Good Morning Good News !!!! May 13, 2011

I’m Vincent D. Cat and here to make you happy!  You are HEROES!  You work hard every day and you deserve to smile every day!  Those of you working to save us animals hear so very many very sad things.  And there’s lots of very glad things too and that’s what we talk about here!  All pawsitive all the time!  I want my friends to be happy and smile and know there’s a lot of good - including YOU - in this world!!  Be kind and pass it on!  Please send me your Good New and Fun Stuff to share, personal or global. Let’s keep it fun and interactive!!  After all, if we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane!  Vincent@RikkisRefuge.org

I MISSED YOU MY FRIENDS !!!!

Remember me???  Vincent??  Your favorite kitty???  I sure hope you remember me!!  I remember you!!  I been real worried that you might a forgotted me after this long.  I’ve missed you so very very much!!  Oh my it’s been just horrid.  I’ve been locked out the office.  These hoomans gotta get their thinking straight.  What could possibly be more important than a kitty talking to his best friends!!!!

I do love you so and I’ve really been missing you!!!!

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

to all you who rescue us and are our mommeys!!!  We love you.  Even if I’m late - I love you even more !!!  Thank you Mother Rescuers !!!!!   Mommey’s are GOOD!!!

TODAY IS BLACK CAT DAY!!!

Friday the 13^th!!  Yeahhh for Black Cats!!!  Black Cats are good.  They are very lucky too.  Did you know if you share your home with a black cat good luck and good things will come to you?  I hear that once upon a time bad people tried to convince everyone that black cats were bad luck just so they could keep all the black cats to themselves!  Isn’t that crazy?

Do you have a Black Cat?  Tell me a story about how YOUR black cat has been lucky.  Let’s share our stories.  If you send me enough maybe I can even make a little book!!!

If you don’t have a Black Cat - rush out to a shelter today and adopt one.  I promise, 2011 will be the bestest ever if you do!!  Just tell ‘em Vincent sent you!!!!

Oh Poof ... looks like it’s going to be a wet weekend.

RABBIT ROTUNDA II ROOFING WILL BE DELAYED

But it will take off with a vengeance next week!!!   David is planning on working on the roof starting noon on Friday the 20^th and working till dark!!!  Back again Saturday May 21^st at 8:30 am and going till 5:30 pm.  Again Sunday from 8:30 am till 5:30 pm!!!  And if YOU will come out and help - maybe, just maybe we’ll be done !!!!!  

There’s work here for everybody!  High work and low work.  If you like heights you can help on the tippy top of the roof.  Bring high step ladders.  Those kind that fold into 1/4ths are really good!!! 

If you’d rather work on the ground - lots for you to do too!!! 

If you’re an artist, here’s your chance to have a big mural for all to see!!!  Submit your designs to me - I get to pick and approve!!!!  Gotta be happy, bright and fun.

Please help David organize the days by CALLING him - he doesn’t get a chance to use email much so PHONE please.  David 202-445-7821 Monday thru Friday any time between 6 am and 6 pm.

PLEASE SIGN UP !!!!!

YOU ARE VOTING AREN’T YOU?

We can’t seem to catch up.  I guess it’s all my fault cuz I haven’t written to you much lately.  Please help me out and vote every day.  Ask your friends to vote.  When we win money it really helps us take care of the animals!!!  HELP - VOTE !!!!!

There’s lots of ways you can vote

as long as you remember to enter

Rikkis Refuge, Orange, VA, USA

click on any of these and take it from there !!!!

http://tinyurl.com/VoteRikkis

http://animalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/shelterchallenge.faces

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com

PLEASE VOTE EVERYDAY - I NEED YOUR VOTES TO GET AHEAD

DON’T LET VINCENT BE A LOOSER !!!

WINE FESTIVAL, MAY 21, FRONT ROYAL

Laurie lkarnay@yahoo.com needs YOUR help, Saturday, May 21 meet me at 8:00 am at the Front Royal Wine/Crafts Festival for set-up.  No more than 30 minutes of your time is needed if you don't want to stay.  Please help Laurie!!!

