Good Morning Good News !!!! May 20, 2014

Another beautiful day in paradise !!!

Is it morning yet?

Tic Tac likes to snooze in the warm laundry, right out the dryer !!

Mandy Waiting For Her Morning Kiss

Feeling Like Little Bo Peep

......   that’s what Amy says about heading out to the fields in the morning to give Joseph Conrad, an older sheep, his arthritis meds.

Headed off to the Groomer

Kiki is on her way to get groomed this morning. That thick long hair gets lots of mats over the winter, especially on her tail and thighs, that just won't brush out. She won't let mom do the job, last time she tried, poor Kiki got such a horrible hair cut she hid under the office for weeks and was ashamed to show her face!

Nadine Rich at The Furternity, 112 Midpoint Dr, Mineral VA 23117, 804-457-4850 questions@thefurternityspa.com http://www.thefurternityspa.com will be making Kiki Beautiful today !!!

Please VOTE today and EVERYDAY!! 

Your vote today, will help to feed all the mom’s here at Rikki’s Refuge !!!!   Of course everyone is speutered and no reproduction is allowed at Rikki’s Refuge.  Many of our residents come to us already with child.  Sometimes it’s a surprise.  Sometimes their kids are born and they’ll have the privilege of living together as a family all their lives.  

The Shelter Challenge is a wonderful opportunity to help the animals with only a few clicks !!!!  Totally FREE and EASY and QUICK ....  turn your clicks into meds to prevent ticks !!!!

Please vote today and every day thru June 29 !!!   Just go to this link http://www.shelterchallenge.com/web/charityusa/nomineehome?userId=53331&nomineeId=17448

and enter Rikkis Refuge (no ‘ ... see ??)  in VA in the USA and that’s it !! Thank you

Poor Mr. Peacock

One of yesterday's ventures was catching a peacock with a hurt toe !!!!! It's an all hands on deck .... or should I say all feet running .... thing !!!! He's got to get meds once a day and his foot soaked several times a day ..... he doesn't think much of this !!!!

PLEAZ I need Fancy Feast Pate

For my friends in the hospital.  It’s easier to get them to eat when they are sick and easier to mix special meds and vitamins in.   

By the way, you don’t think I’m fat, do you?  Mom’s restricting my diet again to get me ready for summer ....  it’s not like I’m gonna wear a swim suit or nothin ......      I promise to give all Fancy Feast Pate to my pals and not to take a bite .......     Did I just say that?

Look who moved in !!!!

This lovely young gentleman just joined Piggy Paradise at Rikki’s Refuge on Friday..... and the ladies are happy !!!!!   Before he can meet his new friends face to face, he’ll have to be neutered.  He’d been a stray and was impounded.  He got the name Mr. Chops ....  but we think he needs a new name.  What do you think suits this cute little guy?

NUMS for YOU

you share with me, and I’ll share with you

try this wonderful vegan recipe today

Raffle tickets are on sale now!!!!

This is a 2009 Honda Rebel CX250, and has 3540 miles on it. Tickets are $5 each or 6 for $25. The drawing will be held at noon on July 4, 2014. Watch it in action! 

This motorcycle could be YOURS for $5 .... you heard me right ... that's the price of a raffle ticket ..... available at Re-Tail

Tickets can be purchased at Re-Tail, by phone if you call Re-Tail with credit/debit card information, or by mail sent to Re-Tail.  Raffle tickets cannot be sold they payments on paypal.  Sorry ....  We’re looking into other on-line options.

Winner will have to pick bike up at Re-Tail in Fredericksburg, Virginia, USA.

ADOPTED !!!!

Bubbles got her very own furever home this week !!!

Memorial Day Mow The Most Contest !!!

Will YOU come out on Memorial Day and Help Mow?  We’ve got 100 acres to mow, oddles of animal enclosures, miles of fence line to weed whack ......  BRING YOUR OWN MOWER, WEED WHACKER, BUSH HOG ......    sorry, electric ones won’t work out here !!  Gas or diesel !!   Bring your equipment and see who can mow the most !!!!      Please RSVP if you can make it !!!!   

It’s Black Snake Season !!!

They’re harmless unless you’re a mouse, but we don’t want anyone stepping on them and hurting them either !!!  No public events till every thing is mowed so we can see to step over the black snakes and not on them !!!   We need VOLUNTEER help mowing.   Not enough hours in the day for those of us who work here to keep up with the fast fast growing grass and all the fast fast running animals !!!!   So we have to put the animals first.  After all, they prefer the long grass !!!!    But us hoomans would like to see it nice and neatly trimmed!

