Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Good Morning Good News !!!! September 10, 2013



Happy Late Labor Day !!!  And Welcome to Fall !!! 
I’m glad I got lots of fur on these chilly nights !!!   Lots of my friends are back to school.  I’ll keep on going to schools to teach humane education when ever I get invited !!  I like going to school.  So if you’d like me to come to your class, just call 540-854-0870 x3 and ask for a reservation.

I like going to all kinds of special events.  And the summer was just full of them.  One of the biggest of the year is the National Capital Cat Show at the Dulles Expo Center. 
My Auntie Melissa
took me.  You can see the family resemblance, can’t you?

I had a kissing booth there and lots of my friends came to see me .... and to kiss me!!!

My friend Linda
came all the way from Florida to visit me!!!  She’s been a friend a long time and moved to Florida a couple years ago.  She traveled all that way just for some snuggles and a kiss !!!!





I was so excited when I got to go home with my friend Walker to spend the night! 


It was my first sleep over ever !!!   Walker used to live at Rikki’s, but he got adopted and moved to Reston, just about 100 miles away.  Since he’s so much closer to where the cat show was, I got to spend Saturday night with him instead of going all the way home to Rikki’s Refuge here in Orange.  It was lots of fun!



You’ll be able to catch me at the Fredericksburg Pet Expo on September 21 from 10 - 5 and Sunday the 22 from 11 - 4.  Here’s more info, http://www.fredericksburgpetshow.com/


That’s less than 2 weeks away. It's a great time!  And I need YOUR help to make it a success!!!

There will be a water-skiing squirrel, a pet talent contest, and lots of demonstrations.  If you would like to join us and help us in the booth, we'd love to have you!  There is a cost of $3 per person who will be working the booth.  The deadline for committing is this Thursday, Sept. 12!

We will have 2 shifts on Saturday, Sept. 21:   10:00 until 1:00  and 1:00 until 5:00.  On Sunday, there is only 1 shift:  11:00 until 4:00, but your help will be needed after 4:00 for taking down the booth and getting everything back to my car.

The goal is to tell everyone about Rikki's, and sell lots and lots of stuff! (like we did at the Cat Show this last weekend!)

Please contact my Aunt Melissa at dogslife24@comcast.net if you can come out and help me be a star at this event !!!

And I’ll be at the Charlottesville Vegetarian Festival on September 28, 2013, Saturday, from 11:00 till 5:00.  You can learn more about it here:  http://cvillevegfest.org/  and I hope you come out to visit me !!    AND if you’d like to help us out at this event let Uncle Ron topcat@cstone.net know.  I sure hope you will.




The Shelter Challenge is BACK ....


and I’m begging you to vote for MY sanctuary ...  Rikkis Refuge, in Orange, VA, USA ... if you’ll log on every day and vote for me you’ll be helping me to win food for the animals !!! 



How to vote for Rikki's Refuge in the Shelter Challenge!
1. Click on this voting link:
( If the site does NOT load, please try a different browser! )
2. Click on the “SIGN IN” icon
( Located on the upper right of your screen directly underneath where it says “Pet-Finder” )
3. Click on the “FACEBOOK” icon and sign in with your Facebook Profile or you can sign in with e-mail
4. VOTE!
( You will be required to fill in a “captcha” )
5. SHARE!
( Please encourage your friends to vote too, thanks! )


Events at Rikki’s Refuge
If you don’t want to travel to visit me at events, call me 540-854-0870 x3 or email me for tickets. mail@RikkisRefuge.org for tickets to some local Rikki’s Refuge fun:
September 21, 2013, Saturday   and  October 19, 2013, Saturday    Full Moon Walk at Rikki’s Refuge
October 26, 2013, Saturday  Halloween Tour & Nature Hike at Rikki’s Refuge
Advance tickets are required for all on site events and space is limited, so apply early !!


It’s Been a Long Time
Geee I didn’t realize it’d been quite so long since I wrote you a Good Morning Good News ....  it was on July 22nd .... long long ago ....  Great Grand Pa had just gotten home to Rikki’s from Florida and had just gotten back to work keeping our litterboxes all clean and nice.   The next night he woke up feeling something awful and went to the hospital and it a pulmonary embolism - that’s a blood clot in his lung.  He felt really bad.  It make him very weak and very sleepy for a very long time.  He slept for about a month while, thanks to the prayers from so many of you friends, his body was working on healing.  Now he’s doing good and exercising - they call it physical therapy - to get real strong again.  Heee Heee Heee a nice lady called a physical therapist comes to the house a couple times a week .... and she’s allergic to cats !!!!!    I hope she’ll make GGP real strong real quick so she can stop sneezing for an hour visit !!!!!