Come visit out booth too!!!!   Please sign up with Laurie, our Director of Festivals and Events to help out at these kind of fun events!!  Help hooman our booth and get free admission to events all over the state.  Laurie needs your help every where every weekend - pick one weekend a year and help out.  Laurie lkarnay@yahoo.com

The 25th Annual Virginia Wine and Craft Festival will be held
Saturday, May 21, 2011 in historic downtown Front Royal, Virginia.
The festival hours are 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

http://www.wineandcraftfestival.com/index/index.php

SQUAWKING IN THE BARNYARD

http://rikkisrefugeunderground.com/

I need your help.  I keep hearing about something going on in the barnyard.  A little birdie told me to check this web site.  But I can’t get on it.  Every time I try to log on it says - NO CATS ALLOWED .....  Can one of you hoomans check it out and report back to me???

THIS LOOKS LIKE A GOOD ONE

Sunday May 22, at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Fairfax, Virginia.   9 am - 5:15 pm

www.petfinder.com/adoptionoptions/    put on by Petfinder and Petco - sounds like a good one.  Can YOU go and represent Rikki’s?   

BARN HOMES NEEDED

All across the country shelters are in need of barn homes for kitties.  If you wouldn’t mind having a kitty, or two or a few, living in your barn AND if you have a safe environment for outdoor kitties, you can easily help us to save lives. 

Some barn kitties are feral and will not want contact with you, they’ll be happy to live in your barn or outbuilding and in exchange for a home, they’ll provide rodent control. 

Others are a bit friendly, they’d like a nice pat every now and then, but they much prefer their own kind.  They, too, will work for a home.

Yet others are very friendly but just hate being inside.  They probably were never indoor kitties and for some reason just don’t want to learn about being indoors.  They’ll usually work for a living too!!!  And they’re lovely lawn ornaments!!  They bring joy and good luck to your home.

If you can provide an outdoor home or barn home to anybody please let me know.  Vincent@RikkisRefuge.org 

I’m working in three areas right now where I really desperately need help.  Near Richmond, Waynesboro and Orange, Virginia, USA.  The caregivers of these kitties are all willing to travel to find a good outdoor home.  And best of all your new kitty comes all FIXED UP, yes that’s right, speutered and up to date on shots.  The caregivers will help you with acclimation and fill you in on the relatively minimal care you need to provide. 

Please, can you take just one?  Anywhere in the world!  If it’s not an area I’m working with someone in, I’ll connect you to a care giver in your area!!  Thanks so much.  It’s so easy to save just one more life!!!  Vincent@RikkisRefuge.org

Vincepurrational Visions

When you go in search of honey you must expect to be stung by bees

Tails of Trivia

Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.

If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee

Hippo milk is pink.

Anteaters prefer termites to ants.

To burn off one plain M&M candy, you need to walk the full length of a football field.

There is more real lemon juice in Lemon Pledge furniture polish than in Country Time Lemonade.

The average chocolate bar has 8 insects' legs in it.

The 7-Eleven Extreme Gulp is 50% bigger than the volume of the human stomach!

7-11 sells 10,000 pots of coffee an hour, every hour, every day.

Each year 96 billion pounds of food is wasted in the U.S.  -- Gee now that’s about sinful isn’t it??   You can help lesson that impact.  Ask your local grocery store or farmers market if they’ll donate left over produce, bread and so on to Rikki’s Refuge.  If you’ll make the commitment to help deliver it to the animals, you can save the waste and help the animals!!!

Days I Missed

April 27 was National Hairball Awareness Day

April 30 was Hairstylists Appreciation Day - Thank you Theresa!!!!

May 5, 1961 First American astronaut in space, Alan Shepard Jr

May 9, 1914 Mother's Day first proclaimed

Upcoming Events

SATURDAYS            DONATION DROP OFF,  noon - 2 pm,  got something to drop off quick?  The gates will be unlocked.  No tour at this time, just drop off.  Donation Drop Off will be available every Saturday from noon - 2 pm in 2011

SUNDAYS            TOUR THE REFUGE - NOON, take a walk around and see the animal neighborhoods.  Every week on Sunday you can join a tour where you can walk around from animal neighborhood to neighborhood, from Piggy Paradise to Horsey Haven and see the animals.   One tour only, starts at noon.  Please be prompt.

