Wednesday, March 21, 2018

February 17, 2018


February 17, 2018 -  Opie's Diary of Daily Doings at Rikki's Refuge
                                                                                           photo compliments of Doug Deal
CATURDAY !!!!    But it was freezing with clear skies early early ....  but before morning check up rounds were done it had become a dark and dreary day and COLD day ....  barely getting over freezing all day ....   with a heavy cloud cover making it feel even colder.  Fur or not ...  everybody was sayin brrrrrrr......

                                                                                           photo compliments of Doug Deal

                                                                                           photo compliments of Doug Deal

Titan helps to scrub out one of 100 gallon water troughs
                                                                                            photo compliments of Clarence Deal

Sara Starbuck says .....  work ....  seriously ?
                                                                                            photo compliments of Clarence Deal
Don't stoop to it Titan.  Work is for hoomans !

Excuse me, Hooman
                                                                                            photo compliments of Lauren Todd
Yes, YOU .... are we looking at anyone else ?
We have a problem ........
                                                                                            photo compliments of Clarence Deal
Do YOU know what this is? 
Do you see what's wrong with this picture?
This is the scoop to collect our poop and haul it away. 
This scoop is broken.
It's mandatory that if we opt to poo in the grass, one of your kind must pick it up and haul it away ..... every day.
No excuses ..... broken scoop or not.

When it takes our hoomans longer to sanitize for us ..... it means less pay and fun time for us. 
This is not an acceptable situation.

We last got new scoops in March of 2015 ....  almost 3 years ago.  they must have a 35 month warranty ..... cus they are all breaking this winter !!!!

We need new scoops.  We use a lot of these.  We try to keep one in each area that needs scooping everyday.  That's so we don't do something evil called "cross contamination" ....  and that's really important.  If a cleaning tool is used in a different animal area, it must be sterilized for our protection first.  Just imagine if a kitty in Cat House 7 ate a mouse that ran by and that mouse had worms ....  and the poop picked up had worm eggs in it and then that scoop went to clean up Cat House 9 and .....    you get the picture, right?

Of course we all get wormed every month just for the reason of us eating mice and bugs and anything smaller than us who chooses to come into our Cat Houses .....   but no need to add to the problem with dirty cleaning tools, right?

So can you guess how many scoops the hoomans need to use around here every day?

Well let's do the math.  Do you need a calculator for that hooman?  Well grab one and count along with me.

We have 10 for Cat Houses that each need a new scoop.
And 4 Day Runs off the 9th Life.
And then there's the 8 Quarantine yards.
And of course .... it's not just us cats that need cleaning everyday.  Those dawgs have smelly poo we need out a here too!!!   Did you know the hoomans have to haul about 600 pounds of poo away every day?

Hey!  Want a job?  We're always short of nice kind hoomans who want to clean up after us.  I'm serious.  If you want a job that is amazingly rewarding and wonderful ....  just let us know.

So them dogs mess up 12 areas a day.
And the pigs and emus poop in 6 different areas.
7 scoops are needed for the cows and goats and sheep
3 just for the geese and other birds who run all over the place ....  you got any idea how much poo comes out a goose every day?  A LOT!!!  That's how much.
And another 3 for the aviaries 

Did you add that up?  Well I got 53 scoops that the hoomans are using now .....  broken or not .... duct taped together with sticks to make handles .....   falling apart.

Our world famous spokes cat did the research back in 2014 and we tried different kinds of scoops, different sizes, different materials, different manufacturers.  We found that the ones just like this red one, called JobSmart Jumbo Yard Pan, is the best, easiest to use, lasts the longest, just the right size.  One of these, along with a hoe makes a great pooper scooper if you've got a big job to do. 

The hoes are fine for now and we just need the scoops. 

Opie just checked this morning and these are still the best priced scoops around.  And the place with the best price is our trusty Tractor Supply !!!!    We can order on line ....  but they make us pay tax ...  if we go in the store, we're tax exempt so that means we save almost $1 per scoop.  And that adds up !!!!

