. In fact, my reading of printed books and other publications has dropped dramatically since I started using Google Reader and subscribing to a number of new RSS feeds from various sites. 90% of these feeds are from blogs, plus I read a number of news sites directly. Periodically I also check out Digg and a few other social networking sites to see what the latest popular news is. I would venture to say I am a fairly high volume consumer of online articles.

Through the course of this reading, most of the sites I frequent have user interaction in some form or another; mainly in the form of user comments or forums. There are times when the user comments on an article can be as interesting and informative as the originating piece, which is particularly true when dealing with some of the photography sites I frequent. Even in the least controversial of topics there can some that participate seemingly for the sole purpose of stirring up trouble. Today I was a bit analytical on these type of users.

I have written previously about Online Trolls and the admonition not to feed them. Though similar, the angry user is a far more dangerous species. Trolls typically try to get the confrontations going simply for their enjoyment and out of a complete abundance of time on their hands. A troll has nothing better to do and their sad, pathetic lives revolve around deriving some childish pleasure from making some ridiculous comment that will obviously inflame the others on the site. Usually, these types just go elsewhere in search of their needed attention if you ignore them, hence the advice to not “feed the trolls.”

With the angry commenter, you are never quite sure of their motivation, but you are sure of their passion. An angry user will never back down from their position in an argument, no matter how clearly the community has been rebutting them. If logic fails, the user will resort to name calling, swearing and other childish behaviors in the continual need to somehow feel like they have come out ahead. Truly this is like a child who lacks the mental maturity to have a rational debate and have the ability to concede when an opposing viewpoint is proven to be truer in the context of a specific discussion.

Of course, not all and perhaps most online conversations are not based on topics that have a definitive right and wrong answer. Most discussions revolve around matters of opinion, which of course are the flocking grounds of most visitors looking to express what they know is the way things are but is in the end simply their strongly voiced opinion. Opinions are powerful things, and discounting someone’s heartfelt stance is typically all the spark needed to get a raging fire going.

Take a look at any site like Digg, Slashdot and any other active forum of public commenting and you will see that seemingly the majority of people posting are those looking for some head-to-head debate. Some approaches in intellectually, but many (I hesitate to write most, but many qualifies) simply like to throw out a quip and see where it goes. The downside of this is that most comment threads veer quickly off topic, leading to worthless conversations that are unrelated to the reason I clicked through to the discussion, so I leave.

Comments are popular because they invite interaction that leads to site loyalty and users revisiting the site “ but in some cases when commenting systems are frequented by these angry users, it drives away many of your more silent regular users. Depending on the nature of the site, for every comment made, there can be tens if not hundreds or more of users that choose to read and not comment. That is the case with this site. Very few choose to comment, but there are many other visitors to the site according to the traffic logs. That’s ok, commenting is not for everyone. Most of the sites I visit I am not an active participant unless something really strikes me.

So in the end, I think the angry commenter can be both a good and bad thing to a site. The angry tone can drive away some of your more silent regular visitors, yet in some discussion, it can engage the more resilient ones and create an atmosphere of active discussion. Angry users of like minds also tend to band together, and that band of not-so-merry users can be your biggest advocates one day, and another day move their growing power to work against you. Walking that tightrope can be a difficult task.

On this site, I hope most users find our topics enjoyable, often humorous and non-offensive. If a particular post pricks your conscious to where you think we have “gone too far” then perhaps you can take a moment to look inward and see if there is more truth to the topic than you would like to admit. I strongly believe that we all only have the right to laugh at others when we are willing to first laugh at ourselves. If we can commit to this simple belief, we can find much more to laugh about and have more fun each day.

Gold’s rebound sparks revival in exploration

Gold’s rebound from the biggest decline in more than three decades is sparking a revival in exploration – and for one Brazilian focused-miner it’s worth the risk of crossing paths with jaguars.

Beadell Resources Ltd. hired armed guards earlier this year to protect its exploration team in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil after they stumbled across the largest of South America’s big cats.