SATURDAYS ON OR BEFORE THE FULL MOON            FULL MOON WALK, Bon Fire, vegan bbq, pot luck

5/14 (cancelled in case of rain), 6/11 (Special Vegan Night)

2^nd SATURDAY OF THE MONTH     SINGLES DAY - 10 am - 4 pm

Something for everybody. Come and do a day of service at the refuge and meet like minded souls. The leader who puts together the biggest work party wins.     5/14 (probably cancelled for the rain)

It’s Friday and it’s Free Food Friday num num num

send an email to Giveaway@freekibble.com with the subject "Shelter Giveaway" on Fridays to enter PetCo’s drawing for a $50 PetCo Gift Card every weekend.  A winner will be chosen at random every Saturday.  It may as well be YOU!  http://www.freekibblekat.com/giveaway.asp

Because I Love YOU

Hope to see you this weekend!!!

Love,

Vincent

PS You tell me what you want!  Email me at Vincent@RikkisRefuge.org with instructions to change your subscription: additions, deletions or modifications!  Subscriptions:    Vincent’s VIPs - up to the second alerts about issues at Rikki’s Refuge for those who care and want to be intimately involved.  Scheduled as needed.  Good Morning Good News - a little something to get you going in the mornings, for those of you who want to keep smiling with us!  Scheduled daily.  Hairballs - so you know what’s coming up at Rikki’s!  Scheduled weekly.

Rikki's Refuge, supported solely by private donations, houses over 1200 animals of 22 species. On line at http://bit.ly/Give-a-gift-to-Rikkis Checks, money orders, cash, items at Rikki's Refuge, PO Box 1357, Orange VA 22960

Rikki's Refuge is owned and operated by Life Unlimited of Virginia, Inc., an IRS 501(c)(3) not-for-profit Virginia Corporation, tax-id 54-1911042. Combined Federal Campaigns #77674, Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign #3163, PetsMart Charities #1377.  A financial statement is available upon written request from the State Office of Consumer Affairs.

Learn more www.RikkisRefuge.org and help spread the good word, tell everyone you know about Rikki’s Refuge

Good Morning Good News !!!! April 29, 2011

I’m India D. Cow and here to make you happy!  You are HEROES!  You work hard every day and you deserve to smile every day!  Those of you working to save us animals hear so very many very sad things.  And there’s lots of very glad things too and that’s what we talk about here!  All pawsitive all the time!  I want my friends to be happy and smile and know there’s a lot of good - including YOU - in this world!!  Be kind and pass it on!  Please send me your Good New and Fun Stuff to share, personal or global. Let’s keep it fun and interactive!!  After all, if we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane!  mail@RikkisRefuge.org

Hi there, India here.  That obnoxious Vincent

and his trusting little cohort Duke have been locked out of the office. 

WE are sick to death of hearing about cats and dogs.  Yahhh yahhh cats do this, dogs do that.  Everybody wants to help the cats and the dogs and NOBODY, but NOBODY seems to pay attention to us Farm Animals. 

YOU know Rikki’s supports TWENTY TWO species of animals.  But did YOU know that CATS and DOGS are only TWO of those species?  Yeah, just two, so MOOOO to that.   20/22nds of us are Farm Animals.  And WE should rule.  We DEMAND more say at Rikki’s Refuge.

You want to know why?  Well here’s just a few reasons.

We represent more species.

We are bigger.

 

Well most of us.

 

We are beautifuler.

We aren’t picky about our food.

We don’t have an attitude.

We stick together.

We don’t humiliate one another.

We respect you hoomans.

We listen and look out for one another.

We wait patiently for our 9^th Life Center  rights.

We’d never mock you.

We’re lining up for our due rights!

If you don’t see this my way

If you are a spy for Vincent

If you love cats and dogs more

STOP

READ NO FURTHER

This is ONLY for

FRIENDS OF THE FARM ANIMALS

Hey, you?  Are you still supposed to be reading this?  I’m serious, if you’re not on board with us, if you don’t agree there’s just too much sensationalism about cats and dogs, if you don’t think we deserve equal time, turn off your computer RIGHT NOW.

Hello!!  To those of you still with me, THANK YOU.  And I’d like to invite you to join us in Rikki’s Refuge Underground!! 

http://rikkisrefugeunderground.com/

Now you have to PROMISE not to leak a word to Vincent, or even to poor trusting Duke who will be instantly coerced into telling that sneaky Vincent. 

This is going to be OUR secret, ok?

WINNING THE SHELTER CHALLENGE FOR

RIKKI’S REFUGE

IS A WIN FOR FARM ANIMALS !!!!

