Today we picked up our copies of the 2007 Escondido Humane Society (EHS) calendar, which features animal photos. I had submitted two photos of Moorea, but she did not make the cut for Calendar Girl for any month. Her 2 photos are in the collage on the last page. Right not Moorea is pouting in the kitchen, but that may be because she hates that we changed the clocks and has to wait an extra hour for her kibble!

We saw Candy at the EHS. No surprise, as she practically lives there! We were able to hold some of the very, very little kittens Candy is fostering. One litter was about 2 weeks old. Very tempting to bring home a baby sibling for Moorea, except for the noisy squeeks constantly for their bottles of milk!

Candy wants me to tell you about 2 opportunities for a booth at EHS events:

The first event is the annual Holiday Bazaar at the Escondido shelter the first weekend of December.

The second event is not until Sunday, March 25, 2007 at the" PAWS in the Park" walk at Kit Carson Park. Candy said we could share a booth with EHS if we wanted to promote our organization.

Any thoughts?

I'm for any time we can promote our chapter and get new members. We have so many facilities and a couple on the waiting list and not enough members to fulfill the need. Can you get all the details for the December event (time, location, cost, do's and don'ts, etc.) and let us know? Thanks.

Nancy,

Can you also check to see if we can sell things or ask for donations, etc.? If so, I'm thinking we could get a gift basket or two and raffle them off at our table. Or have a jar with treats in them and people pay a dollar (or two) to guess how many are in the jar. Winner gets the treats. That might be easier and get more interested.

I just emailed Candy to get more information about the December event.

The March event, "PAWS in the Park" is well explained on the EHS website.

The information about the Escondido Humane Society's Holiday Boutique is now posted on their website.
December 2nd & 3rd (Saturday & Sunday)
In the parking lot of the Escondido Humane Society.

We will need workers to help out, so check back after Tuesday, November 7th Board Meeting and we will let you know specific information for our San Diego LOAL chapter's participation in this event,

Last night at our San Diego LOAL Board of DIrectors' meeting, it was decided that we would participate in ONE of the two days at the Escondido Humane Society Holiday Boutique,

That means that we need workers to man/woman our LOAL booth on ~

Saturday, December 2nd

Set up time from 8:00 a.m. to 10 a.m.

Booth is open to the public from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

When working in the booth, we will be promoting our San Diego Love on a Leash Chapter. How easy is that?! AND your pet can help you encourage others to share the fun we have in LOAL.

We will have a booth ON THE GRASS, which will be easier on our dogs' paws. Mary Lee from Escondido Humane Society offered us a grassy place for the comfort of our pets instead of the asphalt parking lot.

So many of our pets are rescued animals. It will be a win-win situation to support the Escondido Humane Society while promoting our LOAL organization.

If you can help work at our booth on Saturday, Dec. 2nd, please reply here or contact Robin Kaufman or me, Nancy Denen. Thanks in advance for your support.

Oh, I forgot to mention that Santa will be there to take pictures with your pet!

Okay, folks. Looks like we will have a booth on Saturday, Dec. 2 8-3pm. We need members to help staff our booth. We can do two different shifts so no one has to be there all day. 8-noon. Noon to 3pm. This is important as it will really help spread the word about our group. A lot of people attend the event. You can bring your dog/cat . Those in training are encouraged to attend. More info will be sent out in a newsletter this weekend.

Here is how our booth at the Escondido Humane Society is going so far with regard to helpers:

8:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. ~ We have 2 members to set up the booth

10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. ~ Only 1 worker so far - ME. Need help, please!

12:30 - 3;00 p.m. and take down booth ~ 3 members so far.

It should be fun with LOTS of pets there. I'm sure Candy will bring Sweet Pea and Mike & I are bringing Moorea.

Any doggies coming to proudly represent San Diego LOAL AND get their pictures taken with Santa?

Come on, folks. We need a few of you to help out at the booth. Don't forget, this is on the weekend and we know many of you can only offer time on the weekend. We're asking for a minimum of two hours of your time. Special treats to those who attend

We have another morning volunteer! Yipee! I don't have to work the booth alone.

Edith & Daffany will be working at the booth starting at 11:00 a.m. Thanks, Edith!

Oh good. Another volunteer. Okay, I'm going to reach out to my list today and work on recruiting a few more.

Robin, it is a good idea to bring the booth items to our house Saturday when you come over.
I still have to make my phone calls. I've been too busy or too tired to talk on the phone.
If our booth isn't too difficult to set up, Mike & I should be able to handle it. Edith will join me about 11 a.m., so we should be able to handle the booth OK since we aren't selling anything. Mike will probably help at the booth when he's done tutoring around 11:30 a.m. It would be nice to have more members working, but we can manage.

Kathy and I were talking about that yesterday afternoon. I'll bring the pop up canopy as well as brochures, table covering, banners, fire hydrants, etc. Bill has some of the above items, so I'll pick them up from him (he lives two houses down from my folks). Kathy has a few items she'll get to you.
Most events have volunteers who help people set their booths up. Also, other vendors help each other out. So, if you decide you do want to put up the canopy, ask for assistance. It pops up easily, but you need four people to pull it open ~ one for each pole.

Also, do we want to do some sort of raffle? I have a cute see through jar which I can fill with small doggy treats. Folks can pay $1 or $2 to guess how many are in the jar. They will win the doggy treats, plus I can put together a little gift basket. I have doggy toys sitting around that I've never given to my dogs as they would destroy them in two seconds. We can have the folks fill out their name and number on a piece of paper and we'll announce the winner at the end of the day. I have a cute jar we can put those in and the money can go in one of our fire hydrants as it's a piggy (fire hydrant) bank. Let me know if we want to do that. I bet we can make about $100 as they anticipate a ton of folks at the event.

