Rikki's Refuge

Thursday, January 25, 2018

January 23, 2018

January 23, 2018 - Opie's Diary of Daily Doings at Rikki's Refuge

photo compliments of Doug Deal

Good Morning Bovine Boulevard !

photo compliments of Doug Deal

Good Morning Peacock !

photo compliments of Doug Deal

The turkeys take center stage ..... see curly goose to the left ?

photo compliments of Clarence Deal

Smoky Joe looks down on hoomans every chance he gets.

photo compliments of Clarence Deal

Goosie Goose helps to clean his pool

photo compliments of Clarence Deal

Now I've helped clean my swimming pool, its time to swim !!!

photo compliments of Clarence Deal

I use this litter box - you use that one .....

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

It IS the Goat Cart, right?

photo compliments of Rick Sharp

Boxed up purrfectly and ready to go !! Come out and adopt YOURS today !!

photo compliments of Rick Sharp

Beauty gets her beauty sleep !

photo compliments of Paul Erhard

Superman is ready to go .... but goats are not moving ..... How will Superman get to Fancy Feast Store?

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

Goose and Bub .... the inseparable odd couple !

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

Cindy answered sanctuary manager Doug's pleas for help and came out with a truck load of livestock feed !! Thank you Cindy .. you're our hero !!!!

Question: How do your cows stay warm? I know cats and dogs and sheep grown thick winter coats, but what about cows, I've never seen one with thick lush fur?

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

Answer: Take a closer look!!! Cows grow much thicker fur in the winter. Curly too. See the spots that look ... well sort of licked down ... they groom by licking their and each other's fur !!!

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

Hi Lyn !!!! Thank you !!! What kind of goodies did you bring for us today ?

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

I'm tellin ya, there better be some cat food in there .....

photo compliments of Doug Deal

Mid day we had some spectacular cloud formations. Did you get outside to see them?

Do you wonder about where I live?

photo compliments of Opie

It's kind a like this .... you can look at us on google maps by going here

https://www.google.com/maps/place/21410+Constitution+Hwy,+Rapidan,+VA+22733/@38.2504717,-78.0005258,17z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x89b41c69cd318ca5:0xff91ceadd3dce6e3!8m2!3d38.2580669!4d-77.9978865

Move the map around till you see Barr Ln and Quarterhorse Ln touching Constitution Hwy ..... you might have to make it smaller now to see all of us ..... Quarterhorse is on our west side, and Barr Ln on the east and kind of down the middle of our property .... follow both of them all the way down .... you'll see creeks way back there .... our land continues on the other side of the creeks. Now go back up towards Constitution Hwy and keep going east from Barr Ln .... you'll see McNeal Ln ... that's the eastern boundary of our land ....... now zoom out so you can see it all and go into satellite mode.

See all the cleared area around Quarterhorse and Barr Ln, that is all the part of the Refuge we have our domestic and farm animals living on .... about 100 - 150 acres .... then all the woods surrounding that is Rikki's too .... another 300-350 acres for wild animals!

It's easy to get lost out here !!!! When you take a tour, you're walking 2-3 miles around to visit with all of us, that's why it takes hours to have a tour !!!!

What does it take to feed YOUR animals ..

photo compliments of Opie

An itty bitty scoop? A little scoop? A medium scoop?

A big scoop? A bucket ! A big bucket !

A giant tote ?

photo compliments of Doug Deal

Or do you have to take off the front loader .... break out the forks ..... load up ..... and feed your animals !!!!

photo compliments of Doug Deal

Everything at Rikki's is a BIG job !!!!

photo compliments of Doug Deal

Good night !

Love, Opie

www.RikkisRefuge.org/donate

thank you for making it all possible !

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

January 22, 2018

January 22, 2018 - Opie's Diary of Daily Doings at Rikki's Refuge

photo compliments of Doug Deal

6:09 am ... the sun is peeking thru ... work has already been underway for a couple hours for da hoomans.

photo compliments of Doug Deal

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

Opie has his 3rd morning snack.

photo compliments of Doug Deal

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

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

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/dumor-senior-equine-feed?cm_vc=-10005

Our seniors eat 3 bags a week.

photo compliments of Lolly Busey

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

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

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

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

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

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

photo compliments of Catina Tomapat

Good Morning Piggy Paradise !!!

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

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

photo compliments of Catina Tomapat

Seriously ? YOU expect me to swim in THIS ? Make it rain and fill up my pond !!!

photo compliments of Doug Deal

I live my life on the edge .... wondering where my next meal will come from .....

photo compliments of Katie Terrill
Beauty waits patiently for her bowl. Can you guess how she got her name?

photo compliments of Doug Deal

OK! We filled 2 platters. How many can YOU fill ?

www.RikkisRefuge.org/donate?purpose=Feed

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

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

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

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

Just hangin around .... just hangin around ....

