Another (Quick) Update on the Appeal to Help With Housing Appraisal – We Need Just $112 in Donations

You can read the backstory here. Thanks to donations after the last update, our small goal is down to $112. Our next step is to arrange for a historic home appraisal. There are four points in time – purchase, date of domestic partnership, date of marriage, and date of separation. I’m genuinely curious about that […]

Urgent Update: Local Pet Food Pantry Needs 250 Pounds Donated

Dr. John P. Ruffing VMD Pet Food Pantry Supports 70+ Caretakers and Households Earlier this month, we informed you that the Dr. John P. Ruffing VMD Pet Food Pantry was almost out of supplies for our 70+ caretakers and households. We had to cancel our September distribution. You came through and donated over 400 pounds […]

Update: Reasons Why a Pittsburgh Pet Food Pantry is Closing Temporarily

As we announced, the Dr. John P. Ruffing VMD Pet Food Pantry has to close for September because of a lack of donations. I didn’t really get much feedback. Chalked that up to there being so much wrong in the world, so much bad news that this was just more. Did I expect the calvary […]

Here, we rise up and take the power back. We unify and watch our flag ascend to support our neighbors.

On June 2, 2025, I created a video appeal for the Dr. John P. Ruffing VMD Pet Food Pantry – we were/are running low on pet food. By the end of the week,we had received 890 pounds of dry food and $970 in $$ and gift cards. Maybe a few straggling donations will come in […]

Yesterday, My Friend Created a Venmo to Support My Legal Fund

My friend has long stayed away from online currency accounts. The few times I needed to send $$ to her, I sent it to her son’s PayPal. So I was quite surprised to get her note that she had successfully set up a Venmo account and sent me $20. Sure enough, there it was with […]

Are you seeing this blog post? Great, let’s get more social

Recently, I changed the settings on our Jetpack subscription tool to send out a snip of each post with a link to read more. The email you receive gives you the option of reading the post at the blog or in a WordPress reader. And you can of course use your preferred RSS reader directly. […]

This Past Week Pittsburgh Donated 823 Pounds of Dry and 736 Cans of Cat Food

Kudos to you, Pittsburgh and dear readers. In a short period of time, you donated enough cat food supplies to stock the Dr. John P. Ruffing DMV Pet Food Pantry through the end of April (and perhaps beyond.) Every month, we try to provide 12-15 pounds of dry and 20 cans of wet food to […]

How to Prepare Winter Weather Shelters for the Cat Colony

Yesterday, I got the winter shelters ready for the cats. Sort of. I use airline dog crates XXL, held together with zip ties, and covered with one of those warm but thin quilt type blankets. The crates and quilts/blankets were also donated. I bought the zip ties. Winter will soon be here. Inside each shelter […]

Nine Reasons to Save This Blog Right Now

Reasons to support saving this blog Political Q&A’s – for six years, I’ve interviewed a who’s who of regional politicos, from a US Senator to behind the scenes folx who make the campaign magic happen. I’ve brought to light countless out LGBTQ elected officials and asked tough, but fair questions. Memorial Post for Trans Neighbors […]

Cat and Critter Pics From Fort Faulsey

Sweet cat photos sleeping, eating, and looking askance at me. Donations are quite welcome to feed and accommodate the community and foster cats. We really need a new heated water dish, three feeding stations, two deck/patio boxes, and dry cat food. Our #PghCatFolx need litter, dry & wet food, and clean towels.