Good Morning Good News, August 3, 2012

How ya doin?  Just popping my head in to check on you !!!!

Oh today is an exciting day !!!!!   It's Friday.  And it's August.  Welcome to August on Planet Earth !!!!  What a great place to be!!!  Can't think of any place I'd rather be !!! 

And tomorrow is ....   nope ... not Caturday ... well it is .. but it's Opieday !!!!  It be my birthday !!!!   I be ONE year old !!!  My number ONE birthday !!!!  I be so excited !!!!  

And today be excited day too !!!!  It be poucon day at Dollar General.  Yeahh today!!  Friday.  they always do it Saturday before.  This week they be trying Friday, is that cool or what ????  

Now you can be getting poucon too and here's how you get your very own ....  go here

and over on the right a big down you'll see $5 Poucon, click and you can rint your own pucon !!!  I hope it be working on your printer, I can't get it on mine, booo. 

But I got something even better!!!  I gots a GreatGrandPa who likes the candy.  I smelled it and it's kind of icky but he think it smell like catnip.  And GreatGrandPa, he like a his catnip.  So he goes to the Dollar General store and he looks and he looks and thinks about one kind and then about another ....  and then he pick one to buy.  But he eats it all up !!!!   So he goes back and gets another one. 

This week he gotted FIVE hooman catnip snacks !!!  Yeahhh lots of nummy eating for him.  But better than nummy eating he gotted $5 off poucons for Opie too !!!!  And he gived them all to me !!!  I say, GreatGrandPa, you no wanna buy 25 candies and get 5 FREE?  And he say no Opie, what you think I am, you think I am pig, I am no pig, I can no eat 25 candies!!!!   So he gived me the poucons!!! 

That's $25 I can save for Rikki's!!!!   Is that good????   Buts you know how it is, they say you gots to have money to make money so I gots to have $125 so I can save $25.  This week - cuz so many of you be so good to all us aminals at Rikki's - wez doing pretty good on most da cleaning supplies. 

What I need the mostest of right now, right this day, be paper towels.  Now some people they ask, why you no use rags and wash them and reuse them.  Well I can tell you why.  It's cuz of what's called sanitation.  Yup, that's what it's cuz of.  If da hoomans cleaned up the goo and da ick with da rags, they have to be washing it and it be sitting round in a pile till it can go in da wash and it can be containment.  Containment is bad you know.  It means germs.  Germs is bad itty bitty bugs, they be so small you can't even see them.  Even smaller than the bad fleas.  And the contaminant germs  they be wanting to get inside of you.  Is that gross or what?  But that's what they do and then they make you sick. 

Yeah just thinking about contaminant bugs inside of me make be wanna gack.  And if a hooman cleaned up something gross and then didn’t wanna have another rag to wash they might ... just might ... be lazy ... I know most my hoomans no do this .. but somebody might ... and they might use it again and them one of those contaminant bugs just might get loose and oh ick I can no think about this or my breakfast gonna end up being something that needs paper towels to clean up.  But that’s why we think da paper towels is better for us to use.  Clean up and the icky gunk go in trash and go away.  So that be good. 

And do you know how many paper towels I can buy for everybody with $125?  

 

I tell you.   Hang on .... I be back.   

Hey you all, come here, Iz need borrow you ningers and toes .....    

Ok Timmy

 




... 5 ...10 ...14 .... 18 ... thanks buddy! 

Ok Socrates ... 

23 and .... 28 and .... 32 .... Thanks!!! 

Snickers?  You gonna let me count your toes?  You promise no bites? 

Ok !!  37 ...... 42 ..... 46 ..... 50 ....   And I not be done yet !!!    Thank you Snickers!  And thank you no bites.  Maybe you not be so bad cat afterall?  I can come to loft?  Ahhhhh  ok ok I sorry, you no say Hiisssssss to me!!!!     

Hi Baby Elliot, you no gotta wake up, just let me search thru all this fur and

.....  55 ..... 60 ..... 64 ..... 68 ....  Oh look!  I can counted mine too ..... 73 .... 78 ....   



 

Oh Velcro come help me 

....  83 ...... 88 .....92 ....96 .....  This be good, we getting there, but we no even half way yet !!!!  It be lots of paper towels. 

Utah!  Hi, I can see toes please? 

101 .... 106 ... 110 ... 114 .... .   

Hello Vista, I ask mom for more nums if you let me count toes?  Ok! Thank you! 

119 ..... 124 .... oh these numbers is getting hard .... 128 ... 132 ....  MOM hungry!!!  Help feed Vista, I promised!!  

Oh Hi Gideon !!  You smelled the nums coming didn’t you?  I can count toes first?  Ok, I can count toes while you eat? 

Good thing I’m not counting ears or eyes, I wouldn’t get very far with you !!!!    137 ...... 142 ..... 146 ..... 150 ....   WOW 150 and I think I still have a long long way to go ..... 

KiKi, you wanna help? 

155 .... gosh so much fur, these toes be hard to find .... 160 ..... 164 .... 168 ... I can count dew claw too?  169 .... 170 ....  Oh, good, thank you.   

Beauty!  Beauty, you come.  Oh oh I sorry, I know I just little kitten and you is big doggy, I just asking for help.  

