Yes, I am using it this year for the first time and I think it is great. I take a notebook with me for each nest check and I transfer the data for each nest into the Cornell site. I have GPS'd all of my boxes and added the coordinates. It's great in that once a nesting is complete, it totals everything up for you, gives you 3 different spreadsheets (species summary, breeding data, and site description) for each nesting, for each year. After my nest checks today I have 10 more BB's since last Thursday that have fledged and some new nests started, so I am going to enter that information now. Phil

Hard to say how the dog will react. Mine did not like it at all. He was 6 at the time. He was so insecure thinking we no longer loved him (would not get out of my lap!), that we were replacing him, that he would be cast off that he would have nothing to do with the puppy. It was sad to watch him ignore the new dog and he continued to treat him that way for the next 12 years. He remained alpha which was good, at least he didn't have to fight for that title because the new dog was by nature very passive. It's best to know from whoever has the dog you plan on adopting if they think the dog has an aggressive or passive personality. Our dogs never fought but if the new dog was aggressive then they may have. When my older dog got to the age where he could no longer keep up on walks it became increasingly more difficult for us because we didn't want the older dog to feel the sadness of being slower. It wasn't fair to the younger dog who needed longer walks. As the disparity grew we were forced to take them on separate walks. That took up more time. When our first dog got to be really old we weren't able to go places anymore because he needed to be looked after 24 hrs a day. That went on for a couple years which meant the younger one stayed at home a lot too. I would never have two dogs again so far apart in age. I have to say though, when it was time for our dog to leave us I did find a lot of comfort having another dog...an heir and a spare. ;-) He made the pain a little less severe. Now he's elderly and slowing down. After taking the back seat all those years to a more dominant dog I want him to live out his remaining time feeling like he is finally the most important dog in the world to us. And he's is loving the attention. The difference between my situation and yours is that you have young children and I don't have any. I would be concerned that a 4 yr old would still be too young not to pester your first dog as he ages. Dogs don't like to be bothered when they're older and children might be nipped at if they aren't taught by the parents to respect the elderly dog's space. So maybe having a younger dog to romp around with would be a good idea for your children. They can focus their high energy on the young dog, allowing the other dog to watch but not be expected to participate. But I wouldn't wait any longer.

Here's a link to a great, easy to read article that that tells you what to look for and why. It really helped me make a decision when it came time to choose a faucet. Here's an excerpt regarding Lowe's Moen vs. Faucet Depot's Moen: "Most major faucet manufacturers will make special models just for the large retailers. . . in some cases the faucet can be sold at a lower price because the materials used are lower quality - plastic spouts rather than brass, for example. . . . If the model number or name is exactly the same, most likely you have a regular-line faucet. If it is not the same (usually by the addition of a suffix such as M1045-HD rather than M1045), then it is probably a store model. . . . If still in doubt, call the manufacturer's customer service and ask. " HTH! Here is a link that might be useful: http://starcraftcustombuilders.com/sources.faucets.htm

I'm just going to share a book recommendation again. It's The Grieving Brain by Mary Frances O'Connor, a neuro scientist. One point she emphasizes is that to move through the worst grief, our brains have to literally learn that our loved one is not going to reappear (in this life, if you believe in other reunions). So she encourages grievers not to engage in the "what-ifs" or "could have/should have" regrets. That's because when we think that, we keep our loved ones alive in that part of our brain which has not yet learned otherwise. For example, thinking "If I had put Molly's eye visor on, not her fly mask...." is using a part of my brain where Molly is still alive, wearing her eye visor. That results in the anguish from the contradiction since she is, in another part of my brain, not alive outside wearing her visor. Grief eases as the contradiction eases, but not if we don't help the brain habituate to the absence. (O'Connor says that sense of "wrongness", from them not being where the brain expects them to be in our lives, will ease for all losses but for some, never disappears totally. I know that's also true for me.)