Black Rat Snakes are good animals, keeping away other animals you might not want in your home, mice, rats, copperhead snakes and others.  Please don’t kill them.   If you must remove them from your yard, please bring them to Rikki’s Refuge for relocation.  We have lots of room for them here and we appreciate our snakes. 

May is mating season around here and the black snakes all come out to look for one another.  They can grow to 7 or 8 feet, and they don’t mature until they are 7 to 9 years old.  They lay eggs, about 6 to 24 eggs each depending on the size of the mom, and when the babies hatch, they are about 13 inches long.  Females lay eggs once a year if the weather is right, but if it’s cooler, only every two or three years.  Black Rat Snakes can live up to 30 years !!

Please don’t kill snakes in your yard.  They’re a very important part of our natural world.  If you’re worried, call a snake wildlife rehabber for information or help.  And if you feel you must remove one from your yard, please relocate to a safe place, like Rikki’s Refuge, and please don’t harm them.

Got Bush Hog?

Joe would love some help mowing Rikki’s open 100 acres.  Bring your tractor and bush hog out for some fun !!!!   Memorial Day Who Can Mow the most ??  Will YOU be the winner??

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

http://rikkisrefuge.org/donate.php

Without YOU none of us would be enjoying this lovely day!!

Your donations have saved the lives of every animal featured here today !!!!   AND your donations are giving them happiness today !!!   Please make a donation in honor of the animals you have loved to give everyone here a happy tomorrow !!!  www.RikkisRefuge.org/Donate 

Love,

    Opie and Timmy

Join us on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/RikkisRefuge\

Rikki’s Web Site:         www.rikkisrefuge.org

Help the Animals:        http://rikkisrefuge.org/donate.php

Good Morning Good News !!!! May 11, 2014

.... no matter how long your ears are, or how many legs you have ....  all of us at Rikki’s Refuge wish you a very Happy Mother’s Day ....  none of us would be here with out YOU moms !!!!

If you’d like to make a special donation in honor of your very own Mom, regardless of her species, I’ll include your note to her in the next issue of Good Morning Good News and if you give me her email I’ll send her a personal note too !!!!    www.RikkisRefuge.org/Donate  -- just put your request in the comments !!!

I want to wish a very Happy Merow’s Day to my Tummy Mummy, Nelly

with out her, I would be here !!!  Thank you mom !!!

And to my adoptive Mummy, Polly

who raised me with her partner Vincent to learn to be a Spokes Kitty, and who taught me to devote my life to helping others less fortunate than me.

And to my Maternal Grandmother, Lesley

who put up with Polly’s long absences from home when Vincent picked her up on his corporate jet to spend time with me and Timmy at Rikki’s Refuge.

And to my Paternal Grandmother, Kerry

with out her, there’d be no Rikki’s Refuge and none of us would have a home.

And to my Auntie Amy

who, even though she says she’s a dog lady, loves me lots and takes care of all of us at Rikki’s Refuge.

And to my Great Grandma, Louise,

who’s at the Rainbow Bridge looking after my dad, Vincent

who taught her daughter, Kerry, to love the animals and that she could grow up to do anything she wanted to and who encouraged her dreams of 100 cats and 100 acres ......  until it grew to 650 cats and 450 acres.

My Great Grandma loved all the animals too and was always surrounded by them.

And did you know, that without her, there never would have been a Rikki’s Refuge?  Rikki was her kitty.  And she donated the land to build Rikki’s Refuge in his honor to give back the love to many homeless animals, that Rikki had given to her.

     Rikki, born Jan. 13, 1981, was a new breed - a Balinese, a Siamese mutation, same body shape, grace & disposition, but with silky long hair. My daughter gave Rikki to me in April 1981. He was greeted by our 11 year old Siamese, who let Rikki know, “I’m top cat.” Rikki, who was always happy, was satisfied to be “bottom cat”.

     The only thing Rikki ever regretted was not having wings! He would climb the drapes, walk across the valence and look for something high to jump to, like the top of the china cabinet. He darted this way and that in perpetual motion. My husband said, “He darts around like a mongoose”. So Rikki was named after Rudyard Kipling’s Indian mongoose story, “Rikki Tikki Tavi”.

      Rikki was 4 years old when the Siamese cat died at the age of 15. Rikki was lost. Who could he follow around? Rikki needed a companion cat. My husband suggested a kitten - so “Rikki could be boss for once.” When the kitten cried for its mother, Rikki laid down and the kitten suckled Rikki’s paw while Rikki washed him. Although Rikki was a bachelor, the kitten could not have had a better mother. The kitten grew up to be “top cat”.