NO I not be ordering you around.  I know dogs drool.  Oh no no I didn’t say that, I SAID rule ...  you just didn’t hear me right ...  no need to snap little head off silly little kitty. 

I can count toes?  Yes I need to get $125 to buy the paper towels.  I know, I know da nice hooman like to help me buy things for the refuge.  I know, I sorry Beauty.  I know they didn’t no wannt help you pay for your leg surgery.  I don’t why?  Maybe youz not so loving and polite in asking?  Ahhhh no growl in my face please ... I been trying to helps you out. 

I sorry you gonna have to go to work when you can all run fine again and pay your own surgery.  No I don’t really think doc come and repossess your leg .... I hope not Beauty.  I be sorry.  Ok never mind, I no need your toes no how.  You go way now and leave poor kitty alone, I iz not snack. 

Ok, I ask for help for you, but bullying little kitten is no good advertisement for you! 

Here be Beauty story about her surgery she need to pay for, if you be wanta helping doggy who says she gonna eat kitty.   http://rikkisrefuge.chipin.com/beautys-knee-surgery   

Hi Jack, youz be nice doggy ... you can let me count toes please? 

Now where was I ?  Oh no, I no have to start over do I ....   170 ... here goes .... 175 .... 180 .... 184 .... 188 .  Thank you Jack ....  

Oh Hi William!!  You wanna help?  Well that be nice but I not sure I can figure out your toes .... 

Is that one or two on each foot?  Hmmmm well 189 ..... 190 .... 191 ..... 192 .. Thank you Moo to you too. 

Oh you want me to invite peoples to your baby shower?  Oh here it is then !!!!   

Click on the photo to go to the shower and learn about William and his four new brothers ... see the pictures as they grow and watch the videos as they learn to run and play !!!!!!

William was the first to come. The first to escape the veal market. Just a few days old and barely alive. When he felt better all he wanted was a friend. Well he got FOUR !!!!   Now Rikki's is raising five baby bull calves who'll have the chance to grow up and lead a life of fun playing in the fields and the forest. No meat packing plant for them!!!!! Baby cow formula is costing $69 every 2 1/2 days and will only go up for the next couple months. Please help out with your shower gift!!!

http://shelvesforrikkis.chipin.com/baby-shower-for-the-5-baby-calves

We'll be building a new cow barn just as soon as we can -- help out and buy a board or window!!

http://amzn.com/w/X6B793NFV89R

Oh I be sorry William, I see not many pressies for you.  Well you ARE cute, but you’re NOT a cat you know !!!!!   And look you made front page Rikki’s too!!!

So who else be around here? 

Mr. Mister oh thank you ..... 

digging thru thick fur .... 193 .... 194 ... 195 .... 196 .... 197   .... I think I’m getting close!!!!   Next hand please .... 198 ... 199 and 200 !!! 

Yup 200 big rolls of paper towels .... 

and all that if I can just fine the $125 green things .....  

You like to help me? 

You can come shopping with me today too ?  If you can give me one green thing to help me with the shopping I be very happy .....   http://rikkisrefuge.org/donate.php 

If you can just drop one green thing or some pennies or what ever you can spare and not go hungry today I preciate it.  Soon as I collect my 125 greens I go buy 200 paper towels  -- oh that not just 200 paper towels ... that be 200 ROLLS of paper towels ... I no want you think I be stupid kitty and I get ripped of or nothing. 

And while I’m waiting on collecting for paper towels, I tell you something else.  You know tomorrow be my Number ONE Birthday !!!!   Yes it be.  I be big grown up kitty now.  I’ll be allowed to get my license and drive all by myself. 

You know Toyota is gonna equip my new Highlander with hand controls so I can drive all by self !!!!!   Is that so cool or what!!! AND guess what?  They are giving me a towing package for free!!!!  So we can get a trailer - I hope I hope I hope - and it be making it easier to haul big big big aminals around and to go pick up great big huge supplies of nums !!!!  Oh this be so exciting, no?  And Toyota say my Highlander be coming in about six weeks!!! 

We’ll be having a party in Fredericksburg when my new Toyota comes -- I hope you can come with me !!  Can you???  

So tomorrow be my Number ONE Birthday.  GrandMom asked me what I wanted most in all the world and I said to see all my friends get fed.  So she ordered one great big huge tuck load of food.  And she be getting it for only $8.42 a case!!!  Is that a bargoone or what ????   Big bargoone!!  If you like to chip in and get a case for use it only be $8.42 and you even allowed to gets more than one if you like !!!!  You can join my birthday picture when you get me a case of nums !!!!    

http://rikkisrefuge.chipin.com/opie-is-turning-1-lets-party

Thank you .....   So what’s else I gots to tell you for today?  I not gets nuf time to talk to you lately.  I bez way busy doing da tax thing. Ick.  But I almost done .  I worked all night lots of nights and now I only gotz like 6 more forms to fill out the data and make sure it all balances and several essay answers about why Rikki’s should be allowed to exist another year !!!!   I be so glad when this be done and I promise Grandma we’z gonna do out accounting work every month instead of taking time to feed everybody .... WHAT wait a minute!!!  I no agree to THAT!!!!  

