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
Oh Joy Joy Joy
I’ve got Joy in my Heart
We’re getting so close !!!
Thank you HEROES
only $508.22 cents left to fulfill
Double Your Love for Valentine’s Day!!!
Happy Dance with me
and drop a few cents in my hat if you can!!
Marilyn offers some sound advice
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!
Hey Hey Hey
I knew YOU could do it !
We moved up a smidge
Keep it up !!!
There’s lots of ways you can vote
as long as you remember to enter
Rikkis Refuge, Orange, VA, USA
click on any of these and take it from there !!!!
Post it everywhere - VOTE FOR RIKKI’S REFUGE!
Bissell MVP Contest
Vote daily thru Tuesday February 15th for Vincent
YOUR official Valentine Varmint !
quick, simple, free
Your daily vote could win up to $10,000 for Rikki’s Refuge
Click here to Vote for Vincent
and vote for Twisty. He’s trying to prove to the world that black cats count, please gie him your vote in his photo contest.
CLICK ON TWISTY TO VOTE FOR HIM!!!!
My Favorite Quote, Today
I think I can - the four most valuable words you can tell yourself
No kidding! You know how often I’m scooting around the refuge humming, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can find another can of Fancy Feast around here somewhere! And sometimes the last refrain is something different too!!
Round the Refuge
Spring is coming. And it’s coming fast. You can gauge the weather by the length of the peacocks tail feathers and they are going strong. The sir peacocks are prancing and dancing about hot and heavy begging every gal of every species to look !!!! They’re the most awful show offs you’ve ever seen.
The chickens are starting to sing the laying song again in the mornings.
I think Petunia is going to get a friend.
She’s our only farm pig. Everybody else is a miniature pot belly pig. Miniature compared to 800 pound Petunia. But most people still don’t consider 350 pound pigs very miniature!!!
I heard talking to somebody about a 16 week old piggie needing a home. He’d been abandoned and a rescue group trying to help can’t find anyone who won’t do something bad to him. Wouldn’t that be scary if you had to worry about getting eaten if you got dumped? Yikes!
Hee Hee want to hear something funny about eating. Mom eats all kinds of icky stuff. She get this gunk from the Chinese place called toad food. Uhhggg. Today she was eating leaves with horrid things like onions, things that make your nose curl up, yick. She had to get up and run out and when she came back Gail had licked all the dressing off the leaves!!! Mom didn’t think it was funny. But we all did!
Oh my gosh! Did you hear the scary news from yesterday? Lena says all the canned cat will be used up for breakfast Saturday morning and I’m on my own for dinner. Yikes! What am I going to eat? It’s very important that I get my 16 meals a day so I’m bright eyed and bushy tailed and full of energy. This could be a disaster.
Katarina writes in: Sorry I didn't make my million dollar goal. We sold more crafts than sweets. So I took the left over baked goods to my sister's work and she sold the rest !!! But hey we rounded up enough money to feed all the cats for a day! THANK YOU Melissa, Helen, Ed, Mary, Toni, and Teresa for helping to run the bake sale and contributing baked goods and crafts.
ONE DAY??? ONE DAY??? Ok so food here runs out after breakfast Saturday, and she’s got enough money for ONE DAY, that means by lunch time Sunday my tummy is really going to be growling. Oh, I may not be able to sleep thinking about this. Lack of food is a really scary thought. Gosh it’s making me hungry just thinking about it.
The Cats of Cod
Artwork by Wayne H. Morris of New York
photography and art
visit to see more of his spectacular work
Wayne loves to study an animal and capture their essence which he then turns into a whimsical work of art depicting them at work or play. Your pet’s whimsical custom portrait available for only $300 (donated to Rikki’s Refuge). Contact me and I’ll put you in touch Vincent@RikkisRefuge.org Prints available, 8” x 10”, on heavy stock, suitable for framing, $25 each, resolution may vary so you may want to ask first. Specify which print you want and shipping address. http://bit.ly/WayneMorrisPrint
Will hits the ski slops of Cod.
