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DROGHER LLC Privacy Policy Updated April 1, 2014
Drogher values the privacy of those who use our mobile application or website ("Site"), products and services and makes all commercially reasonable efforts to protect it. This privacy policy discloses the privacy practices of Drogher ("Drogher," "we," "our" or "us"), which owns and operates a mobile application and a website, drogher.com. Your access to and use of the services on the mobile application and/or the Drogher website (collectively, "Drogher Services") are subject to Drogher Terms of Service and all applicable laws.
This privacy policy describes how and when Drogher collects, uses, and shares information when you use Drogher Services. Drogher may receive your information through our mobile application, website, email notifications, or other interactions with Drogher Services. When using any Drogher Services you consent to the collection, transfer, manipulation, storage, disclosure or other uses of your information as described in this Privacy Policy. Regardless of which country you reside in or supply information from, you authorize Drogher to use your information in the United States and any other country where Drogher operates.
We value your comments about our privacy statement and invite you to e-mail us with inquiries, suggestions and complaints at: firstname.lastname@example.com. Please read the following to learn more about what information we collect, what we do with that information, and how we may use your personal information.
Information Collected.
How Information is Collected. To enhance your user experience and improve the Drogher Services, Drogher collects information about you from two sources: (i) information you affirmatively give to us; and (ii) information automatically collected when you use any Drogher Services. Third parties may also collect your information in connection with your use of Drogher Services unless a user refuses to consent to the disclosure of information to third parties.
Information You Affirmatively Give Us. In using Drogher Services, you may provide us with personally identifiable information. This refers to information about you that can be used to contact or identify you, and information on your use of and activities at our mobile application and website that may be connected with you ("Personal Information"). Personal Information that we collect may include, but is not limited to, your name, email address, birthday, photos of both driver's license and medical marijuana license, doctor's note, credit card or other billing information, and password. Personal Information may also include information you supply to us concerning your preferences, geographic location, and interests expressed in the course of use Drogher Services.
Information Automatically Collected. We also collect information about your visit from the browser or Drogher application on your computer or mobile device including but not limited to the time and date you visit the Drogher Services, your geographic location, IP address, device information, cookies and the pages you request — to analyze trends, administer the site, track your navigation of the site, deliver relevant advertisements and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use (note that IP addresses are not linked to "personally identifiable information"). Additionally, we collect aggregate information from multiple users without personally identifying individuals, such as geographic region, which we may share with our business partners — to improve understanding of customer needs and provide relevant services. By using Drogher Services, you are giving Drogher permission to use and store such information consistent with this privacy policy.
Creating a Drogher Account and Profile Information. When you create a Drogher account, you provide access credentials in the form of an email address and password. You may update or modify your profile information and contact information at any time. Profile information is not publicly available on Drogher Services.
Content, Following, and Other Public Information. Drogher is a content sharing platform, so most information you provide us is information that you choose to be made public. This includes not only the content you post and data provided with such content, such as when it was posted and other public interactions on Drogher Services. For instance, your public content is immediately delivered to a wide range of users and other services that access Drogher. When you share information or content via Drogher Services, think carefully about what you are making public.
Location Information. Besides profile information, you may also tell us your exact location if you enable your mobile device to send us location information. We may use and store information about your location to provide features of our Services.
How We Use Personal Information
Use of Personal Information. Personal Information is or may be used for the following purposes: (i) to provide and improve Drogher Services, (ii) to administer your use of Drogher Services, (iii) to enable you to enjoy and easily navigate the Drogher app, (iv) to better understand your needs and interests, (v) to fulfill requests you may make, (vi) to personalize your experience, (vii) to provide or offer software updates and product announcements, and (viii) to provide you with further information and offers from us or third parties that we believe you may find useful or interesting, including newsletters, marketing or promotional materials and other information on services and products offered by us or third parties.
We use information we obtain by technical means (such as the automatic recording performed by our servers or through cookies) for the above purposes and to monitor and analyze use of Drogher Services; for technical administration of Drogher Services; to increase functionality and user-friendliness of Drogher Services; to better tailor Drogher Services to your needs, and to generate and derive useful data and information concerning the interests, characteristics, and use behavior of our users.
Sharing of Information. When you send information to Drogher Services, you are granting Drogher permission to use and take other actions regarding such information (as described in the Terms of Service), to provide Drogher Services. We do not share, sell, rent or otherwise distribute this information to others, except as disclosed in this Privacy Policy. Drogher may share your information with others outside of Drogher under the following circumstances:
We have your explicit consent to share the information;
We need to share your information to fulfill your service request;
We wish to contact you with information about services from our business partners;
We have a good faith belief that sharing or otherwise permitting access, disclosure, use or preservation of such information is reasonably necessary to comply with our legal obligations;
We believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud or potential threats against persons or property;
We believe it is necessary to investigate potential violations of our Terms of Service, or to enforce those Terms of Service; or
We have a relationship with an affiliate or partner you have an online or off-line (non-Internet) relationship with, or have visited the affiliate or partner's website that links to or mentions Drogher Services, and have registered for Drogher Services through the partner or affiliate's program or website.
With Whom Information is Shared
Public Information – Drogher may share as it sees fit information that you voluntarily make public. Since such public information can be accessed by the public and used by any member of the public, such use by third parties is beyond the control of Drogher.
Personal Information - If we have your express consent, Drogher may share your personal information it collects with business partners and other third parties that are not affiliated with Drogher. Drogher will never share your personal information without your consent, unless compelled to do so by law.
Under narrow circumstances, Drogher may disclose your personal information without asking for your consent to protect the legal rights of Drogher or its affiliates, and each of their respective investors, directors, officers, employees, agents, and suppliers; to protect the safety and security of users of the Drogher Services or to enforce our Terms of Services; to protect against fraud or for risk management purposes; or to comply with or respond to the law or legal process or a request for cooperation by a government entity, whether or not legally required. If you notify us you believe your legal rights have been violated by Drogher or another user of Drogher Services, we may provide the information you provide to us to others if we believe it is necessary to evaluate and respond to your complaint. For instance, if you submit a notice of copyright infringement to us, we may send a copy to the person or entity who uploaded, stored, or transmitted the material addressed by the communication.
Non-Personal Information and Aggregate Data
Drogher may share with third parties your non-personal information and related aggregated data. For example, Drogher may share IP addresses or general demographic information of its users to provide anonymous aggregated data to business partners about the volume of use on Drogher Services and the specific Drogher Services in which users are most interested. Because this form of data does not identify particular users, these third parties will not be able to contact you based solely on this data.
Change of Control
If Drogher sells all or part of its business, makes a sale or transfer of assets, is otherwise involved in a merger or business transfer, or in the unlikely event of bankruptcy, Drogher may transfer your personal information and non-personal information to one or more third parties as part of such transaction.
How You Can Control the Information We Collect, Use and Share
You have the choice about whether to disclose your personal information or other information about yourself to Drogher. Regardless of your choices regarding promotional communications and updates regarding content, Drogher may send you administrative messages, service announcements, terms and conditions of your account, or other similar communications, without offering you the opportunity to opt out of receiving them.
You may stop using your account on the Drogher app at any time by simply logging out and/or deleting the app. Please note that if you cancel your account, Drogher may retain some information about you but will discontinue posting such information on Drogher Services.
When you first launch any features of the Drogher Service that collect location information, you will be asked to consent to our collection of this information. You may stop our collection of location information by following the standard uninstall process to remove the Drogher Services from your device.
Cookies are small data files that a website you visit may save on your hard drive that usually includes an anonymous unique identifier. A cookie cannot retrieve any other data from your hard drive, pass on computer viruses, or capture your e-mail address. Drogher Services use cookies for user authentication, keeping track of your preferences, promotional campaigns that require user identification, keeping track of our audience size and traffic patterns, and in certain other cases. You can configure your browser to accept cookies, reject cookies or notify you when a cookie is being used.
The Drogher website and services may contain links to other sites. Drogher is not responsible for the privacy policy or other practices employed by websites linked to, or from, our website nor the information or content contained therein. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this website.