We’re looking for a few good hoomans. 

Good hoomans who want to devote their lives to caring about us.  I mean, I know YOU care about us !!  But I need some folks who are caring AND cleaning for us everyday.  We need a few folks to work here and help sanitize everything for out protection everyday.  Most of the work with animals is cleaning up.  I’m sorry, we don’t really mean to be a bunch of filthy animals ... it’s just ... well .... we can ... so ... I guess ... we do ... 

Hmmmm anyway, we’re looking for a few more folks to help us keep everything nice and clean and of course to feed us and to help give us our meds and all.   The hoomans tell me it’s pretty hard, physically hard, work.  Lots of heavy stuff to pick up and move around.  Like lifting all the litterboxes to dump them thru the sifters to take the poo out and all the little they have to haul in and out .. in and out .. in and out ....   And some of the aminals are really lucky too and their food come in 50 pound sacks ... and some of them get several sacks a day ....  like the pigs and the goats and the sheep and the cows.  So it’s moving lots and lots of heavy stuff about.

And some of dem hoomans is rude and say it’s a stinky job ....  well, poo on them ... I guess that’s what they’re talking about ...  all the poo that has to be cleaned up every day.  Well sorry, but I bet if they made YOU poo in a box it wouldn’t smell so good either !!!!    And we all gotz to poo !!!!  Every day ....  sometimes lots of times every day ....  and .... well .. it all gots to be cleaned up.

I need hoomans to work for me that love me, and do a job that isn’t the easiest and doesn’t smell like working in a garden, but makes their heart feel all warm inside cuz they know it’s all about love and caring and it’s what it really takes to keep any animal place running well.

So if youz one of dem hoomans, call 540-395-3339, to listen about coming for an interview !!!!


Donation Drop Off is back !!!!

We’ve got a docent now working Donation Drop off .... so you can come Saturdays, between noon and 2 pm, to drop off wonderful donations .....  like Fancy Feast .... and other yummy things.   Donation Drop Off is NOT at the sanctuary ....  we had to stop that cus of all the traffic and the safety of the animals. 

Donation Drop Off is now at our North Facility.  21410 Constitution Hwy, Rapidan VA 22733 is the official address and the driveway is right off route 20 (Constitution Hwy), right at the corner of 20 and Quarterhorse Lane.  The gates will be opened there from noon to 2 pm, every Saturday, where you can stop in and drop off nums and other things needed for the animals and the sanctuary.

And if you’d like to be a Donation Drop Off Docent .... raise your hand and let mom know, kerry@RikkisRefuge.org all you gotta do is sit on the porch ... or inside the climate controlled house and direct donors where to drop off !!   Only two hours a week.  Take a shift once a month, or once a year !!!   NO litter boxes to clean!

We’re only able to accept items for use at the sanctuary.  No yard sale items at this time.  We’re simply out of storage space !!!   But please do hang on to your gently used yard sale items, we will be opening a Thrift Shop later this fall.  As soon as we have the plans sorted out and have storage space available .... you’ll be the FIRST to know !!!!   So hang on to that good stuff ...  soon you’ll be able to turn it into wonderful items for the critters !!!!


Thank you for working with us, hand in paw, day in and day out, to care for the critters of Rikki’s Refuge .... we couldn’t do it without YOU!!  Thank you for saving our lives.  http://rikkisrefuge.org/donate.php

Love you bunches,
           Opie

2013 is the Year of the Purr ....

Join the movement ... we’re adding purr to planet earth !
 Look! It's a great car magnet with the world's most loved cat -- Vincent Cat!!!!
"What Would Vincent Do?"
He'd "Purr More, Hiss Less".

Magnet is $5 each, plus shipping (65-cents for 1 magnet, $1.05 for 2 for U.S. addresses). For other shipping costs (international, or for more than 2 magnets) contact Melissa Felts dogslife24@comcast.net  with your zip code and how many you want.     Purchase your magnet TODAY right here http://rikkisrefuge.org/donate.php


Don't be the LAST person on your block
to have a PURR MORE HISS LESS magnet on your car!
Order YOURS today !!