Will is a very kind hearted soul.
He’s always there for his friends
offering help and consoling them.
He’s the first one to start prayer circles
for his friends in need.
Live from Vincent Video
Watch Three Hen taking Dust Baths
These poor poor creatures. Can you imagine having to roll around in dirt to get clean! I wonder if they have tongues? The poor things cant even lick themselves clean. God really did make cats just purrfect, didn’t she? Except for the opposable thumbs. But that’s what she gave us hoomans for!
Fun and Inspiring
Ostriches
(Photo by SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP/Getty Images)
during the first Ukrainian Ostriches Festival
I’m glad I don’t have that many. Those giant birds are kind a scary. They could step on me!!!
British Beer Fest
(Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)
A man feeds a shirehorse pulling a Thwaites Ales cart a pint of beer outside the 'Great British Beer Festival 2010' in Earls Court exhibition centre in London. The 5-day event is Britain's largest beer festival with over 60,000 people expected to attend.
On this Day
February 11th is National Shut-in Visitation Day. If you don’t know someone you can pay a sort visit to, then stop in a nursing home or animal shelter. It takes so little to be somebody’s HERO. You CAN do it! Just think of what it’d mean to you!
February 11th is Freelance Writers Appreciation Week - hey, write an article for Reflections, my printed newspaper, I want to hear from YOU! Vincent@RikkisRefuge.org
Music and Motion
HELP, I need somebody, HELP
Good Times in the News
Coast Guard Giving Turtles a Lift to Florida
Associated Press
The Coast Guard has taken 20 endangered sea turtles rescued from Cape Cod beaches back to a warmer climate for rehabilitation. The turtles will be released back into the wild if the staff at Sea World can nurse them back to health.
How to Get More “Ah-Hah!” Moments in Your Life
David J. Pollay , HappyNews Columnist
“Think! Think harder. Come on! Think.” How often have you said that to yourself? If you just think harder and faster, you’ll figure it out. Science is saying, “Wait a minute.” Literally, the message is, “Wait a minute.” Your most creative ideas do not come to you after you squint and make a thinking sound, “mmmmm.” Research is pointing to a better way to get the best answers: It’s through your unconscious mind.
Think about it. When have some of the best and most important ideas come to you in your life? Where were you? What were you doing at the time? Most of us report that our most creative ideas come to us when we’re exercising, reading a thought-provoking book, praying, meditating, doing laundry, playing with our children, sitting on a plane, driving a car, or when waking up in the morning.
Isn’t it great when a big idea suddenly comes to you? But how is it possible? You weren’t even thinking about it; your focus was somewhere else. Your conscious thought didn’t produce it. It was your unconscious mind at work.
Our brain never sleeps; it’s always on. Our brain is considered the most powerful supercomputer on the planet; its memory and problem solving power are unequaled.
Researchers Ap Dijkersterhuis and Loran Nordgren of the University of Amsterdam describe the comparative power of the conscious and unconscious mind. “Depending on the context, consciousness can process between 10 and 60 bites per second. As an illustration, if you read you process about 45 bits per second, which corresponds to a fairly short sentence. The entire human system combined, however, was argued to be able to process about 11,200,000 bits.”
So how do you use that power every day? What do you plug into your own personal supercomputer every day? What do you give it to process? What’s your positive ritual?
Here’s what I do each morning. Everyday after I express my thanks for everything good in my life, I tell myself that I am a writer. And I get detailed. I describe everything I find gratifying about writing, and I visualize my plans. Why? I love writing and I want to do more of it. I feed my supercomputer with these thoughts every day. Every morning I have a positive ritual of focusing my thinking on what I enjoy doing the most.
So start each day by thinking about what you love to do. Give your unconscious mind something to think about while you’re off consciously doing other things. And enjoy your next “Ah-Hah!” moment!