International Users
Drogher abides by the safe harbor framework set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information collected from the European Union. The following link provides more information about the U.S. Department of Commerce Safe Harbor Program: http://www.export.gov/safeharbor/.
Our Policy Toward Children
The Services are not directed to children under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 18. If a parent or guardian learns his or her child has provided us with Personal Information without their consent, he or she should contact us at firstname.lastname@example.com. If we learn a child under 18 has provided us with Personal Information, we will delete such information from our files.
Changes and Updates
From time to time, we may change this privacy policy. To ensure that you are familiar with our most updated policies and practices, check the effective date indicated above of this privacy policy each time you use Drogher Services. If we make any changes, we will notify you of such changes by posting the updated privacy policy on the Drogher website and providing a push notification of the new update to the privacy policy. We may also send you an email alerting you of such changes. You will be bound by any such changes to the policy when you use Drogher Services after those changes have been posted. If we make material revisions concern practices where we have represented we will obtain your consent to use or disclose your personal information, we will obtain your consent before taking any action inconsistent with those representations.
If Drogher should ever sell its assets, merge with another entity or file for bankruptcy, information collected from this website and in the operation of the services may be transferred as assets of Drogher.
Contact Us
Drogher welcomes your feedback regarding this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Service. If you have questions, comments, or concerns about either one, please contact us by e-mail at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Sparkling Cream Cheese Cranberry Cupcakes
2016-01-06 13:56:08
These lovely creations were a favorite at our Thanksgiving company potluck. Baked by Stahlbush employee, Kerri Hicks this recipe is adapted from Krissy's Creations. Enjoy this perfect holiday treat.
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- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 2 cups sugar
- 3 eggs
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups cake flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup milk
- 2 cups frozen Stahlbush cranberries, thawed
White Chocolate Filling
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 5 ounces of white chocolate, chopped
- 1/2 cup egg whites (about 3-4 eggs)
- 2 tablespoons of sugar
Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
- 16 ounces cream cheese, softened
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
Sugar covered Cranberries (optional)
- 2 cups Stahlbush frozen cranberries
- 1 cup maple syrup
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- Make white chocolate mousse first. Place the chopped white chocolate pieces in a heat safe bowl.
- Heat the heavy whipping cream in a saucepan until just boiling.
- Pour over the white chocolate pieces and mix with a whisk until the chocolate is completely melted.
- Place in refrigerator overnight.
Next day
- Take the white chocolate mixture out of the refrigerator and mix on high speed with a whisk attachment until soft peaks form.
- Place back in refrigerator.
- In a medium bowl beat egg whites with a mixer until soft peaks form add sugar and beat another 30 seconds or until still and glossy.
- Fold the egg white mixture into the white chocolate mixture and refrigerate while making the cupcakes.
- In a large bowl, mix the butter and cream cheese until smooth.
- Add sugar until well incorporated.
- Mix in the eggs one at a time.
- Add almond and vanilla extract and mix.
- In a separate bowl, combine cake flour, salt and baking powder.
- Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the milk (starting and ending with flour).
- In a small bowl, toss the cranberries in 1 tablespoon of cake flour.
- Carefully fold the cranberries into the batter.
- Fill cupcake liners 3/4 of the way full as they will not rise very much.
- Bake at 350ºF for 15 minutes for mini cupcakes or 25 - 35 minutes for regular sized cupcakes.
- The tops should turn a light golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle should come out clean.
- Let them cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- While you are waiting for the cupcakes to cool down, make frosting.
- Mix the butter and cream cheese together in a large bowl.
- Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing well.
- Add the vanilla extract and the maple syrup and mix well.
- Once the cupcakes are cooled completely, make a small hole in the middle of each one and fill with the white chocolate mousse filling.
- Use a piping bag and fill with the frosting to frost each cupcake.
Sugar Covered Cranberry Garnish (optional)
- Rinse cranberries and place them in a small bowl.
- In a small saucepan, heat the maple syrup just to get it warm, not hot.
- Pour the warm syrup over the cranberries, cover and refrigerate overnight.
The next day
- Take the cranberries out of the refrigerator.
- Drain the cranberries in a colander.
- Place the sugar in a small bowl and place a few cranberries at a time in the bowl to coat with sugar.
- Place the sugared cranberries on a baking sheet to dry (about 1 hour).
- Place one sugared cranberry on top of each cupcake.
Stahlbush Island Farms http://www.stahlbush.com/

subset: commoncrawl


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An inside look: The Barman/Author
According to a study in 2016 by the TUC (Trade Union's Congress), a national trade union centre in the UK that represents the vast majority of organized workers, a staggering quarter of a million (241,000) more people work from home than a decade ago. So we decided to go undercover and take a snoop around some home offices to find out more.
This week, we caught up with Jamie Anderson, a 33 year old part-time Barman and Author in East London.
Where is your workplace?
At the minute, I divide my time between shifts in a bar to working from home. Both my job roles go from one extreme to another. The bar (as you can imagine) is very social and busy but back in my home office it's a place of tranquility, where I get my writing head on. But, it's good to have a mix of the two extremes, too much of one of them would be quite stressful I think.
How do you feel about more people working from home?
Why not, that's what I say? Does it matter where you work, as long as you get your work done? It's good to see the shift of more people having the flexibility to work from home. A lot of my friends say they're much more productive when they work from home than the office which can only be a good thing for employers. Personally, for me bar work means I have to be there but in terms of writing I couldn't do it anywhere else except from the comfort of my own home.
Which room is your home office in?
In the flat I'm renting I have a nice wooden dining table that seats six so I have transformed it from dining table to my office space! Plus, there's plenty of space to spread all my books, magazines and writing material on. Dining tables are so overrated.
What does your home office look like?
It's pretty simple, like I said it's actually the dining table. I also have a radio and wireless speaker for my Spotify playlists for times when I need a distraction.
What's in your home office?
Piles and piles of reading material. A notepad to scribble down ideas and of course, what every writer needs - an Apple laptop,
Was it easy to organise the space?
Yeah, I don't really need much because I just use the length of the dining table to house everything on. As long as I can find what I need then that's the main thing. In my mind that's organisation.
How tidy is your home office?
Errrrrm! I wouldn't say it's tidy. I guess it's erring on the side of messy. I have a lot of reading material and flit from book to book so everything tends to get a little mixed up.
Do you share your home office?
Are you kidding? No way! Wherever a writer puts his hat, that's his territory marked and no one else is allowed.
How do you plan your day?
It's actually quite difficult. Because of the bar, I am led by shift work but sometimes when people don't go in, I have to be on call. But, I do try and read or write for a few hours a day, it's important to me. No two days are ever the same.
Complete the sentence...'I love my home office because....?
It's my personal space and it's a place where I can enjoy what I like doing the most - writing!


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What's Jog-Wheel? What's Shuttle-Wheel?
This device is used mostly for video editing.
The circle with a dent is the jog wheel. You can stick a finger on it and turn the wheel. Used mostly to move frame by frame backward/forward.
The outer ring is the shuttle wheel. It has a spring that turns the wheel back to original position if no twisting force is applied. It is used mostly to fast forward/backward video. How fast the video moves depends on how much you twist the wheel.
What is jog wheel?
Jog wheel is a wheel used in video editing. It lets you forward/backward movie frames, by the speed you turn wheel. When you stop moving the wheel, the movie is paused.
You can watch video sections in slow motion at whatever speed you want, forward or backward. The frames flow with the speed you rotate the wheel.
What is shuttle ring?
Shuttle ring lets you change the direction of play in high speeds to positions you want. The more twisted the wheel is clockwise, the faster is your fast forward. If you twist it anti-clockwise, you control speeds in backward direction.
When your hand leaves the knob, it springs back to the original neutral position.
Jog/Shuttle wheel was popular with the VHS days. They usually are on the remote of expensive VHS players. Professional movie editing hardware always have it, still.
Griffin PowerMate Multi-Media Control Knob
This function as a jog wheel, or volume control. It can be also pressed as a button, default to mute.
Image/Video Editing Device
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- amazon egift card to email@example.com , $20 is nice.
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If you have a question, put $5 at patreon and message me.