You voted today?  Did you?  Remember to vote every day.  It be really important.  Help me win $1,000 - it’s easy and FREE and just take you a minute or two every day to help me.  You go here

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/shelterchallenge.faces?siteId=3

and you putz Rikkis Refuge in VA in USA as your FAVORITE shelter and then youz do the voting thing !!!!!   Thank you !!!!!      

What you be doing on August 17^th?  Did you know that’s Black Cat Appreciation Day and August is Black Cat Appreciation Month? 

Do you know what we try to do during Black Cat Appreciation Month? 

We try to dispel bad and silly superstitions about black cats. 

Do you know why? 

Cuz lots of black cats die in shelters without even getting a chance.  they are the least likely to be adopted and so the least likely to even make it to the adoption room at many shelters. 

Why? 

Superstition.  That’s all. 

Under their coat theyz exactly like the rest of us!!  Purry and nice.  So adopt a black cat today and find out for yourself!!!  AND join us for Black Cat Appreciation Month please.  Join the event http://www.facebook.com/events/131387290335571/ the more members we have -- FREE to join - the more media support. 

Last year we got support around the world with over 35,000 members.  It was picked up by radio, TV and shelters everywhere.  The number of lives saved was countless.  Shelters the world over worked to dispel the notion that black cats are bad and helped them find homes in record numbers.  Please join and help us again this year.   

Oh oh oh oh and more news .....   Auction coming up ... yes it is ....  If plans go as plans got made ... on line auction opens on Aug 11^th.  All goodies need to be in by Monday Aug 6^th so Melissa can get them ready to go on line.  Questions: dogslife24@comcast.net 

Wonderful things like a handmade bird house

by Rene will be available for you !!!!  

HELP -- I no got smart phone. Please help me. Send me smart phone OR check this out and tell me what happens !!!!!

 
Did you see the pretty quilt?

It have 20 world famous original autographs on it too !!!!   It was just about the last thing Elizabeth Taylor signed before she went to Rainbow Bridge and so I think it might be very very valuable. 

You can look here http://blog.rikkisrefuge.org/ to see all the autographs and see more of this beautiful quilt.  Tickets are ONLY $1 that’s ONE green thing and you could get to take this lovely quilt warm!!  Check it out now !!!!

SAVE SAVE SAVE and help me buy just the supplies we need at Rikki’s Refuge !!!!   These are the best priced cleaning products and it’s easy to shop on line and you save save save

Here’s the Wish List of Keeping Rikki’s Clean - there’s enough items here to keep us clean for a year !!!!!   At least of the items you can get on line at Dollar General.  Check out these prices !!!!

http://amzn.com/w/22CDKBNL897GN

But they don’t got no paper towels on line.  Such a shame.  Maybe they be too big cus what I need would full up

the tuck !!!!!

So I just gotta snitch the truck keys from GrandMa and be going to Dollar General all by myself to be buying the paper towels !!!!!

Ok, I think I have go now.  Gotta count them green things so I can go to the poucon store now .....  Thank you ....  help me count to $125 http://rikkisrefuge.org/donate.php   .... cuz

I LOVE you !!!! 

        Opie

             the almost big boy ONE whole year old kitty

Good Morning Good News - Happy Indy-Pounce-ing Day !!!!

This is Calvin the Cow and Indy the Cat !!!! Today is Play and Pounce with Indy Day !!!!!!

I hope you're having a GREAT 4th of July. We're all ok here at the refuge - we still have no power and no phone lines - and cuz there are power lines down and debris about we have to be closed for your safety!!! I'm so sorry the 4th of July Tour had to be cancelled. Maybe we can schedule something else this summer. Currently the next scheduled event is Labor Day Tour at noon on Sept 3rd. Wez really hope to have power restored by then !!!! Love you and I'm missing you today !!!! Opie

Gotta go, Indy is calling, wez gonna run and play and pounce before it gets real hot today!!!!

Hi everybody!!!

Sun is shining outside today.

Someday soon the power company promises that the sun will shine inside too !!!!

Yikes, you'd think you saved money not having electricity wouldn't you? But NO WAY !!! It be dog gone expensive !!!! It's cost just a bit over $1,000 that we've had to spend in gasoline for the generator, emergency parts (had to pay more Saturday from the only place we could find open) to hook the well pump to the generator, emergency water before the generator was running, laundramat coins - yikes you seen what a load costs these days? Maybe we get 6 more machines and run laundry for YOU !!!

Mom was behind on the bills anyway this summer and now this !!! Oh yikes - BUT the good news is NOBODY got hurt. Some of my trees did and we're very sad about that. But now they can be at Rainbow Bridge with dad!!  But all the cats and dogs and cows and all are FINE. A bit melted, but fine.

Yesterday we got lots of extension cords and more fans and that's helping in the whole 9th Life Center --- gee I'm told by guys who's older than me that till just a few years ago there was no cooling machines at all at Rikki's !!!! Now the whole 9th Life Center has one. Well not now, but we used to and we will again when the electricity comes back. And here's something I'm a bit worried about ....... we have an electric bill due to the power company on July 5th for $543.31 ---- mom's really hoping they'll turn the power on even it it's not paid .... there don't be no more green stuff for them ... it had to go to water and gas for the generator and those kind of emergency things .....

