What’s Been Happening Lately

March 2nd, 2010

Hi Everyone,

Things have been happening so fast here that I haven’t been keeping everything updated!

I’ll start with the TV crew that was to come by yesterday…. it didn’t happen. There were quite a few homicides in the Washington DC area yesterday. The homicides were a higher priority. We are waiting to reschedule. They called about 1/2 hour before we were expecting them. So Bob, myself, the animals, and the building were already about as cleaned up as we are going to get. Figuring it was as close as I was going to get to a good hair day and knowing my driver’s license was set to expire, I headed off to the MVA. Its not always a good idea to go to the MVA on a Monday at the beginning of the month, just because its a good hair day. At least the lady didn’t laugh at the picture this time.

In other news, the book signing at the Pet Barn 2 weeks ago went great! Tommy and Bunny did great at the event, although Tommy had some trouble making it past a huge display of organic catnip.

Rude Ranch Newsflash!

March 1st, 2010

Newsflash!!!! Fox Channel 5 News is coming to Rude Ranch today! We’re not sure if the segment will be live on the noon news or taped and aired later. We’ll have more details later. For now we are making all the animals swear they will be on their good behavior and not make a mess once we put all the “good” covers on the furniture!

More Adventures with Snow!

February 21st, 2010

Hi Everyone,

As you guys know, there has been some concern about the condition of Ivy Way the last few days, and the deepening ruts in the road.  Here’s what happened last Thursday:

 Bob and I left around 5:30 AM (yeah I know it was early, Denny’s usually isn’t busy then)  and it was icy but fine.  Made it back, didn’t have to take any detours. Through noonish, it was getting slushy but still fine. 
I left at 1ish to run some errands with the station wagon and it was a bit of an adventure getting out.  (car kept trying to go sideways and honest, no drinking was involved.)  Bob was behind me in the van to take the trash to the trash pick up area and he had more fun.  

Ran errands, scored two(!) big recycle containers at the Recycle center on Riva Rd.  Got groceries, happy to see evening paper when I got back.  Not happy to see extremely deep tracks dug down into road.  I’m pretty sure they were made by one of  kids in the house katty corner to us.  ( They were in front of our neighbor’s house digging their car out, so I’m thinking this is a safe bet.)  Got about 40 feet down Ivy Way and the car essentially beached itself on the snow.   Being typical girl, called Bob.  He couldn’t get it out either.    Figured that we were doomed.  Figured  the lady with the Toyota Prius, and Jenn, the friend with 2 seater Nissan wouldn’t have any better luck, especially with the station wagon stuck in road and called them.  Called the guy next door with the big equipment (toys).  (His daughter and granddaughter volunteer here, so figured we might have an in)  He tried to pull car out with pickup truck and got stuck… actually he spun sideways.  Decided to go back for “the big ‘ho”.  At this point I realized that  there are more uses for a recycle bin, loaded groceries up and drug them back to house.  Also took deliveries of packages from the  UPS guy that took one look at the set up and decided to toss the stuff off of the back of the truck towards the mailboxes. 

Pulled station wagon off of center of road with the “big one”(neighbor’s big backhoe) .  Chain got stuck in undercarriage of car, but that is another story.  Asked him if he could push out/level off road and told him to have fun.  Not sure how much fun he had but he did level off road.  Saw several cars come and go, so figure it’s doing better. 

Shortly after the car/street adventure, we heard an ominous dripping in the garage.  Noticed the ceiling dripping and starting to sag in a couple of places.  Checked the upstairs corner where the clogged gutter is.  (You know the closet that we’re afraid to open the door because all the stuff in there will suddenly expand to its normal size and explode out into the house)  Probably wasn’t the best idea to put the old family photos in a cardboard box in there.  We now have a bathroom/bedroom full of formerly stashed stuff drying out.  Bob is venting his frustration poking drainage holes in the garage ceiling.  House might be a little torn apart for the next few days.  The really dicey part will be trying to find a path through to the bathroom at 2 am without killing ourselves.

