This week's Free Friday book from Barnes and Noble is Shadow Bound by Erin Kellison. From the blog post at the B and N site,

“Erin Kellison has created a book that’s almost hard to categorize. It’s a well-crafted mystery, thriller, paranormal romance that will absolutely hook you. Romance readers will definitely get their romance; urban fantasy fans will get a gritty urban underground fantasy; and paranormal lovers will get the unexpected, because there isn’t a vampire, werewolf, or shape shifter in sight. In short, it’s an absolute original.”

Get the details here: http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Unbound-NOOK-and-BN-eReader-Blog/...

BARCS is having a feline distemper clinic on the 21st of this month. Shots will be free, with a limit of three per family. This offer is for Baltimore residents only so be sure to bring proof of residence.

Details can be found here:

http://baltimore.craigslist.org/pet/1890552798.html

A couple of different brands of pet food have been recalled. Click here for the report from the FDA. The saddest thing is that many of the animals eating these types of food are already ill and may not have the resources to fight off another illness.

http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm220780.htm

Here' s a hilarious and useful site that will give you meal options. You can pick vegetarian options, by clicking the appropriate response after the first choice pops up.

If you don't like the "f word" you won't like this site.

http://whatthefuckshouldimakefordinner.com/index.php

The last thing you want your dog to get is heartworm. The treatment is expensive and dangerous. The old style of heartworm preventative was a daily pill, which could be a bit of a pain. I give my dog a monthly pill but remembering when to give him his next dose can be a bit problematic.

Yeah, I know you're supposed to put the little sticker on the calendar and that will remind you, but half the time I don't even remember to flip the page over to the new month.

Here's what I did. I use Outlook for one of my email accounts. I sent an email to myself with the subject of give dog heartworm preventative. Then I set it as a reminder, due in one month. When the right day rolled around I gave my dog his pill and reset the reminder for another month. Voila, no fuss, no muss.

(I also marked it in my calendar, just in case my computer has troubles.) Now my dog and I are both safe from expensive and annoying treatment.

An iron deficiency causes all sorts of problems, from fatigue to hair loss etc. Filling up on iron can be a bit of a pain especially as some kinds of iron (like the kind that leaches into food from iron cooking pans) aren’t readily absorbable.

But even worse, what we're drinking could be keeping us from using the iron we do have in our food. Tannin, which is found in tea blocks iron. I was watching a show a while ago and was surprised to learn that toucans eat a diet very high in iron – so high it would kill them except the water they drink from trees is filled with tannin, which blocks the iron and they survive. Amazing!

There are other things that interfere with our ability to uptake iron, including medicines like Prilosec. (More about that in this article http://sickle.bwh.harvard.edu/iron_absorption.html)

I've heard that eating eggs can also stop iron from being absorbed so if you eat eggs with your iron supplement be sure to drink a glass of citrus juice as ascorbic acid can increase your iron uptake.

When I was a kid I thought V8 was one of the most disgusting concoctions on the planet, following the Clamato my grandmother mixed with her daily vodkas. I kept hearing it was good for me but I couldn't stand to drink it, smell it or look at it.

Then along came V8 Splash and V8 Fusion, which combine fruit juice with vegetable juice. This is more my speed and I drink it occasionally. You can get a dollar off coupon here: http://www.tryv8.com/

BBC America is currently running a special on selected episodes up on iTunes. You can get Doctor Who, Coupling and Top Gear for free or only 99 cents.

There may be other shows but iTunes crashes my computer and I wasn't able to research. Here is the link sent out from the BBC America Twitter account. http://bit.ly/954rIA

Tomato Bob has some nice sales on seeds, including their famous tomato seeds. I've got my eye on the sunflower seeds. The blossoms looks beautiful.

http://www.tomatobob.com/Specials%20and%20Sales.htm

The National Theatre in DC has several free programs running right now. They include a salute to Cary Grant, family shows that play in the morning on the weekend and Monday evening shows.

Complete details can be found here: http://www.nationaltheatre.org/