So Vincent is here to help us raise that $543.31 so we can get it paid before the 5th ....... we really appreciate our power now and don't want to ever ever complain about the cost of it again --- who'd a knowed -- but it's a whole lot cheaper to use it off the wires than to make it in the generator and we really LOVE our lectricity !!!!! DO you love lectricity? Clap your paws with me !!!!!

Love, Opie

(ps if you'd like to buy us a coffee cup full of electricity this morning this is where you can do it!!! And to those of you who've been helping with the expenses this crazy weekend - thank you and I love you - so many of you have been so kind. http://rikkisrefuge.org/donate.php)

Yesterday evening we thought we were gonna be lucky!!!   We saw the electric company trucks!!!   They came yesterday, must have followed the signs saying "Job Site" up to the new trailers, instead of following the electrical wires up to the transformer and down wires.  Looked at the trailers, said I see no down lines (cuz I see no lines) so no problem and left.  Tried chasing them out the dirveway but by the time you run after them a bit yelling, and then turn around and run back to the parking lot, get a vehicle, chase the cats off the top, and out from underneath and realize you've left the door open and have to chase them out of the car and then out from under the car again ....  the electric company beat us out to 20 and were gone.   Paws crossed they come back again ......

More love to YOU !!!!   Opie

PS to Coco Christian Maow thanks you for paying his bill. Don't know why they couldn't find his name when you called at the doc to help him. His name officially Chairman Mao but mom's always called him Maow and that's how she put his name in when he got his surgery. He's doing great and is gonna put his pic up soon as we get more good internet service!!! Thank you lots !!!

Good Morning Good News, July 2, 2012

Welcome to July !!!

Wow I learned a new word "derecho" -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_2012_Mid-Atlantic_and_Midwest_derecho

that's what happened Friday night!!! Scary and messy but gosh we were so lucky!!! It's a nuisance and made lots of work and has cost lots of money --- thank you thank you thank you all of you who are foregoing a cup of coffee, a bag of groceries, or something to help us out, I love you muchly, you know I've been having troubles with other bills and just not quite the green stuff to trade for them and now this, poo on Derecho!!! ----

http://rikkisrefuge.org/donate.php

But I be so thankful we all be ok. Such bad and terrible things could have happened but they really be little when you look at what happened in other places. Our trees landed on the ground, small limbs and leaves all over, but no serious damage, and I can drive around and see smushed houses and sumushed cars, and I hear even some people and pets got smushed --- so I thankful it really be so little here.

You know, we could have lost the new office trailers. They'd just finished setting them on the foundation piers. Just Friday morning they'd come back and installed the tie downs. The guy said it's so darn hot to be working the guys like this but this is great weather for a bad thunderstorm and you'd sure hate to see one go over. Thank goodness. Can you imagine after all it's taken to finally get them ...... and they be gone before we ever get inside !!!! Of course this will delay the electricity getting hooked up - which is the next phase -- but you know something? That be ok, that be just fine!!!

And you know what else I be thankful for? I thankful for all of you who been helping us. You who's been contributing $s where you can, those who brought out bottled water for us and gatoraide for the hoomans before we got the well pump converted to work on the generator, those who came to help clear debris. And you know what else? I'm so terribly terribly thankful for my staff who came to help us. They had to clear debris from their own homes, stop and clear things off the roads, take detours, and they came to take care of us. And in that hot hot humid weather, they made sure we all had water, even the cows way way way down in the field, where they had to clear more trees and branches to get to their water tub. A great big thanks to Valerie, Wayne, Doug, Philip, Heather, Shannon and Sean who all made it in on Saturday - bright and early to help us and to make sure we were safe.

Wayne spent several hours with the afternoon sun beating on his back working, hanging over the side of the pump house reaching down in, to rewire the pump so it could run off the generator.

WOW ...... I gotz me wonderful hoomans who help me !!!! And I LOVE YOU each and every one of you !!!!! You're what makes it possible to have the Republic of Rikki's where the animals are allowed to live!!! Those of us that nobody else wants and so many think shouldn't even be allowed to live cuz we're missing a part. My feet, Duke's eyes. We thank you - cuz we love our life just as much as you love yours !!!! I don't even miss my feet!! Never had 'em, don't need 'em, me and Timmy can still play and lick each other and purr and be very happy!!!!

OH OH OH OH Really cute story. At the electric store when grandma and me went to get the supplies to hook up the well pump to the generator, there was a young man, maybe 10 or 12, kind of hard to tell on hoomans how old they be, it's always such big numbers, and he looked at mom's shirt and said, "You work at Rikki's?" and she said, "Yes, have you ever come to visit?" and he said, "Yeah, and you know who's my favorite of all? Leaper!! I love Leaper!! Do you know his story? He got a bad tattoo and it damaged his leg, but he's a real cool cat!"

You can watch Leaper leap and make you smile !!

YES YES YES

--- well is running FINE now --- got it running on the generator. So we're fine on water. Have enough gatoraide for the staff for a bit !!! Thank you all very much. If you're coming out we need gas. BUT before coming out be sure YOU have enough gas to travel and to get home. We've got people coming and getting stuck cuz it's getting hard to buy gas. Places have no electricity, can't pump. And of the two that have had electricity in town, one ran out of gas yesterday.