Great Purrchases / Donations
It’s Friday and it’s Free Food Friday num num num
send an email to Giveaway@freekibble.com with the subject "Shelter Giveaway" on Fridays to enter PetCo’s drawing for a $50 PetCo Gift Card every weekend. A winner will be chosen at random every Saturday. It may as well be YOU! http://www.freekibblekat.com/giveaway.asp
Ebay
My things - including Valentines Card
A full set of Vintage Kitty Postcards!!!
Auctions benefiting Rikki’s
The 24th Species
Rikki’s Refuge’s Human Habitat
Community Service benefits a wide range of folks
Upcoming Events
SATURDAYS 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. Donation Drop Off will be available every Saturday from noon - 2 pm in 2011
SUNDAYS 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.
Once a month, we’ll have an EXTENDED TOUR where you can visit the animals in their neighborhoods and have the chance to interact and give them treats. These tours also start promptly at noon, and there’s only one tour for the day, so please be prompt. 2/27, 3/27, 4/17, 5/22, 6/12, 7/4 Monday, 9/4 Monday, 10/31, 11/12 Saturday, 12/25
SATURDAYS ON OR BEFORE THE FULL MOON FULL MOON WALK, Bon Fire, vegan bbq, pot luck 2/19, 3/19, 4/16, 5/14, 6/11, 7/16, 8/13, 9/10, 10/8, 11/12, 12/10
2nd SATURDAY OF THE MONTH SINGLES DAY - 10 am - 4 pm
Something for everybody. Come and do a day of service at the refuge and meet like minded souls. The leader who puts together the biggest work party wins. 2/12, 3/12, 4/9, 5/14, 6/11, 7/9, 8/13, 9/10, 10/8, 11/12, 12/10
NEXT TO LAST SATURDAY OF THE MONTH VOLUNTEER TRAIN BASIC 11 am- 3 pm, Learn the basics about volunteering at Rikki’s Refuge. Help with donation logging, washing dishes and liter boxes, socializing the animals and much more. 2/19, 3/19, 4/23, 5/21, 6/18, 7/23, 8/20, 9/17, 10/22, 11/19, 12/24
LAST SATURDAY OF THE MONTH VOLUNTEER TRAIN SELF SERVICE 8 am - 1 pm, Learn to earn your Self Service Volunteer Badge. 2/26, 3/26, 4/30, 5/28, 6/25, 7/30, 8/27, 9/24, 10/29, 11/26, 12/31
LAST SATURDAY OF THE MONTH SPIRITUAL GROWTH NIGHT, last Saturday of the month, come and join is in a discussion / study of what ever feels right tonight, as we reach for our highest spiritual goal, who knows where these discussions may take us. Bring something for a Vegan Pot Luck Dinner. Call for time and study plan.
2/26, 3/26, 4/30, 5/28, 6/25, 7/30, 8/27, 9/24, 10/29, 11/26, 12/31
SATURDAY February 12, 11 am - 3 pm HONEY DO DAY - a little bit of this and a little bit of that, no matter what your talents we can use you!
SUNDAY February 13, 11 am - 3 pm VALENTINE'S DAY OBSERVED- bring special treats to all the animals to show your undying love.
SATURDAY February 19, 11 am - 3 pm PICK YOU SPECIES - bring something special for them and help make their neighborhood extra special.
SUNDAY February 20, 11 am - 3 pm POPCORN DAY - On February 22 back in 1630, the Indians introduced the Pilgrims to popcorn. Today we honor the natives of Rikki's by offering them popcorn, fruits and nuts. Bring yummies for the wild ones. We'll take a walk and scatter them for the birds, squirrels, chipmunks, possums, raccoons and all the small forest animals.
MONDAY February 21, 11 am - 3 pm PRESIDENT'S DAY - make the animals feel like kings! Bring delicious food, warm bedding and help us make them comfortable for the winter.
MONDAY February 21, 11 am - 3 pm BIRDHOUSES AND MORE - Build birdhouses and other habitats for wildlife.
Who ever brings me the mostest canned food this weekend gets the biggest hug - just ask to meet me when you deliver nums during Saturday’s Donation Drop off, noon - 2 pm
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
