Curing a headache without medication
HINTS FROM HELOISE
HELOISE
Dear Heloise: There's an old Chinese method to handle a headache. If you find that you're out somewhere and have nothing to take for a headache, swing your arms. When you swing your arms back and forth or in circles out to the side, you reduce the flow of blood to the head. My grandmother always used this method, and it seemed to relieve the pain. This isn't recommended for migraines, however. — Li H., via email
Pet tip
Dear Heloise: I have four male cats, and every time I give them fresh water, I add a teaspoon of vinegar to the water, which is in a large bowl. The vinegar helps to keep urinary calculi in check and helps avoid urinary problems down the road as a cat ages. Feeding your feline low-ash cat food also will help them. Make sure that your cats always have a bowl of fresh water available to them. — Diana J., in Waterbury, Connecticut
Stray vs. feral cats
Dear Heloise: My understanding is that a "stray" is a cat with previous human contact who's lost, or maybe a neighborhood cat with some human experience. "Feral" is one with essentially no human contact. We were lucky to place one feral HIV-positive rescue cat in a sanctuary with a medical unit. She lived for 10 more years, and we adopted another from the sanctuary who needed rehoming.
Another one-eyed, nearly feral 10-week kitten lived with us for about 20 years. When necessary, we had to handle her with welder's gloves for two of those years. She's the only cat I raised whose nails I couldn't trim alone. She was no trouble around the house and got along with other cats.
For a few years, I was the only one in the house whom she would relate to. As the other cats passed on, and it got less crowded (about 15 years later), she finally sat on the couch and eventually in laps. — G.W.
Read the warnings
Dear Heloise: My husband doesn't pay attention to most "warnings" on tools and equipment. This is partly because he just wants to get the project done and partly because "nothing is going to happen," according to him. But he's fallen off a ladder three times.
Once he was lucky, but the second time, he was in the hospital with three broken ribs. I burned the wooden ladder when I got home, but just a year ago, he was in too much of a hurry and fell with a piece of shelving. This time, he put a bone through his shoulder and was flown by helicopter to a more advanced hospital so that they could put a plate in the top of his shoulder with eight pins. — Brenda R., via email
Brenda, remind him that warning labels are there to keep him safe. Power tools have cut off limbs and have done some terrible damage because someone didn't care to read the warnings. — Heloise
Send a money-saving or time-saving hint to Heloise @Heloise.com.
