Good Morning Good News !!!! June 18, 2011

I’m Vincent D. Cat and here to make you happy! You are HEROES! You work hard every day and you deserve to smile every day! Those of you working to save us animals hear so very many very sad things. And there’s lots of very glad things too and that’s what we talk about here! All pawsitive all the time! I want my friends to be happy and smile and know there’s a lot of good - including YOU - in this world!! Be kind and pass it on! Please send me your Good New and Fun Stuff to share, personal or global. Let’s keep it fun and interactive!! After all, if we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane! Vincent@RikkisRefuge.org

Today’s Edition is Dedicated to my Grandma.

That’s my hooman Grandma.  Today is her birthday.  She’s celebrating it with all my friends at the Rainbow Bridge.  She was an aminal lover, just like her daddy and her grandpa were.

This is her feeding Gertrude in 1938.  Now you know why mom loves to dress me up!

And here she is in 1943 with her doggy Boomer.   
That’s not the same Boomer who lives at Rikki’s Refuge with me!!!

My Grandma was a cool lady.  She was the benefactor who donated to land to Rikki’s Refuge to make my home possible.  Without her, I’d have had no place to go and I’d been sent to the Rainbow Bridge. It’s a nice place, but I’m glad I got to stay on planet earth !!!  Thank you Louise Hilliard and everybody since who’s made Rikki’s refuge possible.

Rikki’s Refuge is named after her kitty.

I’ll let my grandma tell you the story:

Rikki, born Jan. 13, 1981, was a new breed - a Balinese, a Siamese mutation, same body shape, grace & disposition, but with silky long hair. My daughter gave Rikki to me in April 1981. He was greeted by our 11 year old Siamese, who let Rikki know, “I’m top cat.” Rikki, who was always happy, was satisfied to be “bottom cat”.

The only thing Rikki ever regretted was not having wings! He would climb the drapes, walk across the valence and look for something high to jump to, like the top of the china cabinet. He darted this way and that in perpetual motion. My husband said, “He darts around like a mongoose”. So Rikki was named after Rudyard Kipling’s Indian mongoose story, “Rikki Tikki Tavi”.

Rikki was 4 years old when the Siamese cat died at the age of 15. Rikki was lost. Who could he follow around? Rikki needed a companion cat. My husband suggested a kitten - so “Rikki could be boss for once.” When the kitten cried for its mother, Rikki laid down and the kitten suckled Rikki’s paw while Rikki washed him. Although Rikki was a bachelor, the kitten could not have had a better mother. The kitten grew up to be “top cat”.

Rikki would get up on my knick-knack shelves, and with a graceful paw movement would push a cat statue off, then lean over and watch it fall to the floor. This was great fun and Rikki would stop only temporarily when I said, “NO NO”. Rikki always hated water far more than the typical cat. One day while playing this game, I wet my fingers and tiptoed near enough to flip my fingers so a few drops of water hit him. He never played that game again!

My children grown and gone, my husband’s business keeping him out of town, Rikki was my loving, loyal, joyful companion. With me almost always - he slept with me, sat on my lap if I read or sewed, rode on my shoulder out to get the mail. Rikki never did a mean thing to a person or another cat. He was all softness and love. All he ever wanted in life was to be hugged and loved.

Rikki died in my arms in September, 1996 of kidney failure. He had become like a toddler in his illness - never letting me out of his sight. My grandson said, “Rikki was all love without a mean bone in his body.”

I still grieve for him, crying as I write this. What could be a more fitting memorial for Rikki, always so full of kindness & love, than to give comfort & love to homeless and unwanted animals. So I donate this land for Rikki’s Refuge as a perpetual memorial to Rikki for the love and happiness he gave me for 15 years. And so others, less fortunate than Rikki, may know love in their lifetimes. I know Rikki would approve.

Rikki’s Refuge’s Benefactor, Louise A. Hilliard, 1998

Under Grandma’s Kind and Loving Guidance

My Hooman Family Evolved Over the Years

1976

1978

1997

2003

Without my Grandma Louise

there would be no Rikki's Refuge.  She always asked that in lieu of gifts for her birthday, please make a contribution for her beloved Rikki's Refuge.  And you can do that right here!  http://rikkisrefuge.chipin.com/honoring-louise-a-hilliard-benefactor-of-rikkis-refuge

The Celebration of the Life of Louise A. Hilliard

If you’d like to read more about the 80 years she spend on planet earth, here’s where to go:    http://rikkisrefuge.org/Rikkis/louise_hilliard.pdf

YARD SALE at LOW FLEA MARKET TODAY

Please stop in and visit our site - lots and lots of new things this week!!!!   The Flea Market is set up near Lake of the Woods on Route 3.  If you’re coming from Fredericksburg, it’s on the left after the glass office building and the Ace Hardware and before Lake of the Woods light.  Saturdays 8 am - 3 pm. 

