Things to do in the country

[cronewitch]

I am looking at moving to the country 12-25 miles from small towns. I don't know anyone or have anything to do there. May never actually make a full transition and just keep this house too but someday I might move. So I am looking for ways to meet people when I don't go to church or have kids in schools. I found they have a dog rescue group 12 miles away and a pet food bank 25 miles away so am thinking about doing something with that.

For Christmas the dog rescue is trying to give small bags of dog food to homeless people with dogs and blankets for people or pets not sure. I have a lot of blankets I don't love but are still good and warm. I have been using them to pack glass tables and things for moving. So thinking I might donate a stack of blankets or maybe buy some inexpensive blankets to donate.

On going I am thinking of donating large bags of dry dog food I see Walmart had Purina dog chow 46lbs for 23.88. The dogs at the rescue are in Foster homes waiting for forever homes not in a cage so I don't know if they give the foster families dog food or only the low income pet owners so they don't give dogs to the rescue. I am thinking Purina is good enough food and will go much farther than expensive food. They might need puppy food too or elder dog food.

If you were going to spend $100 a month on food for dogs you don't know what would you get and where would you get it?

I don't want to take care of actual dogs it is just a way to meet people who like dogs. I don't want to foster dogs or own a dog or even give a dog a bath. Maybe I could work on some promotions for them or something in an office not cleaning kennels. I don't love dogs as much as some people, they are ok and I want them to have families and food but I am not crazy for them.

[cronewitch]

They have a food bank 3 hours a week but from the facebook photos it seems very popular. I was thinking of using the pet rescue to meet a few people then maybe meet someone from the food bank and find out what they are up to. I imagine they have some poverty but I don't know if they have more donors than poor people. They claim to have feed 300 families or about 1,000 people but I don't know if that is a week, a month or a year. Three hundred families a week would take a lot of food.

[milee]

Crone, if you're just looking to get involved in the dog rescue as a way to meet people, you may want to see if there's another group instead. Of course it varies by area and of course this isn't true of all the volunteers at any given place, but in my experience, the animal rescue organizations tend to attract the most (oh geez, how do I say this in a PC way) ardent, committed people.  Since you're not really even into dogs, it's hard to picture how you'll make any connections at a group where many of the members are going to like dogs more than people and argue with each other over who is the biggest dog fan.

If you'd like to donate because it's something that you care about, that's not a bad thing. But for meeting people, it might be best to find a group of people that's going to be more like you (or at least not a group of people who's going to act like you're Charles Manson if you don't worship dogs.)

[milee]

I used to get very sad about the homeless dogs I'd see.  Then I started thinking about it from a dog's perspective.   Every single dog I've ever owned would have loved it if we'd been homeless.  Their idea of heaven would be to hang out with me 24/7 and eat garbage. 

[Deleted]

Relay for life is big around here. There was just a bazaar/kids carnival at the school last night. The community center held Bingo last week... Always stuff like that going on...

[swamp]

I live in a very rural area, but it has a huge number of service/social clubs.   And by social clubs, I mean the Elks and the Moose, not the Junior League.  The volunteer fire departments are also a hotbed of social activity, and most of them have a ladies auxiliary. Most of the volunteer organizations could really use people with accounting skills.

There is also the various volunteer municipal groups like gardening club, the theater group, zoning board, planning board, recreation committee, etc.

[Deleted]

Dec 16, 2013 6:01:14 GMT -5 milee said:

Crone, if you're just looking to get involved in the dog rescue as a way to meet people, you may want to see if there's another group instead. Of course it varies by area and of course this isn't true of all the volunteers at any given place, but in my experience, the animal rescue organizations tend to attract the most (oh geez, how do I say this in a PC way) ardent, committed people.  Since you're not really even into dogs, it's hard to picture how you'll make any connections at a group where many of the members are going to like dogs more than people and argue with each other over who is the biggest dog fan.

If you'd like to donate because it's something that you care about, that's not a bad thing. But for meeting people, it might be best to find a group of people that's going to be more like you (or at least not a group of people who's going to act like you're Charles Manson if you don't worship dogs.)

I'm sending this to Molly!

[milee]

Pretty sure she's already seen my thoughts on this. A couple of years ago when Horatio/Steve was asking advice on where to meet nice women, I mentioned volunteering for organizations that attracted nice, eligible women. In that same post, I cautioned him to avoid the animal rescue organizations because of their higher than normal percent of "crazy cat ladies", etc. Just like I said then, it's not that all the people involved with organizations like that are nuts, just that these organizations have a higher than normal percent of nuts.

If you've ever thought of adopting a dog from a dog rescue organization, you'll know exactly what I mean. It's tougher than adopting a Chinese baby.