I'm hearing from people coming down from the northern virginia area that they can't find gas anywhere along the way. I don't wanna be a mean kitty cat, but with it getting harder to get and me needing to run that generator, I can't give anymore away - not at any price !!!! I sorry !!!! If you do have a full tank and can get in with more and can find a can to even put it in - I'm hearing that's all sold out - we can still use gas. About 20 gallons a day for the generator it looks like.

LAUNDRY is a disaster --- thankfully we don't need much for warmth right now -- the laundry mat by tractor supply in orange, same shopping center as pizza hut and near Co-Op is open 24/7 --- if you can come and take laundry --- please help --- if you don't have a truck or something bring BIG plastic bags to put it in. It's like way icky. Some of us poo our beds. That's why we live here, cuz Rikki's loves us anyway. Quilts, dog and cat beds, cage pads, towels -- lots of icky things needing washing. This is gonna be one more of those extra expenses, it gets real expensive to do laundry at the mat !!!!

Thanks for your donations everybody - you're keeping us going and giving us hope that some day the lightbulbs will shine again !!!!

http://rikkisrefuge.org/donate.php

Oh and just a little bit of sad news .....  The tour on July 4th is cancelled.  Wez got catching up to do from the storm and cleaning up and it still be very hot.  The aminals get stressed when it gets hot and they need to be clam and just lay around in the shade.  Only da hoomans can be out working hard !!!!  And dats cuz a you got them the gatorade!!!!

It be very bad too if the visitors pass out from the heat !!!!  When da ambulance comes to take them away it makes lots of noise and scares the aminals !!!!  So maybe tour next time!!!  Boo, I gonna miss seeing my friends ....  ok well I go lay in shade now. 

I hope you and yours did fine during the storm.

I love you,

Opie

Good Morning Good News !!!! June 14, 2012

We are Vincent D. Cat and adopted sons Opie and Timmy and we are 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! We want our 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 us 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’z a little behind again !!!!   You can keep more up to the minute with us on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/vincent.cat We’ve got the max number of friends so you’ll need to subscribe, but that will give you all the second by second news of what’s going on at Rikki’s !!!!

Everybody be remembering to vote today !!!! Just click here http://tinyurl.com/VoteRikkis and Enter USA, VA, Rikkis Refuge and then enter the the code it shows!!! No registration, no apps, no nothing - quick and simple!!!

IMPORTANT NEWS from Melissa Felts: paws crossed! Wish me luck at the bake sale and raffle ticket sale (Autograph Quilt http://rikkisrefuge.blogspot.com/2012/06/raffle-spectacular-autograph-quilt.html) today! It's at Dixie's Hair Salon on Lafayette Blvd. at Princess Anne St. It's right across from the train station. I'll be there from 10:00 until 2:00! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dixies-Hair-Studio/123476841015137

Ok here be the notes from my Diary this week !!!!   Now you can know all about what’s happening!!!

Sunday June 10, 2012

Timmy wants to thank everybody for making his First Birthday on June 10^th, Sunday just spectacular !!!!  He had a wonderful party, lots of presents from his friends and then GreatGrandPa took us shopping to trade Timmy’s birthday green stuff for nummy stuff !!! 

Oh my goodness !!!! We shopped till we dropped !!!!! Me and Opie be so tired GreatGrandPa had to carry us out the store !!!! You should see all the goodies we gotted!!!!! I be so excited !!!! And we stopped for ice cream too !!!! Num num num. The not so nice lady behind the counter said SIR we don't allow ANIMALS in here it's against Health Department Rules. GreatGrandPa said EXCUSE ME .... these are MY Great Grand Kids you trying to discriminate? Now serve me up one chocolate, one tuna and one mouse sunday!  And nummy was it good.  Cept for that chocolate one poor GreatGrandPa had to eated.  He didn’t even want try my mousey one!

Good Good Good News - the three cows in West Virginia who wanted to come to live at Rikki’s and not get killed and ground up to be hamburger and get eaten - got a ride !!!!   A nice man who drives rescue horses said he has a cattle rig and he’ll give them a lift.  Soon as they get their traveling cross state lines health certs or what ever it is for cattle, they’ll be headed on down here!!!  Yippee !!!!!   Thank you to everyone who shared that message around.  Cuz of YOUR help the cows are saved!!!!

Check out some of this cool furniture !!!!!   Your imagination cold be our dream!  What can YOU make for us?  CONTEST --- Make something and we’ll test it out and get your picture in here !!!!
http://www.felinesnoozers.com/

GORDONSVILLE VIRGINIA - PET SITTER and MORE -- Excellent well qualified pet sitter, located in Gordonsville Virginia, lots of experience with dogs and cats, medical issues, can give meds etc! Mother Daughter team Contact Christiann and Sarah christiannrogersd@gmail.com Sarah is also a very accomplished piano teacher. I know them personally, have been to their home many times and know their cats and dogs and the care they provide. Christiann is also available for personal errands and assistance. Got a need? Just ask. If they can help, they will !