Please vote every day thru Sunday June 19th

http://tinyurl.com/VoteRikkis

   Rikkis Refuge, Orange, VA, USA

The Animal Rescue Site - Shelter Challenge

quick, simple, free

Your daily vote can win $1,000 - $5,000 for Rikki’s Refuge’s Animals!

Help us beat out the single species and the dual species rescues!!

We rescue 22 different species!!

 There’s lots of ways you can vote

as long as you remember to enter

Rikkis Refuge, Orange, VA, USA

click on any of these and take it from there !!!!

http://tinyurl.com/VoteRikkis

http://animalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/shelterchallenge.faces

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com

Farmspirational Visions

Yesterday is like a dung heap,

you can complain about the smell,

or you can use it to fertilize tomorrow's garden.

And that’s just one more thing we are far more efficient at than the cats and dogs!  We make bigger and better dung heaps!  I don’t see any of you seeking out cat or dog poo to put in your gardens, now do I?  Want some good fertilizing dung?  Just ask, we farm animals are ready right now to supply you with all you need for your garden!  Today and always!

Let’s stop complaining about the cats and dogs of Rikki’s Refuge - let’s overthrow!!!!   Cows to rule the planet!!!!   Shut up Petunia, I’m still bigger than YOU!

Tails of Trivia

Sheep can recognize other sheep from pictures!

There are more chickens in the world than people.

A Holstein's spots are like fingerprints -- no two cows have the same pattern of spots.

Goat's eyes have rectangular pupils.

A 1,200-pound horse eats about seven times it's own weight each year.

The tongue of a pig has six thousand more taste buds than a human's.

There are more cows in the United States than Hoomans. New Zealand has more sheep than hoomans.

Boanthropy is a rare mental disorder that causes a person to think he is an ox. One of the first recorded cases is in the book of Daniel (4:33), which tells about Nebuchadnezzar, a Babylonian king who would eat grass.

Scientists believe that the closest living relative to the Tyrannosaurs Rex is the chicken.

Equinophobia is the fear of horses; alektorophobia is the fear of chickens; and taurophobia is the fear of bulls. There is no official term for the fear of cows or pigs.

On this Day

April 29^th is National Arbor Day, a day we farm animals really love.  Resting under the shade of a tree is one of our favorite activities.  I sure wish the goats could refrain from eating the trees you hoomans try to plant for us!

I’d like to remind you that April is Appreciate Diversity Month, NOT appreciate Cats and Dogs month.  And that April is also Soy Foods Month, something we farm animals think is a really good idea.  The cats and dogs don’t give a hoot, be we farm animals want you hoomans to be healthy and eat soy, not us!

And last but not least I think it only right that I inform you that April 30 is Love Your Lawn Day.  Yes folks, it is.  And that’s official.  It’s NOT love your cat day.  It’s NOT love you dog day.  And it’s certainly NOT Vincent’s Birthday. 

Do not trust a word you hear from that rascally varmint 

April 30^th is Love Your Lawn Day

give Vincent some fertilizer for his so called birthday!!!

DO NOT

USE THIS LAST CHANCE

TO VOTE FOR

VINCENT or DUKE

IN APRIL’S CATS vs DOGS

INSTEAD .... WRITE IN INDIA THE COW !!!!

No matter how much Vincent cajoles or Duke begs

absolutely do not click on their photos to vote for them

Vincent is in the lead and afraid he’s going to lose out, lots of last minute votes have been coming in for Duke.  Vincent could be a real looser this year!!!  I’m hoping you’re going to let this happen!  Please DO NOT click on Vincent to help him win. 

Click on ME and write in FARM ANIMALS RULE !!!!

Let’s see some serious changes at Rikki’s Refuge.

Love,

India and the Herd

PS You tell me what you want!  Email me at Mail@RikkisRefuge.org with instructions to change your subscription: additions, deletions or modifications!  Subscriptions:    India’s VIPs - up to the second alerts about issues at Rikki’s Refuge for those who care and want to be intimately involved.  Scheduled as needed.  Good Morning Good News - a little something to get you going in the mornings, for those of you who want to keep smiling with us!  Scheduled daily.  Hairballs - so you know what’s coming up at Rikki’s!  Scheduled weekly.

