INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Within a week or so after planting, use clean shears to prune the vine back to one stem. Choose the healthiest, strongest stem for best results. You must also cut this stem back to two or three buds. As new growth begins to develop, determine which shoot is the most vigorous and remove the others. Use paper-covered wire ties or twine to loosely attach the growing vine to your training system.  Since the vine is still small, it may not be tall enough to reach the wire of your trellis system. For this reason, consider installing a bamboo training stake directly beside the plant. Tie the fresh vine onto this stake, then remove the stake once the vine is tall enough to reach the trellis wires. You may need to tie the vine on a weekly basis. Continue to remove any side shoots that develop during this time. Once the vine is tall enough to reach the wire of your trellis system, cut the growing tip back to the top bud.  Doing this forces lateral buds to form. Lateral buds will form cordons that need to be trained down along the wires of your trellis system. Tie them onto the wire loosely. After the cordons reach their full length, you can let side shoots develop. These side shoots will need to be cut back to two or three buds each dormant season, though. These buds will develop into shoots that produce both flowers and fruit.

SUMMARY: Prune to one stem after planting. Remove weak growth. Loosely tie the growing vine. Cut the growing tip once the vine is tall enough. Maintenance prune during the dormant season.


INPUT ARTICLE: Article: This will allow you to have a clear view of the animals ear canal. Any hair that remains in the way may obstruct the thermometer and cause discomfort to your dog. Note that while ear thermometers are less invasive to the animal they can be less accurate if used improperly. If your dog has an ear infection, do not use the ear thermometer, as it will likely give you an inaccurate result and be painful to the dog. Indications of an ear infection are redness, swelling, discharge with an odor, and shaking or scratching excessively at the ears. You may want to have another person hold the dog's head to get enough control of the animal to do this. Be sure the thermometer is deep enough or it will not produce an accurate temperature reading. . If you don't have help, hold the dog's body between your legs to keep it still. At no time should you continue with this process if your dog is trying to bite you, as you will not get an accurate reading if the dog is fighting the process. This indicates a reading was successfully achieved. Depending on the brand and make of the thermometer, read times will vary. Remember, ear thermometers go very deep into the horizontal ear canal. Some dogs may object to the ear thermometer, sometimes even more so than to the rectal option.

SUMMARY: Lift the canine's ear and gently brush aside any hair that may be in the way. Look for signs of an ear infection. Position the thermometer deep into the dog's horizontal ear canal. Hold the thermometer in place and wait for it to beep. Remove the thermometer from the dog's ear gently.


INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Wet fibers absorb dye more easily than dry ones. Make sure your sweatshirt is thoroughly soaked, then wring out any excess water. You can also use this step to wash your sweatshirt to make sure there aren't any fixatives, dyes, or fabric softener residues in the material that will affect color saturation. Follow the directions on the dye package to determine how much water you should add to the dye. Add about a cup of salt to the dye bath to help the color set in. Experiment with different ways of manipulating the fabric for different tie-dye effects. Use rubber bands to tie off sections of your sweatshirt, making sure to secure it tightly so the dye doesn't bleed.  You can get different looks by folding, swirling, and crinkling your shirt. Use multiple rubber bands in the same area to get a bulls-eye effect. Your sweatshirt should be immersed in the dye for about 10-30 minutes, depending in the color you're trying to achieve. Leave it in less time for a lighter color or more time for a deeper shade. If you're dying your shirt more than one color, you'll need to hold each section in the dye for the required amount of time. This takes a little patience, but it really allows the dye to spread into the folds of fabric and create those cool tie-dye effects. After allowing your fabric to rest overnight, rinse the dye out with cool water until the water runs clear. After it is thoroughly rinsed, cut off the rubber bands and see your new masterpiece!

SUMMARY: Soak your sweatshirt in warm water and wring it out. Mix your dye and add it to a large pot or plastic bin. Fold, twist, or tie your sweatshirt into a pattern. Dip the sweatshirt into the dye mixture. Place your sweatshirt in a plastic bag and allow it to soak overnight. Rinse your sweatshirt in cool water, then remove the rubber bands.


INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Most people who are afraid of cats are already aware that cats are pretty harmless. However, they have a fear response that is initiated in the brain that they can’t currently control.  Phobias are often learned behavior.  A person may have one bad experience with a cat, he may have subconsciously begun to associate cats with negative things such as illness, or he may have “learned” to be afraid of cats by watching his parents’ fearful behavior around them when he was a child. Multiple brain regions are involved in phobias. Therefore, it will take you some time to retrain your brain to think and respond differently to cats. When you are able to identify those unhelpful thoughts, then you can begin to evaluate them.  You will probably see that most of these thoughts fall into one (or more) of these three cognitive distortions:  Fortune telling is when a person assumes they know what the outcome of a situation is going to be without any true evidence to support it. For example, you may think “This cat is going to scratch me” even though you’ve never had any interaction with that cat before. Overgeneralizing is when a person takes one specific event and generalizes it to all events. For example, you may think “My friend’s cat scratched me two years ago therefore all cats are vicious.” Catastrophizing is when you predict that a negative outcome is going to occur and believe that when it does, it will result in a catastrophe.  Catastrophizing is when you assume a situation is going to be the absolute worst case scenario. For example, you may think “If the cat scratches me, I will get an infection and die.” You can do this by creating alternative statements to counteract the negative thought. When doing this, you are essentially retraining your subconscious to release the unhelpful cognitive distortions and replace them with more positive beliefs.  Focus on replacing the negative thought with a positive statement that helps you emphasize neutral or more positive outcomes. For example, you could replace the thought “This cat is going to scratch me” with a statement like “Many people interact with cats every day and do not get scratched.” You can even begin by using statements that are less negative then your original thought. For example, you could replace the thought “If the cat scratches me, I will get an infection and die” with the less negative statement, “The worst thing that could happen is that the cat scratches me and runs away. I’ve been scratched before and it’s not so bad. I won’t likely get an infection.” Eventually you can replace the less negative thought with something even more positive. Try to do this whenever a negative thought pops up. Eventually you’ll begin to think more positively about cats.

SUMMARY:
Recognize that your cat phobia is likely being exacerbated by unhelpful thoughts. Make a list of all the negative and unhelpful thoughts that you experience when you are near cats. Replace the negative thoughts with more helpful thoughts.