I didn't want to move this morning when the Metro pulled into the station near my office. Normally, I'm more than ready to crawl through the tangle of arms and legs, newspapers and briefcases when the doors open. But this morning when I got to my stop, a black lab was resting his head on my leg. All warm and soft—I didn't want to get up. Nor did I want to go without giving him a pat on the head. But as a Guide Dog, he had to keep his mind on his work and I had to leave him alone.

The interaction with my dog buddy and with his owner got me wondering about what was being done to guide people with disabilities through the maze of online government services. I know government websites like USA.gov and this blog are constantly being checked and modified to comply with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, which requires federal agencies to make what they offer online accessible to people with disabilities. That affects, among other things, the way we code and layout our websites, making it easier for people using assistive devices like screen readers to access all the information we offer.

There's also the relatively new website, DisabilityInfo.gov. It's managed by the Department of Labor and created in partnership with 21 other agencies, including Gov Gab's parent agency, the General Services Administration. The site provides a centralized location with information for people with disabilities, both physical and developmental, and for anyone involved in providing care or services for them.

DisabilityInfo.gov is divided into topics and features in-depth information including resources to help people with disabilities find jobs. If you're an employer, this section will also help you learn how to make your workplace more accessible.

The housing section shows builders how to create accessible living spaces and offers people with disabilities information on how to buy a home.

Whether you're traveling around town or around the world, the transportation section has lots of useful information to make travel safer and easier if you're using mass transit or catching a flight.

Healthcare is usually a special concern when disabilities are involved. The health section explains the range of benefits and services for people with disabilities and has special information for caregivers and for healthcare professionals.

And the technology section discusses tools that can help people with disabilities access information online more easily. If you have your own website or blog, you'll want to take a look at this section too. It shows you what you can do to your site to make it accessible to everyone.

The oppressively hot and humid summers typical of our nation's Capital have reared their ugly head this week.

It is HOT HOT HOT!

What was the first indication of this? Me looking as if I just stepped out of the shower after walking from the Metro to Gov Gab headquarters. And no, it's not cute.

While temps in the 90's are mostly just the cause of some bad hair days and being uncomfortable, for some people they pose a serious health threat.

Senior citizens, small children, and people with chronic illnesses need to be especially careful when the mercury soars. They are most at risk for heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and sun overexposure. Check out this list of signs and symptoms of heat-related illnesses. To avoid these, do you best to stay cool and inside. Drink plenty of water to insure that you're properly hydrated. Wear loose clothing made out of materials like cotton that allow your skin to "breathe."

Friends and family of the elderly should try and visit them at least twice a day to check for signs of heat stroke and exhaustion. Take them to air conditioned locations if they have transportation problems. Make sure they have access to an electric fan. Sometimes local governments have programs to help out.

Enjoy the summer months, just be careful. It really makes me wonder how I survived those mid-August outdoor field hockey pre-season practices, but I suppose when you're 16 you can survive pretty much anything.

What are your tips to keep cool?

Last week I stared in disbelief at the grocery store cash register. With the way prices are rising, I feel like all my disposable income goes to gas and groceries. I’m sick of the price of food going up, up, up and all the while it seems like there is constantly some sort of warning or recall about certain foods in the grocery stores. I know that the USDA and FDA are doing their best to keep things safe for us, but I think that this is the nature of industrialized food production in our country.

That’s why I’ve been making an effort lately to grow my own food and buy locally produced foods when I can. Even if you don’t have a big garden, there’s still a lot that you can do. We’re entering the height of summer produce season, when our farmers markets are full of beautiful, fresh fruits and veggies.

Preserving your own food gives you control over safety, quality and overall tastiness of your food.

I canned pickled beets from the garden this weekend, and we’ve got 30 jars of wild black raspberry jelly and 10-15 raspberry pies and cobblers in the freezer. Do you know how wonderful it is to have a fresh-baked berry cobbler in January? I do : ) Sweet corn’s just coming into season and soon I’ll have a giant pot of corn chowder on the stove that I’ll freeze and we’ll enjoy all winter long. When my garden is overflowing with tomatoes I’ll make tomato sauce and can whole tomatoes.

See? There’s really not much to it, but giving it a little effort pays a delicious return later. Give it a try. In the long run, you’ll save money on groceries and have wholesome, convenient food at hand, too.

Fishing with my grandfather was my favorite summer activity growing up. Conquering ponds, rivers and lakes in his old jon boat was so exciting to me, I didn't mind the 5 a.m. wake up call. These days I don't get down to Richmond to go fishing with him nearly as much, but I still cherish the rare opportunities.

There are many recreational fishing facilities in the U.S. but one of our favorite fishing holes is Harrison Lake in Charles City, Virginia. It was quiet, out of the way and never too crowded. The really interesting thing about Harrison Lake is that it was also a base of operations for a national fish hatchery.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Fish Hatchery System has over 70 fish hatcheries in the nation that protect fish and other aquatic life. The NFHS helps recover species listed under the Endangered Species Act, restoring native aquatic populations, mitigating for fisheries lost as a result of federal water projects, and providing fish to benefit Tribes and National Wildlife Refuges. Like the refuges, many fish hatcheries have areas designated for public fishing.

Remember that if you want to go fishing, you will need a state freshwater and/or saltwater fishing license for the state where you plan to fish since there is no nationwide fishing license. Some state fish and wildlife agencies offer these online and you can also buy them at sporting goods stores.

Here's a ladder that you can't use to paint your kitchen or screw in that hard-to-reach lightbulb. It's reserved for use by Oncorhynchus tshawytscha and Acipenser transmontanus. That's chinook salmon and white sturgeon, for short. At the Bonneville Dam in Cascade Locks, Oregon, venerable fish such as these swim up "fish ladders" made just for them. The ladders, which are used across the U.S., allow fish to bypass dams and natural barriers, usually on their way upstream to spawn.

As my husband and I stopped in to the Bonneville Dam's visitor's center awhile back, Woody Guthrie's "Roll On Columbia" played in my head. While we were interested in seeing the historic dam, who knew that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could make watching fish swim a truly captivating endeavor?

Outside the visitor's center, I could clearly see the fish ladder coming from the Columbia River. Designed to simulate a set of rapids, it has helped an average of more than one million salmon and other fish migrate past the dam each year. Inside the center, we were greeted by huge windows that surprised us with an underwater view into the fish ladder itself. Schools of steelheads and jacks swam by in the cloudy water as we ran to the windows like little kids to get a better look. We also were lucky enough to spot a lone lamprey, which stopped to rest on the glass with its suction-cup mouth before it continued its fight against the current.

And file this under "cool government job." We met one of the fish counters at the dam—a very nice woman who sits in an office with a huge window for hours at a time, counting and identifying the various fish that swim past her window through the ladder, for conservation and other purposes.

If you want to see a murky view of what the fish counters see in real time, visit the Bonneville Dam's Fishcam. It sure beats watching an aquarium screen saver any day.

Have you been to an interesting government visitors center?