SO ....  hooman ... I need YOUR help ....  nobody takes us seriously when we go shopping ....  and if we try to make out of the store with all the scoopers we need we'll be weighed down too much to run fast and we'll likely get arrested and aminal control will come and get us and lock us up for being bad kitties ......    Soooo .....   will you help us out ??

We only need 53 of you to each buy ONE scooper for us for $17.99 ....  you can do it right here www.RikkisRefuge.org/donate  add a note that it's for pooper scoopers

......   Tell 'em the Three Mousekateers Sent ya !!!  

If you'd rather pick one up at your - or our - local Tractor Supply the SKU #104434599 and this is what one looks like before you use it for three years and break it all up !! https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/jobsmart-jumbo-yard-pan-1044345


Uncle Paul was Docent today.  That means he waited at the Life Center from noon till 2 pm for YOU to come out to visit and bring donations.  Every Caturday it's Donation Drop Off from noon till 2 pm and the gate is open at the Life Center.

But YOU didn't come ....  nobody came to ring me no Fancy Feast and no donations for nobody else here .......  wez sadzzzz.

When poor Uncle Paul gave up on waiting for YOU ......  he heard a noisy commotion coming from the kitchen....   hoping it was YOU trying to get in the back door with your arms FULL of donations of cat food ......   this is what I found ......
                                                                                            photo compliments of Paul Erhard

Russian Blue ... by photographer and artist Kathy Russell
                                                                                            artwork compliments of Kathy Russell
she be a really good photographer and artist .....   don't YOU think?   And she be MY friend !!!!

Do YOU like beautiful fun colorful puzzles?  Well here you go !!


Who can do it the fastest??  Tell me YOUR time?

Well I agree !
                                                                                            photo compliments of Clarence Deal
Kathy surely picked the most beautiful color kitty there is !!!!

In the middle of the afternoon the sun poked thru a little bit and we all got excited ...
                                                                                          photo compliments of Doug Deal

And then we all had to take cover .....
                                                                                           photo compliments of Doug Deal
The wind picked up and the rain came.....  even dropping some freezing ick on us !!!!
                                                                                           photo compliments of Doug Deal
This muddy mess around the well house is cus of the well problems we've had this winter.  Four service calls for things all my hoomans together couldn't figure out without expert advice ....   more work needed on the well and lines and valves and all this year than ever ever ever before.  Paws crossed it's all working just right now and will be fine for years and years.

This mess was mostly caused by the big huge ditch they had to dig up to get to the lines between the well (that's the hole in the ground with the pump down in it) and the well house (that's were the pressure tank and switches and valves are).  Also when they've had to pull the pump it they have to get a great big truck right over it .... and when it's wet ... it sinks and causes awful mud ....  ugghhhh....

It didn't take long for the refuge to look deserted ......  
                                                                                           photo compliments of Doug Deal
Nobody was staying out in this freezing drizzle ......   except the hoomans ....  who have to keep working no matter what .....   I'm really glad I'm a cat and I can take cover ....
                                                                                           photo compliments of Doug Deal
But not like this kitty.  This isn't very smart.  And this is why we don't let many hoomans drive on the refuge land.  Hoomans have to be trained to never never move a vehicle without pounding on the hood to make sure nobody is up there hiding ... if they left windows down to search the vehicle for stowaways .....  to search the back of pick ups ....to bend over and look at all the tires for somebody hiding like this .....  and to get on hands and knees ... no matter the weather ...  to check underneath for anybody. 

With everybody hiding from the freezing ick .....  Rikki's looks like a ghost town
                                                                                           photo compliments of Doug Deal

Only a few geese stayed out .......
                                                                                           photo compliments of Doug Deal

Finally the last one out decided to run for cover too ........
                                                                                           photo compliments of Doug Deal

Luckily it didn't go below 32 so nothing icy stayed long but just turned wet and cold.

Do you think maybe, just maybe, we can have some sun tomorrow?

Well ... come on Opie ....  let's get everybody's dinner started ....  nobody's gonna be catchin their own bugs for dinner .......

Love, Opie 
                                                                                            artwork compliments of Wayne Morris
Thank YOU for making it all possible !

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