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The evolution of blog
- By Babyslime
- 10 October, 2012
- 39 Comments
I've been blogging in one form or another since '99, and began my journey on a site almost no one has ever heard of called [ Open Diary ]. In fact a mirror of my blog still exists there today, and continues to be updated because I can't bring myself to leave the site for sake of a sense of nostalgia and loyalty.
After a few false starts and a lot of lurking, sometime late that year I finally decided to create my first official diary and write in it regularly. It was just prior to Curtis moving to Canada, and was some months following what I then considered one of the worst things to ever happen in my life: my first pregnancy, and subsequent miscarriage. I was under a lot of stress and was in the midst of that simultaneously terrifying and exciting experience of learning to live after dragging myself out of a lifetime of serious mental illness, medical mismanagement and institutional abuse… so I was really in need of some form of personal therapy.
I only decided to start this diary after a close friend pushed me to; she had created her own a few months earlier and felt like it was a really good medium for journaling. She had all of one or two readers, and no regular noters, and this was the case for most of the people on the site. The community was quite small and still growing, and blogging itself wasn't really that big yet so no one was starting one simply for the sake of numbers; it was about being able to release your shit out into the universe. And maybe even find a kindred spirit or two.
So, I started writing. I wrote about my feelings of loss and how badly I wanted children. I wrote about recovery from mental illness and my past suicide attempts. I wrote about my mom's health, about the supersized household I lived in with most of my family, and ongoing attempt to repair my relationship with my father. I wrote about being desperately in love with the man I wanted to spend my life with, and feeling confused about my sexuality after a lifetime of being solely attracted to women (although, I tended to write that part rather coded). I wrote about primary infertility and the fears I had about never bearing healthy children due to pituitary dwarfism, and all the problems that come with it.
At first no one read or commented other than the friend who brought me there in the first place, but slowly I began to meet more people and find other people to read, some of whom even had struggles very similar to mine. More readers meant more friends and more cool people to meet… but it also meant I attracted the odd critic or troll who felt uncomfortable or threatened by the topics I wrote about. My first memorable experience with this was with someone who opened up an entirely new journal for no other purpose than to write entries about how I should not have children because I had a history of mental illness, depression and trauma. I was told I was insane and deserved to live out my life in an institution. I was told my boyfriend didn't really love me, and that I didn't really love him. I was told I was ugly, crazy, selfish, stupid and a faker. I got called a faker often in the beginning: it was definitely the insult of choice on that site and most diarists got it from time to time no matter how much, or little, they shared. Not to excuse the behavior, as I don't think trolling people is excusable for any reason, but some of the accusations probably came from the fact that I had not yet found my blogging rhythm. I didn't know how to journal in a story-telling format, with history and context woven in, which made my life difficult to follow. Various people, events, or important facts would pop up at random times; stories would be mentioned in passing and then condensed or fleshed out months later for no other reason than I didn't think about it. I didn't need the context because it was my own life, so I didn't provide it. It took a few years for me to adjust to this and get better at writing for myself, while also being aware that there was an audience listening. Once I got developed a blogging style, the 'faker' trolling all but disappeared and I was able to really, truly enjoy having a blog.
The handful of friends and site regulars who read and commented stayed the same for years and years, all the way up until 2005 when Jericho died. Then it exploded. I have no idea if these people were there all along reading quietly, or thousands were referred by others and then decided to stick around.
Gifts and donations started pouring in along with overwhelming support and love for me and my family. Groups of amazing people banded together to create very special gifts that were truly made from their hearts. These things meant the world to me during a very dark time: I felt like I wasn't alone, and I will cherish not only those gifts but also every kind word and shared story for as long as I live.
For the first time I had a real audience, and some amount of infamy, and it was amazing as it was to feel that love and support… it was also kind of frightening. I no longer had the ability to befriend every regular, reply to every note or email or message, and even reading through them every day was something I had to schedule in. Still, it was overwhelmingly positive.
Now, along with the newfound fame there was a small, but notable, surge of two different types of "bad" readers. The first is obvious: the troll. The more popular someone becomes in a circle, the cooler some people will feel when they loudly and publicly express how much they don't like that person. You don't get any cool points for disliking a random stranger, but you can feel like you're badass when you troll someone that you believe everyone else loves. Because really, what's the point of grumbling about it if no one sees how epicly nonconformist you are? Saying, "I hate John from the grocery store" just doesn't hold the same value as saying, "I hate Sandra Bullock, she's phony and unattractive" when you're trying to feel better about yourself and impress people.
The other type is the obsessive fangirl. This type of reader goes way beyond seeing the blogger as a cool person they like, and instead sees them as a character; an identity or an idea rather than a living, feeling human being who is actually experiencing the things they write about. It's like getting attached to a character on your favourite TV show. So when this person feels their favourite character is not doing what they want, or expect, them to do; or they feel like they're not getting enough fanservice… they throw tantrums or write in and complain.
I find these kinds of people a lot worse than trolls. Trolling is predictable and mundane, but these people can get really fucking creepy.
Fortunately the latter doesn't happen that often, maybe once every couple of months… but sometimes there are changes, events or topics that I write about that seem to set these people off. This is particularly true with life events that I write about over long periods of time, or broken up over several entries. While it may not seem like it I'm actually not that much of a share-er, and have an extremely difficult time leaning on people, asking for support or even admitting (let alone discussing) issues that feel stressful or overwhelming. While it's happening I'm usually very quiet, and only talk about it or reach out once I've distanced myself from it enough that it is no longer big and scary (so, pretty much only when I no longer need said support). The thing is that during these times I'm still feeling the need to express myself and write about it because it's therapeutic – I need that – but I'm not ready to go into every detail yet. The compromise is being vague or cryptic as I talk myself through it, or just plain leave shit out when it's pretty obvious there's more going on.
Most readers are normal people and understand this without an explanation: they offer support, love or share their own stories and goings on as part of helping another. Or they just read along quietly.
And then some people aren't like that. They'll act like these kinds of entries are cliffhangers, or maybe poorly written episodes of a sitcom with giant gaping plot holes. And they want – nay, are entitled to – a full explanation. They paid their cable bill, so where's the goods? They want this given to them in the form of extra details, information or context that I'm clearly not ready (or willing) to give out. Some just ask and then leave it alone, which is fine; but others harass, insult, threaten, bribe or otherwise try to force me outside my comfort zone so they can feel more satisfied with what's going on in my life or the lives of people around me.
When this happens, and people get pushy, I push back. I set boundaries, and I enforce them. This is what had to happen in regards to Marika's baby's name. She has a name, but Marika hasn't publicly announced it, and I'm not going to be doing that before she's ready, nor am I going to be knocking on her door every day telling her that people on the internet are impatient with her and geez, could you fucking hurry yourself for their sake?
And like I said, 95% of you are normal people, there's just an increasingly dipshitty 5% that are getting increasingly aggressive and inappropriate about it.
This is the bottom line when it comes to this kind of thing:
My family and I are not characters on a TV show. We doesn't have writers, or character arcs, or a media campaign promoting life events that reminds us how important it is to keep the audience satisfied by giving them what they want.
Being curious, being interested, being impatient or even feeling emotionally invested in the life of a blogger you really enjoy reading is cool. Feeling close to that person (even if you don't know them personally), wanting to know what's going on in their life or becoming friends with them, is cool. Being excited, or sad, or happy or scared for them is cool. Feeling intense feelings about events in their life, or feeling like you *totally get them* is cool too. Expressing that in an appropriate way is cool. That makes you a totally normal person. I like these people, and I like hearing from them.
Being the kind of person who is kind and generous and wants to help friends, family or even perfect strangers feel better about shitty situations is even more cool: that makes you an awesome person! Do you give money to homeless people? Yay! Do you give to charity? Yay! Do you give your gently used clothes and household supplies to thrift store or shelters? Double yay! Do you donate to tiny fundraisers designed to help teen moms realize they're loved and supported even when their insane family members have practically disowned them? Triple yay! That makes you a kickass person!
But… do you then feel that the people you were kind to – especially if they're strangers – now owe you things; like personal information, friendship, gifts, sex or anything else? Not fucking cool.