Rikki's Refuge, supported solely by private donations, houses over 1200 animals of 22 species. On line at http://bit.ly/Give-a-gift-to-Rikkis Checks, money orders, cash, items at Rikki's Refuge, PO Box 1357, Orange VA 22960

Rikki's Refuge is owned and operated by Life Unlimited of Virginia, Inc., an IRS 501(c)(3) not-for-profit Virginia Corporation, tax-id 54-1911042. Combined Federal Campaigns #77674, Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign #3163, PetsMart Charities #1377.  A financial statement is available upon written request from the State Office of Consumer Affairs.

Learn more www.RikkisRefuge.org and help spread the good word, tell everyone you know about Rikki’s Refuge

Good Morning Good News !!!! April 28, 2011

I’m Vincent D. Cat and here to make you happy!  You are HEROES!  You work hard every day and you deserve to smile every day!  Those of you working to save us animals hear so very many very sad things.  And there’s lots of very glad things too and that’s what we talk about here!  All pawsitive all the time!  I want my friends to be happy and smile and know there’s a lot of good - including YOU - in this world!!  Be kind and pass it on!  Please send me your Good New and Fun Stuff to share, personal or global. Let’s keep it fun and interactive!!  After all, if we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane!  Vincent@RikkisRefuge.org

Only TWO days to my Birthday !!!!!

I’m getting so excited. 

Cats are in the lead ... YES !!!! 

All I want for my Birthday is to be voted in the Ruler of the Refuge!!

Who will you vote in as the Ruler of the Refug?

ME           

Click on my picture if you want the promise of Fancy Feast always on MY plate!!!!

or DUKE

Click Duke’s picture if you want loyalty, love and to be slobbered on

Well maybe there just ONE other thing I want for my birthday.

Would that be ok?

Just one more thing!

One more vote?

Please?

FREE, just your vote, just a couple minutes

Please vote in the shelter challenge

I’ve got a new short link you can use from tiny.url

click your favorite link and then enter

Rikkis Refuge in the USA in VA in Orange !

http://tinyurl.com/VoteRikkis

http://bit.ly/VoteVincent

http://animalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/shelterchallenge.faces

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com

Oh!!  And just ONE more thing

for my Birthday!

Come visit me this weekend and bring me a can of Fancy Feast!!!!

Round the Refuge

You all be here Saturday and Sunday this weekend.  Lots of good things to do.  The framing is all done on Rabbit Rotunda II so now it’s just the net roofing and if YOU come help it could all get done!!!  Please Please come and help!!

Also Saturday and maybe Sunday too, Animal Artists!!  Come and help me finger paint.  Help Nanny Hoof paint!!  Lots of fun.

Saturday is my birthday and I’m 13 years old!!!  A real teenager!!!  I’m so happy!!! You think I’ve been trouble up till now?  Well you just wait to see what’s coming up next!!!

You don’t go believing nothing Jan’s been telling people either.  I heard her tell people it’s mom’s birthday.  Well Jan has it all wrong.  Mom’s too old to have birthdays.  She’s like almost 400 years old in cat years and that’s just too much.  So it’s ME, your dear lovable very hungry, Vincent D. Cat who’s having the birthday this weekend. 

And you know what I want!!!  I want to win Cats vs Dogs and I want to be #1 in Virginia in the Shelter Challenge and I want YOU to visit me and I want Fancy Feast!!!!  

If you have a lawn mower or a weed whacker that works please bring them out and help with the mowing this year.  We have one push mower that is sort of working.  It keeps cutting off and has to cool down to get it going again.  And we have NO week whacker.  It got busted cuz somebody put gasoline with no oil in it.  Booooo.

Well I gotta go, it’s really nice out and I’m gonna go lay in the sun.  I really hope you come visit this weekend!!  See you later.

April 30, 2011                SATURDAY            VOLUNTEER TRAIN SELF SERVICE 8 am - 1 pm, Learn to earn your Self Service Volunteer Badge.  

April 30, 2011                SATURDAY     CAT DAY CHANGING OF SEASON - Clean out the winter bedding and prepare for the warm weather.

April 30, 2011                SATURDAY            NATIONAL ARBOR DAY TREE PLANTING - Donate or dig up and transplant a tree to provide future shade for the animals. We have plenty of small trees at the wood line that would love to be relocated. Bring just yourself and work gloves, we have the shovels.

DISCLAIMER - in order to plant trees anywhere around here you MUST fence them in with goat proof fencing!!!!! 