      Rikki would get up on my knick-knack shelves, and with a graceful paw movement would push a cat statue off, then lean over and watch it fall to the floor. This was great fun and Rikki would stop only temporarily when I said, “NO NO”. Rikki always hated water far more than the typical cat. One day while playing this game, I wet my fingers and tiptoed near enough to flip my fingers so a few drops of water hit him. He never played that game again!

      My children grown and gone, my husband’s business keeping him out of town, Rikki was my loving, loyal, joyful companion. With me almost always - he slept with me, sat on my lap if I read or sewed, rode on my shoulder out to get the mail. Rikki never did a mean thing to a person or another cat. He was all softness and love. All he ever wanted in life was to be hugged and loved.

     Rikki died in my arms in September, 1996 of kidney failure. He had become like a toddler in his illness - never letting me out of his sight. My grandson said, “Rikki was all love without a mean bone in his body.”

     I still grieve for him, crying as I write this. What could be a more fitting memorial for Rikki, always so full of kindness & love, than to give comfort & love to homeless and unwanted animals. So I donate this land for Rikki’s Refuge as a perpetual memorial to Rikki for the love and happiness he gave me for 15 years. And so others, less fortunate than Rikki, may know love in their lifetimes. I know Rikki would approve.

                                Rikki’s Refuge’s Benefactor, Louise A. Hilliard        (written in 1998)

To read more about the remarkable life of Louise Hilliard click here http://rikkisrefuge.org/Rikkis/louise_hilliard.pdf

Tell me about your Mom, what made her special?

If you’d like to make a special donation in honor of your very own Mom, regardless of her species, I’ll include your note about her unique specialness in the next issue of Good Morning Good News and if you give me her email I’ll send her a personal note too !!!!    www.RikkisRefuge.org/Donate  -- just put your request in the comments !!!

Please VOTE today and EVERYDAY!! 

Your vote today, will help to feed all the mom’s here at Rikki’s Refuge !!!!   Of course everyone is speutered and no reproduction is allowed at Rikki’s Refuge.  Many of our residents come to us already with child.  Sometimes it’s a surprise.  Sometimes their kids are born and they’ll have the privilege of living together as a family all their lives.  

The Shelter Challenge is a wonderful opportunity to help the animals with only a few clicks !!!!  Totally FREE and EASY and QUICK ....  turn your clicks into meds to prevent ticks !!!!

Please vote today and every day thru June 29 !!!   Just go to this link http://www.shelterchallenge.com/web/charityusa/nomineehome?userId=53331&nomineeId=17448

and enter Rikkis Refuge (no ‘ ... see ??)  in VA in the USA and that’s it !! Thank you

NUMS for YOU

you share with me, and I’ll share with you

try this wonderful vegan recipe today

MOTHER’S DAY SPECIAL

WOW Mother's Day special at Re-Tail .... check it out !!!! The best place to take mom on Mother's Day .... give her a gift certificate and watch her shop for fabulous deals .... what's she like? Jewelry? Hats? Antiques? Art work? We have it ALL and every last piece is at a fabulous price !!!

Sunday is Mother's Day at Re-Tail! The Orange County Emergency Vet Fund will be holding a yard sale and a bake sale at the store (and maybe dog adoptions!) starting at 10:00 a.m.! We'll open the store at 10:00, too, so that you can get your Re-Tail Therapy in on Mother's Day!!!!

New and wonderful things are coming into Re-Tail every day ..... if you don’t check in daily, you could miss the deal of a lifetime.  Last weekend two very expensive and very lovely litterbox hiding furniture pieces came in.  Lovely “look like cabinet” with litterboxes hidden inside.  The next day someone came in saying she’d been searching all the thrift shops for just these litterbox concelers that she could afford.  And YES, she sure could afford the low-low price at Re-Tail .

Look who came in yesterday !!!!  And he’s available today.  Your mom a Pooh lover ???

Raffle tickets are on sale now!!!!

This is a 2009 Honda Rebel CX250, and has 3540 miles on it. Tickets are $5 each or 6 for $25. The drawing will be held at noon on July 4, 2014. Watch it in action! 

Pop a Wheelie, Dude, Pop a Wheelie ..... this motorcycle could be YOURS for $5 .... you heard me right ... that's the price of a raffle ticket ..... available at Re-Tail

Do you have a cool Mom who’d like to ride a bike?  Buy her tickets for her special day !!!

