Rikki's Refuge

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

January 16, 2018

January 16, 2018 - Opie's Diary of Daily Doings at Rikki's Refuge

photo compliments of Doug Deal

Good morning Animals !!!!!

photo compliments of Lauren Todd

On the way to the speuter clinic !!! Four not so happy cats!! Luna, Merry, Lil Girl and Misty.

Almost at the speuter clinic .... more than an hour of driving to get there ... just turning on to their road ..... 4 scared and hungry kitties ..... and they call .... uh oh the doc called in sick we have to reschedule for Thursday .....

Ohhhhhhh nooooooo ...... how do I explain that to my patients .... first let me stop at 7/11 and get them something to eat ..... then they can ride all the way back home ..... and we'll do it again on Thursday !!!

Ohhhh I'm so sorry little ones .... this is not your "Welcome to Rikki's" week I'd planned.

Sunny today, and not to awfully cold, but not very warm either. Expecting snow tonight ... ugghhh .... So today most of our time will be spent getting ready for that.

We like to stock up extra supplies at each neighborhood and every station. Why? Cus it can take a lot longer to walk back and froth to storage areas in snow .... if it's deep you gotta lift your legs so much higher to walk .... and if it's just a little, it can get mighty slippery !!! You don't want to be carrying cases of canned food or 50 pound of feed and slip and fall !!! You could spill it all !!!

Cindy came out to help out and visit the animals. Cindy is our Dog Diva ... aka Director of Dogs. She loves dogs. And everybody else !!

Boomer is a special friend

photo compliments of Cindy Wright

And so is Buddy

photo compliments of Cindy Wright

Feeling surrounded................

photo compliments of da Hooman

catchin up on paper work... That's Neeka on the floor, Sandy in the chair, Spartan on desk, Outdoor on puter!

A little cuddle time in the sunshine before the possible snow

photo compliments of Doug Deal

Thank you momma Cindy

photo compliments of Doug Deal

for the new straw before the snow

Tucker

I see a house that needs painting? Where are YOU ? The strips on the window are that kind of heavy plastic you see on warehouse doors to keep the cold out. They come off in nice weather.

Does this sky look like snow ?

photo compliments of Doug Deal

Let's keep our paws crossed for NO SNOOOOOO tonight !!!

Love, Opie

January 15, 2018

January 15, 2018 - Opie's Diary of Daily Doings at Rikki's Refuge

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

Another cold one .... even the emus want to snuggle this morning !!!

Honors says ANY day is a great day for treats from visitors !!

photo compliments of Cindy Wright

Bella says ME TOO !!!!

photo compliments of Cindy Wright

Bella was a premarin colt, used in the pharmaceutical biz and discarded as trash ....

Do hoomans still take pills made out of PREgnant MARe urINe?

Don't believe me that where the name premarin came from and that is just what it is and it's made as medicine for hoomans? Just ask Wikipedia !

I wonder how many hoomans look up the drugs that are recommended to them? Do they research what they are made out of, how they are made and .... geesh ... the likely side effects? Do they look into natural plant based alternatives? I know, I know ... not everything can be fixed with an old fashioned tried and true, tested and used safely for hundreds of years, natural remedy ..... but so so so much can !!!

Be careful with your body ... you only got one this time round ... feed it well and care for it .... and learn about the stuff you gonna put in it !!

That's why I only eat Fancy Feast .... It's good and safe for me !!!

Yikes .... this picture got stuck and didn't show up the other day !!!!

Remember that nice load of nums we got from Purina?

Here's the wonderful hoomans who did all that long long long drivin for us !!!!

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

Lori & Patrick, Thank you

This morning Lyn messaged she was coming out

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

and her nephew Austin came too. On the way they stopped at our thrift store, Re-tail, to pick up the things that had been donated for the Refuge.

Did YOU know that if you don't want to come all the way out to Rikki's, you can drop off donations for us at Re-Tail in Fredericksburg? Yup ... food and everything !!!! And a nice volunteer like Lyn will bring it to Rikki's.

And be sure to drop off donations for us to sell in the store too !!!! Be like most our fans, drop off a few things, go home with lots more treasures you find to buy !!!!

It was a beautiful sunny day and it we got to share hugs and smiles with Lyn and Austin.

photo compliments of Lyn Hamlett

This load had something for everyone!

Livestock feed, dog and cat food, rabbit food, a space heater, cleaning supplies, hand warmers...

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

thank you to Lyn, Austin, and all who donated. The need never ends.

