Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Good Morning Good News !!!! November 20, 2013

Online jigsaw puzzles from JigsawSite.com

Nums for YOU !!!!

YOU always work so hard to feed us.  

Now we’re going to feed YOU. 

Me and Duke and everybody here is gonna make Thanksgiving Dinner just for YOU !!! 

Of course we aren’t gonna cook each other up ... so it’s gonna be vegetarian.  Since we aren’t the bestest of cooks ....  you just might want to bring a vegetarian pot luck dish too !!!   I make a spectacular Fancy Feast over toast triangles ... but mom’s outlawed it for the day...  cuz Fancy Feast ain’t vegetarian nuf for her !!!  Poo .... 

We gotz lots of great hooman chefs helping out too ....  Mariza and Melissa and Nora and more ....  so please sign up to come.  

Saturday, November 23, doors open as 3 pm, we plan to start eatin about 4 pm and eat as long as we can .....   and I can eat a long long time .... 

Let us know if you’d like to come so we have an idea of how much food to make ...   RSVP here mail@RikkisRefuge.org

Our Thanksgiving Feast with the animals (not on our plates) ... will be at our Education Center, right next to the Sanctuary.

Hope YOU’re coming ! 


 

Don’t forget to VOTE today !!!!!
Click on Vincent to cast your vote for Rikkis Refuge, VA, USA .....  be a winner for the animals !!!! 

Your daily vote is very much needed.





Morning !!! 
How are you my friends?  Brrrr  ....  I am thinkin winter just might be here.  What you think?   
 Mom and me took a walk down to Rainbow Bridge last night.  We were talking and she started telling me about the times before me at Rikki’s ....  what it was like in the early days .... and how many wonderful folks came together to make it possible .... and about what it takes to keep making it possible ....

.....  I ran inside and got my note book and started scratching out notes .....   I’m gonna share the story of Rikki’s Refuge ....  15 Years in the Making ... 

If you know mom, you know how she can just start talkin and tellin stories about Rikki’s.  I think she loves to talk about Rikki’s.  I think she loves Rikki’s!  I know she loves me !! 

Anyway, I’m gonna break up the story into parts, cuz she shouldn’t get more space in MY Good Morning Good News than I do, now should she?   Can’t be havin the hoomans taking over now can we?


Rikki’s Refuge ....  15 Years in the Making    ....    Part I


November, 2013 ..... 

The work to turn this piece of rural land into a sanctuary for thousands of animals all began this time of year in 1998. 

In November of 1998 a few of you were there, by my side, helping to clear the thick hairy vines of poison ivy that had taken over every building on the property, every tree, every pile of junk and garbage that lay in mounds all around. 

Who knew what we’d find under the mound we tackled?  We found the great big purple barn under the biggest one. 


But it wasn’t purple yet, and it had oodles of holes in walls.  And once cleared, it became the home to the stray dogs and cats and chickens who roamed the property.  These dogs and cats and chickens would become our first official residents as we caught them, got them vetted and healthy, and they learned what it meant to be taken care of. 


Remember all that itching and scratching we did uncovering pile after pile?  I don’t think there was a volunteer in the early days without some form of poison ivy patches .... the official ivy, the poison sumac that itched 10 times worse.  And yet you kept coming back.  You could see that dream of a home where thousands of animals would find love, peace and happiness. 

How many of you wielded your first hammer at that land known as the sanctuary-to-be?  Smashed your fingers there? 

Cut your teeth on power saws and your hands on fencing? 

Tired, frustrated, wet from the rain, sun-burnt on blistering days, your hands and feet frozen on cold days.

Yet day after day you came back.  Yes, you were the minority.  I know you remember the frustration of meeting that new volunteer wannabe, the one so excited about saving animals; the one you spent valuable work time showing around and telling all about the dream, about how we were getting there; about the hard work ahead to make it real; just to have them turn around and laugh and tell you what a waste of time, you’d never be able to do it, it was too much work.

 

I remember your dedication; to wash up, to bandage up, to get back to work ... and to smile and to see that your effort was making the dream for the animals materialize.  You knew something as wonderful, something as vast as we had planned, wasn’t just going to happen, it had to be created, it had to be worked for.  And so day after day, no matter how tired, how achy, how itchy, you worked on. 

I remember celebrating our 100th animal saved.  Our 1,000th.   Today, at our 15 year mark, we’re very close to having saved 5,000 animals. 

........

We’ll hear more from mom next time about the old old days .....  

And in the mean time would you help me by making a donation in honor of those early souls who helped build Rikki's literally from the ground up.  I mean Rikki’s is MY home ....  so you know what most shelters would have done to me?   And without these folks .... well ....  I wouldn’t be here writing to you.

Your donation TODAY will enable the Refuge to move past that 5,000th animal … toward 10,000. 

Thank YOU for saving lives -- we absolutely cannot continue to save lives without YOUR support !!

On line donations are easy at www.RikkisRefuge.org/Donate  you can even sign up for a life saving monthly recurring donation!!!

I’m always happy to hear the check is in the mail!  Rikki’s Refuge, PO Box 1357, Orange VA 22960

Credit cards are accepted on line at www.RikkisRefuge.org/Donate or over the phone. 

You can call me directly at 540-395-3339 to make sure your credit info is kept confidential.


THANK YOU FOR HELPING ME TO SAVE SO MANY LIVES
... with your support we’re able to help so many into their new furrever happy homes ....  and to give that life long home to those not quite so fortunate ...  Thank you for your support
Without YOU none of us would be breathing today !!

I Love you bunches,
           Opie






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