Ratarama Was a BLAST

I had a wonderful time at the show.

Robbi the miracle packer had it all set up and I got my usual seat in the van.  (Usual in I sat there last year.  lol) 

And we were off....after circling to get to the freeway.  When we hit I-84 I relaxed and we chatted a bit.  Robbi was catching some zzzzs because for those that don't know, when you are getting ready for a show or traveling to a show, you will not get enough sleep on the days leading up to the show...period.  You are too busy cramming everything you do in a weekend at home in the days before you leave PLUS if you are showing rats you are getting them all spiffy looking.  Your grocery shopping needs changed because let's face it, a road trip isn't a road trip without some munchies.  I was shopping for munchies at 1am on Friday morning with all of the crew at Winco saying "good morning."  Too damn cheerful, even for me. LOL

So we are on 84....Robbi said we weren't stopping, but we did. :D Had to change drivers and scramble to the bathroom and fill the tank.

The drive was fun, we talked and then ran into a wall of water on 84.  Everyone was pulling over.  Lightening was touching down everywhere and the rain just dropped.  I felt as if I was in Texas.  Then it calmed down and we got going again.

We almost left Erin a few times...ok not really.  Then we started letting Michelle know how far out we were as we were to head over to the facility. 

We got to the facility and we set up tables and put on table clothes and then had some clerk training and testing.  Yeah I passed.

Then we went to the Golden Corral.  Yum!  I'm so sad they don't have one of those here.  Then it was off to Michelle's house to settle in and get some zzs.  It was funny because I sacked out on the floor with my shoes still on.

The next morning we got up and headed over to the show to finish setting up.

Heather had all of the raffle prizes looking so good!  People were setting up their tables with their cute ratties and I settled down to sell tickets and raffle tickets for a bit.

The show started and there was a lot to watch.  It was nice to see people actually sitting and watching the judging.  The pet classes and standard classes were rolling along to schedule.  Michelle dragged me over to work on the pet classes.  I have no idea what I'm doing so I pay attention to her the first time and then I think I did ok the rest of the time.  Almost had to DQ Lizzy and Robbi for campaigning within 100 feet of the polling place. ;-)

I didn't get any clerking in, but I know I'll be at the fall show so I'll definitely do it then.  And I won't do it again until the next show season, which should start in February 2011.  (I don't think I'll be clerking at my show so much, at least that is what they tell me.)

I sat at the Little Mischief Rescue table for a bit and sold some hammocks.  I hope I hit all of the vendors to purchase something.  I bought 120 raffle tickets because the prizes looked so good and it helps out the show.  I have to laugh because I don't normally win but I seemed to win quite a bit at the show!  I donated quite a bit of it to others and I didn't take the cages I won, those they re-raffled to attendees that were still at the show.

Of my winnings I donated to Tara's Exotic Rescue 6 pounds of CareFresh, 3 bags of Good Mews, several coupons for the local feed store and some for Kaytee item coupons, 2 ferret harnesses, several hammocks, 3 water bottles and several treats, and a 50 pound bag of Mazuri lab blocks.  To Little Mischief Rescue I bought hammocks and then donated the $35 gift card to Martins Cages.  (We had VERY limited room in the van we were traveling in.) LOL  It all worked out because the local rescue had just taken in a bunch of rescue rats.

As I was sitting with the LMR rats I noticed the craft table and went over and colored a ratatato.  Then I made a piñata.  I hung the piñata in the LMR cage.  They went nuts.  Paper flying everywhere.  When the treats came out, they were very happy little rats.  Those little boys are SOOOOO sweet and I can't believe they aren't adopted yet.  Maybe because people have to take 3 but oh man, they are so worth it!

I then made a piñata for the 2 rats from Joy/SITH ratteries.  They slept through most of the show. lol

Then I noticed the 2 cages of boys at the end. Each cage had 4 rattie boys in it.  And these were the Boise Humane Society rats looking for homes.  And these ratties got a lucky break.

The only downer of the show was the  Boise Humane Society's treatment of those 8 rescued boys looking for homes.  They had quarantined the boys for 3 weeks for the show.  The rats were brought in.
 
They were in cages on pine bedding with only sunflower seeds for food. >:<   I placed a piñata in each of the cages and they had a GREAT time.  When Robin heard they only had sunflower seeds in their food dish, she generously poured some of her mix in their bowls.  Food scattered everywhere as they pulled a new item of the food dish out to try it.  Poor little guys.