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

Love, Opie

Monday, January 15, 2018

January 14, 2018

January 14, 2018 - Opie's Diary of Daily Doings at Rikki's Refuge

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

Betty joins Tony for morning rounds .... but she's not putting HER feet on that cold ground !!

The day dawned COLD .... 8 degrees ..... was it really 67 degrees just the other day !!!!

Still as soon as there's morning light

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

the geese come seeking out ponds and pools !!

The ducks quack and dance around complaining about frozen pools

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

while the hoomans clean them all out and fill them with fresh water ! THANK YOU Wilson Well for the fast flowing water that makes this job take much less time.

What? You don't see any people standing there filling the pools? Nope ... they get things cleaned and the water flowing .... and rush off to get something else clean while the pools are filling. That's one way we know if somebody can work fast enough to get a job at Rikki's. On their test day, if they stand there for 20 minutes waiting for a pool or trough to fill ..... well it's just not gonna work !!!! You got to be fast moving, multi tasking to get it all done in a day !!!! It takes lots of brains too !!!!

Miss Pigeon with her man ....

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

... wait? That's a peacock ! Yup !! We have the strangest couples at Rikki's. You never know who'll take up with who !!! Just wait and see !!! Goose and donkey, pigeon and peacock, pig and cat, cat and sheep ..... anything goes around here !!!

The other pigeons pair up for their morning sunning.

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

In warmer weather they fly rounds about the aviary in the morning, cooing with their soft lovely voices. When it's cold, they prefer to come out of their nests and sit on warming stones !!!! As they warm up, the cooing begins !

It's gonna be a busy day cuz we got a truck load of surprises arriving in the afternoon. Everything has to get done so they'll be time to unload that truck and get everything situated before dark.

Winter means a lot of work has to be hurry hurry ..... Why? Cus hoomans don't see so good in the dark .... and we don't have outdoor lighting, so everyone rushes to get things done before dark. In the summer you can keep working outside and seeing what you're doing till 9 pm. Now by 5:30 it's to dark to see a black cow !!!

Sometimes the hoomans have to work wearing headlamps or by the light of vehicle headlights. But that makes lots of things so much harder. And scares some of the animals too .... when a creature starts across the field towards them with one great huge shining big eye !!!

BACK OFF HOOMAN .....

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

we don't want to have to hurt you ... this really doesn't concern you ..... we found the truck .... we're headed to Florida ... don't even TRY to stop us !!!

--- cats who've had enough of the cold

It was hurry hurry in the medical room .....

photo compliments of Lauren Todd

Cus there was an early afternoon intake .... and everybody needed to be ready and a room set up in the quarantine building ....

Finally Tic Tac voted no more paperwork....

photo compliments of Lauren Todd

Didn't I hear someone say that cats were the smartest and knew everything...

It was time for our new arrivals !!!

photo compliments of Lauren Todd

Misty is the Mom. About 4 years old. Keeps having babies under somebody's porch. We offered to get her "fixed" and they could keep her. But nope .... won't be allowed to go home.

During her two week quarantine time we'll get to know her and see where she'd most like to live. She seems pretty friendly .... though on day one you get examined, shots, wormed, icky smelly flea drops, ears cleaned ..... so it's not really the best welcome to Rikki's !!!

photo compliments of Lauren Todd

Oni is Misty's little boy and her only baby .... nobody knows what was happening to all the babies Misty was populating the folks porch with .... but they'd apparently disappear one by one .... and Misty would have more.

Note holes in sweatshirt! Oni was more apprehensive than his mom. He clung on for dear life ... even trying to get away by digging in the shoulder and pulling. Nobody likes bleeding, getting bitten, clawed, stomped and butted .... but it's the way of life at Rikki's !!! If you want to work with animals, you have to understand and accept animal behavior ... and when they are scared they hurt you, usually without meaning to. First you deal with the situation and make sure the animals is safe ... then you can take a 2 minute break to clean up the blood before going back for more !!

Now that Oni will be safe and can live with his mom forever .... Misty doesn't need to worry about having more babies. .... come on speuter clinic ... return mom's call quick ... so we can make sure of that !

Tis the season many girl kitties are getting pregnant .... I know, seems crazy when it's this cold doesn't it? But yup ... that's when it happens. Birth rates sky rocket around Valentine's Day .... so If you've got anybody hanging around your house .... or running around showing off or yowling for guys .... grab 'em and get 'em to the speuter clinic NOW !!!!