Grandma got invited to a webinar "Watch and learn: Radiographing vomiting patients" sure sounds like fun doesn't it !!!!! I bet we can find some friends to practice on !!!!! Gack Gack Gack

And all that was just Sunday!  Then we gotted to Monday !!!!

MONDAY June 11, 2012

Well good morning to you !!!! Another bright and sunny day!!! It's Timmy Bday + 1 and we're chowing down this morning!!!! Nummy presents. Thank you all !!!! Timmy be happy and he's learning more and more everyday that people's can be good. Cuz he met-ed on bad one who hurted him when he was a baby he can't be thinking all are bad and scary. He gotta be happy and love life and look for the good poeples. That make him happier too !!!! There's always gonna be some peoples who ought to get covered up in the litter box. Wez kitties just gots to cover them best we can and go on looking for da nice ones that a gonna clean the box out for us !!!!

Did you know I have an Uncle Alfred? Well I did. It's sad I think. I never knowed him. His barrister sent me an email today telling me that my great uncle Alfred of the same sirname - I think that means Cat, that's like last part of name hooman use, right? - died. I guess he was trying to reach out to his long lost relatives - I not be lost but I guess he was lost? - to share his great fortune. Sadly he died before he found me. But he got a barrister to keep up the search. And now they've found me !!!! And they want to give me the 50 million pounds sterling that he left behind. Gee I wish it was 50 million pounds of Fancy Feast!!

He just be needing grandmom's bank account number. I asked him where I might could find it and he said to look on a check and it should be there. To hurry hurry before mom was up so I could give her the goodly surprise of all the pounds in her bank account this morning. He said she's give me an extra Fancy Feast appetizer if I worked quick.

So I need your help. I'm looking at a check and there are all kinds of numbers on it. Which ones do you think this nice barrister man want's me to tell him???? Hurry hurry, tell me quick, I want to surprise Grandma !!!!    -----   Love, Opie

I think I gotted born to help save da aminals and to teach peoples to be nice to dem

Oh Imelda Samaniego THANK YOU and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOO !!!! Look what Imelda wants for her Birthday !!!

http://wishes.causes.com/wishes/470233?bws=creation_email_to_npo&m=c1220e9a

Wez be in da paper for winning in the Toyota Contest!!!!!

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/first-25-winners-announced-for-toyota-100-cars-for-good-program-2012-06-11

Annette Harley !!!! WOW Thank you !!!!! Annette just signed up as a monthly donor !!!!! This is a huge help to us. It means we know we can count on you each and every month. We certainly feed everybody every month and it's a real comfort to know you're there to help us!!!!

http://rikkisrefuge.org/donate.php

Remember to check in every day and vote for somebody to make them real happy in the Toyota 100 Cars for Good contest!!!!  https://apps.facebook.com/carsforgood/  You know how good you felt being on our winning team !!!!  Well you can do that for somebody everyday !!!!!

WORST email of the day --- "We've been trying to make a substantial donation to animal shelters and everyone is turning us down. They "claim" to be full and don't want our donations. We have 4 large dogs and 3 cats we are hoping to donate to an agency. If you do not want this donation, please put us in touch with organizations that are taking donations." ........I'm serious .........

BEST email of the day -- "Thank you so much for offering to take my cat, KEE KEE into Rikki's Refuge. I am so glad I had the time to read up on Feline (FIV). My vet had me very worried for a short period of time. Kee Kee will remain with me and I will take the best care possible for him. I am providing a small monthly donation to your organization for having a open heart to take him in I wish other organizations were like yours. God Bless your staff."

YES YES Yes, LUCKY KITTY AND WONDERFUL HOOMAN --- WOULD LOVE WAY MORE MESSAGES LIKE THIS ONE !!!!!!

Another great email was from Mike Wood, one o our volunteer acquisitions coordinator.  He works mostly with Purina, but he’ll help with anything!!!!    He wrote to tell me Purina is going to make a "little" donation on Thursday ..... cat litter, it's scoopable clay, and it will last us almost 10 months.  YIPPEE, we were within a few weeks of running out!!!!  So this be really good news!!!!

Can you guess how much - in pounds - cat litter this is and what kind of vehicle(s) will be needed to deliver?

AND Monday was the Take delivery of our 4,749 pounds of the Worlds Best Cat Litter, which YOU won for Rikki’s by voting in a contest !!!!!!

The driver called and said HOLY COW that's not a drive way, that's a hole in the forest and I'm NOT coming down that!!! So he went and parked at the Harley dealer and I said fine, we'll come out to meet you. 10 minutes away.

He said WTF what are YOU going to drive I have almost FIVE THOUSAND POUNDS of stuff for you - do you have any idea how much this is, how are you going to unload it, what are you going to put it in, how long is this gonna take??

I said TRUST ME !!! It's ONLY 5,000 pounds, we're used to handling a LOT more product !!!!

I took the big van, with the transmission problem but that doesn't matter for hauling!!! It's a cargo sized van with one non removable seat that makes a bed in the back. And Blue Dog the pick up that has a cap on it. 8 foot bed, ordinary truck.

The guy's standing there with two tall pallets (the height of two "normal" ones stacked together) and another 1/2 pallet and says you're going to put THIS in THERE? And how long is THIS going to take?