The dogs were really impressed with everything:  Scruffy pee’d on the couch, Bunny curled up in a blanket, Ceasar and Bruno camped out by the now closed doors in our bedroom.  Cali, Elwood, Freckles, and Jake were highly insulted they didn’t get to go in the closet and explore the contents.  Xander didn’t care.  He was upset the dogs were sleeping on his favorite bed.  Didn’t get to the newsletter, packing the van for the book signing on Saturday, or exercising.  (I know the last part is pretty much in the crapper anyway, but thought I should at least make an effort)   Also found the lens/light cover for the brake lights from the station wagon in the driveway.  Not even going to take a guess at what happened there, only that Bob drove the station wagon  into the driveway after it was unbeached.  Hoping superglue will work.    

The upshot is that the ice cream I bought at the grocery store survived and was at that perfect slightly softer consistency when I decided that it would suffice for supper tonite.  (Was hoping it would make it ‘til Sunday, but not so sure)

Back to Normal!!????

February 17th, 2010

Hi Everyone,

Its been almost a week since the onslaught of Snowmageddon!  We’re still here!   Things are slowly returning to normal.   (whatever that is around here)  People are starting to make it onto the road leading into Rude Ranch, and not getting stuck.  The dogs are still going a little stir crazy, they can’t run in the yard with out falling through the snow crust.  Unfortunately, our snow kitties are starting to melt, so right now it looks like we have two headless kitties in the cat’s outdoor enclosure. 

We are getting closer and closer to our first official book signing event!  It will be this coming Saturday, from 1 – 3 at The Pet Barn, across from the Annapolis Mall.  We are hoping for a big turnout, so let everyone you know that might be in the Annapolis area on Saturday know about it!

This was sent to me this morning.  I thought it was pretty funny:

 

After the Snow…..

February 11th, 2010

Everyone and everyfur made it through the latest Snowmageddon! We had to close down the cat’s outside enclosure area because we were worried about the weight of the snow on the roof. We built a snowkitty out there instead! Fortunately, the power stayed on the entire time so we all stayed cozy and warm. Ashley Ann, our older kidney failure maine coon is starting to get a little worried, we are almost out of her favorite flavor of Fancy Feast. She may have to resort to eating the regular stuff that’s actually good for her. The dogs are starting to get desperate for trees, but are making do using the driveway for their potty spot.

On the personal side, I figured I wasn’t going anyway, so I might as well really depress myself by starting our personal income tax.  Everything started off pretty well, I got my name, Bob’s name down, than moved onto the income/investments area.  Then realized I didn’t have the forms I needed.   So much for that endeavor!    Did finally get to knitting.  (Lenny the guy that was sleeping on it through most of the first snow storm, woke up and moved over to the cross stitch)  Maggie, Felix, Buffy and Hope were once again really helpful.

Snowmageddon Revisited!!!!!

February 10th, 2010

Hi Everyone,

You know you’re having a bad winter when: Relatives from northern Wisconsin (you know the place that I say only has 3 days of summer) call to gloat.

Chances are if you are somewhere on the East Coast and you haven’t been in a coma for the last two days you know we are under a blizzard watch until 7 pm! The snow here is now deep enough we can’t see the benches and patio chairs that we assume are still on the patio. We’ve also closed off the outside area/enclosure to the cats on the outside chance the roof (which now has about 4 feet of snow on it) may collaspe. So far Stewie seems to be the only one disappointed in that.

In other news, food, diet coke, toilet paper, electricity and cable are holding out.  Really wish we had gotten more ice cream and junk food when we did our panic shopping last week.   Our bag of Fancy Feast, the cat’s favorite junk food is starting to get low which has several cats very concerned… after all they might have to start eating the regular cat food if it runs out.  Still working on my personal craft/cross stitch/attempted knitting projects with lots of feline supervision.  

Bob had a little adventure yesterday when he got stuck trying to get into our driveway. Took him 90 minutes to get unstuck. (Yup he was still wearing his shorts)

Here are a couple of pics from this morning: The first is the birds flocking to the bird seed we threw out. The second is the cars in our plowed (?) driveway.

Snowmageddon!!!

February 8th, 2010

Hey Everyone,

Rude Ranch survived SNOWMAGEDDON!

The first picture pretty much says it all…. To explain: the black thing in the front of the picture is the shutter that blew off of the house. The black thing barely sticking out of the snow on the right side (in the back ground) of the picture is the rear view mirror on the MR 2. (Don’t think it’s going anywhere anytime soon) The dog in the foreground is Ceasar the border collie. He is totally disgusted because he can’t get to his favorite potty spot. He has decided to use the trash can in the living room instead. The dog behind him is Scruffy. (you can barely see Scruf’s head) As usual, he is just confused. The big guy is Bob. He’s just wondering why everyone is thinking it’s cold.

