Gayle Balaban/E. Tn Waterfront Real Estate

Rich has been a wonderful person to come to know. I have only recently made his acquaintance; sometime this spring here on Active Rain. http://activerain.com/blogs/richd I feel as if I already know Rich well as a result of his sensitive and caring blogs. He has offered me support in a variety of ways and has been a loyal follower on my blog. I think tht one think that drew me to Rich was his deep caring for animals of all sorts and his posts on rescue groups in the area. He is an extremely knowledgeable professional and I am proud to have him as one of my associates. Just recently Rich has earned my eternal gratitude and loyalty when he rescued a little Poodle that needed desperately to get to a new home -- FAST!!! http://activerain.com/blogsview/836018/Delivered-To-Safety

Nigel was a 1 yr. old standard Poodle turned over to a shelter and set for euthanizing. Carolina Poodle Rescue www.carolinapoodlerescue.org had agreed to take him, but, there was one large problem; he was over 600 miles away! Well through the caring efforts of Bunny Brown in S.C. and several volunteers a sort of "bucket brigade" ws set up to get him to S.C. Unfortunately, this time I could not do my part and so I asked Rich if he could possibly help out on one leg of the brigade. He never hesitated. He took the ball and ran with it. Both he and Danny Thornton helped get this little guy home. That absolutely touched my heart. http://activerain.com/danniboi33

I also had been feeling kind of down about the holidays. Not much to look forward to this year. My partner is in a terrible situation and in no mood to participate and I am also in an almost equally dire condition. I never said anything though. Last evening I opened my email from the day and there was an invitation from Rich and Danny to spend Christmas with them. That really meant a lot to me and gave me inspiration to fight another day at a time when I was feeling at the end of my rope.

If you haven't had occassion to meet and know Rich you are doing yourself a disservice. If you hve malice of mind; skip it, I don't want his sensitivities tarnished. Rich is one of the greatest guys that I have met recently. Get to know him.

Thanks for everything Rich and Merry Christmas!

This past Sunday was the annual Collegedale Christmas parade. It seems to grow larger each year with more people lining the streets to view it. No, it's not Macy's, but, it is something the little community has a lot of pride in and puts a lot of energy into.

There are floats; usually farm and landscape trailers decorated for the holidays with neighborhood kids aboard. The there are the vintage cars all decorated for the holidays. Of course there is the beauty queen; usually a local high school girl that was homecoming queen or some such thing. I wonder if they will ever let a boy be the parade queen? Of course there are the high schol bands and the local politicians walking down pison Pike and Little Debbie Parkway. The floats and exhibits are sponsored by local businesses such as Steve Ray's Midnite Oil and quite actually their amature character puts one in mind of something straight out of ANdy Griffith. (I was naughty this year and became preoccupied with something else and didn't get pictures. Sorry!)

Tonight the wind was howling viciously and yet the temperatures were mild, almost balmy. It appears that we are in for one heck of a stormy week. This is more like March weather than December. I just listened to the local weather report. It is rainy heavily now. The meterologist said that we may get up to 4" of rain from a system that is moving in from the west. This system has already wreaked havoc in Texas and Louisiana with tornados and flooding. There is a chance that there will be a brief change over to snow before turning back to rain. Behind the front is a strong cold stream and that is moving in. Brace yourself if you are in Alabama, Tennessee or North Carolina. We are in for a wicked one!

Tonight was the annual Chattanooga Kennel Club dinner. This year it was held in the Terrace Room at the prestigous Read House downtown Chattanooga. The meal was excellent and about 80 members attended. The offerings were chicken, prime rib or salmon. ll prepared suberbly.

After dinner awards were presented to all members whose dogs achieved an AKC title this year. There were 10 plaques presented in both conformation and performance. After awards the membership participated in holiday Karoake. It is safe to say that a good time was had by all!

The Chattanooga Kennel Club is one of the oldest in the region and is very active in canine events. It holds an annual conformation show each year in East Ridge. If you have an interest in purebred dogs and live in the Chattanooga region, please come check the club out. It meets the second Tuesday of each month at the Golden Corral at Hamilton Place Mall. Dinner begins at 6:30 and meeting begins at 7. Hope to see you there.

Tonight was the annual Chattanooga Kennel Club dinner. This year it was held in the Terrace Room at the prestigous Read House downtown Chattanooga. The meal was excellent and about 80 members attended. The offerings were chicken, prime rib or salmon. ll prepared suberbly.

After dinner awards were presented to all members whose dogs achieved an AKC title this year. There were 10 plaques presented in both conformation and performance. After awards the membership participated in holiday Karoake. It is safe to say that a good time was had by all!

The Chattanooga Kennel Club is one of the oldest in the region and is very active in canine events. It holds an annual conformation show each year in East Ridge. If you have an interest in purebred dogs and live in the Chattanooga region, please come check the club out. It meets the second Tuesday of each month at the Golden Corral at Hamilton Place Mall. Dinner begins at 6:30 and meeting begins at 7. Hope to see you there.