Out jumped Valerie, Doug, Billy, Heather and Phil (and me) and they went to town !!!! That first half pallet was off his truck before he could even bring the next one forward. Even with shuffling vehicles, being rained on, and with an itty bitty room to spare, we were all loaded up and rolling out in just under 13 minutes after arriving on the Harley lot !!!!

The driver said, I've never seen anything like this !!!!!

You want to help Rikki’s? We’ll sure do everything we can to make it as easy as possible !!!!

Next time you’re at Rikki’s give the staff a little thank you.  A card saying thanks for all your hard work for the animals, a gift card for gas, a plate of cookies!!!  They are really dedicated hard working people and do so much above and beyond their duties for their animal charges!!!

Woooo Hoooo I got mentioned in the paper twice today --- well Rikki's did --- THANK you everyone who shared the cow story -- a lovely gentleman who's driven rescue horses will be giving them a ride !!!!!! We couldn't save the animals without your help!!

http://blogs.fredericksburg.com/reallife/2012/06/11/rikkis-trying-to-save-3-pet-cows/

Big thank you to Cathy Dyson of the Freelance Star for your help too!!

Getting married this summer?  We still had two of the designer wedding dresses available - the ones YOU won for us in the Fancy Feast contest - never worn - brand new - retail $5,000 - get a deal here!!!!  One has been put on consignment in Occoquan, Va at LaBella’s  http://labellabridalboutique.com  Ask us for more info ......   Melissa dogslife24@comcast.net

TUESDAY, June 12, 212

Good morning. It be kind a dark out there ...... it be cloudy stuff .... or is light thing not up yet .... or it gonna be ducky day ??? What dat weather hooman have to say?

It be a ducky kind of day.  Kind of rainy and wet and cloudy.

Can you help me with thoughts of dry please? I gotz two tractor trailers a coming wif da litter, 75,000 pounds from Purina, and dey needs the weather to bez dry to get the trucks in da road. Please not to let today's raining soak into the ground too deep and no more rain till they leave on Thursday, ok? It be very bad when da tractor trailer get stuck. One time it tooked three big tow trucks to get one out. Yikes !!!

Shared by Lauren Gordon: Saw a blurb in the Examiner that the Washington Humane Society and the Omni Shoreham Hotel in DC (2500 Calvert St, NW) will be hosting a Towels to Toys Recycling Event on Saturday, 16 June 2012, from 10 AM to 2 PM at the hotel. Event open to the public. Dog owners encouraged to bring furry friends. Folks will be cutting and twisting the hotel's discarded linens into dog toys which will be distributed to local Humane Societies.

8:44 am -- I'm going on a road trip !!!!! Gotta go get two RR Ties for the landing gear on the tractor trailers coming Thursday with the Cat Litter ...... Iz be back .... dey better have some mighty strong hoomans there to load them up, cuz I'm staying out of the way, I no wanna get squished !!!!

Amy Griffin writes in ----  Opie - Guess what? I found a kitten last night! He was stuck in a hole in the stump of a huge tree in the woods in front of my house! Somehow I heard him crying & found him & Kenny was able to get him out of the hole. He's about 5 weeks I think. He's not sure how to eat or do anything on his own, but he's got the teeth. He's all gray with blue eyes. His name will be Gibbs (he's a character on the tv show NCIS). Will post a picture as soon as I get a good one of him!"

WEDNESDAY, June 13, 2012

9:28 am -- Good morning!!!! It be sunny. The ducks not be so happy today. But I be happier. I need that ground to dry up so the litter trucks can get in tomorrow !!! Dry ground Dry !!!!! You help me blow on it to make it dry. It be bad when big tractor trailer get stuck. Real bad!!!! Vincent said the message in this picture is a real good one, and it's something I must help keeping every body to learn. It's real important. WWVD = be kind to everyone, no matter how many legs they have or how long their ears are. Yup, that's what my dad says!!! Who can you be kind to today? Can you think of just one little thing that will really make somebody's day??? Drop your sandwich so a goat can eat it. Adopt a shelter pet? Foster somebody for a rescue? Donate the price of a cup of coffee to the animals? That'd make me real happy!!! http://rikkisrefuge.org/donate.php

So the plate is full today. Tippy the doggie already had to go to hospital. She be peeing blood. She been having lots of bladder troubles for couple months now. Seems like everything works for a little and then stops working. She be old and grandma be real worried about her.

Michelin, the b/w kitty who Valerie saved after she got hit by car. The kitty, not Valerie. She's been in the hospital at the doc's very sick since Monday. She's looking good and should come home to our hospital today. She does have a pelvic break, and other problems inside that had to of been there before the accident. Her abdominal organs were enlarged and that's what was making her look pregnant. Ultra sound and xrays don't look so good in there. But pretty sure it's not from the accident. She must have been sick before. Paws crossed we can get her all well.

We have lots of stuff to pick up at Pharmacy today. Gotta take a truck. All the fluids for the kidney kitties and syringes for everybody. Even the ones with the great big needles for the horses and cows and goats and all !!! Yikes, those be scary !!!!

