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? 
..... 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
