January 8, 2018 - Opie's Diary of Daily Doings at Rikki's Refuge
Good Moooooning ..... the day started with beautiful sunshine ..... and every one out sunning
.... the morning started off
warmer than it has been for days .... windy and not above freezing .... but
headed but on the way.... let it sun let it sun let it sun ..... we were all
crossing paws that the percip later today would stay water and not be frozen
slush !
Uh Oh ... somebody
thought that nice new fresh straw looked awfully inviting ..... he booted out a doggy and took over !!! We use about a pick up truck of fresh straw
every day in the really cold weather.
One more way we spend the money you kindly send us. Warm, dry, soft, comfy bedding !!
We have very talented kitties at Rikki's .... Ice Skating in
livestock water bowls is a new sport this winter !!
Herman and Wally decide to go ice skating !! No, this is NOT a poised picture. Yes, Herman jumped in on his own. He loves that bowl ... even though it's
really too big for his kind ... every morning he hangs out by that bowl till
it's filled ... lots of other choices around ... but only this one will do !!!!
This morning he stuck a paw in and tested it out. Then
jumped up inside !!! When he jumped in
there was a little slipping and sliding ... back and forth in and out a few
times to try it out .... then he finally waited till it was dumped and refilled
to drink !!!
Every square inch of Rikki's Refuge must be sanitized every
day no matter what.
And it's a lot of floors that get mopped and scrubbed till
they are shiny clean !!
With slightly warmer weather .... only 34, but feeling like
a heat wave ... and not having to dump ice and refill bowls all day long ....
we had a little time to work on cat roof replacement. For years they've been mesh. For years Rikki's Refuge's 450 acres has
been surrounded on most sides by even more woods. People sell their trees for lumber ... well for money ... but
they turn the trees into lumber. When
they clean cut hundreds of acres, it displaces thousands of animals. And where can they go? Their home is destroyed.
They come to Rikki's Refuge and live in our safe woods. That increases all kinds of wildlife. Including many who are looking for a
meal. Some will climb up to rip open
the mesh roofs hoping for a free buffet or birds ... or cat food.
We replaced the bird roofing immediately the first time this
occured to save everybody. But there's
a LOT of cat roofing. Nobody out there
wants to eat the cats. But they want to
come in and eat their food, and probably sleep in their warm beds. That's not a good idea for a lot of
reasons.
So with your help we bought the metal mesh roofing to re-do
all the cat house roofs ... that's like over an acre of roofing !!!! And it's taking a long time to do the
job. We can only work on chores like
this after all the animals are cared for for the day and before evening rounds
of dinner and check ups and care.
In the afternoon the freezing rain started
and Buttercup decided she did NOT want her feet to get wet
!!! the trees overhead protect her from
the freezing rain too. Most of the
animals prefer tree cover to house cover.
Except the cats who head for their houses when freezing rain
starts.
Looking out from the
protection of a cat house and wondering why that silly duck doesn't go
inside!! But they don't, not till
dark. It just doesn't matter what the precipitation is .... the ducks want to be in it !!!
HELP ... we need volunteers to help bag used cat litter ....
amazon is now selling it used .... we've been praying for a miracle way to sell
the dang stuff instead of paying to take it to the dump !!!! Come on out with
appropriately sized bags and fill 'em up !!!!
And that crazy evil weather hooman's forecast of dropping to
32 and then going up to 36 after dark really happened !!! So it's just rain and
nothing freezing ... may it stay that way all night or as long as the rain, or
any form of ick falling from the sky, persists. Won't it be wonderful for the
hoomans at Rikki's to NOT have to be out all night busting up ice and giving
everybody fresh water !!!!
Love, Opie
