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Sleeping On The Hay While The Sun Shines

January 27, 2011

After our brief outbreak of sub-zero temperatures a few days ago, we're back in the 20s during the day … and yesterday morning was bright and sunny, adding to the warmth. Alayne got this shot of two of our barn cats, Smoke and his sister Skitter, soaking in the sun on the hay. I'm not sure where their sister Smudge was … most likely still on their heated bed in the igloo inside the barn.

We purchased this winter's hay supply from our next-door neighbor, and we're storing it in his hay barn just down the road. So every couple of days, Kate drives over, loads anywhere from 45 to 60 bales on the truck, and then we pick the bales off the truck as we need them. And in the meantime, as you can see, the cats make great use of it for sunning themselves!

Now, some people keep asking why we don't have more blog posts on cats. That's because we only have two disabled cats left … blind Cinder and wobbly Mink. The other cats have either all been adopted in the past year, like Herbie and Molly, or we've lost them to medical causes (we lost Tibby last fall to a similar sudden death like her brother Fibby). We had been down to just a handful in recent years in any case, so it didn't take much to get to two remaining ones. At this point we probably won't be taking any more cats, for a couple of reasons.

One is Alayne's allergies to cats have become worse in the past few years, making it more difficult for her to step in and take over cat care in my absence, or even to help me with medicating. The gloves and mask aren't always sufficient anymore.

The other reason is that we rarely get requests to take disabled cats — we don't know if that's because many shelters are so overrun with healthy, adoptable cats that the disabled cats don't get that extra effort at placement, or because there are places dedicated to disabled cats already and they're the ones who get contacted first, or whether more people hold on to their cats once they become disabled. Probably a combination of all three. The requests we do get are generally for the behavior problems — the spraying cat, for example — or incontinence issues (unable to control bladder and bowels).

For both those reasons, we've decided not to take in any more cats at this stage. So Cinder and Mink are it, along with the sunning barn cats!

—

Please Keep Voting!

The new Shelter Challenge started on Monday, January 10th, and ends at midnight on March 20th. Grand prize in this round is $5,000. There are no second- and third-place prizes this time, but new categories … please see the Shelter Challenge website for details.

And remember, you can vote every day, so consider bookmarking the voting page to make it easy.

You can vote in the Shelter Challenge here.

Please note: Use Rolling Dog Ranch for our name and NH for the state and our listing will come up.

Because of your votes, we came in 2nd nationwide and won $5,000 in the Shelter Challenge that ended in December 2010. Please help us win this round of the contest by voting every day, and by encouraging your family, friends and colleagues to vote every day, too. Thank you!
Book Promotion To Benefit The Ranch

January 26, 2011

The photographer Melissa McDaniel is having a promotional sale this week on her two photo books, Deaf Dogs and Rescued in America. 30% of her sales from phone orders will go to the ranch to benefit our disabled animals, while 30% of her online orders will go to the PetFinder Foundation. So if you'd like to purchase one — or both! — of these beautiful albums and help the ranch, please make sure you call your order in to this number: 267-968-9973. The sale starts today, Wednesday, and runs through this Friday.

Click here to view photos from the dog photo books and read more about the projects: http://www.thephotobooks.com

For more on this special promotion, click here.

Thank you, Melissa!

—

Here is the full promotion copy Melissa sent:

Help us help animals this winter (and raise $25,000 for animal rescue)!

Each year thousands of deaf dogs and millions of homeless pets are euthanized.

The Photo Book Projects, with its dog photo books, is raising awareness about this. The goal? A day when all pets have a chance at life and a loving and safe place to call home.

We can work together for a better world for animals through the organizations we support and the products we purchase.

The Photo Book Projects donates 30% of the proceeds of the book sales to animal rescue.

