When It's This Cold Outside...

...there's only one place to be this weekend -- in front of the wood stove.  Here are blind-and-deaf Spinner and blind Callie enjoying the fire on a bitterly cold night:

Note that for today, the National Weather Service office in Missoula said we should expect a high of 2°(-16°C) with east winds between 25 and 28 mph and gusts as high as 41 mph (66 kph) ... conditions they helpfully called "breezy."  Excuse me ... "breezy"?  (Click on screenshot for larger image.)  The worst is coming on Monday night, when it's going to be 30° below zero (-34°C) with a steady wind of 11 mph and gusts up to 20 mph (32 kph).  That translates into a wind chill value of -47°(-44°C).  Egads.  I guess we could call that "brisk."

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Still No. 1 -- But That Iowa Group Is Moving Up Fast!

Please keep voting for the ranch every day in The Animal Rescue Site/PetFinder's Shelter Challenge.  Thanks to your votes, we came in third nationwide and won $3,000 for the animals in the previous contest earlier this year.  Now we have a shot at No. 1 and the $20,000 grand prize in the current contest!  Enter "Rolling Dog Ranch" and our state postal code, MT for Montana, and it will bring up our listing so you can cast your vote.  Please ask your family and friends to vote, too. 

You can see how fast the rankings can change, so we really need an extra push in the last two weeks of the contest to hold that No. 1 spot.  It ends on December 20th, so we're in the home stretch -- and $20,000 for the animals is in sight!  Thank you!

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Nice Boost From Montana Newspapers:  We had some great help this weekend from local Montana papers getting the word out about the Shelter Challenge.  The Helena Independent Record published a story on Saturday about the contest and then the Missoulian ran the same piece today.  You can read the story here.

Comments

[Colleen & Sweet Kitty Erin]

That made me cold just to read. I do not know how you survive but it's a good thing you do have all the snuggly friends & fireplaces to keep you warm!! Take good care of all of you!!!

[Lynn (in Louisiana)]

Yep, Lynne's right! We got 2 inches of snow Friday night. I truly do not understand how any of you up north handle snow and cold for months and months and months. Dang, I 'bout froze walking out in the yard to look at the snow and it was around 30 degrees! Wimp, I know....

My girl Spinner looks so pretty in her chair. :-)

[Miranda]

I guess that means if I whine about it being 34 deg. when I left for work this morning and it's going to be 22 tonight that I'm not going to get much sympathy? How is Margaret doing in the cold weather. We haven't heard about her in a long time. The more you type the warmer your hands will stay :-)

[Lynne Parker]

You need James Taylor's Christmas CD with the song "Baby, It's Cold Outside" on it!
That's a great plug from the newspapers. Gosh, we're still in the 40s and 50s here in South Carolina. No snow... even Louisiana got snow!

Vote early, vote often!

[Ev]

I'm noting who is on the IKEA chair and who isn't. Cracks me up. Stay warm you all.

[Amy A]

It's cold over here too but not what you guys have. Brrrr. I had four dachshunds in my bed and we snuggled!

[Debbie B.]

Jeeze Steve, it will be in the 70's and 80's here in Jacksonville this week. Keep the critters warm!!

[Vicki Small]

"Brisk"? How 'bout "bracing"? Chilly, to be sure!

Pulling for you (and voting "early and often"--on two computers)!

[Kristin (in Georgia)]

Stay warm, RDR! I am hopeful all the animals are safe and warm from this nasty cold spell.

[Toni]

I've voted in the challenge everyday! I would also encourage people to post something on their Facebook pages to ask friends and family to vote as well. I did that and all my friends and family are voting for the ranch!

[Barb Ribinski]

So glad the article appeared in your local newspaper. That should help, too! And keep warm.

[Debbie]

Brrrrrrr.....ok, maybe I don't want to live up north!
BTW, the article says you have (had) a pig??? I don't remember seeing that...?