If you'd like to help with Misty and Oni's care, they'd be very happy. www.RikkisRefuge.org/Donate

Thank you !!!

And then the .......

photo compliments of google

arrived !!!! 26 feet full of surprises for us !!!

Are you scared to open up the lift gate ?

How many cats can you fit in a 26' truck ..... or will emus come bursting out ..... or has a homeless bigfoot been captured and needs relocation ...... WHAT might we find !!!

Nine .... count 'em NINE ... pallets of dog food, cat food and treats for both !!!!! We never know what will come ..... a couple times a year Purina calls and says send a truck ....

It's late afternoon, and it's COLD, and the truck still has hours to travel to be turned in tonight.

How do you get it unloaded FAST ? No loading dock here .... no fork lifts .... nothin but hooman power !!!

video compliments of Katie Terrill

That was fast .... truck is unloaded so our volunteer drivers can be on there way .....

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

Thank you to Lori Walters and her husband .... who did an all day journey to travel to Purina to pick up and deliver donations to Rikki's !!!!! WOW .... what a great big prize !!!!

With the truck safely on the way .... now the hoomans have more work. Getting it all stacked neatly and stored away .... cus this is gonna last a few weeks !!!! You've seen me begging for dry cat food, haven't you? Often the whole load is dry dog food and treats. But YIPPIE !!! this time two whole pallets were cat food !!!!

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

It's a lot of packaging material. Often outdated displays. Like special Christmas promotions. But we don't care !!!! Really .... we'll eat it no matter what pictures are on the boxes and bags !!!! Stay tuned .... there will be a big bon fire on packaging disposal day !!!! We have to pay to take trash to the dump .... so when we have an opportunity like this .... be burn it for free !!!

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

When all was stacked up ...... the hoomans selected tomorrow's nums. Yup .... see that truck ... that is what us cat and the dogs will eat TOMORROW !!!

Wait .... do I see two more dull gray barns in the background ? I think I do! WHERE are YOU volunteers with that bright beautiful paint !!! Maybe if we got this place painted up like a tropical paradise it wouldn't be so cold !!!!

You really can't fathom the vastness of Rikki's Refuge till you've worked here a while and you've filled bowl after bowl after bowl .... and then washed them all and scooped up all he poop !!!! It really takes a village to feed all of us in the Nation of Rikki's !!!!

Nine pallets sounds like a LOT .... We're hoping it will feed the cats for a month ... maybe ... if it's not too cold, cus everybody eats more when it's cold. The doggies should have enough till spring !!! But that's ONLY their dry food. Everybody gets canned food every day too ..... twice a day for many and for everyone in the cold .... and this donation was only dry. So I'll still be begging YOU to help me buy canned cat and dog food !!

Love, Opie

Saturday, January 13, 2018

January 13, 2018

January 13, 2018 - Opie's Diary of Daily Doings at Rikki's Refuge

It's Caturday the 13th !!!

photo compliments of Doug Deal

Betty says, Daddy .... keep my feet warm .... why'd you let this cold come back ?

Brrr it's back to mid arctic weather .... just look at yesterday's photos and see how many more layers we've all had to pile on today !!!!

So I left you last night with the big conundrum about the giant cavern by the well casing and the missing water .....

Dig as much as they could all night between the horrendous down pours ..... a funny story about Doug chasing somebody out in that till almost midnight in a minute ... first let's solve the water problem .... absolutely NO source of a leak was found.

photo compliments of Doug Deal

So Wilson Well came out to help hunt it down.

See who's on their truck? Keeping track of everybody is really a 24/7 job around here. Somebody is always into something. Including in and on vehicles. Very dangerous .... we have to keep an eye on them when anyone is around .... and make sure all are accounted for before a vehicle can dare move.

They will climb in and on everything !!! Under seats, into grocery bags, the chickens will even fly in thru open windows and lay an egg on your seat !!! You might think that's neat .... but not so much when you don't notice and sit on it .... uh oh ... icky !!!

At first the well guys were baffled ..... then one guy said .... did you have this dug, say round 2005 ... 6 maybe? And did you have another shallow well that you wanted to keep working too? I sort of remember a system we set up so you could switch from one well to the other .......

photo compliments of Doug Deal

YUP !! That was us !! He remembered setting up a special check valve system so water form the old well .... 30 feet ... hand dug .... lots of run off .... could not flow back into the good clean potable 260' deep nice clean new well .... Ahhhhhh and that's what that extra brass fitting was all about .... yes siree ..... So they took it apart and sure enough .... it had busted and a part of it was blocking the flow !!!!!