Be a kind person and do kind things because you want to put kindness out into the universe, don't do it as a bribe. Regardless of how public someone's life is, and no matter what you give them (be it nice comments, your subscription, gifts, or even financial support) they do not owe you anything, nor should they. That's not how being kind works.
Thanking someone for their contribution and nice act is polite, but really we're not even owed that and shouldn't require it in order to be nice to others. And if you're the kind of person who feels like you are entitled to things in return… OR ELSE… is a really shitty thing to do to people regardless of the situation.
This is a really good example of "Mr. Nice Guy" syndrome: the way some young men believe they're sooooo nice and just don't get why the girls they fawn over, obsess over and blatantly disrespect the wants, needs, and personal boundaries of aren't throw themselves at them in return. (Hint: it's because the guy wasn't nice. He's a narcissistic selfish sexist creep).
And just like those girls are not machines you can put kindness tokens into until sex falls out, bloggers are not machines you can put kindness tokens into until friendship falls out.
Those who contributed to helping a young woman feel supported and beloved in a time of need: you're awesome, thanks for that. As was said in a previous post, it moved her to tears and she'll never forget it as long as she lives. I hope she continues to only have positive associations with it. But just because you contributed, or read regularly, or leave supportive comments to me or to her doesn't mean you're somehow invited to be inside our personal boundaries and get to act aggressive, rude and nasty about getting information you feel you're "owed".
So really, if that is something you identify with then you're an entitled dipshit, and you won't be missed.
I'm an oversharer, and I like myself that way, but that doesn't mean I am devoid of boundaries. I do have them, and when I feel like people are pushing me too far, I will enforce them. Period.
Even if you sent me a lovely card after my son died. Even if you contributed to a gift for my sister. Even if you bought something from me. Even if you know me in real life and are my best and closest friend… I will not "owe" you information that I am not comfortable giving out. And my saying so is not an invitation to insult, stalk or harass me until you get what you want. I'm a real live person behind this blog.
I appreciate the continued support of all the rest of you guys: you're awesome friends, you write awesome blogs, you're super nice readers and generally cool people and it's really sad that these few assholes are ruining it for everyone else and making something as joyous as naming a baby become awkward and creepy. Hopefully these few people will realize they're being entitled fucks by demanding that because they contributed to a kind gift, they deserve to get information out of Marika regardless of her desire to give it; and instead back off so we can get back to celebrating a new little life and just enjoy the cuteness.
The stupidest part out of all of this is that she doesn't have a problem sharing: she's just not announced it publicly and I'm not going to rob her of that by doing it first.
I can only hope these people don't treat others in their lives like this as well, I imagine it wouldn't work out too well for them in the real world either.
39 Comments
I have primarily been a lurker, from early on in LJ. I enjoy reading your blog, because you write it extremely well and put thought into the contents. I also enjoy it because you sound real when you write. You don't try to sugar coat everything into a "my life it so effing perfect, worship me, blog". I find alot of what you write to be informative and I always look forward to reading it. I am glad that you chose to share parts of your life with us, and I love when your pictures bring a smile to my face. I know you don't share everything with the public, but that is YOUR choice, and nobody elses. Not sure when someone would get upset over that fact. I think perhaps some people(haters) get jealous because no matter what is going on in your life, you take it in stride and keep on going. A lot of people would throw themselves a pity party instead of embracing that this is life and deal with it.
It's disgusting that some people have twisted this baby naming experience into a kind of tug-of-war. I'm sure you're shielding your sister from it as much as possible, but you shouldn't have to deal with angry demands from strangers in the first place. I suppose the only whoopee in that prickly cushion is that their 'need' to know is motivated by their excitement about the baby. I hope.
Well, I found you because of the trolls. Someone was writing about how much they hate you, I came to read your site to see how "horrible" it all was, and I found out you were really awesome. I'm still reading you years later and I have NO IDEA whose site I was reading when I found out about you anymore. 🙂
I've admittedly been a bad reader of just about everybody lately. But I do see updates here and there. And I'm baffled as to why anybody would be noseying about a child's name that isn't even yours. What, is there a vault of names that you're keeping to yourself? It's not even that big of a secret – you post your own kids names. It's just none of THEIR business. I see, "yet-unnamed-child" and think, "Oh, guess Marika didn't think of a name yet." I don't think, "UNNAMED? WHAT KIND OF HOLY GRAIL IS SHE HOLDING OUT?"
To think that people are "only" reading you in the past couple years just seems unfair to me. I've been reading you since Tempest was pretty much born. That is to say, remember that Timmy loves you.
This is PERFECT, I was referred to this post by a friend of mine and this is a very excellent perspective. I've had a few diaries opened just for lil ol me with no other purpose but to berate and attempt to beat me down for whatever little "infraction" I ever committed. It was to the point that someone from that site actually found my ex-husband on Facebook and emailed him about their "concerns" for my son and how I was an unfit mother (my son is special needs, I am a single mom, I am a full-time student and I STILL have the time to bring him to various therapies each and every week). I thank you for your openness and honesty and for sharing. I did read you around the time Jericho died because I remember identifying with you over my own daughter's death. I'm glad to know there are other women out there like me, dealing with all this insanity there is to be dealt with as moms and wives and just being a woman period. So again, thank you ma'am.
I can't believe people are being such dicks about a name. This isn't Marika's blog, it's Heather's blog. It's Marika's choice whether or not to share information, what information, and when. Also, I need to point out that it's *just* a name. What is with everyone saying stuff like "I'm just DYING to know! I've been waaaaaaiiittiiiiiiiing…" Chill the fuck out, people. It's kinda freaking me out that people are taking it so personally. If it affects you that badly, you need help. We are already given a huge window into these people lives. Thank you, Heather, for sharing so much about you and your family with the world. Reading your blog is like riding an emotional roller coaster and learning some things along the way.
Ive been here pretty much from the start and we have shared a lot.
It sad that you felt you had to write this, but every word of it is true. You don't owe us anything.
I feel lucky you have opened up and let us into your life. That in itself is a huge step and to think we did that many years ago in '99.
it seems like people think of you as a celebrity…. and we've seen how celebrities are treated. (Britney Spears, etc.) I'll admit, I do read your blog a lot, but it would never occur to me to think that you "owe" me (or anyone else, for that matter) any kind of information about your life.
You have chronicled a really weird dynamic here, Heather, and I really appreciate the insight, as I have your whole blog-voice, and honesty from when I started reading you on OD. You are an inspiring person to read, and I guess that does get weird sometimes. It's a glimpse into the mindset of the stalker fan, and I had not really thought about it before. Great post!
Just another "quiet reader" logging on to say an amen to your right, and your family's right, to set boundaries and to defend those boundaries aggressively (gasp!) when necessary. That is basic human privilege, not a delicate matter for diplomacy and honeyed words.
You are a gifted diarist. The fact that you share your diary with strangers is, in turn, a gift to those of us who read along. Thank you for that.
Ahh! I'm so sad for you in this. Drama sucks.
I've been a long-time lurker, ever since my first pregnancy in 2005. You were so supportive on the various LJ communities, and I was so thankful to have a kind voice and page to turn to in my time of learning how to be a mother. Your journal was the first one I read in which it seemed normal to breastfeed and cosleep! <3
I thank you for being so open about your lives, both in the good times and the hard times. You see, when a friend of mine lost her child in childbirth the year after after Jericho's birth … I felt like I'd seen it before and knew what I might want to say, instead of being frozen in fear of saying the wrong thing. I knew she might want to talk about the baby, and I knew it was okay to encourage her to open up. She now has moved through that heartbreaking loss and turned her energies toward doing wonderful things for women who have babies in the NICU and who have experienced pregnancy loss. I'm happy to have been there for her while she worked to move through the heartbreak to make the world a better place for other women, and I feel like in a some ways, your blog may have helped to bring that about. So thank you.
Enjoy the kids and the babies. I certainly enjoy reading about them. I hope the drama settles down soon. <3
Adding my voice to the choir: I've been a reader of yours on LJ (where I'm autodidactress) since '05 and I think it's fantastic and admirable how you let us in on what you let us in on. In the midst of increased "niche blogging", you continued to be a shining example of what blogging originally was: chronicle your life.