“Shareholders have gone from rewarding companies for doing no exploration, no expansions and cost reductions into rewarding companies for value-accretive exploration,” Beadell’s Managing Director Peter Bowler, said in an interview in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, at the annual Diggers & Dealers conference. “About 70 percent of our shareholders would prefer us to drill, drill and drill.”

Producers from Gold Fields Ltd. to Northern Star Resources Ltd., who both attended the conference, are boosting exploration budgets that were trimmed as companies sought to cut costs amid gold’s 28 percent tumble last year. The mood mirrors comments last month by Rio Tinto Group Chief Executive Officer Sam Walsh who noted renewed investor appetite for spending.

“At some point you have to recommence spending, and in difficult times you’ve got to understand how to prioritize that spending,” said Roric Smith, vice president of discovery and chief geologist at Sydney-based Evolution Mining Ltd. “If you don’t replace your reserves, you’ve got a go-out-of-business strategy.”

Beadell rose 8.6 percent to 0.505 cents in Sydney trading, while Northern Star rose 5.5 percent.

Armed Guards
Exploration work will accelerate over the next 6 to 12 months, according to MinEx Consulting Pty, whose clients include Newmont Mining Corp., the second-biggest gold company, and AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., the third-biggest.

Beadell has allocated as much as $15 million for exploration in Brazil this year, up from $12 million in 2013, and may add funding, if teams in Brazil and in Australia make discoveries, Bowler said. The Perth-based company’s geologists encountered the jaguar when they were looking for deposits near their Tucano mine in Amapa state.

“That was enough to sharpen their senses,” said Bowler on Aug. 5. “We do see jaguar tracks in the morning around the mine site quite regularly.”

Spending on gold exploration in Australia, the second- biggest producer, fell in the three months to March 31 to A$81.7 million ($76.4 million), the lowest quarterly total since March 2000, according to the country’s Bureau of Statistics.

Constrained Budgets
The exploration budgets of some companies remain constrained. Barrick Gold Corp., the biggest producer, allocated $200 million to $240 million to exploration in 2014, compared to a 2013 budget of $230 million to $250 million, according to its annual report. Newmont also has trimmed spending on exploration, though Chief Executive Officer Gary Goldberg says it remains a critical task.

“You’ve got to be constantly adding to reserves and resources around existing mines, but also out and looking for other things,” Goldberg told reporters today in Melbourne. “It’s the least expensive way to acquire a new asset.”

AngloGold spent $34 million in the three months to March, compared to $92 million in the same period a year earlier, according to a May filing. “The level of exploration that we’ve got now isn’t something that we’d be satisfied with in the long term,” AngloGold Executive Vice President Planning and Technical Graham Ehm said by phone from Perth in a July 31 interview.

Customer Record
Gold investor demand showed signs of rebounding in July with holdings of BullionVault customers rising to a record after gold rallied 10 percent in the first half. Gold, which traded at $1,307.12 at 3:50 p.m. Sydney time, rose 10 percent in the first half and may rise to $1,400 by 2017, Citigroup Inc. said in a July 13 report.

Johannesburg-based Gold Fields has increased its Australian exploration budget to A$55 million from A$25 million last year and will probably raise it again next year, Executive Vice President for Australasia Richard Weston said in an interview. Northern Star, which has more than doubled this year, has allocated A$50 million in 2014, compared to a previous annual budget of about A$10 million.

“Companies have got their businesses back into shape and they are now starting to look to the future and get back out into the field,” said MinEx Managing Director Richard Schodde. “The good news is that the costs of drilling services are cheaper now then they were a year ago, so you can get more bang for your exploration buck.”

Search Costs
The cost of exploration activities including drilling and the testing of samples has reduced by as much as 30 percent in the past year, according to Peter Bradford, Chief Executive Officer of Independence Group NL, which collaborated with AngloGold on the 2005 discovery of the Tropicana project, in Western Australia, which began production in September and may hold as much as 7.7 million ounces of gold.

Independence Group, which has gained 53 percent this year in Sydney trading, may seek to invest in or acquire advanced exploration projects held by smaller companies with dwindling cash reserves, according to Bradford. “People just don’t have the money of their own and need to progress projects, or run the risk of losing tenure, so we are directing more dollars to that,” he said.