Tickets can be purchased at Re-Tail, by phone if you call Re-Tail with credit/debit card information, or by mail sent to Re-Tail.  Raffle tickets cannot be sold they payments on paypal.  Sorry ....  We’re looking into other on-line options.

Winner will have to pick bike up at Re-Tail ......  sorry, we can’t ship !!!!!

Just like Moms !!!

Thank you

for your love and prayers, my Great Grandpa is home from the hospital and doing well !!!!   Paws crossed for a continued healing.

Hey Walker, I can't find your brofur Wally on facebook .... would you pass a message on to him for me? Hi ya Wally, hope things are going well in your new home! I want to thank you for mom's birthday present. That's her favorite tea you know. She'd just run out and was starting to get fussy in the morning !!! Thank you !!! She loves opening cans while she has that first cup of pomegranate white tea !!!! And being the nut case that she is, she loves nuts too !!!! Thank you !!! Love, Opie

Mother's Day Special $17.99 exclusively from Rikki's Refuge .... 
many color selections available ....

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

http://rikkisrefuge.org/donate.php

Without YOU none of us would be here to wish you a Happy Mother's Day !!

Make a special donation in honor of your very own Mom, or one you admire: www.RikkisRefuge.org/Donate  I’ll include your note about her in the next issue of Good Morning Good News and if you give me her email I’ll send her a personal note too !!!!  Or make a donation in honor of my Grandma so she’ll be happy and smiley and open another can of Fancy Feast for us !!  Be sure to put your request in the comments !!!

Love,

    Opie and Timmy

Join us on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/RikkisRefuge\

Rikki’s Web Site:         www.rikkisrefuge.org

Help the Animals:        http://rikkisrefuge.org/donate.php

Good Morning Good News !!!! May 4, 2014

Gruffy in the Morning Fog

Another lovely day in paradise ... thank you for keeping MY paradise called Rikki's Refuge alive and well so me and my friends can be alive and well ...

Beaver’s Homes Destroyed in Rains

We were finally able to get back into the woods yesterday for the first time since the flooding rains.  The floods took out all of the beaver dams, just washed them away.  Most of the lodges were washed out too.  A couple of the largest had a lot of damage, but weren’t totally destroyed. 

The good news is the beavers are already rebuilding.  You can see evidence of freshly cut wood and new sticks going up where the dams were.  It looks like they plan to rebuild all.  We’ll be taking them all the branches we’re cutting up from our clean up of the flooding mess to help them out.

Many years ago, after a devastating storm took out the single beaver dam on the property, they moved, and rebuilt in three different locations.  Those have since grown.  We love the beavers and respect their right to live in “our” streams.  Really, they were here first, who would we be to tell them to get lost and stop using nature as nature was intended to be used. 

We have one neighbor who borders us on the other side of a stream in a spot the beavers like to build.  He keeps destroying their dams and lodges.  They cut down some trees he planted and that started the war.  This is someone who moved out here from a big city to live in the wilderness and raise his kids around nature .....  and then hates the natives he has to share his land with .... go figure !!!!   

I’ve never understood that ....  if you don’t want to live with nature .... with the birds and the bees and the beavers .... if you want to see the pastoral views of a farm .... but don’t want to smell the cows ....  well ....  maybe you should stay in your big city condo and just visit the woods every once in a while !!!

THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS !!!

Thank you Bob Wallace and Joe Callahan who spent most of the day mowing !!  Good job !!  You’re making Rikki’s look nice !!   The mowing is strictly for the hoomans.  The dogs and cats and everybody else love hiding and playing in the long grass.  But it makes flea and tick management much more difficult, makes it hard to find our charges to check on their health, and lets predators sneak in easier.

Thank you Rico Pelausa for donating the dollars so I can use my coupons and that special deal at Dollar General and buy cheap cheap cheap laundry detergent and I can have a nice clean bed every day !!!!

Got apples ...

don’t come visiting with empty hands ......

if you want to survive a visit to Bovine Boulevard

Thank you Tracey Michonski (and her dad) for being our Docent at Donation Drop Off -- it’s every Saturday from 12-2 at the Education Center.  A dog house and a case of Friskies was donated to Rikki’s .....  and look at all that got donated for Re-Tail !!!!

Tracey has the first Saturday of every month .... if you’d like a day to Docent ... let me know  mail@RikkisRefuge.org

Next month, Tracey is bringing paint and supplies and will fix up the awful half bath at the Education Center !!!!   Yeahhhhh  .... the wall paper got mostly peeled off last year .....  and the walls look ICKY !!!!    Tracey picked this project and she can design it anyway she wants ......   Pictures coming up next month !!!