My only thoughts on baby's name were, "Ooh, wonder what it's going to be" and it didn't even OCCUR to me to ask because history has demonstrated that you will always tell us when you feel it's right to tell. If you were a close personal friend of mine, I might have asked but I guess I see the boundary as obvious: I'm the observer, you share what you share and you don't what you don't.
In any event, haters gonna do what they do best: hate. Tell it like it is, you owe us nothing.
I have been following you since around the Time you had Jericho. I love your openness and can relate to many of the things you talk about. I have been mostly quiet but I do read every entry you write. I hope others dont ruin it for everyone else.
Been reading on LJ since Jericho's death. I've cried, I've laughed, I've become angry over Krazy, I've lit candles and immensely enjoy watching the kids grow up, and into themselves. Keep being you Heather, you're the very best you there is!!!
I am surprised and disturbed that the behavior of people has caused you to feel that a post like this was necessary. No one, regardless of how publicly or privately they live their lives, deserves to be harassed at any time. I will admit to being one of the "silent readers" I've commented occasionally and have been following you from Open Diary. I have always followed your posts closely, but recently I have stared to pay even more attention.
See, I never thought that I would have children. Not only did I believe that it was just not something that was meant to happen (and so had myself convinced I really didn't want it anyway), but numerous doctors told me that my body was so abnormal (one gyno referred to my cervix as more tilted than rides at an amusement park) that physically having children would not be possible.
After 30 years I found the love of my life and we were married in April. I am 3 1/2 months pregnant this week. It's terrifying to me to be experiencing something that for so long I never thought I could have and so never let myself want. I waffle between feeling surreal and unsure and being obsessive about every aspect. Reading your posts about pregnancy, the good and the bad, and seeing the loving way you talk about and present birth makes me feel less scared, more confident, and excited about both my pregnancy and the birth.
As a complete stranger I never wanted to come across as creepy, but I thank you for that. For sharing your stories and those of others brave enough to voice them. Thank you for you compassion and your insight.
That was a rather long way for me to say that I am sorry that you are dealing with this.
I have been such a lurker of yours since your OD days, about the time when you were pregnant with Jericho and even though there were many times I was curious about what was happening between the lines, it never once occured to me to bombard you with questions about your life. As it is, your blog already gives me such insight to a life I would never have known and that is plenty enough.
Having said that, your blog has not only inspired me to be an advocate for birth and breastfeeding, but it has taught me so much about growing up and motherhood (I think i was 18 when I started reading you, I am now 24) and I am so grateful to you for that, even though I rarely comment on your posts, I have asked the occasional tumblr question. I feel blessed for even having such a tiny look into your life because basically, you are pretty rad.
🙂 Sorry some other poeple are such assholes.
um…yeah that's really creepy. 0_o
i'm also down with more photos of serendipity…my face just about exploded with love over that picture of zephyra holding her…
I've been reading your blog since about 2004/2005 when I was in university- I credit you with being the reason I was so adamantly pro cloth diapering, breastfeeding and moving towards a natural lifestyle. I have cried, laughed, felt sick and elated, all on your behalf. You don't OWE me anything though- I am just happy to read from afar and although I feel emotionally invested in your family if you decided to stop posting I would be sad but respectful.
I am kind of excited by the mystery name- I can't wait to hear it but am totally willing to wait it out, even if it never comes!
Thank you so much for allowing us a glimpse into your life and the lives of your family, your beautiful words on the page and your authenticity.
I was probably one of the ones who delurked on OD after Jericho died. I've been reading you since you were pregnant with Tempest, but I don't note or comment often, just because I figure you get so many notes, etc., that I don't want to contribute to the noise.
That said, you owe me nothing. 🙂 Marika owes me nothing. Neither does anyone whose cause I've contributed to.
I just love reading about your life and family and thoughts, and that's enough.
Whenever Babygirl 's name is announced, I'll cheer for it. Until then, I'm glad to know she's happy and healthy, and that Krazy is staying the fuck away.
I'm sorry people are being that insensitive. I agree with the first noter, how about more pictures of Serendipity as well as Chloe and D'Argo?
Oh my. I have not been around much and did not realize there was so much drama going on! I was a little hesitant to offer to send a gift, since I did not want to seem presumptuous…I am glad that you allowed me to send something and that you found a way you felt comfortable doing so by getting a PO box. Honestly, though I would not have been in the least offended if you had said, "Really, nice gesture, but cash is what she needs." And I never expect anything in return when I send a gift. Otherwise it is not a gift!!! Name, shmame. Lots of people never reveal the real names of their family members, just always use code names. What is the big deal?
I have been reading your diary/blog/journal since… well, since before Tempest, I believe. I've also been a part of the online journaling community since late 1999 in various iterations (that I prefer to keep hidden). I can't believe people are demanding information from you. You don't owe anyone anything.
I will admit, I was delighted to see your post that Marika's baby was here and mother and baby were both healthy. I was looking forward to that information. Did you owe it to me? No. But it was nice to see. But anything that you share is your choice and people should understand that.
(Though I'm glad to hear that the baby has a name.)
I've been following some of this drama on Tumblr and I just… I honestly just can't comprehend how people could be such asshats. I have always respected you greatly, and your response to the entitlement bitches only makes me respect you even more.
… Besides, I don't understand why nobody's bugging you for more photos of Serendipity. Who cares about a name? 😉
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Hello everyone, just wondering who has any early Swift D hydro's or knows about them. Hopefully mine will be my next restoration. The history on it I do not know. But what I do know is that when I looked at it, my thoughts are that it is in good shape and did not see much use and should be a nice restoration, or should I say preservation for this one to do. The one thing that I could not figure out and had me confused about it was the 15" transom that looked original. That concern was put to rest when my first phone call about it was to Dick ODea and explained it to him. He had the answer right away, he informed me that it was one of the very early ones that was made for the KG9Q motors. A very interesting thing I notice was where the drains are located. I was also told that was common on the early ones.
Anyone have any pictures of these early ones?


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When the leaves are no longer on the trees, we switch from fall to holiday season in just one week! I do enjoy taking holiday family portraits because there is something very warm and sweet about them. We took these holiday pictures at one of my favorite spots this time a year, The Old Lucketts Vintage Store. Such a fun place to visit with a tone of photo opportunity spots. Plus the stores are on point with farm house vintage decor.
I love this family because of the personalities of these lovely girls. The older sister loves to tell me all about her age and her birthday and everything she loves to play with. I love kids, so I love to hear what they have to say. And the little sister makes THE CUTEST FACE when her daddy is singing a Christmas song. Loved it!


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The professional program leading to the MSW degree prepares social workers for advanced professional social work practice. The program is designed to prepare social workers to be capable of responding effectively to the needs of special populations, particularly in the American Southwest.The Master of Social Work program is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education.
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Local TV programme Carte Blanche did a documentary about vet bills which received a very big response in the media.
"Rip-off or specialist service? Do specialist equipment and long hours justify what many animal lovers perceive to be excessively high veterinary charges? Is R800 to accommodate a hamster overnight reasonable? What about R2 000 for a sterilisation? Vets tell us how they justify seemingly high costs. "
Many vets around South Africa felt that this documentary was one sided, and here are extracts of 2 vets' feedback in response to the Carte Blanche Video:
Mike Hardwich, author of the veterinary memoirs THE LION AND THE LAMB and THE RHINO AND THE RAT
Reaction to last night's CARTE BLANCHE
Posted on August 4, 2014
Last evening we, the vets of South Africa, were subjected to a documentary on Carte Blanche that one-sidedly castigated the veterinary profession for excessive fees. I found this interesting but very uninformative; it considered Ashley Hayden's experience with a particular practice. Nothing was said about any number of practices that work long hours for very little reward. The vet is also required to be on duty 24/7 and will surely hear from the client should the phone not be answered immediately and the response be exactly what the client wanted to hear. Also many of the examples were from the Veterinary Specialist Hospitals and did not show the normal run of the mill practices.
Are the public being reasonable in their attitude and has Carte Blanche realistically portrayed the veterinary profession? Let's try and answer some of the many questions posed from that program.