April 30, 2011                SATURDAY     BE AN ANIMAL ARTIST ASSISTANT - doing painting with the animals.  We have paints and canvases and picture mats and Christmas ornaments ready to go!  Oh, and lots of paper towels!  It's going to be messy, but fun. Wear your painting clothes and painting shoes, and let's paint with the animals!  The chickens, the pigs, the goats, the dogs, the cats, the sheep, and India the cow! Let's find out how artistic they are!  From 11:00 until we are done.  We need 2 or 3 people to help with each animal that paints. We will also need a photographer to capture it all!  Photos of the animal painting will help with making "certificates of authenticity" to go along with each painting.  We hope to have the paintings on display for sale at various locations, and will also sell them online.  Please RSVP to me, so that I will have an idea of how many supplies to bring.  Melissa Felts dogslife24@comcast.net   PS: painting with the animals will be postponed in the event of rain on April 30th.

YARD SALE - the yard sale scheduled for the end of May as well as all collectiond ates for it has been cancelled.  If you have a location you can run a Yard Sale for us - please let us know!!

Vincepurrational Visions

What we think, we become.

All that we are arises with our thoughts.

With our thoughts, we make the world.

I think I’m going to be the well fed,

Ruler of the Refuge and

Number One in Virginia for my birthday!!!

YOU can make my dreams possible!!!

On this Day

Opps I missed getting this to you yesterday.  Did you know that April 27, is National Hairball Awareness Day.  I bet if you have a kitty you know all about hairballs.  And if you’re missing out on this excitement - adopt somebody today!!

Music and Motion

Something’s going on around here.  I keep hearing disturbances at Bovine Boulevard.  Last night there was strange noises in the chicken house and when mom went to check it out all the vegetarian animals were in there whispering.  I’m getting worried.  Something’s up out there ......

Because I Love YOU

Hoping you’re coming to visit on my

Birthday - Saturday, April 30^th

Love,

Vincent

PS You tell me what you want!  Email me at Vincent@RikkisRefuge.org with instructions to change your subscription: additions, deletions or modifications!  Subscriptions:    Vincent’s VIPs - up to the second alerts about issues at Rikki’s Refuge for those who care and want to be intimately involved.  Scheduled as needed.  Good Morning Good News - a little something to get you going in the mornings, for those of you who want to keep smiling with us!  Scheduled daily.  Hairballs - so you know what’s coming up at Rikki’s!  Scheduled weekly.

Rikki's Refuge, supported solely by private donations, houses over 1200 animals of 22 species. On line at http://bit.ly/Give-a-gift-to-Rikkis Checks, money orders, cash, items at Rikki's Refuge, PO Box 1357, Orange VA 22960

Rikki's Refuge is owned and operated by Life Unlimited of Virginia, Inc., an IRS 501(c)(3) not-for-profit Virginia Corporation, tax-id 54-1911042. Combined Federal Campaigns #77674, Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign #3163, PetsMart Charities #1377.  A financial statement is available upon written request from the State Office of Consumer Affairs.

Learn more www.RikkisRefuge.org and help spread the good word, tell everyone you know about Rikki’s Refuge

Good Morning Good News !!!! April 24, 2011

I’m Vincent D. Cat and here to make you happy!  You are HEROES!  You work hard every day and you deserve to smile every day!  Those of you working to save us animals hear so very many very sad things.  And there’s lots of very glad things too and that’s what we talk about here!  All pawsitive all the time!  I want my friends to be happy and smile and know there’s a lot of good - including YOU - in this world!!  Be kind and pass it on!  Please send me your Good New and Fun Stuff to share, personal or global. Let’s keep it fun and interactive!!  After all, if we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane!  Vincent@RikkisRefuge.org

Great Big Red Alert!!!!

Holy Cow, Duke just made giant strides in the Cats vs Dogs contest!!!  Jan challenged ... double your donations for dogs up to $1,500 ....  and I - yes ME lovable KITTY Vincent got more votes.  BUT today Cindy steped up and matched Jan’s donation!!  Yikes, so that’s 3,000 points on the dog side!!! 

HELP - we cats and cat people gotta stick together - don’t let the dogs win!!!  VOTE for ME ME ME

Click your favorite candidate to vote in Cats vs Dogs !!!

All we want for Easter

is YOUR VOTE

vote every day thru Sunday June 19th

http://bit.ly/VoteVincent   Rikkis Refuge, Orange, VA, USA

The Animal Rescue Site - Shelter Challenge

quick, simple, free

Your daily vote can win $1,000 - $5,000 for Rikki’s Refuge’s Animals!