And now, FOR THE NEXT 72 HOURS ONLY, in an effort TO RAISE $25,000 FOR ANIMAL RESCUE, we are offering

* discounts OFF the sale price

* signed copies

* F*R*E*E bonus gifts, including gorgeous 8"x8" color collage prints of the dogs in the books

30% of all ONLINE sales of the books over the next 72 hours will go to The Petfinder Foundation, which supports shelters and rescues all across the country.

30% of all PHONE sales of the books over the next 72 hours will go to Rolling Dog Ranch, a sanctuary that rescues and shelters disabled pets.

CLICK HERE to read more about the promotion and buy the books: http://www.thephotobooks.com/winterblues.html

Click here to view photos from the dog photo books and read more about the projects: http://www.thephotobooks.com

—

Please Keep Voting!

The new Shelter Challenge started on Monday, January 10th, and ends at midnight on March 20th. Grand prize in this round is $5,000. There are no second- and third-place prizes this time, but new categories … please see the Shelter Challenge website for details.

And remember, you can vote every day, so consider bookmarking the voting page to make it easy.

You can vote in the Shelter Challenge here.

Please note: Use Rolling Dog Ranch for our name and NH for the state and our listing will come up.

Because of your votes, we came in 2nd nationwide and won $5,000 in the Shelter Challenge that ended in December 2010. Please help us win this round of the contest by voting every day, and by encouraging your family, friends and colleagues to vote every day, too. Thank you!
Snuggles Update

January 25, 2011

Thank you to everyone for your condolences and kind thoughts on the loss of our dear little Briggs. Alayne and I really appreciate the wonderful support!

Following on the heels of that sad news, I figured it was a good time for some happy news … so how about an update on Snuggles, our one-eyed "flying Cocker"? Dr. Ellen, the veterinary internal medicine specialist in Colorado who adopted Snuggles from us in November, just sent me these photos.

Ellen wrote, "Snuggles is quite a character. She has definitely moved in and bonded to me immediately. She never lets me out of her sight. She feels entitled to sit at the table if I am there. She never gets up on the table, but seems to want to be part of the conversation." [Steve says: In our house, she expected to be the center of the conversation!]

For this next photo, Ellen said, "Here are her brother and sister. Murdie is the Lab and she is diabetic. Ziggy is a crazy, naughty cocker who would like to teach her all his bad habits."

I had told Ellen in an earlier message that we were always worried that Snuggles and Widget would steal the truck keys one night and head to town. (Kind of like Thelma and Louise except … oh my.) It seems Ziggy might be in the same league as well.

Ellen's note continued, "Snuggles had her first training session this week and did very well. She was an enthusiastic learner. Snuggles is on a hypoallergenic diet and her skin and ears are looking much better. Her remaining eye has no problems so far. Thanks so much for saving her and posting her on your blog."

Thank YOU, Ellen, for adopting this girl!

—

Please Keep Voting!

The new Shelter Challenge started on Monday, January 10th, and ends at midnight on March 20th. Grand prize in this round is $5,000. There are no second- and third-place prizes this time, but new categories … please see the Shelter Challenge website for details.

And remember, you can vote every day, so consider bookmarking the voting page to make it easy.

You can vote in the Shelter Challenge here.

Please note: Use Rolling Dog Ranch for our name and NH for the state and our listing will come up.

Because of your votes, we came in 2nd nationwide and won $5,000 in the Shelter Challenge that ended in December 2010. Please help us win this round of the contest by voting every day, and by encouraging your family, friends and colleagues to vote every day, too. Thank you!
Briggs Died Yesterday

January 23, 2011

Early on Saturday morning when we let the dogs out, Alayne noticed Briggs, our blind and wobbly Beagle, kept falling over after he did his business. He'd been standing up normally at first, but he was suddenly struggling. Briggs was unsteady at the best of times, but he could always get up and stand again, even if he swayed back and forth a bit. On Friday night he had seemed fine, had eaten his dinner with gusto, and had been wobbling around the living room.