When wanting to become a vet, is the public fully aware of what is required? I doubt it. The veterinary faculty in South Africa has in excess of three thousand applicants annually for about 200 places. This means that the first requirement is probably straight A's in matric and that will certainly not guarantee you a place. I have had an extremely bright student working in my practice who was the top Honours student at the University of Natal last year and she only got in when another student failed to arrive! Yes and Falon has a four year degree with distinction.
So the students who start out to be vets are the academic cream; probably brighter than all the other professions.
They then go through a five and a half year grilling – yes, no other degree has a larger subject content than veterinary science. For five and a half years they are repeatedly tested on every aspect of the chosen degree with very little free board for lack of knowledge.
I have been an external examiner for the final year students for many years and I have seen final year students break down completely in oral exams; they don't do this because they lack the knowledge required but because they are exhausted after those five and a half years and have been brought to their knees by the demands.
And then they are freed into the big wide world; the embryo has been born and is now trying to make a way and grow into a useful servant of the public.
The first client that enters the clinic will demand of them from day one until the day they retire. And they will probably start on the long journey of paying back half a million rand of university fees. In my case it took me 13 years to settle my student loans.
That the work is enjoyable is not questionable and further more the variety makes veterinary science probably one of the broadest professions – but also probably the worst paid profession after teachers.
That the clients are enjoyable is probably debatable and this negativity results from very few who believe or behave differently. We have very many clients who I would not change for anything; their presence is always very welcome and treating the pets is rewarding even when outcomes are not always as expected; we are in these cases working as a team and that is always rewarding. Then there are the exact opposites who bring the animals in, in dire straits and demand immediate one-off cures.
What is expected of the vet? This is something I am sure is answered differently by each client. Some want to get into the surgery and out again in the shortest possible time; others want everything checked and a thorough job done – most vets would prefer the latter because it leaves little doubt in the end and that is important. When half jobs are done it is mainly because the owners are reluctant to spend the money. This is a problem for the vet because the comeback can be severe and in these times the legal repercussions can be costly in both time and money. I recall discussing this with a gynaecologist who stated that he could never be a vet because there was always an end point – 'put it down'.
The Veterinary Council also dictates to every vet registered and this dictation includes things such as services available, buildings, signage, hours and quality of work. In many instances these requirements exceed those of the majority of clients so the vets are often doing much more than you would require of them.
What do most clinics own? Not sure if anyone has thought about this but a reasonably equipped clinic would have an asset base well in excess of R500,000 excluding buildings and drug register. An x-ray machine is not designed specifically for animals so there is no difference in the cost of the human machine and one for animals; the endoscopes, ultrasounds, anaesthetic machines, surgical equipment, sterilizing equipment etc. are all the same. And vets are expected to charge less for the operations they perform.
What about skills? Most people would not question their doctor's ability and know full well that they would be referred to a specialist if the doctor felt the need. Yes there are now veterinary specialists who will do the intricate procedures but the 'average' vet still does the sterilizations, bone pinnings and cruciate ligament repairs. If your wife was due for a hysterectomy what would you expect to pay? And yet your vet is expensive when he charges R1500 for the same procedure! And what if the animal is a tiny marmoset or rabbit? Less or more? The smaller the animal the more difficult the anaesthetic so that should be more; the surgery is virtually microsurgery – operating on an eye requires extreme skill and one would expect to pay more for this skill. So why must a small animal be less than the Great Dane?
The bull or the lion that needs attention both pose significant risk to the vet; should he be adequately compensated for the risk? Well many boerbuls and Rottweilers are just as dangerous – should the vet charge accordingly? Are you, the owner of the animal, going to pay the vet's medical bill when he is torn apart? No, you will say he is trained to do that and it's his fault if it happens. That's fine but then he deserves danger pay in advance of the procedure!
What about 'rescue' animals and animal welfare organisations? Many of these well meaning people cause vets plenty of problems. One lady, new to my practice, came in asking if we would give her a deduction 'because all the animals were rescued'. Now really; if you rescue the pet do you honestly believe that you deserve a reduced fee? After all it was your decision to get a rescue animal anyway. Must the vet now pay because the animal is a rescue? I find this very difficult to deal with.
And the welfare organisations? Many of these are totally above board and the vets do give them significantly reduced fees but this also often comes with inconceivable problems particularly where the organisations are a little less than ethical. You find yourself working on animals that belong to people who can afford the treatment but the 'organisation' is doing the friend a favour or the person has filled in an alimony form despite driving the best Merc available. And in real terms who fits the bill; the vet!
And what about the brazen lady who came in to my practice for the first time and her opening gambit was "Do you give pensioners a discount?" She was about 45 years old. When I said yes she then asked that all her animals be put on her mother's account because her mother was a pensioner!
The veterinary profession is well known for its empathy and I feel that this is perhaps our strongest point when it comes to vet : client relationship – no doctor puts down his patients and most doctors are not available 24/7. No doctors are asked to take in children to see if they want to be 'doctors' – this is all common in vet practice. And what about the people who are going on leave and ask that the vet look after any medical problems their pets might have whilst they are away and we will 'sort you out when we get back'. Has any vet ever refused that or asked for a deposit? And try the stress of putting down some loving person's furry child!
A further well known fact is that if an animal dies whilst in hospital the vet can sing for his money. This is why many of the bigger practices and after hour clinics demand significant deposits before treating the animal. Who created this problem? The vet or the animal owner? Don't condemn the vet for being strict about this. If you asked the vet to put his hand in a fire and he did this, you would laugh at him if he did it a second time! That you as the owner have been caught short because the animal fell ill or had an accident at the wrong time is not the vets fault yet you want him to carry the can. How many after hours caesarean sections go unpaid until the pups are sold! So the vet must now finance the backyard animal breeding programs! And when the pups don't sell once again the vet is singing in the collection choir!
I don't think that there are many vets that dislike their jobs but there is one very significant aspect that you, the client, need evaluate and that is that the vet profession has the highest number of suicides of all the professions and the SA Vet Association has dedicated vets to help colleagues through difficult times; those times are most often not financial but personal due to the extremely stressful nature of our work.
The pet that dies unexpectedly, the euthanasia of a dear friend and client's dog, the long hours and the extremely high demands made all add to this – are you doing your share to add to the numbers of suicides? Or do you assist the vet by being reasonable and affording him an acceptable standard of living and seeing his children educated. Oh and a nice car and house would also help as in many instances there is little chance of a comfortable retirement! The average age of rural practitioners has increased dramatically in the recent past and this is due to no young vets being too keen on a life of relative hardship with a poor chance of adequate financial reward ever!
And my closing story:
An extremely well dressed young lady, maybe in her early 30's, came in and asked if I could check her dog's ears. The dog was a beautiful, well manicured and clipped white Poodle. Yes it had a bow in its hair and smelt wonderful. It had spent the previous day at the parlour and the person who had groomed it told the owner to have the ears seen to.
On examination the little dog's ears were in a shocking state and needed an ear lavage.
The poodle would not allow me anywhere near so I took the dog into the clinic and after tranquilisation managed to clean the ears meticulously.
That evening the young lady called for her dog but took a step backwards when the account was just over R1000. She paid.
The next day I got an e-mail thanking me for the work done but she stated that I had destroyed her month and could I please give her R800 back and she would pay off the rest over the next few months!
Did she ask that of her hair stylist; or her clothing company or possibly where she purchased her expensive perfume? And if she did, did they agree? I somehow doubt it. So maybe vets are just fair game and if that is the case it is probably our own fault for being too apologetic for our fees in the first place!
Another public letter that went viral on the internet is a response from Dr Kathryn Knipe (BVSc):
Hi Guys, here's my Carte Blanche letter that prompted tomorrow's interview, am nervous as anything, just hoping to give an accurate representation of what vets are really about.
I would like to tell you a story about exorbitant vet bills…
There was a request that people submit their stories regarding exorbitant vet bills. I would like to request that when these stories are evaluated, the following be borne in mind.
Firstly, I do not believe that it is fair to include stories that are related to diseases that the owner of the animal could easily have prevented. A bill at a private veterinarian for parvo-virus infection can run up to R5000-R10000 depending on how long it takes for the animal to get better.