There’s lots of ways you can vote

as long as you remember to enter

Rikkis Refuge, Orange, VA, USA

click on any of these and take it from there !!!!

http://bit.ly/VoteVincent

http://animalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/shelterchallenge.faces

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com

Round the Refuge

Yippeee Good News on Rabbit Rutunda II --- GREAT NEWS -- the roof framing is all up !!!  Now just the roof netting needs to go on.  If enough of you will come out to work next Saturday and Sunday on this YOU can finish the project!!!    Yeahhhh David!!!

The Easter day tour is headed from Horsey Haven to Feline Fields right now!!  I got to go out and do lots of loving before the tour started.  Sniff sniff I love rolling in the fresh grass of spring but it makes me sneeze!!  But it’s worth some sneezing to see the world turning green again.  I just love to watch the hillsides go from born to green in just a couple weeks!!!  It’s so beautiful!!!  Thank you Jan and Laurie for coming out on Easter to give the tour!

Yippee Good News!!  Valerie is adopting Mystique!!!  She takes care of her here and understands her special needs and care so she can provide all Mystique needs at home!!

Mystique was our first Animal Artist - pawtographing Easter Eggs.  A few are still avaialble on ebay.  Click Mystique if you missed out on getting one!

Me and others will be learning to do artwork next weekend.  If you’d like to help us out.  Wash fingerpaints off my pqws and such, please contact  Melissa dogslife24@comcast.net  she’d love some more help!

Melissa was real busy this weekend.  She spent yesterday at Booth Feed’s Staffort location at their liquidation auction.  Biding on cat and dog and horse and pig food and lots of other things!!  She was bidding on thing and somebody next to her kept bidding on them.  After a bit she turned to them and said -- Hey you, let me win something, I’m bidding for a rescue.  Ad the other bidder said, well so am I.  And Melissa said I’m bidding for Rikki’s.  And the other bidder said, so and I.  And so they didn’t bid against each other any more !!!!!

They had the 40’ trailer of a tractor trailer - and it went for only $125.  Not that’s a lot of good storage space.  We never have enough storage psace around here.  But the big problem was - how on earth could be get it to Rikki’s?  Melissa had called mom and mom had called everybody she could think of - and nobody was there to haul it.  And worst of all it was in a place where trees had grown around it and since it moved there a fence had been put up, so it was going to be really hard to get out of there. 

Melissa spent all day today, Easter Sunday, back at the auction block.  Today it was Booth Feed’s Fredericksburg store.  And today there were two much nicer trailers.  Melissa and Ed made phone calls and they found a towing company who’d bring one to us for $250-$350 depennding on various conditions.  Hmmmm  If they sold for only a couple hundred bucks this could now be worth while.  We were all excited.

And a little bit later Melissa called and sounded disappointed.  She’d been outbid by a guy who got both of them.  Oh well.  We can’t have all the deals!

And then later on Melissa called again and she was all excited.  She’d said to the man, aw I wanted one of those for an animal sanctuary.  And he said really?  So she told him about me and about Rikki’s and he said, so Vincent’s birthday is coming up?  And you really need a whole 40’ trailer to store his Fancy Feast?  Well tell you what, I’ll let you have this one for the $350 I paid for it and I’ll even tdo better!  If you let me meet Vincent, I’ll tow it to Rikki’s for FREE!!!!  YEAHHHHHH.  So now we have a nice dry 320 sqft of storage space for things like cat litter and food and all kinds of great stuff.  Aren’t you happy?

GOOD JOB MELISSA !!!!!

And her truck is filled with even more goodies she’ll be bringing out tomorrow.

Thank you Ed for leading the truck driver to Rikki’s.

By now you’ve probably figured out that it’s taken me all day to write this, and the tour’s been long over.  You know a cat’s gotta catch a nap here and there and it was a great day for napping in the shade.  Ahhh feels so good, nice and warm and a lovely breeze....  Ahhhhh

Robin came out and washed dishes and groomed KiKi and helped to rake out some of that big thick undercoat.  Thanks for working all day on Easter Robin!! 

And Jessica came and helped for a bit too, and brought nums for the hoomans to celebrate Easter!

