Wednesday, January 24, 2018

January 22, 2018


January 22, 2018 - Opie's Diary of Daily Doings at Rikki's Refuge
                                                                                                               photo compliments of Doug Deal
6:09 am ... the sun is peeking thru ... work has already been underway for a couple hours for da hoomans.

                                                                                                            photo compliments of Doug Deal
6:49 am and enough light to do your chores by ....  headlamps can go away for the next 11 hours ....  animals begin to wake up

Opie has his 3rd morning snack.

                                                                                                               photo compliments of Doug Deal
Lucy and Madison are ready for some senior horse chow !!    It takes special food, and lots of it, to keep weight on these old folks !!  Both were in horrible shape when they arrived.  Now they're looking good.  But they need feedings several times a day to stay that way. 

Grab a bag and drop it off on Saturday from noon to 2 pm for Donation Drop Off !!!
You'll probably pass a Tractor Supply on the way ... if not, we have one right here in Orange!!
Our seniors eat 3 bags a week.

                                                                                                         photo compliments of Lolly Busey
Morning rounds brought a great big sad.  When it was time to call Joey and Jessie the inseparable goat brothers out for breakfast, only Jessie came.  Joey didn't move, he was right there in his spot, where he'd been leaning back to back with Jessie all night .... he'd left us in his sleep and gone to Rainbow Bridge.

He's been with us for more than 10 years .... and was 12 or 14 yeas old his owners had said when he and his brother Jessie came to Rikki's ..... these two were up to all kinds of antics all the time .... if you ever visited Rikki's .... you met them .... they were the goats pick pocketing, stealing strollers, running off with all kinds of things they'd steal from visitors !!!

We'll miss you a lot Joey, we're thankful you got to spend so much time with us after your owners had to move to assisted living and worried about what would happen to the goats they loved so.

So far Jessie is doing well, we're worried about him as the two were absolutely inseparable.

Thank you all for making it possible for loving gentle souls to have a place to call home and a way to find love when their owners can no longer be there for them.

We never know how long anyone will stay with us, we wish everyone had as long as Joey did.  But we're thankful for every day we can bring happiness to them. 

                                                                                       photo compliments of Catina Tomapat
Good Morning Piggy Paradise !!!
You can tell the temperature by how far apart the pigs sleep and how deep they are burrowed into the straw.  Under the straw .... it's COLD.  Piled up on one another .... it's COLD.  Spread out on top of the straw ..... it's warm !!!

                                                                                       photo compliments of Catina Tomapat
Hey !  YOU !  Yes YOU !!!   You the one with the nums?

                                                                                         photo compliments of Catina Tomapat
Seriously ?   YOU expect me to swim in THIS ?  Make it rain and fill up my pond !!! 
                                                                                                               photo compliments of Doug Deal 
I live my life on the edge .... wondering where my next meal will come from .....
 
                                                                                                           photo compliments of Katie Terrill
Beauty waits patiently for her bowl.   Can you guess how she got her name?
 

                                                                                                                photo compliments of Doug Deal
OK!  We filled 2 platters.  How many can YOU fill ?

  
                                                                                                            photo compliments of Katie Terrill
Uh Oh ....  Turkey stand off .... watch out  ....  there's gonna be a fight about who gets the cracked corn first .....  they push each other around so long it's all gone before they realize it !!!!  

But don't worry ... we'll give them more !

                                                                                                           photo compliments of Katie Terrill
Just hangin around ....  just hangin around ....

                                                                                            photo compliments of Katie Terrill
Unicorn say FEED ME FIRST .... OR ELSE ....

                                                                                            photo compliments of Doug Deal
When you realize this game of hide and seek is gonna take a while.....

                                                                                                     photo compliments of Catina Tomapat
Rikki's Refuge has several beautiful murals ..... some are getting a bit faded and peeling .... we need YOU to come out and touch them up !!! 

Got more artistic talent than that?  Come out and create some of your own !!!!   Let YOUR work live on forever beautifying Rikki's and delighting visitors !!!!

                                                                                                             photo compliments of Katie Terrill
Two new guys arrived today.  Both just cus they have FIV.  I so wish the myth of FIV being such an awful dreadful deadly disease would go away.  After twenty years of housing FIV kitties, we see no difference in them and the general population.  Once they get over their initial problems, which are usually what they were taken off the street for, they are just like all the other kitties.  Same kind of health issues, at the same kind of rate, same life span.  Gee many of  our twenty plus year olds are FIV positive. 

I pray for the day they won't be discriminated against, that they have good adoption rates and that shelters don't just want to kill them off for nothing but a blue dot on a test. 

                                                                                            photo compliments of Katie Terrill
Love, Opie 

thank you for making it all possible !