This disease is preventable if the owner has taken his/her pet for the appropriate vaccinations at the correct time and if the mother had appropriate immunity (in other words, if the animal had been purchased from a reputable breeder with up-to-date vaccinations for the bitches in his care).
The same is true of distemper virus infection. Also, if the individual accepts that the first vaccination was administered by an unqualified person, such as a breeder, and not a qualified animal health technician, nurse or vet, they must accept that the vaccination may not have been administered correctly and that the dog or cat may still fall ill.
Did you know that many of the companies that supply veterinarians with vaccines, will pay the vet bills in full for suspected vaccine failure? However, for them to do so, the vaccinations need to be administered by a qualified individual. The packaging for dog and cat vaccines clearly states that the vaccine may only be administered by a qualified person. Therefore, if these conditions were not met, the owner (and the irresponsible "breeder", a better description would be puppy or kitten farmer) is responsible for the animal falling ill.
Another such condition is tick-bite fever or babesiosis, along with ehrlichiosis that it is commonly accompanied by. The only way to prevent the disease from being contracted, is by preventing the ticks from attaching to the dog or cat, by applying an appropriate antiparisitic/arcaricidal product. It is the responsibility of every pet owner to prevent their pets from becoming parasite-infested.
Dogs and cats that are not sterilized are far more likely to be wandering the streets after escaping from their homes, as well as more likely to fight with one another at home. This leads to these animals being more likely to be hit by motor vehicles, get into fights with other animals as well as contract certain diseases such as Feline Immunodeficiency Virus in cats and Transmissible Venereal Tumour Virus in dogs.
Sterilized female dogs are also at significantly reduced risk of contracting mammary gland cancer and due to the removal of their uterus, are also not able to develop a pyometra (uterus infection which is life-threatening). Additionally, most large cities have bylaws stating that it is illegal to keep a sexually intact animal on your property without being a breeder registered with KUSA or a similar governing body, and without permission from the council. Therefore pet owners who do not have their pets sterilized at the onset of puberty, are not only in many cases breaking the law, but are choosing to gamble their pet's health and welfare.
Nowadays, with the large variety of breeds that are being manufactured and in some cases even designed to cater to the growing demand, we are finding a significant increase in the number or diseases that are directly breed-related, as well as many that are genetic defects (bred into animals by breeders/puppy-farmers who do not exclude animals with genetic faults from their breeding program and then sell these resultant litters to uninformed clients).
I also will clearly exclude congenital defects that are not passed along are poor breeding. Many of these diseases are then further exacerbated by individuals feeding their pets the lowest quality pet food they can find. You cannot possibly expect a puppy (especially one predisposed to musculo-skeletal deformities) to grow a healthy skeleton when fed saw-dust, chicken litter and mielies. Dogs and cats need a source of high quality animal protein to develop as well as live a healthy life. I urge you to do a program on what is actually inside commercially-available dog and cat food.
You will find that supermarket foods contain mostly down-graded ("unfit for human consumption") cereals, left-over skins, pips and rinds from vegetables used for human food production, rendered fat from slaughterhouses, hoof meal, bone meal, feather meal and excessive amounts of salt which are harmful to animals with pre-existing heart and kidney disease. We know that humans that eat healthy, balanced diets, live longer, healthier lives.
So if we expect our pets to be healthy, we should be feeding them high quality, nutritionally-complete and balanced diets. Supermarket pet foods do not meet this criteria, however pet owners choose to feed their pets these "cardboard diets" as that is the value that they attach to their pet's health and welfare.
I give all pet owners that enter the veterinary practice I work at, the same speech, I probably recite it ten times a day:"These are the four things that you can do to keep your pet healthy and avoid seeing me".
I tell clients this to try to drive the point home that veterinary care costs money and that I would like for their pet to stay healthy and not have to see me, except for vaccinations, than for their pet to fall ill and cost them thousands. Make no mistake, we make far more money off a sick animal requiring our expertise than we do off a healthy animal coming for an annual vaccination!
But preventative or primary veterinary keep is what I strive for, in order to keep animals healthy, rather than line my pockets (or those of my boss more accurately).
Now we have established that pet owners can take certain precautions to prevent their pets from falling ill and incurring the resultant vet bill. It is the same as us taking our vehicles for services and checking and filling the oil and water on our cars to prevent them from breaking down.
But sometimes animals fall ill regardless of our best efforts to keep them healthy. Did you know that there are at least 3 or 4 companies that supply pet health insurance? This puts an owner in a position to be able to provide their pet with the necessary veterinary care should the unthinkable happen. This fact, I also communicate to clients on a daily basis and again pet owners choose to gamble that their pet will not fall ill because they are not willing to commit any of their money to their pet's health.
Now that we have established that pet owners are offered a variety of methods with which to not only avoid their pets falling ill, but also to assist them with covering vet bills, we can move on to the point where we realise that owning a pet is not a right, it's a privilege. It is far too easy for any (I dare say even well-meaning) individual to simply acquire a pet. The truth is that a pet will require veterinary care, whether it's an operation, vaccination, parasite-control or euthanasia.
Just as we cannot buy a motor vehicle and then go cry outside the dealership when it runs out of petrol or breaks down, it is not the responsibility of a vet to care for every animal that a person feels that they have the right to own. All individuals that acquire an animal, should have the common sense to realise that they are responsible for their pet's welfare and that drugs, x-rays, anaesthetic and veterinary degrees do not rain down out of the heavens, we have to pay for them.
Now let's address the exorbitant vet bills.
Firstly, I implore you to compare these exorbitant vet bills that individuals are likely to present as evidence, firstly with the recommended veterinary rates as prescribed by the South African Veterinary Council (to which veterinarians are legally obligated to belong to in order to practice veterinary medicine in South Africa and by whose laws we are bound to operate) and secondly with bills from private hospitals for comparable procedures and treatments.
Why should you compare it to human hospital bills?
Firstly, our expenses are no less than a human hospital would incur just because we are treating animals. The Joburg city council doesn't charge our clinic less for electricity to light our theaters or autoclave our instruments just because we are servicing animal patients and not human ones.
We don't pay lower rates and taxes. We don't pay less for water. We don't get discounts on properties to house our practices. We have to pay all the regular taxes and levies expected of all other businesses. Furthermore, we do not use sub-standard equipment. There is no discount intravenous anaesthetic for animal use, no super cheap suture materials, surgical instruments, intravenous fluids, administration sets, syringes, needles, intravenous catheters etc. made cheap especially for us because we service animal patients and not human patients.
Unlike a gp, we also have to keep a fully-stocked dispensary, as a matter of both necessity as well as convenience for our clients (who then subsequently write letters to your program about how overpriced our services are).
And that brings me to our services. Did you know that I studied for a year longer than a gp in order to be able to practice veterinary medicine. I did not get to pay less for my university fees because I was learning to treat an animal and not a human. I did not get paid for my year spent gaining practical experience, I had to pay for the privilege of working for the Onderstepoort Academic hospital for a year of my life. Now, not only do we study for longer than a general medical practitioner, we are also expected to be able to do all veterinary work. We do dental work, internal medicine work, orthopaedic as well as soft-tissue surgery, gynaecology and obstetrics, nutrition, radiology, anaesthesiology and laboratory work to mention but a few.
The vast majority of veterinarians is expected to excel in every field of expertise by our clients (again, the same ones that are writing you letters about our exorbitant fees). We therefore have a significantly larger skill-set than your out-of-university gp, and we are then bullied for asking the same professional fees. And on top of that, the general cost of seeing a veterinarian is still lower than calling out unqualified plumber to your home.
And not nearly as high as costs of lawyers, accountants, personal trainers and a multitude of other professionals that individuals happily dish out money to that are not providing as skilled a service as a veterinarian. We are expected to work for free because we love animals, but the love of animals doesn't pay our bills, our student loans, our homes or our vehicles that we need to drive out to house-calls.
Then also bare in mind, that veterinarians are expected to be able to practice all veterinary procedures, diagnose and treat all diseases in at least 5 separate species of animals by the time we leave university. At the risk of stating the obvious, all animals do not contract the same diseases and cannot be treated with all the same drugs.
