January 11, 2018

January 11, 2018 - Opie's Diary of Daily Doings at Rikki's Refuge

                                                                                                           photo compliments of Doug Deal

Good Morning .... Got Nums !!! 

Calling the horses to breakfast

                                                                                                    photo compliments of Katie Terrill

 OK !! Here I am !

                                                                                                           photo compliments of Katie Terrill

Lucy having breakfast

                                                                                                           photo compliments of Katie Terrill 

and Madison too

                                                                                                           photo compliments of Katie Terrill

Kaitlyn supervised donations

                                                                                                               photo compliments of Doug Deal

Thank you Cindy !!!

Oh Oh ....  Tony found a problem

                                                                                           photo compliments of Doug Deal

Tony is Rikki's Staff Manager.  But that's not all he does.  Tony has to wear lots of hats.  You know we have to take care of animals and do things like feed them and clean for them.  But there's a lot more to do too.  Like make sure the water is running right.  No matter what goes wrong, it's gotta get figured out and fixed.  When you live in the country and you have a well .... you can't call 1-800-WaterAuthority to come fix your problems !!!

And Tony and Big Boy set out to find the water problem today.  And they found the problem was a pipe broken underneath a spigot at Feline Fields. 

And that means a LOT of digging up.

                                                                                            photo compliments of Doug Deal

Three feet down.  And it was HARD digging.  Things had been frozen so hard and for so long ....  the ground a bit down is STILL frozen.

Look at that !!!   Two shovels broken trying to dig !!! 

                                                                                        photo compliments of Doug Deal

And Tony didn't let that hard work stop him .... he kept right on going till he got down to the broken pipe !!!!!   Meanwhile ....  everyone else had to carry water in buckets to fill all the water bowls !

Got a spare shovel out in your garage?  Bring it on down to donate on Saturday at Donation Drop Off !!

Lilth Lori has found a favorite friend

                                                                                                           photo compliments of Katie Terrill

She loves her toy so much, she won't curl up and go to sleep without it.

Today is day four at Rikki's .... and Lilth Lori continues to get more relaxed and friendly by the day.  She doesn't understand quarantine and why she can't come out and play with other kitties.  Only 12 weeks old, and she's spent her entire captive life living in a cage.  Luckily it won't be much longer.  Soon as her two week quarantine is up, she'll be allowed out and able to make kitty friends too !!!

Nighty night you all !!!

Love, Opie 

January 10, 2018

January 10, 2018  - Opie's Diary of Daily Doings at Rikki's Refuge

The birds are enjoying the thaw !!!  The more mud .... the more puddles .... the happier they are !!!!

The hoomans enjoyed the warm temps today too !!!!  Just a few months ago the 60's were sweatshirt weather ....   after the last couple weeks of not above freezing .....  the highs in the 40's gets them stripping down to sweatshirts !!!!

Goodby to a Rikki's Alumni

In 2015 one of our very special volunteer who'd been transferred half way across the country was praying to find a kind hearted beagle in need of a home.  Rikki's heard about one locally in dire need of quick rescue.  And Buddy came to stay with us at Rikki's for a while till he could make it half way across the country to his new home. 

Buddy was a special dog, always full of love and gratitude.  And he was strong for a 13 year old! 

Last year Buddy and his hooman retired and moved back east to live close to Rikki's Refuge so they could visit and volunteer often. 

What no one knew was that Buddy was hiding a serious liver problems, but on Monday night he no longer could hide it from the angels and he passed over the Rainbow Bridge. 

Buddy will be remembered by all who spent time with him.  He was an angel on earth.

We're so thankful that the last years of his life were spend in love and happiness being absolutely adored by a kind and gentle Rikkite !!

Obie says, Hey look !!!!   I found new wheels just sitting around !!!!  

This must be for me !!  They even put a nice layer of comfy pine pellet cat litter in here !!!!

Beauty is jealous that Obie got new wheels !!!

I introduced Lilith Lori to you when she arrived three days ago .... terrified .... She'd been trapped with her mom, mom was friendly and her little baby was terrified.  Mom was adopted out. This poor little one sat in a cage with the option of getting friendly or dying. Luckily she was brought to Rikki's Refuge instead of being killed.

Three days later ..... she's allowing finger pats and starting to lick a finger ..... I think she's going to do just fine !!!!!

 

Titan loves his Cindy. His sidekick Buddy thinks she's pretty cool, too!!

Cindy and her brother saved Titan's life.  They saw him every day in a pasture by the road they to their house.  They got to know him and would stop to feed him carrots and apples.  When they heard he was being sent to market they negotiated to buy him instead.  Not being quite equipped to care for a cow at home, Titan came to Rikki's to live out his natural life in peace and happiness.   Cindy and David stop in to visit him a couple times a week ....  and they always bring treats for Titan and his buddies !!

Nice people making happy animals !!!! 