Alayne went over to help him, and saw that his front feet were knuckling over when she tried to stand him up. He kept going limp whenever she picked him up. So Alayne brought Briggs inside and set him in front of the water bowl in the living room. She went back out to find me and told me something was wrong. After we finished letting the dogs out, I went inside and found Briggs still by the water bowl. I picked him up and he went limp. I carried him over to a bed and did a simple neuro exam to see what the issue was with his feet. Sure enough, his front feet knuckled over every time I moved them, and he couldn't bring them back into position.

I asked Alayne to get a thermometer, and a minute later we were shocked to see it register 105.2°. I did it again, and got 105°. Yikes. I asked Alayne for a different thermometer, just in case the first one was off, but the second themometer read 105.4°. I called our vet clinic in Whitefield to tell them we had an emergency and were on the way in. Alayne went to clear snow off the truck and warm up the engine while we got the back seat ready for Briggs.

A short while later I was at the clinic, where Dr. Chris Plumley and vet tech Kim C. were waiting for us. I explained Briggs' medical history and everything he had been through. They also got a 105.4° reading, and during the physical exam Chris thought Briggs was uncomfortable when he palpated his lower abdomen. Chris told me that the best case scenario would be an "opportunistic, severe and overwhelming infection" of some sort — i.e., at least something treatable — but he feared it was more likely to be a tumor. I asked whether I should rush him to the critical care clinic in Burlington, Vermont, where our internal medicine specialist is, and Chris thought that would be where Briggs could get the best intensive care given his condition.

After giving him some injections for pain, Chris and Kim hooked Briggs up to an IV drip so I could give him fluids during the trip to Burlington. I drove home to pick up some things for the road trip and also so Alayne could see him one more time. I didn't know how this was going to end, but I didn't have a good feeling. Briggs has always been one of the very special ones, and Alayne and he were incredibly close. I wanted her to have some quiet time alone with him. While I gathered my things, she sat in the back seat of the truck with Briggs, talking to him and making over him. I took the photo above of Briggs just before leaving for Burlington.

At the emergency clinic, the bad news came very quickly. After the attending vet took X-rays, a radiologist also did an ultrasound, and both sets of images revealed multiple malignant tumors engulfing Briggs' liver and colon. The vet told me Briggs' "entire abdomen is riddled with tumors." Both she and the radiologist believed there was no treatment possible, and they recommended we euthanize our little Beagle that afternoon.

My eyes filled with tears. The vet asked me, "Have you done this before?" I paused, and finally said, "Way too many times." But I told her I would need to call Alayne and talk with her first.

So I called Alayne and broke the news to her, and soon we were both crying. I told her I would call her back when it was over. A few minutes later the vet returned to the room, syringes in hand. One was to flush the catheter Briggs already had in his arm, the second was a sedative, and the third was the euthanasia drug itself. The vet had barely started pushing the plunger on the euthanasia syringe when I felt Briggs slip away. He was, I could tell, ready to go.

He had come to us just under three years ago, with painful bulging eyes, and needed surgery for them. But then we found out he had kidney disease from Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever which had never been treated, and we learned it was the Spotted Fever that had caused his blindness and the neurological damage that made him wobbly.

Briggs had, it was clear, been through a lot. And his twin disabilities made him one of the most physically compromised animals we've cared for over the years. But none of that ever kept him down or depressed, and he was as loving and spirited as any dog we've ever had. Indeed, Briggs thought he was the quintessential ladies' man, and no amount of rebuffs from the fairer sex could convince him otherwise.

We had hoped to have this special little guy a lot longer than three years, but three years was all we were destined to get.

Goodbye, wobbly boy. We will always miss you.

—

The new Shelter Challenge started on Monday, January 10th, and ends at midnight on March 20th. Grand prize in this round is $5,000. There are no second- and third-place prizes this time, but new categories … please see the Shelter Challenge website for details.

And remember, you can vote every day, so consider bookmarking the voting page to make it easy.

You can vote in the Shelter Challenge here.

Please note: Use Rolling Dog Ranch for our name and NH for the state and our listing will come up.