I think the "Guess How Many" game sounds good. Thanks for putting it all together.

As long as all the booth equipment fits in our Honda, we will take care of set up. I'm sure we can beg, borrow, or steal 2 more people to set up the pop-up canopy.

Should be fun. Now pray for good weather. . .

Dec. 2nd is almost here. That means the Holiday Boutique at Escondido Humane Society. Our LOAL pop-up canvas, fire hydrants, and other booth equipment is waiting anxiously in our garage.

Mike, Moorea, & I will set up the booth to be ready for the start of the event at 10:00 a.m. My Mom decided not to join us, as it would be a long day for her.

We look forward to seeing lots of people and pets and hope to see you there.

One of our members in training may be able to attend in the morning. She's receiving a foster puppy some time this weekend. Depending when it arrives will determine if/when she can attend. I'll keep you posted.

Hey, where is everyone??

Foster pets & their foster parents are welcome for sure! I hope they can make it.

Karen and perhaps Tom Scoggins may also attend. I was able to squeeze in a visit at Casa this coming Wednesday for Karen and one of their dogs (white lab). If things go well, she can join at the booth. I think we'll have our bases covered.

Thanx, Robin, for working so hard to get more helpers at our booth.
I love ya, Girl Friend!

Soooo, let's see who we have helping out. Correct me if I'm wrong:

Morning shift consists of: Nancy, Mike, Sue, Karen, Tom and Edith

Afternoon shift consists of: Kathy, Pam and Robin

Wow, we really have it covered. Nancy, thanks so much for suggesting this event to our chapter . Also, a big thanks for bringing all the necessary items for our booth. Kathy and I will take it all back afterwards.

Now, did we decide about price and people being present to win? I'm leaning towards $2 a shot. I'm fine with saying folks don't have to be present to win. Do we have something for people to place their guess, name and phone number? I think individual pieces would be best so guesses can remain secret (as opposed to one sign up sheet). We'll figure out what to do if we have more than one winner.

Wow! Mike & I had better bring more chairs! Or it will be standing room only!

I will print some small papers for people to write their name, phone number, and guess for the "Guess How Many Milkbone" contest.

OK, $2.00 it is for the price to get a chance to guess how many bones in the jar.

Hopefully the wind will calm down by Saturday. Otherwise, the weather should be lovely.

Looks like we're all set for a great time at the event. Nancy is also bringing her camera to take pictures. I think the only thing she's not bringing is the kitchen sink . Thank you Nancy from the bottom of our hearts for all the effort you have put into this event.

By the way, Cody will be going to the reading program at the new library in the morning and Dana will be the ambassador poodle at this event in the afternoon

Thank you to Sue LeClair, Tom & Karen Scoggins, Edith Walter, Robin Kaufman, and Kathy Lam for working at our booth at the Esc. Humane Society. At times, they helped to "hold down" the booth - litterally! The strong gusts of wind blew away several of the other booths' pop-up shade covers and one woman even got knocked over by a blast of wind. Ah, our terrible winter weather, huh?

Our pets, decked out in their holiday finest, made a colorful booth.

Our pets had their pictures taken with Santa, too.

Nancy, thank YOU (and Mike) for organizing this and getting managing to fit all those items in your compact car. Good think you don't have pets larger than Morea. Don't know if you could fit it all in ~ you may have needed a truck .

We also had two big gusts of wind occur towards the end of our shift. Blew over one of the canopies of a different booth and knocked a lot of their items over. That sweet boy in the booth next to us ran to the rescue to assist. He was an extremely friendly, polite boy for his age (what, 8-9 years old). I don't recall his name (yes, I have major problems with that if you aren't a dog or cat ), but very polite and sweet. I had several good conversations with him and when we were all getting ready to leave, he said it was very nice meeting all of us and that we should have a good evening. When was the last time you heard a kid say something like that???? Made my day complete.

Sorry I missed seeing Sue. Isn't she a neat person? Kathy and Tom are great, too. They seem to be a lot of fun. I like that we now have four couples in our chapter. I told Tom he makes the fifth man in our chapter. Hmm, actually, seventh as I forgot about Lee and Robert ~ Todge, Bill, Mike, Bud, Lee Estes, Robert La Berge (both less active, but they still belong)and now Tom.

Yes, we adore the male members of our chapter! But only Bill and occasionally Todge, have been manly enough to deal with all we women on the Board of Directors! ha! Now there's a challenge for you guys!

Speaking of "manly-men", the boy in the booth next to ours was named Daniel. His Mom was nice, too. I think her name was Terri. From my teaching days, I remember kids' names better than adults or pets. Ha!

In the morning when the wind blew down a HUGE tent & an older woman got knocked over & hurt, Daniel was so concerned, especially when he saw her crying. A bit later he came over to me to tell me, "I said a blessing for that woman. I prayed that she will get better."

It was the woman's first time with a booth. Daniel was really her right-hand man. In addition to helping his Mom & us set up and catch the stuff blowing away, he also brought us free coffee and donuts from the EHS office. Later he was not happy until he had shared his bottle of iced tea with us.

Daniel LOVED the animals. He knew that adoptable pets were being adopted for half price this weekend. There was a dog that he felt picked HIM out! Mom, however, checked out the dog, which was BIG & was not appropriate to live in an apartment.

I think Daniel will be very disappointed next time he helps Mom with her booth, if there is not a pet-booth next to their booth.


He sure was a little blessing to me on Saturday, too. One of those bonuses that come our way when we least expect it.