Thank you Nora Eldridge for hoomaning a table at Brittany Common’s pet event and sharing information about Rikki’s Refuge. 

Thank you Melissa Felts and Mary Walker for loading all the Re-Tail donations in your trucks and hauling to the shop !!!

Helen Hauser, who helps at Re-Tail

by pricing items, says,

“My pricing gun and I say, "Bring it on!"”

Sally Beavers-Kari who works at Re-Tail

and puts items on display on the sales floor,

keeps the store looking beautiful

and organized, she says,

“Yikes! We had a lot donated today....”

June 14th will be the big Grand Opening of Re-Tail

It was just too yucky to do it in January when we actaully opened.  Put the date on your calendar and come out to meet me (Opie) and Duke and take advantage of the great specials and door prizes we’ll have that day !!!

Soon .... Soon ..... the raffle for this beautiful motorcycle will be open ......   tickets will be $5 ... right ONLY $5 ....  and that means for $5 you could win this bike !!!!!    Secret special ....  you’ll get 6 tickets for $25 !!!!    I’ll let you know when the raffle is open!!

Two helmets, saddle bag ......   very nice and clean .....  soon as we have a test drive and can show you the video ... we’ll open the ticket sales !!!!

The TV interview we did at Re-Tail on Monday will air on comcast in mid June or July  .....  we’ll have a link to the show on line, so you’ll get to see it no matter where you are !!!  

Melanie and Paul hang Rikki’s Banner

at the Pet Fiesta in Reston Yesterday

Ken tells Walker’s story

Ken hands out flyers about Rikki’s Refuge

Thank you Cindy Wright, Melanie Hansford, Paul Erhard, Ken Lickliter and Walker for representing Rikki’s Refuge at the 2014 Pet Fiesta !!!!

Who will help me here?

You?   mail@RikkisRefuge.org

Happy First Anniversary

Wayne Morris and Vicki Morris got married at Rikki's Refuge last year on May 4th and we had a terrific party !!!! And I got to kiss the bride before Wayne did !!!!!

Happy 31^st !

Happy Anniversary to mom, Kerry Hilliard, and dad, Fred J. Friedman ..... yesterday was 31 years together .... wow .... you should have seen the look on mom's face when she said "that's more than 1/2 my life!" and dad said "it's IS 1/2 of mine" .... my my my .... how time flies .... may they have another 31 together !!!!

Please VOTE today and EVERYDAY!! 

My secret voting word today was liver .... num num ... hope that means somebody is on their way with liver Fancy Feast ... what's YOUR word of the day?

The Shelter Challenge is a wonderful opportunity to help the animals with only a few clicks !!!!  Totally FREE and EASY and QUICK ....  turn your clicks into meds to prevent ticks !!!!

Please vote today and every day thru June 29 !!!   Just go to this link http://www.shelterchallenge.com/web/charityusa/nomineehome?userId=53331&nomineeId=17448

and enter Rikkis Refuge (no ‘ ... see ??)  in VA in the USA and that’s it !! Thank you

Who’s got a keyboard and wants to try this with the cows?

Trash can kill

Please dispose of your gum in a responsible manner.   Everything you do, please think of it’s impact on someone else.  Thank you!

Everybody who had any extra time yesterday,

continued with the mucking winter clean up !!!!  

Each can is filled with only about two pitch fork fulls  .....  each can weighs about 80 pounds .....  they filled the trailer, over and over and over and hauled it to the compost pile ....   and still, they’ve barely made a dent in the much that needs to go.  It’s super heavy from all the rains ....  and it STINKS to high heavens .....   Gagggggg   

Doug and Phil mucking

Volunteers needed to HELP !!!!!   There are hours and hours of this work left to do!!!   Please sign up for a shift !!!   mail@RikkisRefuge.org

NUMS for YOU

you share with me, and I’ll share with you

try this wonderful vegan recipe today

WOW Check out what’s coming Tuesday !!!

If you can, please tune in Tuesday and donate $25 or more thru this program to help us win some of the prizes !!!!

Can you see Candy shedding?

Everybody is shedding and there is fur EVERYWHERE !!!!

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

http://rikkisrefuge.org/donate.php

Without YOU none of us would be enjoying this lovely Spring weather!!

Love,

    Opie

Join us on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/RikkisRefuge\

Rikki’s Web Site:         www.rikkisrefuge.org

Help the Animals:        http://rikkisrefuge.org/donate.php