Because of your votes, we came in 2nd nationwide and won $5,000 in the Shelter Challenge that ended in December 2010. Please help us win this round of the contest by voting every day, and by encouraging your family, friends and colleagues to vote every day, too. Thank you!
Weather Wusses

January 20, 2011

A funny thing happened on the way to New Hampshire. Our Montana-hardy dogs turned into a bunch of complete weather wusses. For dogs who were used to frequent outbreaks of sustained sub-zero temperatures all winter long, they now act as if they'd just moved here from Florida. It's like 20° above (-6 C) has become the new 20° below (-29 C). When I took that photo this morning, it was 16° and they'd been out for just a few minutes … but by the way they were trying to get back inside, you'd think we'd abandoned them on an ice floe in the Arctic Ocean.

That's blind Cedar and blind and deaf Spinner closest to the door; the blind Poodle sisters had been there, too, but turned when they heard me come up with the camera. That's blind Madison behind Molly. Back at the ranch in Montana, Cedar would happily be wandering the yard at Widget's House in a raging snowstorm, seemingly oblivious to the elements, and we'd have to go out and bring him inside. Now we have to peel him off the door. As for Spinner … you might think a blind and deaf dog wouldn't be able to communicate much, but she sits at the door and howls to be let inside … starting approximately 45 seconds after being put outside.

How they do this weekend will be interesting to see, because we're finally going to get a taste of some Montana-style winter — Sunday night is forecast to be -19°. I suspect the dogs will be saying, "Hey, we're from Orlando, not Ovando!"

—

The new Shelter Challenge started on Monday, January 10th, and ends at midnight on March 20th. Grand prize in this round is $5,000. There are no second- and third-place prizes this time, but new categories … please see the Shelter Challenge website for details.

And remember, you can vote every day, so consider bookmarking the voting page to make it easy.

You can vote in the Shelter Challenge here.

Please note: Use Rolling Dog Ranch for our name and NH for the state and our listing will come up.

Because of your votes, we came in 2nd nationwide and won $5,000 in the Shelter Challenge that ended in December 2010. Please help us win this round of the contest by voting every day, and by encouraging your family, friends and colleagues to vote every day, too. Thank you!
Dang. They’re Clean.

January 18, 2011

Blind Widget, having already mined her way through the crates in the dog room on a recent day, realized there might be one more unexplored area of potential treasures — the bowls on top of the tubs of food. I had never seen her climb onto these tubs before, so when I saw her doing this, I went to get the camera. She had started on the smallest, most accessible tub on the left, and worked her way over to the dishes. She was, however, most disappointed to find they had come fresh from the dishwasher earlier that morning … and there was not a speck left to lick.

Now, before anyone worries about Widget falling off the tub, relax … Widget always summons one of her ever-present household staff with a vocal woo-woo-woo for assistance in a case like this. She expects a servant to carry her off of anything she has managed to climb up on. Here she is waiting for yours truly to do her bidding:

After I set her on the floor, she made one more attempt to find something edible in Travis' crate:

—

The new Shelter Challenge started on Monday, January 10th, and ends at midnight on March 20th. Grand prize in this round is $5,000. There are no second- and third-place prizes this time, but new categories … please see the Shelter Challenge website for details.

And remember, you can vote every day, so consider bookmarking the voting page to make it easy.

You can vote in the Shelter Challenge here.

Please note: Use Rolling Dog Ranch for our name and NH for the state and our listing will come up.

Because of your votes, we came in 2nd nationwide and won $5,000 in the Shelter Challenge that ended in December 2010. Please help us win this round of the contest by voting every day, and by encouraging your family, friends and colleagues to vote every day, too. Thank you!
Body Snatchers

January 16, 2011

I hadn't seen this photo that Alayne took until I was uploading images from the camera onto my Mac, and it was a bit startling when it suddenly filled the screen … at first glance, it's not clear that there's a body attached to Holly's head. But the "whole" Holly was indeed there, snuggled up behind blind Goldie. Holly and Goldie are the only two dogs who have sleep-over privileges in the people wing of the house; they are quiet all night long, have impeccable potty habits, and don't scratch at bedroom doors looking for attention at 3 a.m. We have, over the years, had to winnow this list down to just these two to get a decent night's sleep.