An hour before the show was over the shelter came in and said that the boys would be euthanized if they didn't find a home by the end of the show.   Michelle said she'd take them.  I'll keep my opinion about the situation to myself.  My fellow club members know how I feel about that.   I was mentally going over in my head where I could put boys their age in my home knowing I still had 6 incoming ratties.   In the end I just don't have room for them so was unable to bring any home.  Luckily Lynn was there and she took 6-pack home. :D The other 7 will be fostered by Michelle.   You are awesome Michelle!  If you are looking for a group of boys, contact Michelle!  They are lovely little boys that would blossom into great pets.

After we cleaned up, we went back to Michelle's house where Sharon prepared a great feast with burgers, hot dogs, veggie stuff and yummy salads.  It was nice to sit and visit with everyone.

Then we had to go to sleep because we were getting up for the long trek home.

Robbi got us all packed in, and of course we had some ratties on hitching a ride.  I was bringing home Morgan's rattie girl and we were transporting a rat to drop off in Boardman to  Candace and of course 6-Pack and some others were heading up to Lynn's house.

We stopped to get gas and as we were checking out the lady heard we had pet rats in the car.  She had to come out and see them.  She did and heard we just had a show in Boise, ID.  So hopefully we have another convert and she'll come next year.  Awesome!

Back on the road, we were doing great for time until we hit the fire on I-84.  A pick-up truck and the trailer caught on fire and then the side of the mountain caught on fire.  A nice trucker let us in front of him and we toured along at a crawl.  Eventually we passed the vehicle and WOW.  And we saw the flames on the opposite side of the mountain.  In the end, the fire burned 1000 acres, but no one was hurt.  Of course we pulled  off the highway at the next exit with the rest of humanity to go to the bathroom.  In ended up we lost just over an hour.  This sucked for our Canadian friends as they were planning on going straight home and ugh, what a grueling trip!

Eventually we made it to Gateway and John came out to get me and all my crap that I won. LOL  My peeps had more room in the car and they took off for home.  My travels were not over.

John and I drove to Brooks, Oregon to meet Morgan to get her new rattie girl to her.  We  only visited briefly and then we left to start our 3 hour quarantine.  We opted for a movie.  Because even an expensive movie date is cheaper than dinner and shopping...do the math. LOL

We saw Knight and Day and it was a great film to see at the end of a long day.  It made me laugh and  I didn't feel so bad about spending so much at the movies.

We got home about 10 or so and off to bed as I had to work on Monday.

You may ask if it was worth it.  I don't even show ratties at the shows.   And I say yes.  It is very worth it.  When you have a "hobby" where there is a limited number of people that do it and an animal that is often reviled, it is nice to be around other people that appreciate rats the way you do.  We can and do connect online, but it is nice to be able to share in person.  Many of us come from a variety of backgrounds and views and we put aside our differences to be around people that share one thing, our love of ratties.

To my traveling companions, I look forward to next year!  To Michelle, Krislyn and all of the volunteers, awesome show!  To  those that didn't make, man you missed a great time!  Hope to see you in Port Orchard!  And to those that couldn't make the show ever, well, it sucks to be you. j/k ;-)  LOL

Rat-A-Rama 2009

The trip and show were TOTALLY AWESOME! Rattie friends united in Boise, Idaho this past weekend on June 20th for Rat-A-Rama 2009.

The start of my journey was taking the Max to NE 82nd Street to meet some friends for breakfast..the gathering for the exchange. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast with the bestest (yes I know) company of friends, fellow rat enthusiasts!

Then it was off to Jantzen Beach to meet the fellow travelers from Vancouver, BC with stops in the greater Seattle area to us (in Portland, Oregon). In the parking lot at Target you saw a mad exchange, me for some ratties. lol

Bungeeed into the "POS" van (as termed by our fearless leader on this trek), we were off. I actually didn't know them very well but had met them before. But we are a group of people with a love for rats and the drive to Boise, Idaho was fast (at least to me). Little fuzzies all around and I probably talked everyones' ears off. lol

We were taken in by another fellow rat enthusiast and we mobbed her house, we had joked on the way there saying we were descending upon our hosts. Pretty much, "Hi, where do we put our ratties? Where is the bathroom? When do we eat? Can we see the ratties? Where are we sleeping? Oh and by the way, how are you? In the end it sort of worked out that way. lol Our hosts were very lovely. They had awesome pets too!

Those showing their ratties bathed them and I got to dry some of them. They were all so cute!

As we buttoned down for the night, rattie pairings were occurring. I asked my new friends if we had to listen to rat porn tonight. lol Frankly I was too tired to hear anything and passed out. This ended Friday night.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early. Showered, the van was loaded with ratties going to the show and supplies for tables. I wasn't showing ratties and didn't feel I helped very much, but I did iron the Rosette Award Ribbons. It was me against the satin! Resistance was futile! I had the iron. ;-)

Eventually we piled into the van and off to the show we went! I wasn't quite sure what to do so Little Mischief Rescue had me set up the table. I was sitting next to the Breakfast Bunch Rattery's table and babysat the table and made some sales. The judges gave me a job to run the calculations. Made a few mistakes but finally got it going at the end there. I eventually moved to the judges table to help with the calculations and asked a few questions while they judged. It was all very interesting. And of course the ratties were all very cute.

