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
Have you noticed what's new in my picture today?
VOTE TODAY
http://bit.ly/VoteVincent Rikkis Refuge, Orange, VA, USA
The Animal Rescue Site - Shelter Challenge
YOU voted Rikki’s Refuge #1 in Virginia in 2010
Let’s do it again for 2011
quick, simple, free
Your daily vote can win $1,000 - $5,000 for Rikki’s Refuge’s Animals!
YES YES YES
WE moved up to #8 Planet Wide overnight
and we’ve gained in the state
now 26.92% of all votes
Come on HEROES you can do it again
VOTE VOTE VOTE
Tell the world to Vote for Vincent!
Bissell MVP Contest
Vote daily thru Tuesday January 18th for Zoe Marie Spumoni
Running on behalf of Rikki’s Refuge
quick, simple, free
Your daily vote could win up to $10,000 for Rikki’s Refuge
432 votes for Zoe
Come on folks, you can do better than that!!
This could mean $10,000 to Rikki’s Refuge
please VOTE
Click Zoe to Vote for Zoe
Zoe is a precious little blind gal working to show her support of Rikki’s
Please vote and show your support of her
the prize is $10,000 for Rikki’s Refuge
Character
Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny. ---Frank Outlaw
Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are. ---John Wooden
Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved. ---Helen Keller
Refuge News
Supposed to be down right balmy today and break 40 degrees. So come on out and have fun at Rikki’s
Beth came out yesterday and brought newspapers. We use them on the bottom of cages to absorb mess and make clean up easier and more thorough. We used to use puppy pads which look nicer and are more absorbent. But puppy pads are one of the luxury items we had to give up with the economy! We’ll give up anything - except food, medical care, cleaning and housing - to save the animals.
Anne came out to help with chores. Washing dishes and cleaning up. There’s always so much to clean up, everyday. If you a kitty and or doggy or two - just imagine, take their mess and multiply by 1250!! And WOW you got a boatload of cleaning to do every day. Anne gonna adopt a little kitty who came in as feral and became friendly very quickly. A lovely little tabby girl about 6 months old. She, the kitty not Anne, has the sniffles, so that has to clear up and she has to finish her quarantine and assuming all is good to go - she gets to go!!! Lucky kitty, Anne is a nice mommey.
Walker sent me a note last night:
Hi Vincent - Walker here. I like the way you answered the question about my Saturday job as Doggy Diplomat of Doggy Downs. My Mom likes to remind me that my main job is to greet visitors when I am on duty at Rikki's. It gives visitors a chance to pet and interact with me at Doggy Downs.
And - I am glad you got the message out early enough for my mom to go to Costco to pick up some cat food cases! Pollyanna told me I HAD to help out her favorite 3 legged, handsome tuxedo cat! - with love from Walker
See you in a bit Walker!!! And thank you for bringing your mom on Saturdays to clean up Doggy Downs. You do a good job supervising her!
Live from Vincent Video
Meet the Peacocks
Fun and Inspiring
So that’s a commercial for chocolate? Really makes me want to run out and get some, huh???? Lots of cute commercials out there these days but I don’t see how it’s supposed to make you link to the product.
Tails of Trivia
I bet a lot of you, even if you’re Down Under, know that a male kangaroo is called a boomer. What’s a female called?
Baby robins eat 14 feet of earthworms every day.
Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.
Music and Motion
Good Times in the News
Michael Vick won’t make it to the Super Bowl
Maybe some karma at work? His Post Game Press Conference is just too good to miss. And who let the dogs out .......
What Animal Hears with Its Legs, and Why?
From HappyNews Columnist
Q: Name a creature which uses its legs to hear.
A: Crickets have ears on their front legs, located about where humans have elbows. Katydids also have leg ears. In fact, ears "(tympanal organs) lie beneath a drum-like membrane (the tympanum) where they respond to sound," says entomologist John Meyer, professor at North Carolina State University. These 'ears' may be located on the thorax (in some true bugs), on the abdomen (in grasshoppers, cicadas, and some moths), or on the front tibia (in crickets and katydids)."
A calling male cricket creates a racket — chirping loudly at a fixed frequency that depends on his species and the night temperature. A female hears the beckoning calls, determines the direction of the chirp source and tracks down the male chirper, "purely based on auditory cues," says zoologist Martin Lankheet of Wageningen University. She distinguishes direction by listening to the time difference she hears from her right and left ears.
The two ears consist of eardrums (small, pale spots) spaced about 12 millimeters (0.5 in) apart on her left and right legs. She hears a sound coming from right of her position, for example, with her right ear before she hears it with the left. The time delay tells the direction of the chirping male.
Perhaps crickets developed ears on their legs to increase the separation distance between their ears. Indeed: "Because crickets are very small compared to the wavelength of male sounds, an increase in the separation distance increases the difference in signals between the two ears. Moving the ears further apart therefore helps direction discrimination, and mate finding," emails Lankheet.