Kathy and Kim are running these sales to help support Rikki’s Refuge - 100% of proceeds is for food and medicine for the animals of Rikki’s Refuge.  Please stop in and see what goodies we have this week.

Clean out your closets, your garage, your attic ......

Contact Kathy KDoucette@wri.org or Kim kidoujs@gmail.com or by phone 703-350-3957 if you have items they can sell to benefit Rikki’s Refuge.  Their home is off Rt 3 not far from the new shopping center with Giant, Petco and Home Depot.  They have a great garage for storing things. 

VOLUNTEER to help with the sales on Saturdays.

Some things they’d like to get:

baked goods (no icing or other melt in the sun items)

potted plants

home accent pieces

furniture that is easily carried

chairs would be good, small tables or plant stands

decorative mirrors

anything you can put on the wall

kitchen items

camping items

anything for outdoor entertaining and living

Vincent Guest Appearance

from 10 am - noon on June 25^th at the Lake of the Woods Flea Market.  And I better not get no fleas!!

ADOPTIONS

We hope to be doing adoptions at the Flea Market by next week too.  Meet the animals and fill out applications, animals will be delivered at the time a home check is done after applications have been processed.  Really really need more volunteer help.  We can do so much for the animals.  With YOU we can do so much more!!!  Please sign up to volunteer for adoptions or other activities at Rikki’s.

FATHER’S DAY SPECIAL

Prince and Pop list two of their original Pig Paintings for Father’s Day!!!  If you’ve got that dad that has it all ....  well here’s something unique!!!  Click on photo for more details.

Saturday Donation Drop Off

Every Saturday from Noon - 2 pm, gates open and you can bring in donations, food, especially Fancy Feast, and all kinds of things.  We always need bleach, paper towels, cleaning supplies, trash bags, laundry detergent, dish detergent -- gee that does make us sound like a bunch of dirty animals doesn’t it?  And don’t forget that canned food - cat and dog!!!  And we’re running low on cat dry food again too.  Gees it’s a never ending cycle, haul in the food, scoop the poop .......

Father’s Day Tour

Sunday at Noon - gates open at 11:30 am.  Bring your dad out to meet the animals.  I’ll be giving special hugs and kisses to all dads!!!!  Tours are about two hours and it’s all outside, dress for the weather and remember sun screen, hats, and always good sturdy shoes and long pants and t-shirts with sleeves!!  Hooves + sandals = smushed hooman feet!!!   Claws + Scratchy Pig Bristles + shorts = itchy bloody hooman legs!!!!  Tank tops + kitties climbing on shoulders = sore bloody hoomans!  Help us help you enjoy the animals.  It’s all interactive!!! 

When visiting please remember to keep your car windows rolled up.  They must be kept shut in the parking lot,  Kitties and chickens can climb in thru the smallest slot left open.  You may be thinking, well that’s ok, if kitty wants to nap in my car while I’m touring.  But did you know many of the outdoor kitties are incontinent - they won’t mean to, but you’ll find your seats and dash and all over covered in drippy smelly stuff !!!!  So keep those windows UP for all of us!!!

Tours every Sunday at Noon.

Last Week Rabbit Rotunda II opened for new residents!!!!

Hope you’re coming to visit this weekend!!!!

Love,

Vincent

Help me keep this wonderful Refuge running just the way my Grandma would want me to!  http://rikkisrefuge.chipin.com/honoring-louise-a-hilliard-benefactor-of-rikkis-refuge

PPS You tell me what you want! Email me at Vincent@RikkisRefuge.org with instructions to change your subscription: additions, deletions or modifications! Subscriptions:  Vincent’s VIPs - up to the second alerts about issues at Rikki’s Refuge for those who care and want to be intimately involved. Scheduled as needed. Good Morning Good News - a little something to get you going in the mornings, for those of you who want to keep smiling with us! Scheduled daily. Hairballs - so you know what’s coming up at Rikki’s! Scheduled weekly.

Rikki's Refuge, supported solely by private donations, houses over 1200 animals of 22 species. On line at http://bit.ly/Give-a-gift-to-Rikkis Checks, money orders, cash, items at Rikki's Refuge, PO Box 1357, Orange VA 22960

Rikki's Refuge is owned and operated by Life Unlimited of Virginia, Inc., an IRS 501(c)(3) not-for-profit Virginia Corporation, tax-id 54-1911042. Combined Federal Campaigns #77674, Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign #3163, PetsMart Charities #1377. A financial statement is available upon written request from the State Office of Consumer Affairs.

Learn more www.RikkisRefuge.org and help spread the good word, tell everyone you know about Rikki’s Refuge