[milee]

Dec 16, 2013 9:25:54 GMT -5 swamp said:

 The volunteer fire departments are also a hotbed of social activity, and most of them have a ladies auxiliary. 

Pick that one. Firemen are totally hot. It's part of the job description, or maybe just how they look in the uniform. Whatever. Firemen are really cute. Do that one.

[Deleted]

Hmmmmm....I'm no help.  One of the things I love about living in the country is not having to deal with people. so all my suggestions were going to be along the line of things like gardening, raising chickens, going on hikes, hunting morels...LOL  

[bookkeeper]

Check out the local library. They often host or promote other groups and clubs. Often times children hang at the library after school waiting for their parents to get off work. Some libraries have adult mentors to help kids with homework or learning to read.

Teaching someone to read would be a very rewarding volunteer project.

[Abby Normal]

Depending on the small town you are living near, they may still have a Senior Center that you can get involved with, or volunteer for meal on wheels etc.  We live in a small town (bedroom/farming community) and they always need help with committees and such.  

As to the original dog food question-  Costco's kirkland brand is not bad.  I have known many people in agility who have used it when they have a money pinch (instead of the prime performance foods). 

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Dec 16, 2013 11:36:13 GMT -5 Abby Normal said:

Depending on the small town you are living near, they may still have a Senior Center that you can get involved with, or volunteer for meal on wheels etc.  We live in a small town (bedroom/farming community) and they always need help with committees and such.  

As to the original dog food question-  Costco's kirkland brand is not bad.  I have known many people in agility who have used it when they have a money pinch (instead of the prime performance foods). 

Kirkland dog food is fairly highly rated by CR.  I'd probably go in this direction.

[HoneyBBQ]

The best thing to do is ask at the dog rescue place what resources they need. Sometimes they need laundry detergent, blankets, towels, etc. Sometimes they need someone to mail fliers. Sometimes they need people to go to town meetings. They can have a large variety of needs. But you'll need to ask. I'm sure they'll put you to work!

IME - on thing they need is someone who can offer to give the dogs walks- many rescue organizations need volunteers to just take the dogs out on potty breaks and be social with humans and get a little fresh air.

There are also tons of coupons for dog food, cat food, treats, etc. in the paper, so you can definitely save money there. I don't think I've ever seen a rescue organization that turns down food for the animals, regardless of type.

[muttleynfelix]

Dec 16, 2013 9:38:44 GMT -5 milee said:

Dec 16, 2013 9:25:54 GMT -5 swamp said:

 The volunteer fire departments are also a hotbed of social activity, and most of them have a ladies auxiliary. 

Pick that one. Firemen are totally hot. It's part of the job description, or maybe just how they look in the uniform. Whatever. Firemen are really cute. Do that one.

Have you seen Volunteer Firefighters .... not so much.    

[milee]

Oh.  Why did you have to tell me?  

I guess I see your point.  Around here a good portion of the volunteers are 70+ years old.  Many still look good, but that's not what I was picturing when I pictured "Fireman." 

[cronewitch]

I am 65 so 70 year old firemen might not be too bad. They have a steel head club for the river too. I was thinking that would be a good place to meet people. We have riverfront on a great steelhead river. I hope steel head fishermen aren't ardent like crazy cat ladies.

[muttleynfelix]

Crone - My Grandparents moved to the very small town my parents lived in when they were around 70.  Things they did to meet people:  they went to church (with us), joined the local political party, my grandpa hung out at the grocery store .  Once a month, my grandpa got together with  his friends back in their old city - about 70 miles today.  My Grandma went with him and visited her friends while the guys went out to lunch.  They always made sure to visit as many friends as possible.  When my Grandpa died, I could not believe everyone who came to visitation and funeral (it was in December too, so a busy time of year).  What touched me the most was the kids that they were neighbors with.  These were junior high and high school boys and they wanted to be there.  Over the years the kids had invited my Grandparents to their little league games and my Grandparents would go. My Grandparents then got to be friends with the grandparents and great-grandparents of these boys.  It wasn't just one family either. It was all the kids in the neighborhood. 

[milee]

Dec 16, 2013 13:01:04 GMT -5 cronewitch said:

I am 65 so 70 year old firemen might not be too bad. They have a steel head club for the river too. I was thinking that would be a good place to meet people. We have riverfront on a great steelhead river. I hope steel head fishermen aren't ardent like crazy cat ladies.

They might be, but they'll be quieter about it. All the fishermen/women I know know the importance of keeping their mouth shut.

The fishing club sounds good.  Maybe a little more social and less likely to contain a large percent of lunatics.

[Abby Normal]

Dh used to be a firefighter in his younger days.  I've always given him crap saying I could picture him doing this.