B. Ready Dude #58 reporting in.....

Hey there!

#58 B. Ready Dude reporting in.....

Wow, have I ever been busy! My first adventure was to the Clear Creek County Animal Shelter's Open House. My escort, Carol, took me there to talk to all of the people about creating a plan for your pets before an emergency or disaster happens. We talked to sooo many people and my cat, Pia and dog, ARF loved being the center of attention. They got to play with all of the dogs and cats that came to visit and the ones that were staying in the shelter and needing good homes. They were all super sweet! Carol even made us ride on the back of a Pot Bellied Pig, named Bacon!! It totally rocked! ARF was complaining that the pig smelled, but I didn't think so, and Pia kept wanting to jump off Bacon's back, because his hair was really sharp! Since I have no shoes, or feet for that matter, it didn't bother me!

It was totally funny, when the Sheriffs from Clear Creek and Gilpin Counties had to kneel down and kiss Bacon! His snout was all gooey and sticky from all of the grapes and whatever else he had been eating! It was pretty gnarly, man! Bacon nudged us and we were all sticky and gross, so Carol had to hose us down when we got home.

Our next adventure was a trip to Baltimore, MD to attend the 2008 NASAAEP Summit (National Alliance of State Animal and Agricultural Emergency Programs). There were people from all over the United States there! There was even someone representing the Virgin Islands! Carol and all the others were there to talk about how to make Animal Emergency Management more successful. There were guest speakers and people did a lot of "networking." Well, that's what they called it. I called it rapping. Dr. Kevin Dennison took us up to the very front of the room to something called a podium to introduce us to everyone! I was just a little nervous, but Pia and ARF were as cool as could be. I think Dr. D was nervous too, beause his hands got really sweaty! Hey after that pig, that was nothing!

While we were there, a humongous hurricane was heading right for Texas and some people had to leave the Summit early. Carol shoved us into Dr. D's suitcase so we could make the trip with him to Austin, Texas and help him out. Boy, was he surprised when he opened his suitcase in Austin and out we all popped! He took us with him to places that most people never get to go! There were signs on the doors saying that you couldn't bring any guns inside, but there were big security guys inside, that had them! Wuz up with that? One day, Dr. D stuck us onto one of those doors and took a picture with a Blackberry! I guess he thought it was funny. Carol laughed when she saw the picture and his finger was in the way! He also took us into a building where all of the VIP's, aka "Feds," were. It was sooo crowded in there and there were all of these maps on the walls, showing where all of the responders and different teams were sent. That hurricane made a huge mess!Pia, ARF and I helped Dr. D with the assessment teams. It was a good thing we were there too, because he never slept and was very tired! He thought it was funny to plaster us up on the wall next to some of those maps and take another picture with that Blackberry thing again. Carol was happy to see that he had left his finger out of those shots!We also got to help out Liz Serca. She's really nice and loves cats and dogs. She is the head of the Texas SART team. SART Stands for State Animal Resource Team, in Texas. Here in Colorado, it stands for State Animal Response Team, Carol is the Coordinator for our Colorado team. Liz was very busy setting up temporary animal shelters and trying to get supplies for all of the animals. I think she was happy to have us there to help. She would pet Pia and ARF all the time.

Dr. D brought us back to Colorado, gave us back to Carol and she immediately shipped us off to the Launch of a program called Chip Your Cat. That's where a little micro chip is inserted underneath the skin on the back of a cats neck. It doesn't hurt at all and I got one for Pia, becuase if she ever gets lost, anyone who finds her can take her to an animal shelter, Veterinarian, or pet store and she can be scanned. The number of her micro chip will be matched to me, Cool B Ready Dude #58! Pia will be back at my feet, oh wait, I keep forgetting, I have no feet! Well, she'll be back at my stumps in no time! I got my picture taken with some cats who were being chipped and there were also TV cameras there, but I guess Carol will have to check the station's web site to see if we made it on TV!

Now I'm back with Carol in her office. We're working on putting together a "strike force" (sounds awesome, huh?) of qualified animal handlers, dudes and dudettes experienced in animal sheltering from the list of our Colorado Veterinary Medical Reserve Corps. We're doing this just in case we have an emergency here. We want to have everything in place if it ever does happen. If you know what you're doing and where you're going a head of time, you won't panic when faced with an emergency. So that's why creating an emergency plan is like, soooooo important!

As soon as Carol can figure out how to upload the pictures of me, Pia and ARF into her new computer photo program, I'll make sure she posts them on this blog! You'll have to excuse her, she's not as cool as we are. Shhhhh, don't tell her I said that! We may end up in a box somewhere left out of all our upcoming adventures!

We'll be downstairs at Harrison Memorial Animal Hospital for a few days hanging with Alicia and seeing all of the neat suff that goes on down there.

Then.....Carol is packing us up again and we're flying to Kansas for a Conference! That should be fun!

We're just travelin' dudes!

That's it for now.

This is B Ready Dude #58, Pia and ARF signing off.

Later!

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