Quick fix and the water flow was like totally awesome !!!!

hoto compliments of Doug Deal

We now drink close to 500 gallons of water a day .... DRINK ..... that doesn't count all that's wasted when dirty bowls are dumped and pools are drained and all the water used for cleaning .... cleaning bowls, troughs, plates, platters .... and the mopping and scrubbing .... and laundry ... Oh the laundry ....

After getting all the cats and dogs and goats and chickens away from the truck and getting the well guys safely on the road to their next job ..... it was back to Refuge life as normal .....

But it wasn't so normal .... well for Refuge Life it was !!!   Normal means expect the unexpected !!! Really, the only thing you can count on running a great big Refuge and taking care of over a thousand animals is that the unexpected that you never could have imagined will happen ..... and almost every day !!!!   A quiet boring day is an amazing blessing !!!!

So what now?   Doug !!! Doug !!!   Doug !!!   The dryer isn't working !!!

First you don't have enough water .... I get you water .... now you want to dry it all away ....   Geesh !!!!

Doug !!! Doug !!!   Doug !!!   We've brought up the two spare dryers and neither of them work either .... what can we do .... we have wet laundry .... the cages need new clean beds ... it's gonna be cold tonight ... really cold .... and all the beds are wet .... HELP !!!!

Doug took about 3 breaths and 16 steps .... tossed off the plumber hat and donned the appliance repair hat .... In minutes he'd discovered an electrical problem ... Oh boy ....   But really, think about it .... three dryers not heating up .... come on ... it's not the dryers !!!!   So he knew to get the electrical tester and start at the plug.

Toss the appliance repairman hat ...... don the electrician hat ....

One line into the dryer had 118 volts and the other ... 60 ... uh oh .... if you can do simple math ... you can tell that don't get you close enough to 220 to work !!!!   It wasn't in the outlet .... it wasn't in the quarantine building where the laundry room is .... it wasn't at a connector area that's had trouble before ..... it was all the way back at the main panel for the entire planet of Rikki's .... a breaker had gone bad ....

So off for a trip to town .... first place didn't have one ....   but the other one did .... back to Rikki's ... install the new breaker .... and the original dryer was working !!!!! Luckily we have two dryers and one washer in storage now for the next disaster !!!!   Of course our machines last the longest when we have a spare !!!!

Time to put the Refuge Manager hat back on !!!!   How much can Doug get done before the next disaster strikes !!!

Oh ... wait .... there's a ditch that needs to be filled in ....   but first .... the tail of a bad kitty cat ....

photo compliments of Doug Deal

Yesterday was a wonderful warm day and despite the rain, everybody wanted to be out ... even Mouky ..... At night Doug makes everyone go in .... and Mouky has always been a good boy and gone inside with only a little coaxing. But not last night !!! He wanted to be out .... and even as the drizzle turned into torrential down pours and horrendous wind ... Mouky wanted to be out ...

He ran under one vehicle ..... then as Doug, out in the rain, tried to coax him out and started crawling under to get him .... Mouky ran under the porch .... and on and on it went ..... Doug was worried about Mouky, he'd never been out a night on his own, and it was storming, what if he got scared and ran .... And it was almost midnight when Mouky got tired enough to slow down and bit and Doug nabbed him and got him inside !!!!

And I bet you wondered what refuge people do at night for entertainment !

With all emergencies solved and everything running nice and all animals taken care of ..... the fillin in of the ditch began ... and it was a lot dirt to move to cover up all that diggin from yesterday
Fine .... leaps wide ditches in a single bound !!!

photo compliments of Doug Deal

Chevy offers to help Clarence

photo compliments of Doug Deal

Goliath helps cover up the ditch ....

photo compliments of Lauren Todd

after all ... it's only fair ...

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

Obie helped to dig it up !!

Cats vs Dogs .... the competition just never stops ....

photo compliments of Lauren Todd

And while the hoomans work so hard ..... Just what are all those animals doing?

Standing around snacking

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

Or rolling around goofin off !!!

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

And no .... that thing you heard about horses who lie down or are on their back with their feet up in the air .... no, they're NOT dead !!! They love to lay around and roll around and scratch their backs on the ground and kick their feet in the air just like everybody else !!

Ohh ... look at that dull gray barn ..... who's got exciting colors, patterns or murals you'd like to paint !!! Volunteer !! Help make Rikki's Beautiful and Colorful and Fun !!

Love, Opie