So not only am I able to perform a Caesarean section on a cow, a sheep a dog and a cat, but I am also qualified to administer anaesthetic to a hamster, a parrot and a horse.
Then comes the real clincher of this whole situation, and probably the most relevant argument; our patients do not speak to us, they cannot tell us what is wrong. Therefore we often have to perform various tests, which we try our best to select based on what is most cost-effective for the client and will yield the best results or data in our search for a diagnosis.
Imagine, if you will, a day in my life; it goes something like this…
"Doctor, my dog is not well…"
"Is your dog vomiting?"
"I don't know, he sleeps outside"
"Does your dog have a normal stool?"
"I don't know, the gardener cleans it up"
"Is your dog eating and drinking?"
"I don't know, my maid feeds it"
"What food do you feed?"
"I don't know, something we find at Spar"
"What is your dog doing that makes you think it is ill?"
"I don't know Doc, he's just not himself"
Now I ask you with tears in my eyes, where should I start? The good news is that I'll wipe those tears out of my own eyes because I do know where to start…at the beginning…
Oftentimes, we have to start from scratch to find out what is wrong with an animal. If our first, cheapest test for the most common disease is negative, unfortunately we need to move on to the next test. Because if we do not find out what is wrong with an animal, I cannot make it better. But most people will not let us do the necessary tests as it is too expensive.
And then they are angry at us because their pets deteriorate to the point where it needs to be admitted to hospital. Or they leave the animal to die a slow, painful death and accuse the vet of charging them R500 and then just leaving it to die…
There is the odd situation where treatments for dogs are more expensive. For example, dental procedures.
Dental procedures and wound stitch-ups are often far more expensive than people expect for one simple reason, the patients require an anaesthetic. If any pet owner is able to restrain their pet calmly for me to place sutures without the need for general anaesthetic, I do it with a smile on my face and give them a much smaller bill. However, I have only ever met one individual that has been able to restrain her dog in the required manner (a 50kg great dane no less).
Why? Because again, people simply acquire a pet, without fully comprehending what their responsibility of a pet owner is, they do not take their dogs for training classes, do not socialize or discipline their pets correctly etc.
Then if I need to do a procedure on that animal, I need to administer an anaesthetic and again a letter is written to Carte-Blanche about the exorbitant vet bills.
And finally, at the end of the day, I go home, collapse in bed and cry. Cry for all the patients that didn't make it, that were too sick, that got to me too late, for all the hearts broken because the new puppy wasn't vaccinated or because the family needs to eat out at the Spur once a week more desperately than it needs to deworm their dog or treat it for ticks.
Once, a lady brought me a 4 month old puppy, which had received none of it's vaccinations and had gotten parvo virus infection. The lady said to me; "I cannot afford this, put the dog to sleep". I tried to convince her to let me give the dog some shots and a referral letter for her to take the dog to the SPCA the following day for cheaper treatment.
She refused. I was very impressed with how well her children were handling the situation when one of them asked; "Mommy, what does it mean to put her to sleep". To which the woman replied:"The lady doctor is going to give her injection and she is going to die". This was of course met with mass hysteria and I was the monster to blame for this tragedy, for the rest of that girl's life, she is going to think I was a monster.
I have literally hundreds of photos of the patients I have loved, of the lives that I have held so dear, and cried over, that weren't even my own pets. I invite you to come see my photos, share my memories of joy, of pain, of sadness, of triumph, of lives saved, of nights passed without a wink of sleep, of blood, of pus, of ear smears, of angry clients and broken hearts.
And I have only worked for 5 years.
I, the exorbitantly expensive vet, do not own a home, I do not make a penny of profit from the work I do, I work for someone, I simply get my salary, whether the patients live or die, whether I tell them how to keep their pets healthy or not. I choose every day, to do my work to the best of my abilities, to find ways in which to help people who have not made provision for the pets they so self-riotously feel they deserve to own, but are not willing to pay the price of a bottle of brandy to buy dewormer for.
This while other people my age are 7 years ahead of me in their lives, raising families, earning three times my income for doing unskilled work, and then I get to come home and watch television programmes accusing me of being greedy? And I can honestly say, that the vast majority of vets that I know, feel the same way about the work they do that I do.
The veterinarians that are being accused of charging exorbitant rates, are in most cases, simply trying to the best of their abilities to find the answers for the pet owners, because I'll promise you one thing, not a single one of us wants to have to euthanise an animal because we failed to diagnose the problem or treat it.
I pray that this will help to shed at least a little light on the subject and provide your team with an opportunity to produce an objective insert on veterinary care.
Kind Regards, Dr. Kathryn Knipe (BVSc)
After having read their responses, one has to keep in mind that no matter how big or small your pets are, they are a life that needs to be kept alive, healthy and most of the time ... they will need specialist care that only a veterinarian can provide. The smaller the animal the more complicated and delicate care will be needed.
Thank you to Carte Blanche for bringing forward a matter that needed to be discussed, as this created an amazing opportunity for the vets to also share what was needed to be said a long time ago. Sure, there will be situations that could be justified by unhappy pet owners, but we believe in our hearts that our vets will only do their utmost best to help an animal as best as they can.
Can you afford your next vet bill? What if its R1 500 or a whopping R15 000 as mentioned in the video above? The good news is that Pet Insurance cover for 1 year could set you back just under R 2000. This equates to 1 emergency visit to the vet indeed.
If you still have not considered Pet Insurance for your pets, then now is a good time to make sure they have adequate cover in a time when they will be needing it the most.
Get a Pet Insurance Quote today!


text:
We are Opal Transfer! For 15 years we have been helping our customers in one of the most important parts of their lives – sending money home and supporting their beloved ones. And we take their demands for quality very seriously.
We are those who care about you and speak your language!
Opal Transfer is launching a new exciting affiliates program. We are looking to recruit tens of affiliates – mostly East European businesses in the UK - shops, beauty salons, accountants and freelance affiliates - who would be promoting our money transfers product and earning commission from their sales.
To help us reach this goal, we are creating a new full-time job position – Bulgarian Affiliate Sales Manager - who will be finding, engaging and managing the potential Bulgarian affiliate partners and will work closely and support our Affiliate Manager.
What will you do:
- Build relationships with the Bulgarian affiliates
- Approach the potential Bulgarian affiliates and present the affiliates program to them – shops, beauty salons, accountants, recruitment agencies, etc
- Create reports and affiliate statistics, maintain a database of Bulgarian affiliates
- Prepare the merchandise for potential Bulgarian affiliated agents
- Participate at the Bulgarian community events where Opal Transfer is a sponsor
- Work and support the Bulgarian Marketing Manager for a marketing campaigns
- Organizing promoters' events amongst the Bulgarian community
- Teach and engage the affiliates on how to best sell our products
- Support and stimulate the affiliates' sales
- Upsell to the suitable Bulgarian affiliates to join our discount/cashback schemes
- Adopt a flexible and driven approach to achieving the financial goals of the business
- Work and support Affiliate Sales Manager reaching the goals of our affiliate programme
What are you like:
- Your communication is your strongest quality. You are active, well-known and heard
- High degree of personal confidence, resilience and initiative
- You have good sales experience
- You can teach and engage others in selling
- You have the "can do" attitude
- You are fluent in Bulgarian – and excited to work with businesses operating in the community
Opal Transfer philosophy is to invest in the employees' knowledge and development. And not only that - we keep the best staff for the long term and many people choose to stay with the company for many years, some over 10 years, because we treasure our team spirit.
If you have ever dreamed about a full-time job with a growing pay and bonuses, different challenge every day and working together with friendly people in the City, Central London, Opal Transfer is the right place for you.
There is no wrong way to impress us. Send a CV and covering letter to email@example.com - or even better, send us a short video presentation, PowerPoint presentation or whatever your imagination can produce.
Feel free to present and express yourself the way you like. We can't wait to meet you!
[Salary: 23K]


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South Africa
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Email us
About the office
This office serves as a hub for all our business operations, ensuring great visibility and creating a vast number of opportunities to intimately work with our clients and partners. It provides maximum comfort helping to fuel a dynamic, multicultural working environment.
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