Valerie’s sister brought Yetti back to visit.  He was adopted at the end of last summer.  He was just a little bit at the time.  Now he’s a great big boy with long orange fur and lots of toes on each foot.  That’s why he was called Yetti!!

Andy came out to meet some kitties that would like to live in his home.  He took videos of some of them.  Twisty aka Birdie and Gibson look like the top candidates.  Who’s going to win a real forever home?  And how many?  One or two or .....  His wife Patty will come out to meet them soon and I’m sure somebody will stand out as the purrfect one to take home!

They adopted Starr from Rikki’s many years ago.  She was a very shy doggie.  So scared and she’d hide in her doggy house shaking when anybody would look at her.  A little black and white gal.  Well they came looking for a companion for their doggy and their doggy picked out Starr.  So they gave her a chance and took her home on a trial. And it worked out wonderfully.  Now Starr is a happy doggy and very friendly to Andy and Patty.  Yeahhh Starr.  And she and her doggysib will be getting a kitty or two soon!!!  Yippee !!!!

Vincepurrational Visions

Most people would succeed in small things

if they were not troubled with great ambitions

One little step at a time.  Be a little hero today.  Lots of little hero acts, make you a great big hero!!!   YOU can change the world, one step at a time.  One animal at a time.  One dollar at a time.  One hour at a time.  Cut it up into small pieces so it’s not so overwhelming - and do one extra special good thing every day.  Do this every day for 21 days - on day 22 you’ll so be looking forward to being a hero - you’ll never stop!

On this Day

April 24, 1981 First personal Computer introduced by IBM - gee I wonder how kitties played around on Facebook before that?

April 24, 2011 Begins National Scoop the Poop Week - so come on out to visit !!!!  Every Week is Scoop the Poop week at Rikki’s Refuge.  We have over 300 pounds of poop to clean up EVERYDAY !!!!

Creature Feature

Miles hanging out hooman watching

Vista! Got Pill Poopper? I'm out of here!

Betty formerly known as Bitey

SureFoote aka Meanie, one of the psychos

Dear Uncle Sam

Dear Uncle Sam,

I received your nastygram of April 17, denying knowing of my existance.  This is preposterous.  EVERYONE knows who VIncent D. Cat is.  Everyone except apparently YOU. 

I am due a tax refund and I am due it NOW.  This is not fair.  All the hoomans are talking about getting one and I deserve a bigger one.  So there! 

I desperately need to cast MY vote for CATS in the April Cats vs Dogs event at Rikki’s Refuge.  Please send my a check immediately, Vincent D. Cat, PO Box 1357, Orange VA 22960 or deposit my refund into my account for CATS

http://rikkisrefuge.org/donate.php?purpose=Vote%20Vincent%20as%20Ruler%20of%20the%20Refuge

Sincerely,

Vincent D. Cat

PS hey hoomans out there - if YOU have received a tax refund, would you consider sharing with me?  Please.  I really want to beat the dogs in the Cats vs Dogs contest.  Have you really thought about this?  Do you want to be reading what blind Duke will be writing to you for the next year if you don’t elect ME?  Just think about that - then cast a vote for ME if you want to see Good Morning Good News coming your way for the next year!!

Love,

Vincent

PS You tell me what you want!  Email me at Vincent@RikkisRefuge.org with instructions to change your subscription: additions, deletions or modifications!  Subscriptions:    Vincent’s VIPs - up to the second alerts about issues at Rikki’s Refuge for those who care and want to be intimately involved.  Scheduled as needed.  Good Morning Good News - a little something to get you going in the mornings, for those of you who want to keep smiling with us!  Scheduled daily.  Hairballs - so you know what’s coming up at Rikki’s!  Scheduled weekly.

Rikki's Refuge, supported solely by private donations, houses over 1200 animals of 22 species. On line at http://bit.ly/Give-a-gift-to-Rikkis Checks, money orders, cash, items at Rikki's Refuge, PO Box 1357, Orange VA 22960

Rikki's Refuge is owned and operated by Life Unlimited of Virginia, Inc., an IRS 501(c)(3) not-for-profit Virginia Corporation, tax-id 54-1911042. Combined Federal Campaigns #77674, Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign #3163, PetsMart Charities #1377.  A financial statement is available upon written request from the State Office of Consumer Affairs.

Learn more www.RikkisRefuge.org and help spread the good word, tell everyone you know about Rikki’s Refuge