Great Purrchases / Donations
Food Lion and that probably means Bloom and maybe Bottom Dollar too - have Purina dry cat foods, Cat Chow, Indoor Kitty, Purina One, Friskies and all kinds, on sale for $9.99 a bag. Stock up for your kitty and buy an extra bag or two for us PLEASE!!!!
Dear Vincent
Why don’t you sell cow milk?
Lots of you have questions about Rikki’s Refuge. I’ll pick one or two a day to answer here. Ask your questions in the blog comments or sent to me at Vincent@RikkisRefuge.org
QUESTION: Why don’t you sell cow milk? Seems to me you have it there free. Can’t you sell it to make money to buy food? Hey even Fancy Feast! Charlie
ANSWER: Hi Charlie, that’s a question a lot of people ask. India doesn’t have milk. Nope. None. You may think that’s strange since it’s common belief that milk just comes from cows. But just like any mammal, cows produce milk to feed their own young. If they aren’t expecting young or haven’t recently given birth, then there’s no reason they would have milk.
Think about hoomans and cats and dogs. They don’t just run around giving milk all the time, now do they? And that seems purrfectly normal, right? Well the cows that hoomans take milk from and sell in the store has a rather sad story behind it.
For a cow to first have milk (and NO they don’t GIVE milk, it’s TAKEN) she must get pregnant, carry the baby, give birth and then no longer have that baby to feed, who’d be drinking all the milk that nature intended for her. Un Oh - something very bad happens to that poor baby cow.
Now the mama cow has milk, but no baby to give it to. If she was left alone, the milk would go away. Cuz mammals, of all kinds, just make milk for a nursing baby. Instead of a baby cow nursing her, the hoomans start doing it one way or another to get the milk out so they can have it. And the mama cow’s body doesn’t know it’s a hooman and not a baby, so it keeps making more milk. Trust me, the mama cow knows!
This will last for a while, and if mama cow is given extra hormones in her food it will last even longer than nature would normally let it. But sooner or later that mama cow’s body will say ENOUGH! Then the hoomans have to get her pregnant all over again and start the cycle again.
So that’s why none of our animals have milk!! Cus none of them have babies. Cus wez all speutered!!!
Upcoming Events
SATURDAY January 15
ANIMAL ATTENTION DAY - Give some extra hugs to the homeless - take a dog for a walk, scratch a pig's belly, pat a cat. 11 am - 3 pm
DONATION DROP OFF, noon - 2 pm, got something to drop off quick? The gates will be unlocked. No tour at this time, just drop off.
FULL MOON WALK, Bon Fire, vegan bbq, pot luck 1/15, RSVP REQUIRED, we’re talking outdoors, after dark, so it’s gonna be cold and dark - please be prepared!! Absolutely MUST RSVP. May be cancelled due to lack of participation.
Pit Bull Awareness - Meet Indigo Wheeled Terrier and his family, and hear his hooman mom mommy speak about him, animal abuse and dog fighting at Pit Bull Awareness event at the Canterbury Community Center, 12184 Chaucer Lane, Woodbridge Va 22192. Saturday Jan 15, 2011 from Noon to 3 pm. Pit Bull Kisses are free and leashed, well mannered spayed and neutered dogs are welcome!
Meet Walker at Doggy Downs on Saturdays
Walker !!!
SUNDAY January 16
SANDWICH DAY - On January 18, 1778 Capt James Cook stumbles over Hawaiian Sandwich Islands. Today you'll bring your most creative VEGAN sandwiches to the refuge for a judging. Noon.
TOUR THE REFUGE - NOON, mini tour, take a walk around and see the animal neighborhoods. Every week on Sunday you can join a mini tour where you can walk around from animal neighborhood to neighborhood, from Piggy Paradise to Horsey Haven and see the animals. One tour only, starts at noon. Please be prompt.
MONDAY January 17
LEE / JACKSON / KING DAY, the animals come first! Bring yummy winter treats and help fluff up warm winter bedding. 11 am - 3 pm
Stay In Touch
Check my blog http://rikkisrefuge.blogspot.com
on the right under STAY IN TOUCH
the next four weeks - what to do at Rikki's Refuge
Will tell you all about upcoming events, also any cancellations and all the up to the minute stuff you need to know. Check in often. Sign up to follow the blog so you get updates when they happen. A little further down on the right click on FOLLOW.
Vote for the Animals
Here you can vote in contests that will give money to save the animals, they’re all free and easy, so all you have to do is click and it’s like making a donation!
2011 Calendar of What's up at Rikki's
Here you can see the calendar for all of 2011, so you can plan way far ahead!!
Have a wonderful morning and fabulous day!!
Love,
Vincent
PS 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