The second pic is Bruno during the storm. He is pretty much the only one enjoying the storm.

Otherwise, the worse happened: I ran out of hot fudge sauce. Had to try a new recipe to make more. Enjoyed it while watching The Who during the Superbowl.
Surprisingly, the power and cable stayed on. Sweetie was going insane without being able to run to burn off energy. The dogs would get all excited about going out the garage door, than when we opened it and they saw a 2 1/2 foot wall of white they just looked confused. Bob’s dentist office called (on a Sunday!!!!) and cancelled his appointment for Monday. Don’t think we will see anyone tomorrow either. (although I will ran out of ice cream last night, this could be bad) Will probably start writing spring newsletter tomorrow after scooping. (Either that or the annual report, but I figure we should probably wait to see if we survive the audit first) Bob and Jay (the guy next door) tackled a the driveway. I am proud to say that I was the first one to wipe out in it.

The two critical care cats that we took in for other people are also doing well, although the cat that was almost a double amputee did rip out some of her sutures and the surgical drain. A part of the dog run collapsed under the snow, but other than that everything is still standing.

On the craft side, I did get almost a whole kitten finished on my cross stitch project, no knitting and almost finished a book. Hope, Felix, Marilyn, Ghost, Maggie and Buffy have been carefully supervising. (Couldn’t get to the knitting, Lenny was sleeping on it.)

Its Snowing!

February 6th, 2010

Hi Everyone,

If you are anywhere along the Mid Atlantic coast you probably already know this by now, but the snow has started! It to really come down and accumulate around 7 pm last night. As of 8:30 am Saturday we have about 16 inches.

So far things are going well here, Boomer and Bunny, the two min pins have decided to stay snuggled under the blankets and sleep through the whole thing. Ceasar and Sweetie, the border collie and cattle dog took one look and pretty much started eyeing up the couch in the living room for a pee spot. For now they have a temporary pass on pooping and peeing in the garage. We ended up taking two critical care cats from people last nite. One had to have a leg amputated and the other has pneumonia. Their people were worried that the cats would have a problem needing more care and they wouldn’t be able to get to a vet. Stewie is once again fascinated by the snow. He is the only cat in the outside enclosure.

On a personal note there is a little concern about running out of hot fudge for ice cream during the storm. If that happens, we might have to rough it and use caramel sauce.

The Rude Ranch Driveway....

More Snow!!!!!

February 5th, 2010

Hi Everyone!

We’re supposed to get “whomped” with snow again here!  At least we figure we are going to get whomped.  All the weather forecasters here have put snowmen with “Oh No!!!!!!!” faces on their weather charts.   (One guy used ” disruptive weather patterns” in his forecast.)   We’ve prepared here:  we stocked up on diet coke, cat and dog food, kitty litter, and junk food.  As long as the cable doesn’t go out, we are good to go.

Otherwise this is the time of paperwork here at the shelter.  We’ve applied to all the payroll donation federations for this year, sent out donation reciepts, and set up our files for 2010.  We are in the middle of being audited by a new accounting firm.   (The last one was hostilly taken over last year)   This means we have to “break in” a new guy.  So far he’s had issues with the accounting software we use, our printing costs, and the weight (15 pounds) of the box of records we sent.   Once we get through this we still have to do the IRS stuff, and write the annual report.  Then its on to the spring newsletter!

The TV Crew Survived!

January 26th, 2010

Hi Everyone!

The film crew from Hoofs and Woofs, the local Annapolis Pet show was here yesterday, and they, the animals and Bob and I survived! Although the microphone cords now have several kitten and cat sized tooth marks in them.

We are sure when the show will air, (after all it has to be editted, and I’m hoping they can work some kind of magic to make me look at least 20 pounds smaller) however, we will let everyone know as soon as we find out!

While filming, Ceasar the border collie was a total ham. Boomer the min pin wanted to sleep through it all. Tommy, the resident feline bad boy, blew his chance by sneaking into the garage for a nap. Sassy, Felix and Momma Mia totally mugged for the camera.