Of course I took a break a few times and ate some food from the wonderful vendor outside. Turns out they were from Hillsboro, Oregon. They were very nice. I ate way too much...yum Hawaiian Shaved Ice... I was interviewed by the Idaho Press Tribune. I ordered a copy of the paper today (turns out a co-worker had his father save it as well).

As the show winded down, the raffle was announced. I won a wooden hut and treats and a plushy toy to add to my collection at my desk at work. And then it was over.

We cleaned up after a very long few days and left for sanctuary.

We ended up at the Golden Corral for dinner. We see the commercials in here Oregon but have never been. It was VERY good. I think they could rival many casino buffets. I don't know if I could eat at Hometown Buffet again. To top it off, it was only a few dollars more than Hometown Buffet (because our drinks are separate), but they also refill them for you.

Then we headed back to the house and while rats were reorganized in preparation for the trip, I went into a food coma. I guess I talked a bit when I became semi-conscious at times, but I was very tired. lol

Then I woke up in time to go to bed. Again, more rattie porn occurred. And again we were too tired to hear them anyway. (Does this all just make you think Barry White should have been playing in the background. lol)

The next morning was kind of sad because we had to leave so soon. Although by this time I'm sure our hosts wanted their house back. lol We ferried stuff and ratties back out the van and the master packer packed them up again. We had breakfast and then went to the car rental place to add another driver so another could drive. Then we were off.

The trip back was fast too! Before I knew it we were at my house. We loaded up the food and supplies that I had picked up for them (some they purchased and other was donation) to head back up to Canada. And away they went. I walked in the door and pretty much passed out.

So that was the trip. I had so much fun and hope we can do it again next year! If you get the opportunity to go, I highly recommend it. It inspired me to train to become a judge.

I want to thank everyone that made the trip so enjoyable and the organizers that put the show on.

small note: You may all notice I never really identify anyone in this blog, if you happen to email me and say you don't mind, I do go through and change the story, but I feel there is enough invasion of privacy without adding to it here. :)

Show and Our Ratties

Due to throwing too much in on Saturday, we missed the spring show RATS! :( We got there in time for dinner. ::sigh:: But we did get our Harlan, thanks 3GR! and we were able to help Little Mischief Rescue out by donating 3 3-levels of my prototype cages and 1 of the divided cages I modified for ratties. We also hauled 12 bags of food to another club member's parents' house for storage for LMR as well.

This is the last time I rent a van to go to the show for some time. I'll just have to see about carpooling instead because storage is at a premium in our house and it is just too much to haul all that food about. That is too bad because the food itself is a good price, it is everything else that pushes it up. That in conjunction with the time and energy expended to get the food here makes it cheaper to just go ahead and order it online.

My Name is Mr. Pants and I'm a Cowboy at Ratapalooza

Ratapalooza 2008 was awesome! I rode up with two fellow Oregonians, Emily and Morgan. I had a great time in our carpool despite the fact my "condition" got in the way on the way home. I had a wonderful time all around!

There was lots of informative materials around the hall and lots of wonderful items for sale! And of course, ratties!

I got to meet Wonkie, the one eyed wonder rattie. He is too cute for words.

I got to meet Thelma and Louise, R's new babies. Also little sweetie pies. The two WSU girls, Carla and Ashley. If I only had room. :-( I love my little PEWS!

I got to meet the Breakfast Bunch Ratties! Oh, little cherubs all...okay maybe some were not so little. hehehe

Emily had some awesome jewelry for sale. I got a lovely blazed pendent. From LMR I got a cube and 2 hammocks and a spider kitty toy. I kind of dumped all of my Canadian money on them. heheh I got a lovely hat from Lynn and some rattie finger puppets. I got a rattie pendent from BLRRFH and some vegetarian dog food that tastes like rice cakes from Hillary. They were not half bad...get some hummas from Trader Joe's and I'd be set. I said no one would ever know if I put them in a dish on a coffee table. (I wouldn't do that. LOL)

I won two raffle prizes, an animated Remmy toy that talks. And a plush rattie puppet. They will be decorating my desk at work.

Oh yeah, and I got a cupcake in the cake walk.

Morgan also allowed me to hold Mr. Pants, the cowboy, in the costume contest at Ratapalooza. He reluctantly kept his hat and scarf on. He reminds me of my Luciano, a little neutered dumbo boy I have.

"I'm Mr. Pants and I'm a cowboy."