NOT SO WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

DO YOU HAVE SOME MORE LOVE & SUPPORT TO GIVE?
Hey Hounders,
Hi gang, it's that good old stay-at-home and never escape good guy, Jack, with kinda an appeal if you will. We know that just about every pup, kitty and peep that reads our stuff is a little different, but in a good way. Y'all care about the welfare of others. We have become aware of a situation that we would like y'all to lend your support to. Seems that there is a very handsome 3 year old Golden Retriever named Harry that lives up in Boston that could use some kind words. We know that some of our New England buddies are already aware of Harry's situation. Ya see, Harry and his dad have just lost their mom and wife, Dena, to breast cancer. They have posted a very sweet, noble and moving tribute to her on Harry's blog. We think that it would be appreciated if y'all would stop over at Harry's blog and leave a few kind words of consolation for Harry and his dad on their tragic loss. Yeah, it's a tissue read (even the GOM said he was a little emotional reading it) but well worth the minor inconvenience and time it'll take you; and ya know that it's the right thing to do. Please spread the word about Harry's plight to your blogging buddies and keep these guys in your prayer's.

A HARRY HAPPY MEMORY
HARRY AND HIS MOM & DAD
ON THE NANTUCKET FERRY

We also need you to keep sending your prayers and good vibes for our ailing buddies Chandler and Max. Stop by their sites and give them some encouragement in their battles against canine cancer. Please vote for Max's blog at http://www.trainpetdog.com/
His special blog code is: Di6Ym Voting closes: 20th February 2010.
- The Bumpass Hounds and Kitties

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Wednesday, February 10, 2010:

Wrangler at AHGRR sez: We have climbed back to #62 in the Shelter Challenge voting (from #63 yesterday) nationally. However, we are still #2 in West Virginia. The Ritchie County Humane Society is #1 in WV and #25 nationally; 37 places higher than us and still widening their lead. Please help us get back on top by voting today.

Please see the top of our blog page for instructions.

TERRIFIC TUESDAY

ANOTHER ESCAPE; HOPEFULLY THE LAST

Hey Hounders,
Abby (Dabby-Doo) here with today's news. Dad was really tired last night, exhausted is probably a better word. He put a bunch of us, sans myself, out in the patio and pen area thinking that they'r be OK because he had the paddock blocked off but I'm small enough to get through. He put Sophie and Radar out front as usual. After he got dressed he went to let Sophie and Radar in and Jack and Shelby were out front too. So he put them all in the house with me and then he went to gather what he needed to fix the fence. He had to mix gas & oil for the chain saw. then he had to sharpen the chain. Then he had the readjust the saw carberater for winter operation. Then he fuel the saw and then he had to fill the chain bar oil tank. Of course it took about 15 minutes to get the chain saw to run. The tree that feel through the fence was close to 2 feet in diameter next to the uprooted traunk wher dad needed to make one cut and abot 18 inches on the other side of the downed fence. It was cold and wet so dad wasn't happy. It took about an hour just to cut the tree section out and then it was real heavy and he had to use the pry bar to roll it off of the busted fence. The 4" x 4" post had snapped about a foot from the ground. Dad had to seperate the post from the board rails then he had to separate the fence wire from the boards. Dad had to dig the base portion of the post out of the ground along with the concrete plug around it. Then dad put a new 4" x 4" in the hole; he didn't set it in concrete because of the temperature. He then had to pound all the nails out of the boards and then reattach them to the posts. Then he had to straighten on the wire and hammer staples into the board rails to reattach it. Dad says that this is a temporary fix. It would have been easier with a helper but mom has the broken ankle and foot so dad had to get along by himself which was tough becuse 2 of the cedar boards that he had to rehang were 16' long; the other 2 board were only 8 ' long. It was real close to sunset when the fix was finished. This spring the fence needs 50' of new bull wire; 1 replacement post and 1 new 8' cedar board rail. Six other posts were pulled toward the center where the tree hit the fence so they have to be reset or replaced. One half of the gate need sto be readjusted because it hinge post was pulled off vertical. We all got to try going out into the paddock and of course we all rushed to the site of the break to see if we could get out; no dice. The new post is braced on the other side and dad rolled the section of the tree he cut up to the base of the wire so we can't dig out.
Dad couldn't fix the snow blower today because it wasn't the auger shear pin that broke. The auger turns ok but the thrower wheel doesn't move at all so no snow is throw out the chute from the auger. In the maintenance manual it looks like a gear box problem so dad says it will have to go to a shop. So dad the had to shovel out th estreet plow mound that blocked the part of the driveway where his and mom's cars were parked. Fortunately they were moved up close to the street before the storm. It was cold and dark while dad shoveled out the driveway. He has to do it real slow and only a small portion at a time because of his cardiologist would not be happy.. So dad finally came in at about 8 PM and went through the do our business and feed us routine. Then he took a shower and watched the Big Bank Theory and then helped us with this post. He says that we are now going to bed. Good night all.
- The Bumpass Hounds and Kitties