Grandpa needs a ride to the grocery store and drug store. And late this afternoon the man who'll be putting up the office trailers is coming out to survey the sight. So it's getting closer and closer to happening !!!! Paws crossed. Yikes, grandma says Opie, you gonna have an office in the new trailers? Well you better do da fundraising to get them going!!! Oh no .... Why's it all up to me???

Beauty sure ain't doing a good job of paying for her surgery. She just keeps eating doors and things in the house and costing more money. Bad dawgie. She says she won't help pay her bill till she's out of confinement. Not fair - bad dog!   http://rikkisrefuge.chipin.com/beautys-knee-surgery

Ok well I go be playing with Timmy in the sun now!!! Seez you later!!! Love, Opie

From Amy Griffin --- Okay guys, prepare for cuteness! Meet Gibbs! I found the little guy in a hole in a tree in the woods. So far, seems happy & healthy with a bit of feisty! :o)

10:52 pm -- Oh what a day !!!!! We’re pooped !!!! All dis supervising of dem hoomans is tiring work !!!! I needs to cat nap but wanted to say hi to you first. Today was good, not so good and total poo.

The sun shined all day and the field where the tractor trailers need to go looks like it should be dry enough for tomorrow. Yippie --- we be getting 75,000 pounds of kitty litter all for us to poo in !!! So that be good.

My buddy friend an really nice dawggie Tippy has a terrible tumors in her bladder, it’s really big and it’s really bad. She’s pretty old too. The doc put her on medicine for 30 days to see if it will shrink and if it will they hope they can do surgery and make it better. Paws crossed please.

Michelin, the b/w kitty who Valerie saved after she got hit by car, came home from the hospital today. Her injuries from the accident aren’t too bad and she’s doing well from them and that should be ok. The real problem is something was really wrong before the accident. Kidneys, liver, spleen, blood count - it’s all messed up. Doc don’t think she’s gonna make it, but thinks we can manage it as well at home now as they can in the hospital and here she’ll get that magic called love.

She got home to the refuge just in time for Valerie, our cat whisperer, to take her home. I was so worried when about ½ an hour later Valerie called -- I was thinking oh no ..... But Valerie sounded all happy and said I just sent you a video!!! Just as soon as Michelin saw her cozy bed and her food bowl she started purring and gobbling down the nums. Here she is !!!! Love really does wonders. Paws crossed for Michelin to heal from everything that’s wrong with her.

Lena took the truck to the pharmacy and picked up all the fluids for the kidney kitties and syringes for everybody. It really filled the back of the truck !!!!

We took GreatGrandPa shopping. He needed nums and medicines and things. He took me and Timmy shopping on Sunday, so this time we taked him !!!!

AND there’s a thrift store right near the grocery store and we gotted something we’ve been looking for, for a long long time. It be the Paws for Prayers Cabinet. It’s a cabined with a glass front. GrandMa has a statue of a cat praying, she’s sort of praying over a basket and GrandMa writes her prayers on a piece of paper and puts them in the basket. She calls it her Paws for Prayers Kitty. But she can’t keep the kitty sitting out in the office cuz sometimes us kitties get wild and we knock things over and they get broke. So now we have the purrfect cabinet to put it in!!! Isn’t that nice?? And it only be $5.99!!!

This afternoon the nice man who’s gonna put the office trailers on foundations came out to work out some of the details. He and mom went over where they were going to be and stuff. He should start work on Friday !!!! Yeahhhh .... Do you think someday we’ll really be able to use them?????

And so does that sound like a busy day???? Well I started writing to you about an hour ago when GreatGrandPa hollered that he needed help. Oh Yikes, he was sitting in a chair in his room with a big stream of blood running down his leg, and a big puddle on the floor. He bumped his leg on the corner of the bed and it made just a little hole. His skin is fragile and he’s on blood thinners and oh my gosh -- it was a ½ roll of paper towels to clean up after putting pressure on it for the longest time to make it stop and then bandaging. So now GreatGrandPa is nighty and starting to purr.

We think we better go nighty too. Yaaaawwwwwnnnnnn

Love, Opie and Timmy

Thursday June 14, 2012   FINALLY TODAY !!!!!!

And so the sun has come out for another day !!!! That's pretty cool huh? Da sun comes every day. Even if it's kind of cloudy, there be some sun out there ... every day !!!! That so nice.

Today we have big delivery. Purina has donated 75,000 pounds of kitty litter !!!! Yippee !!!! I be so excited !!!! It's reject litter from the factory, but hey, that's ok, some bad hoomans say I reject kitty cuz I got no hind feet !!! And really, what we gonna do with the litter no how? Like poo in it?? So who cares if it's the wrong kind in the container, wrong smell, like orange smell in lime boxes -- if you can poo in it then it's good !!!! Right?

The first load should arrive about 11 am and it's a big 18 wheeler coming. Then they gotta unhitch the trailer and go get the second load. They get back about 3 or 4 pm then. Everybody real glad we be renting the trailers for a bit so they don't gotta unload all that today !!! That make all dem hoomans tired just thinking about unloading 75,000 pounds in one day !!!!

That's the biggest excitement on the schedule today. Everything else looks quiet ....... paws crossed .....

Love, Opie and Timmy

 

 Stay tuned for more important insights from Opie !!!!!

LOTS

  OF

   LOVE

 Opie

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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.

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