We were out of canned cat and dog food today.  So we shopping and bought two shopping cards full.  But did YOU know that will only last a day and a half !!!   Around here everybody really likes to eat !!!  Especially in the winter time. 

Sanctuary Manager Doug says we're really quite desperate for sweet feed, senior horse feed, canned dog food, fabuloso (floor cleaner), dry cat food and canned cat food.

Did you know every Saturday from noon till 2 pm we have Donation Drop off?  You can swing by and drop off some donations!!  Won't you think about picking up a few items on our list and stopping by?

And bring some apples and carrots too !!!   You can meet Titan and his gang and feed them.  You'll also get to see the horses, sheep and goats and can give them treats !!!  It's not a full tour, but you can meet and pat and feed the animals in the pastures around the Life Center. 

Life Center, 21410 Constitution Hwy, Rapidan VA 22733 ....  Constitution is Route 20 and we're at the corner of Quarterhorse and 20, turn on Quarterhorse and immediately left into our gate .... come on down to the Life Center between noon and 2 pm on Saturdays for Donation Drop off !!!

www.RikkisRefuge.org/Donate?purpose=Feed

Everybody is happy for a night where we won't dip down to freezing !!!!  

It's feeling like summer out here and we're all happy !!!!    And resisting being rounded up for the night and put to bed !!!   We want to play outside and party all night long !!!

  good night

Love, Opie 

ps.  If you missed a day of our adventures, you can find all my Diary posts on my blog !!!!   www.RikkisRefuge.blogspot.com/

January 9, 2018

January 9, 2018  - Opie's Diary of Daily Doings at Rikki's Refuge

The day dawned rather icy here .... 

even though the rain stopped falling before we froze over in the wee hours, everything was still wet and became a solid sheet of slick ice. 

No one was stirring at Doggy Downs

Until Buzz caught up to help with morning rounds

NOBODY enjoys slipping and sliding around ....  especially while carrying 50# sacks of feed, 5 gallon buckets filled with water, and platters of canned cat food !!!!  

Mouky must have been a dog in a past life.  He makes morning rounds no matter what !!

The sun finally came up bright over the horizon and melted all the ice off  .....  

It made it into the low 50's today ....  WOW feels tropical !!!

Everything is thawing out finally, even the ground and the giant piles of ice ....  but now it's starting to be a muddy mess!!    And oh the poop to scoop up from the thawing out process.  You just can't get all of it when it's frozen to the ground in shady spots, or buried in a pile of ice or snow !!!   Clean up after lots of frozen solid days is kind of disgusting !!!  But absolutely necessary !!!

Many of our old animals have kidney issues, especially cats.  Giving them subQ fluids makes them feel good, keeps up their appetite and helps them to live long happy lives.  We have lots of old folks, so the medical staff spends several hours a day just keeping those who need it well hydrated and healthy and feeling good.  Most of them don't mind getting their fluids, cus they also get a can of Fancy Feast or tuna while they're being treated !!!

Our order of fluids arrived today.   $798.60  ...  yikes ... and now we have to pay that bill.  Really a small price to keep so many geriatrics feeling good and playing like kittens !!!! 

Won't you help?  www.rikkisrefuge.org/donate?purpose=Vet

You help support our habit .... and we'll handle the needles and be the ones getting bit and clawed !!!!  
I think that makes us a great team, don't you?

All in all it was a quiet peaceful non eventful day ....  Just what we hope for every day .... But not what we often get !!! 

We once had notes in the medical log to give a medication on "odd" days ....  as in every other day .... and someone said ....  Geesh, that must mean EVERY DAY cus all days around here are pretty odd !!!!!    But we do occasionally have just a nice calm, no surprise day !!!

Look who's hiding out and patiently waiting for dinner !!!

He knows the hospital patients are fed first  ....  and is waiting to be the next in line !!

Good night !!!!  

It's been a lovely day ....   Hope to see you on a tour in the near future !!!

Love, Opie 

ps.  If you missed a day of our adventures, you can find all my Diary posts on my blog !!!!   www.RikkisRefuge.blogspot.com/

January 8, 2018

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

January 7, 2018

January 7, 2018 - Opie's Diary of Daily Doings at Rikki's Refuge

Brrr sun is out and it's time for thorough rounds and it's still below zero !!!

Honors the horse says he's not coming out till we promise no more cold, no more snow, no more sleet, no more .....

Gracie, the white goat, and Milo, the brown and white one, watch the feed truck get back from the co-op ...

Gracie: I'm pretty sure that truck is full of food ....  and the hoomans just walked off ... they just walked off ...  Milo, look innocent till they're out of sight 

Gracie:  Ok, Milo, it's FULL of food ....   how we gonna do this without calling attention to ourselves ....   YOU watch for hoomans while I go first ....

Gracie: Oh yeah Milo !!!  Good stuff ....  keep an eye out for Hoomans, Milo ....   munch, munch, munch .....