MORE BORING RADAR & SOPHIE OUT FRONT IN THE SNOW VIDEO

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Tuesday, February 9, 2010:

Wrangler at AHGRR sez: We continue our backward slide in the Shelter Challenge voting; having slipped back to #63 (from #60 yesterday) nationally. To make matters worse, we are still #2 in West Virginia and making our way towards #3. The Ritchie County Humane Society is #1 in WV and #27 nationally; 36 places higher than us and still widening their lead. Please help us get back on top by voting today.

Please see the top of our blog page for instructions.

ESCAPE ROUTE STILL OPEN

WE"RE ALL SICK; WE HAVE A FEVER;
CABIN FEVER

Hey Hounders,

Well it's Monday morning and we're all coming down with cabin fever. The big tree that fell across the back paddock fence is still there. Dad put two of the downstairs patio chairs across the paddock entrance so that when we go down the deck stairs we only have access to the Newfs pen. that means that dad has to do active traffic management so that the Newfs are in their kennel crates when we are allowed out and we are all in the house when the Newfs go out to their pen. On top of that, Abby is small enough to get around the chairs and make it down to the escape route so dad has to accompany us out when Abby is with us. this has greatly restricted our outside time and we're spending most of the day inside with mom. of course mom is still wearing her soft cast boot for her broken foot and ankle. Ya might say that we're all having a little too much together time. Radar keeps bumping into the rest of us and none of us seem to know what to do with ourselves and tempers have been getting a little thin. We've had a few "discussions" amongst ourselves and mom and dad seem a little irritable 9i.e. short tempered) about it. On top of that dad broke a shear pin on the snow blower yesterday so the cars are all still snow bound. Only the Bronco Rescue Wagon is mobile, it was able to bust out like in a TV commercial. Most of the surrounding areas have had no power since Saturday. For some reason, knock on wood, we were not affected by any power outage. If we loose power that means no lights, no cooking, no heat (we don't have a fireplace), no water pump, no water, no flushing toilets, etc. Living in the country makes it stressful if the power goes out. Dad says he'd have to take mom over to sissy Sarah's house and he'd stay here and do primitive camping with us. We had a little power flickering Saturday night but not even enough to trip the appliance timers into the "flashing" mode. Dad couldn't go to work today and he has to try to fix the snow blower to get the driveway clear. Maybe the county will get to our development today to plow the streets. There are lots of tree down on all the roads so the county has crews out cutting. Dad took the Bronco down to the local general store yesterday to get gas for the Bronco and snow blower and chain saw. They had been plowed out and the pumps and parking areas were all cleared but the store had lost power and was closed. So things, in general, are a mess. Fortunately dad was able to clear the snow and ice off of the antenna farm so we have Direct TV and Satellite Internet signals. It is supposed to get above freezing today so we should have some melting. It is gonna rain tomorrow so that will make things very, very muddy. So dad has to have some morning coffee and then get out. His cardiologist doesn't want him to do much shoveling so he really needs to get that snow blower fixed or we'll be stuck here until it all melts; that will probably take months.
- The Bumpass Hounds and Kitties

MORE SNOW PICTURES; PRETTY BUT MESSY
=
PRETTY MESSY

Radar & Sophie's Morning Outing

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February 8, 2010:
Wrangler at AHGRR sez: We have slipped back to #60 (from #58 yesterday) nationally but, unfortunately, we are still #2 in West Virginia and making our way towards #3. The Ritchie County Humane Society is #1 in WV and #28 nationally; 32 places higher than us and still widening their lead. Please help us get back on top by voting today.