I should have titled this post "Chair Snatchers," because as you can see, they have made themselves at home on one of the only three "people chairs" we have in our living room — two simple Ikea chairs, like the one they're on, and a once-comfortable wing-back recliner that survived not only our six-pack of dogs in Seattle but also ten years in Montana. It took Priscilla, one of our blind Poodles, less than 15 minutes a couple of months ago to shred the top side of the seat cushion of that chair. We walked in and found leather and foam scattered across the floor. She was standing in front of the chair, admiring her handiwork. Now the seat cushion is flipped over and a blanket covers the chair, but it looks like something from a salvage sale.

We have surrendered the two Ikea chairs to the dogs, alas. You can't pry Widget out of one all day long. I still insist on the recliner being dog-free, though Holly is quick to sneak naps in it when I'm not around. She hears me coming down the stairs and skitters off the chair. She knows.

I did, however, buy two new Ikea chairs last summer when we first moved in, and they are in our bedroom … the only dog-free room in the place. They remain clean and white and pristine, just like they were when I set them up. It's not that Alayne and I ever actually sit in them and relax, but still, I just like looking at them and knowing I could sit in them if I wanted to. And at least I wouldn't have to shoo sleeping dogs off first.

—

The new Shelter Challenge started on Monday, January 10th, and ends at midnight on March 20th. Grand prize in this round is $5,000. There are no second- and third-place prizes this time, but new categories … please see the Shelter Challenge website for details.

And remember, you can vote every day, so consider bookmarking the voting page to make it easy.

You can vote in the Shelter Challenge here.

Please note: Use Rolling Dog Ranch for our name and NH for the state and our listing will come up.

Because of your votes, we came in 2nd nationwide and won $5,000 in the Shelter Challenge that ended in December 2010. Please help us win this round of the contest by voting every day, and by encouraging your family, friends and colleagues to vote every day, too. Thank you!
Snow Job

January 13, 2011

This might look like an ice-sculpture gone bad, but it's actually our Chevy Silverado pick-up sporting a new look after a snowstorm yesterday. I've never seen a drift quite that convoluted before, and can't figure out exactly how it happened. Here's another view … that's a load of hay bales in the back of the truck:

My particular favorite part of this "snow job" was this curled-over piece on the driver's door — click on the image for a bigger version:

Speaking of weather, we've been enjoying seeing how much attention these snowstorms get here in the east — with national news coverage every time. For us, coming from Ovando, it seemed like every snowfall was a blizzard — it's just that no one really noticed. (Hey, who else is around?) But in general, with the winter weather so much more extreme back there, the stuff that counts as "blizzards" in the east barely warrant a mild "winter weather advisory" from the National Weather Service in Montana. For instance, here's a screenshot of the NWS forecast page for our location in Ovando a couple of weeks ago (click on image for bigger version):

That was a typical event. Snow coming in sideways at 20 mph, with gusts to 30 mph, which the NWS helpfully calls "breezy."

In contrast, here is the NWS forecast for Lancaster for the storm that just came through yesterday:

Notice the wind is only at 6 mph. (NWS friends: That is "breezy.") But, this is a full-blown "winter storm warning."

Well, whatever you call it, I've got some more plowing to do this afternoon!

—

Slipped to 4th place!

The new Shelter Challenge started on Monday, January 10th, and ends at midnight on March 20th. Grand prize in this round is $5,000. There are no second- and third-place prizes this time, but new categories … please see the Shelter Challenge website for details.

Their site says Best Friends is not eligible to win the Grand Prize in any of the 2011 Shelter Challenge contests because they were the "Challenge Champion" in 2010, having won the most total votes during the year, so that gives us a shot again at winning first place!