Lilith Lori arrived today.... terrified .... terrified of everything .... especially everything hooman .... she's been looking for somebody who'll give her a chance ..... and nobody raised their hand .... poor baby ..... we'll see what she comes to think of us during her quarantine time. If she wants to keep hating hoomans, that's ok, lots of our cats hate hoomans .... but our hoomans love them anyway and let them be loved by other kitties !!!!!

Seems a shame to kill somebody cus they don't like you, doesn't it? Really, cats can read your mind, no wonder they don't want to trust someone who thinks that's an acceptable option, huh?

I'll take real good care of her ... I'm not allowed in quarantine ... but I asked Lauren to take her a can of my favorite fancy feast.

Poor Lilith Lori was trapped with her mom. Mom was friendly so she was taken away and adopted ... poor little baby ... no wonder she hates humans ... catch her .. takes her mom away .... I so wish they'd brought her mom too ... seems so cruel to have separated them ....

You can adopt a friendly mom and a scared kitten and the poor little kitten would almost certainly learn to be friendly too. Maybe our new cat who's in quarantine, Little Girl, will want to adopt a baby !!!!

When will hoomans get it and realize we have families and we love them ... my mama Nellie lives with me and I'm so happy.  I love her and she gives me a bath sometimes. 

Well that's the highlights at Rikki's today !!!! 

I sure hope there's no more snow .. no more cold ... no more sleet ...  they're saying some real icky winter stuff might come tomorrow ... I hope they're wrong !!

--Opie

ps.  If you missed a day of our adventures, you can find all my Diary posts on my blog !!!!   www.RikkisRefuge.blogspot.com/

January 6, 2018

January 6, 2018 - Opie's Diary of Daily Doings at Rikki's Refuge

Early in the morning .... with not much sun ...  Beauty says, "I don't care if you hoomans is already workin ... I'm not ...  I'm stayin in here till the sun comes out nice and strong!"  

You can tell it's real early by the loooong shadows ....   hoomans make really big long shadows when the sun is low.  It's finally warming up enough with the sun to come out and collect a little solar energy!

Even Betty casts a long shadow.  Betty loves the outdoors no matter what.  She says it hasn't been anywhere near cold enough to be forced to stay inside.  A good thick layer of fat .... just like me .... and super thick fur ...  and she really loves it outside. 

Though don't tell I told on her .... last night she did come in for a little while!!!

All faces point towards the sun !

The sun has drawn Beauty out into it's beauty !!!   Oh the SUN out bestest friend on these cold cold days !!

And it's CATURDAY !!!!! 

You know what that means, don't you?

It's Donation Drop off at the Life Center !!!

And look what I got?  Can YOU guess what this is?
 

It's a whole pallet of litter to fill my boxes so I have something to poo in and it will last a whole week !!!!!!

Only $244 a week .... YOU too could support my habit !!!!!

What goes in .... must come out !!!!

Did you know you can do recurring monthly donations?  And that really helps us out.  When we know you're going to help us one day a month, it really means a lot.  Why don't YOU pick a day and sign up so every month day that month you fill our boxes with nice clean fresh litter !!!  

It's only $32 for one day .....  that's a little easier if 30 of you would each chip in every month !!!!  

www.RikkisRefuge.org/Donate

And Next !!! 

Somebody brought me a washer and dryer !!!!! So I don't never got to sleep in no dirty bed !!!! Isn't that nice !!!!

 

We run 15-20 loads of laundry a day ....  WOW that's a lot !!!!   But we all like nice clean beds.  That means washers and dryers just don't last so very long.  Even brand new ones wear out pretty quick.  So if you're getting new ones just cus you want to ....  please donate your old ones to us.  We like old things!  You can have the new ones and your old ones can come live with us for the rest of their lives!  Just like us aminals !!

 

We even have nice big strong hoomans right here on site to unload heavy things for you !!!

YOU too can bring donations of all sorts to me on Saturdays ... yes that's right, every Saturday ... from noon to 2 pm at the Vincent D. Cat Memorial Life Center !!!!!   The gates are open during Donation Drop off ....   you'll find is right at the corner of Rt 20 (21410 Constitution Hwy) and Quarterhorse Lane !!! 

And while your dropping off donations, you can visit with the kitties in the Life Center and the goats and sheep and horses and cows outside.  Bring apples and carrots too !!!    It's not a full blown tour ...  but you can stop and feed them and pat them over the fence at the Life Center. 

And don't forget some Fancy Feast for me !!

WHAT's that coming?

It's nummy (well I don't think so but them vegavoirs do) hay !!!

Madison and Lucy get to share a bale!

 One big bale is bigger than the goats and sheep ....  but they'll still eat it all gone .... real quick !!

Nobody messes with Freckles' hay !!!

And then we watched the temperatures drop and drop and drop ....   all the way down to 1 degree just about midnight ....   brrrrrr  ....   hurry up warmer weather .... we miss you !!!!

Love, Opie