Please see the top of our blog page for instructions.

Click the above button to vote for AHGRR
Enter
State: WV
City: Capon
Click "Search" - "Vote" - "Confirm"

SUNDAY STUFF

SNOW PICTURES; WANT SOME?

Hey Hounders,
It finally stopped snowing at about 6 PM last night. Maybe dad can fix the fence today. He also has to do some shoveling. Doesn't look like we'll be doing anything until Monday or Tuesday. There's about 2 feet of snow out there now; on top of the stuff srtill left from last weekend.

We got the below email from Ms. Carol up at Almost Heaven Golden Retriever Rescue & Sanctuary and wanted to post it for all of you to see. If you're a Twitter and/or Facebook type, please note that AHGRR is getting into that now. So y'all can be a "friend."

Remember to keep up the prayers for our buddies Chandler and Max. Also some good vibes please for Lucky Luke and any other ailing buddies.
- TBH&K

Here's Ms. Carol's e-mail:

Hi Everyone:

The Shelter Challenge Contest is rolling on - and leaving us in the dust. Ritchie County shelter is now #1 in WV. (In case you don't know, this is the shelter that had an entire building destroyed in a fire a few weeks ago. Apparently it - and it's contents were uninsured - and there was a huge loss of animal life).

The contest doesn't end until April 18th, so we still have a long way to go.

Please remember to vote for us - - - - - and ask your friends, relatives, neighbors. $1,000 could save a lot of lives here - - - -

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/shelterchallenge.faces?siteId=3

We have a LOT of new faces here - and a LOT of new dogs waiting to come in. Sadly, the weather is truly playing havoc with incoming transports and adoptions. Because of this we are having to board dogs in order to save their lives. We are moving them in and out as quickly as possible (given the weather, etc), but are barely keeping pace.

Our fundraiser in Charles Town has hit a snag and I need some input. I guess the first question should be how many people would be interested in attending a "Day at the Races" fundraising event. We had considered a dinner and silent auction - your seat would be available all evening, though you would be able to leave and return to the dining area to enjoy the horse races and to play the slots if you were so inclined. There is a lovely hotel there that could easily accomodate overnight stays.

We estimate that the cost of a ticket for this event would need to be in the range of $60+ depending on current pricing - and would include your meal (and the food there is excellent and the space we would need for the auction activities). All gaming would be additional - and entirely up to you. Any input?

The February pins will remain on sale until our inventory is exhausted. We would also like to offer a subscription plan for them - for a total of $120 - we will send you a pin (or magnet) each month - for each of the 12 months we are currently offering. This will be automatic. If you have already purchased the February pin, the balance due on your subscription would be $108. This will result in a savings of $22 - or you would be getting almost 2 months FREE.

February's Pin Design

If you are interested in our subscription plan, please let me know so I can order additional inventory if necessary. You can either send a check, or I can send you a paypal invoice.

We have a lot of new dogs who need sponsors, including Lola - a Senior girl - who was confiscated from her owners. Lola needs to be spayed, vaccinated, and tested for heartworm, etc. Whiskey, Shelly, Teddy T, Waylon, and Baker could also use some help. You can see all their pictures here - newer intakes are at the end of the list. They will soon be posted on our website.

http://www.petfinder.com/shelterSearch/shelterSearch.cgi?animal=&breed=&age=&size=&specialNeeds=&declawedPets=&children=&status=&id=&internal=&contact=&name=&shelterid=WV61&sort=&preview=1

Lola, Senior Golden Girl

We once again have a "wait" list. There are currently 6 dogs on it - - - - - - -

Your support is imperative to our survival - - - - - - the economy and this horrendous winter are hitting us very hard. We need your help. Any fundraising ideas are welcome - - - - - - - - any and all donations are appreciated. Please help if you can - we are doing all we can to continue saving lives and not turn any golden away - - - - - - -

Stay warm - stay safe - - - - - - - and THANK YOU for all your support - - - - -

Carol
Almost Heaven Golden Retriever Rescue
ahgrr@frontiernet.net
carefreesv@frontiernet.net
http://www.almostheaven-golden-retriever-rescue.org/

A great way to judge a relationship.....