And remember, you can vote every day, so consider bookmarking the voting page to make it easy.

You can vote in the Shelter Challenge here.

Please note: Use Rolling Dog Ranch for our name and NH for the state and our listing will come up.

Because of your votes, we came in 2nd nationwide and won $5,000 in the Shelter Challenge that ended in December 2010. Please help us win this round of the contest by voting every day, and by encouraging your family, friends and colleagues to vote every day, too. Thank you!
Cheek By … Whatever I Can Find

January 11, 2011

Back in November, I posted a "cheek by jowl" photo of blind Briggs sleeping with his face buried under blind Madison's head. Apparently it doesn't really matter to him which end of Madison he's sleeping next to … as long as she's warm and close, he's happy!

—

Already In 3rd Place!

The new Shelter Challenge started on Monday, January 10th, and ends at midnight on March 20th. Grand prize in this round is $5,000. There are no second- and third-place prizes this time, but new categories … please see the Shelter Challenge website for details.

Their site says Best Friends is not eligible to win the Grand Prize in any of the 2011 Shelter Challenge contests because they were the "Challenge Champion" in 2010, having won the most total votes during the year, so that gives us a shot again at winning first place!

And remember, you can vote every day, so consider bookmarking the voting page to make it easy.

You can vote in the Shelter Challenge here.

Please note: Use Rolling Dog Ranch for our name and NH for the state and our listing will come up.

Because of your votes, we came in 2nd nationwide and won $5,000 in the Shelter Challenge that ended in December 2010. Please help us win this round of the contest by voting every day, and by encouraging your family, friends and colleagues to vote every day, too. Thank you!
More Basket Follies

January 9, 2011

Alayne noticed blind Widget climbing into the laundry basket bed one recent morning and thought, "uh oh, isn't Dexter in the basket too?" She had seen him get into the basket earlier in the morning but didn't see him in it at the moment, so he had either climbed out … or buried himself in the blankets at the bottom of the basket. Yet there was no sound and no movement as Widget started to settle herself in on top of the pile of blankets, and Alayne figured Dexter was on another bed somewhere in the house.

But as Widget went around in circles, trying to get the bedding just-so, the blankets started to move. And move. This annoyed Widget, who kept trying to get them fixed up just the way she wanted them for her morning nap. There was still no sound, however, only the silent movement of the bedding underneath her. The more she tried to settle down, the more the bedding moved. Widget couldn't figure out why the blankets seemed to have a mind of their own, but by this time Alayne realized what was going on and picked up the camera off the desk.

Just when Widget decided to overlook her growing sense of motion sickness and try to nap anyway — that's the photo above — up popped Dexter in the corner of the basket:

Not a happy face, eh?

Here's a side-shot of Old Snaggle-Tooth himself:

You can see that at this point Widget didn't care about the disruption any longer, though Dexter certainly did … and he subsequently climbed out in search of less crowded accommodations.

—

New Shelter Challenge Begins Monday

Yes, a new Shelter Challenge starts tomorrow, Monday, January 10th, and ends at midnight on March 20th. Grand prize in this round is $5,000. There are no second- and third-place prizes this time, but new categories … please see the Shelter Challenge website for details.

Their site says Best Friends is not eligible to win the Grand Prize in any of the 2011 Shelter Challenge contests because they were the "Challenge Champion" in 2010, having won the most total votes during the year, so that gives us a shot again at winning first place!

And remember, you can vote every day, so consider bookmarking the voting page to make it easy.

You can vote in the Shelter Challenge here.

Please note: Use Rolling Dog Ranch for our name and NH for the state and our listing will come up.

Because of your votes, we came in 2nd nationwide and won $5,000 in the Shelter Challenge that ended in December 2010. Please help us win this round of the contest by voting every day, and by encouraging your family, friends and colleagues to vote every day, too. Thank you!