The Best Little Cat House In Maryland

AuthorHouse

Contents

Acknowledgements................................................vPreface.........................................................1The Early Years.................................................3Birthplace of a Rescue..........................................12Maggie and Friends..............................................19The Great Kitten Capture........................................31Anyone Want a Kitten?...........................................36Cali Leads us to Boomer.........................................40The Quest for a Sanctuary.......................................49Adventures in Moving............................................62Goldie & Bones Arrive...........................................71The Population Explosion........................................78Y2K and the Stray Dog...........................................86What's in a Name?...............................................88Buffy the Feather Slayer........................................99Sophie and Her Kids.............................................103Xander and Friends..............................................107Tommy & Ceasar Arrive...........................................112Quiver and Friends..............................................118Volunteers Invade Rude Ranch....................................124Tommy Visits the Emergency Vet..................................130The Challenge of Fundraising....................................134Surviving the Hard Times........................................139Vacationing with Marilyn........................................142The Great Blizzard of 2003......................................148Hurricane Isabel................................................156Help Wanted, Please!!!..........................................161It's Kitten Season..............................................164Scruffy and the Abandoned Car...................................171Hurricane Katrina - The Adventure Begins........................176Hurricane Katrina - The Adventure Continues.....................185Hurricane Katrina - The Adventure Ends..........................197Bob Visits the Emergency Room...................................205Volunteer Adventures............................................209Adventures in Plumbing..........................................214Halloween Hyjinx................................................216Just Another Day at the Ranch...................................219The Bunny Invasion!.............................................225Floating Down the River.........................................229Saying Good-Bye.................................................236Santa Claws Brings CNN to Rude Ranch............................241

Chapter One

My name is Kathy Rude and my husband's name is Bob Rude. I grew up during the 1960's in Hebbville, a small town near Baltimore, Maryland (we don't need to be any more specific on the year). As I was an only child on a somewhat remote farm, I didn't have a lot of other kids to play with most of the time. That was probably why the animals on the farm became my best friends.

I would play with the barn cats and have a blast watching the kittens running around doing kitten things. I also had a dog named Rover that loved to go for walks and run and play around the yard. Occasionally I'd visit the pigs and cows at the barns, but they weren't all that much fun to play with.

I did the usual thing, graduated from high school, and went on to college at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County. I briefly thought about becoming a veterinarian, but remembered how I almost lost my lunch during high school biology class (never take biology as your first class after lunch). I ended up majoring in computer science instead. Maybe not as interesting, but the insides of the computer didn't gross me out as much.

I finished college, realized the "mom and dad savings and loan" was shutting down and decided I better find a job. That's when I started working at the Census Bureau. That's also where I met Bob, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Bob also grew up during the 1960's, but in Cameron, a small town in northern Wisconsin (I'm not saying that Bob robbed the cradle, but his 1960's number was somewhat smaller than mine). There weren't a lot of people in that part of the country, but there were plenty of animals and tons of wilderness areas. They also had very cold winters and very short summers. That was one of the reasons Bob and I stayed in Maryland. I did the love, honor and cherish thing at our wedding, but drew the line at the freeze your butt off in winter wonderland.

Bob always had a love for animals. Even when we first dated, Bob would talk about his pets or the animals he rescued unlike the average guy who would talk about the women he dated or his amazing sports conquests. He had more stories about animals than anything else. I liked animals too; I just never envisioned turning my house into an animal sanctuary. Well, Bob changed all that.

The earliest rescue Bob shared with me was at the age of five when a lonely Basset Hound followed him home from kindergarten. He tried to sneak it past his parents, but didn't have much luck. His parents gave him an ultimatum. The dog could spend the night in the garage, but had to go somewhere else the next day.

That night the garbage man stopped to pick up their trash. Bob knew he had a couple of dogs at his house; so, he summoned up the courage and talked to him about the dog. After a few minutes of pleading, the garbage man agreed to take Cleopatra, the name Bob had given the Bassett Hound. Not a very formal or sophisticated process, but I guess it was Bob's first official adoption.

Bob's parents weren't big on having pets, but did give into the kids occasionally. Bob and his sisters, Linda and Diane, managed to talk them into three kittens at an early age. They also had two hamsters and two parakeets. Diane even taught one of the parakeets to help her play solitaire (the old fashioned solitaire using actual playing cards rather than the computer game popular today).

Bob was into all kinds of animals; so, when the circus came to town he was the first to volunteer to help with the animals. The circus people were letting the neighbor kids help out in exchange for free tickets. Bob's job was to walk the elephants. I'm guessing he had a little help with this activity, but he still thought it was really cool.

His next pet became the best pal he had growing up, a handsome Siberian Husky named Nick. Bob first met Nick on his father's garbage route. No, Bob's father wasn't the garbage man that adopted Cleopatra. His father, also the mayor and police chief of the village, started the garbage route when the aforementioned garbage man could no longer keep up with his schedule. One of Bob's perks for tossing trash cans around was the chance to play with all the animals along the way. His dad would talk to the customers and Bob would spend his time talking to (playing with) the animals. Nick was one of Bob's favorites.

A year or so after meeting Nick, Bob got a call from Nick's guardian. He had suffered a heart attack and could no longer properly care for Nick. He knew how much Bob loved him and was hoping Bob's parents would feel the same way.

Bob prepared...