YIKES, IT'S SNOWING AGAIN.

EDITORIAL UPDATE

WE HAD A FIVE DOG ESCAPE THIS MORNING

We woke dad up at about 6:30 this morning and he was pretty groggy as he opened the back door to let the six of us backyard paddock dogs (Homer J., Jubal, J.E.B., Shelby Belle, Jack & Abby) out back; it was sleeting. He then went to the front door to let Sophie and Radar out front. They just stay right around the house. All this time dad's was in his PJs. He then went in and got dressed to let the Newfs out into their pen. That usually entails bringing Sophie and Radar back in from out front and then letting Homer, Jubal and Jack back in the house from the paddock. Then he goes down to the kennel and lets J.E.B., Shelby and Abby into the kennel and then he takes Max and Shiloh out of their crates in the kennel out to their pen. Then he'd feed the 3 retrievers in the kennel and then bring Max and Shiloh back into the kennel to feed them. With those five in their crates in the kennel he'd then go back upstairs to feed the other five of us. That's how it should go....HOWEVER... when dad opened the back door to bring in the 3 "inside" dogs there was only one dog there...Jack. Dad called and called but no one else was showing up. A bit puzzled he then went down the steps to look for the other 5 of us. He checked that the gate was closed and he noticed that there weren't any paw prints in the snow by the gate. He went down the start of the paddock run and that's where his eyes followed all of our paw prints to where the big tree had fallen over and taken out our paddock fence. The five of us had climbed over the wreckage and made our GReat escape (part 3). Dad then went back to the house and let the Newfs out into their pen; holding a couple of milk bones insured that they stayed close to him and didn't make a break for the paddock. Then dad went into the house and got his winter gear on to go looking for us. When he went out the front door he saw our neighbor lady, Ms. Jessica, from up the street. She had come to tell dad that we dogs had escaped. She had been taking her dogs for their morning business walk when she encountered us. We then took off down a street and Jessica decided to come tell dad what had happened. About that time 4 of us 5 escapees came running down the street toward the house. Dad called us and we all came running. Jessica started back to her house in the snow and dad brought Shelby, Abby, Homer and J.E.B. back into the house. Only Jubal was still out there in the blizzard. Dad started up the driveway towards the street following Ms. Jessica who was about 100 yard further up the street by then headed for home. Suddenly Jubal came running around the corner and made a beeline for Ms. Jessica for some attention. He stopped for a few pats before he noticed dad and then he came running down to dad. Dad, smart man that he is, didn't yell at Jubes or anything. he just encouraged him along and when Jubal got to dad he got lots of pats and rubs and then the two of them came back in the house where it is warm and toasty. So now we can't go out in the paddock until the fence is fixed, it's still blizzarding and the cars are all snowed in so dad can't get out to Lowes or The Home Depot (which are probably closed anyway). Dad's initial estimate is that the tree fell directly on a post and that the boards and wire will still be usable and that he'll only have to replace the post. He has some 2 x 4s in the detached garage he can use until he can buy a 4 x 4 post. He says that nothing will happen until it stops snowing. He 'll have to get the chain saw running to cut up some of the tree to clear the wreckage before anything gets fixed. He's really not looking forward to this and wants spring to come ASAP.
- TBH&K

KOWABUNGA! WHERE WILL WE PUT IT ALL?

Hey Hounders,
It started snowing here at about 1:00 PM Friday afternoon, very lightly at first but it started accumulating after 3:00 PM. Here are some photos that we took at about 5:30 PM. We're posting Saturday's blog on Friday evening because dad is sure we'll loose our satellite signal because of the weather and we want to post Friday night and schedule it for Saturday release. The forecast for the metropolitan D.C. area is for from 20 to 30 inches of snow. It's not supposed to stop until about 10:00 PM Saturday night. Any accumulation over 28 inches will set a new record for this area.

We are still getting our butts handed to us on the proverbial silver platter by The Ritchie County Humane Society. So if it isn't too much trouble, please vote as often as you can each day for AHGRR; pretend that you're dead and living in Chicago. We hope that our blog buddies Chandler and Max are doing well today and that they have a comfortable weekend. Please keep up your prayers on their behalf.

