All the dogs and approximately 50 cats had disappeared some time between closing time yesterday and noon today.

Since no one sounded the alarm this morning, it should be safe to assume that the person scheduled to feed and care for the dogs this morning knows where they went.

That person is one of the four members of Priest River Animal Rescue’s Board of Directors who also left their resignations on the counter for today’s workers to find.

Naturally, workers today called the police. Not only were the dogs stolen, but the food supply was gone as well. It also appeared that carry crates were missing. It was a clear case of theft.

But Priest River Police said no – it was a civil matter. This in spite of the fact that when one cat disappeared last week it was treated as a theft.

Make any sense to you??

Where are these critters tonight? Are they safe? Or are they on their way to be sold to WSU for experimentation? Other area shelters have been contacted and report that Priest River’s dogs were not brought to them.

PRAR has been plagued with internal disputes in recent months. Directors in particular seem to have forgotten that PRAR is about the animals – not about power or ego.

The political wrangling is the reason why, after being a founding member, I dropped out of the organization a few years ago. Unfortunately, I was not the only one who left for that reason.

I hope the remaining members can pull things together and get the organization back on track. The dogs and cats in this community need them.

Meanwhile… something stinks in Priest River.

The Houses for Rent section offered the following information:

I found a one bedroom at $400, and another at $525. One said no pets, the other said no smoking and no pets. A one bedroom apartment was listed at $325.

For the most part, 2 bedroom houses were $575 to $600, although one listed as a new home with a garage was $800.  3 bedroom homes were listed at $750 and $800.

The Times on line doesn’t list these – so if you really want to move soon, write me and I’ll send you the phone numbers from the ads…

By the way… Today is National Suspenders Day. It’s also my firstborn’s birthday. Wondering if I should have bought him suspenders for his birthday…

The annual dinner will be held on Friday, the 14th of November and promises to be, as usual, a spread to give thanks for. If I heard correctly, the Asphalt Angels will be there by 3 p.m. – loading up “to go” plates to deliver to area shut-ins, and then the on-site diners will be served from 4 to 7.

Delivering the Thanksgiving meals is just one of the ways the Asphalt Angels give to this community – they have my thanks and my admiration.

This meal is served free of charge to area seniors – but of course, no one will complain if you wish to give a donation to further the Happy Ager’s activities, such as the Soup Kitchen. If you didn’t already know, the Soup Kitchen is open every Monday from 11 to 1 – Anyone can come, and the price is by donation only.

Last year over 300 Thanksgiving meals were served to area seniors and their guests – how many will attend this year?

The gym was full, and some vendors had even been placed in the hallway, but one thing was missing – shoppers! Perhaps that’s because I didn’t get there until 2 in the afternoon and it had started at 9 a.m. The serious shoppers probably arrived early to make sure they didn’t miss anything.

Anyway I hope so. Packing up your wares and hauling them into a building for display is no easy task. In fact it’s darned hard work. And one of the vendors told me that the show was over at 4 and they had instructions to be completely out of there by 5:30. No fun at all after getting up early to be there and then hanging around all day. At 4 it would have been nice for them to take a break – maybe even go outside for a breath of fresh air and a walk around the building to stretch their legs.

I saw plenty of interesting things, but I left them all there – all except the fresh nuts from the PEO – I can never resist those! The thing is, there were items that I thought might make good gifts for some of the people on my list, but not being in an impulsive mood, and not quite being in the holiday mood yet either, I just shook my head and wished that I might have the opportunity to run into those items again later. But of course that won’t happen, because I didn’t know the people or how to contact them later.

Seeing that same thing happen at the Christmas Bazaar I attended in Spokane last year got me to thinking about the marketing opportunity these folks are missing. Borrowing a simple internet marketing method would put them in touch with every person who stopped by their booths and showed some interest, but they aren’t using it. In fact, very few even had business cards to pick up.

Maybe some of those vendors only want to sell at shows and wouldn’t like having to package and ship their wares. In that case, attending shows is the right thing for them to do. Otherwise, they should read the report I wrote after seeing this happen last year. More information about that is right here.

If you have a friend who exhibits at these shows and wants to sell more, please forward this post to them. In this time of financial insecurity, it only makes sense to to market, and market well.

Meanwhile, for anyone who has moved away and not been back for 20 years or so… the photo below is the Priest River Junior High School. I’ll bet you thought it was the High School, didn’t you?