We'll try to edit this post during the day if we have a good enough signal. Radar sure loves the snow and he will be romping in it on behalf of our buddy Chandler. We hope that Khyra gets some of the snow this time around; she got robbed last weekend and snow is one of her most favorite things ever.
- The Bumpass Hounds and Kitties

RADAR ROMPING

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February 6, 2010:
Wrangler at AHGRR sez: We have slipped back to #58 (from #57 yesterday) nationally but, unfortunately, we are still #2 in West Virginia. The Ritchie County Humane Society is #1 in WV and #29 nationally; 29 places higher than us and still widening their lead. Please help us get back on top by voting today.

See the top of our blog page for instructions.

FRIDAY POLL RESULTS ARE NOT GOOD

Sophie & Boru here.

We are sorry if we offended you so that you are not voting for AHGRR. We apologize.
We hope that Chandler and Max are both having a GReat day today; they are in our prayers.
- TBH&K
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February 5, 2010:
Wrangler at AHGRR sez: We have slipped back to #57 (from #47 yesterday) nationally but, unfortunately, we are still #2 in West Virginia. The Ritchie County Humane Society is #1 in WV and #33 nationally; 24 places higher than us and widening their lead. Please help us get back on top by voting today.

See the top of our blog page for instructions.

Please vote for the Almost Heaven Golden Retriever Rescue & Sanctuary everyday to help us win a grant for AHGRR. Just click on the "VOTE EVERY DAY" button above, it will take you to the Animal Rescue Site. You can click to provide a free bowl of food to a homeless pet and then vote in the Shelter Challenge. Choose the Shelter Challenge purple tab on the top of the "Thank You Page" after clicking for free food and then vote for Almost Heaven Golden Retriever Rescue & Sanctuary, Capon Bridge, WV. Help us help the pets that need homes!
Or please go to this website:

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/shelterchallenge.faces?siteId=3/shelterchallenge.faces?siteId=3

The webpage can sometimes be temperamental but the above link is correct. Please give the page enough time to fully load to "Done" before proceeding. Then we want you to enter the following red data into these boxes provided and click "search" to vote:

State: WV

City: Capon

WE"RE FALLING FURTHER BEHIND

IS THIS ENOUGH SNOW FOR Y'ALL?

Hey Hounders,
These are some of the photos that we've been meaning to post this week, but the satellite system has been moody with the weather and all. For some reason they all posted in a timely manner today. Our sick buddy Chandler in Colorado hasn't gotten much snow this year so most of this must be his that somehow got misplaced. We're hoping that both Chandler and Max had a good day today and that they have another good one tomorrow. We wish well to our friend Luck Luck down in Texas and want him to know that he is getting good vibes from us also. Our charity, AHGRR, isn't doing too well in the Shelter Challenge, so if you can badger any friends or family members into voting it might help out. Forecast for tomorrow is yet another big snow storm so we'll probably be stuck in the house with mom and dad again all weekend; they're so looking forward to it, as are we.
- The Bumpass Hounds and Kitties

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Wrangler at AHGRR sez: We have climbed back to #47 (from #49) nationally but, unfortunately, we are still #2 in West Virginia. The Ritchie County Humane Society is #1 in WV and #37 nationally; 10 places higher than us and widening their lead. Please help us get back on top by voting today.

See the top of our blog page for instructions.

Please vote for the Almost Heaven Golden Retriever Rescue & Sanctuary everyday to help us win a grant for AHGRR. Just click on the "VOTE EVERY DAY" button above, it will take you to the Animal Rescue Site. You can click to provide a free bowl of food to a homeless pet and then vote in the Shelter Challenge. Choose the Shelter Challenge purple tab on the top of the "Thank You Page" after clicking for free food and then vote for Almost Heaven Golden Retriever Rescue & Sanctuary, Capon Bridge, WV. Help us help the pets that need homes!
Or please go to this website:

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/shelterchallenge.faces?siteId=3/shelterchallenge.faces?siteId=3

The webpage can sometimes be temperamental but the above link is correct. Please give the page enough time to fully load to "Done" before proceeding. Then we want you to enter the following red data into these boxes provided and click "search" to vote:

State: WV

City: Capon