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

Unicorn say FEED ME FIRST .... OR ELSE ....

photo compliments of Doug Deal

When you realize this game of hide and seek is gonna take a while.....

photo compliments of Catina Tomapat

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

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

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

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

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

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

Love, Opie

www.RikkisRefuge.org/donate

thank you for making it all possible !

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

January 21, 2018

January 21, 2018 - Opie's Diary of Daily Doings at Rikki's Refuge

photo compliments of Doug Deal

Good Morning Rikki's Refuge !!!! It's going to be another beautiful day in paradise !!!!

photo compliments of Clarence Deal

Rise and shine !!

photo compliments of Doug Deal

It's going to be a beautiful day !

photo compliments of Doug Deal

Our First Responders ... first to honk and gobble at the sound of tires crunching on the gravel ... they rush to see who's coming even quicker than our fearless guard dogs !!!!

photo compliments of Doug Deal

Good Morning !! Says Norman or Batman ... he's got two names and gets confused sometimes. Which do you like better? Think we should call him Norman .... or Batman ?

photo compliments of Clarence Deal

Ready for duty !!! Beauty and Buzz will help da hoomans do morning rounds!

photo compliments of Clarence Deal

Breakfast .... Rikki's is all about sharing and caring !!

photo compliments of Paul Erhard

The PROPER way to use chairs !!

photo compliments of Clarence Deal

Obie's just not sure. He knows he not a groundhog ... but is it if you see your shadow ... or if you don't ... or .... Anyway it sure don't feel like winter no more !!!!

photo compliments of Doug Deal

Happy kitties taking inventory of the canned cat food delivery.

Ok - you all .... I need some real help .... don't tell HER ... but I gotta get $1,206.72 in the bank before the check she wrote yesterday gets there .... cuz if I don't ... one of us is gonna get rested .... and then WHO's gonna open my fancy feast ...

See all that that food ? Canned food .... to the left and right. Nice color, huh? Well my friends needed it and I sort of made a deal with a store to get it ..... and I just told mom to go pick it up .... she thought it was donated .... but I'd told them I'd buy it ....

It's 144 cases .... so that's ONLY ... $8.38 a case ... I mean that's a good deal right? These are 13.2 oz cans ... it's a real good deal. A lot cheaper than Fancy Feast. Not everybody can afford the good stuff you know. But they gotta eat ..... so the store peeps made HER write a check or go to jail for special ordering and not paying .... so SHE did .... but now there's no money to cover that check .... thank you thank you thank you for not telling HER I did the order ....

I mean as Spokes Cat it IS my responsibility to feed everyone right ? So can you please please please help me out .... if just 144 hoomans would buy ONE case for $8.38 you'll get me out a da dog house .... Please share this round and help me fine 144 people who can spare just $8.38. Thank you so much, Opie

www.RikkisRefuge.org/Donate

I LOVE YOU for saving my tail !!!!

photo compliments of Clarence Deal

Two kitties joined us here today .... this one who says he's real feral and he really hates hoomans .... settling down in feral quarantine. I know quarantine is especially hard on ferals. Not just captivity, but they've lost their home, usually their families, and they're getting ears cleaned and blood drawn and poked and prodded. It feels like an alien kidnapping.

I'm sorry .... we really are trying to make you happy.

These kitties lost there home cus it's being bulldozed for development and the cats are being killed. TNR - which means Trap, Neuter, and RETURN to their own home .... is the right thing to do. But sometimes the home has been taken from them and they are going to die ..... and then they get to come here.

I think we should call it TSH ... Trap Speuter HOME !!!

photo compliments of Lauren Todd

This little fluff ball is the other one who came from the same place. We hope they can save more of the group and real soon.

This wild and crazy little guy looked a lot bigger than he is. He's like 98 % fluff.

Since they're supposed to be the same family from the same place, they got to go in the same feral quarantine pen ... it's better when you have friends. But YIKES ... the big guy was mad at the little guy and started beating him up. So the hoomans went to intervene .... and that's when they realized the little guy was all fluff .... he literally slipped right through the small wiring and was going from temp pen to temp pen. YIKES .... the rule is usually kittens under 12 weeks can't be in these pens cus of the size of the fencing .... 2" x 2" .... no way I could fit thru that !!

But this guy could. It was an all hands on deck, or to the feral quarantine area, situation. Get the nets. We've got to catch this guy before the gets to the outside world. He'd been here only minutes, wasn't impressed at all and if he got loose and bolted, we'd never see him again.

Once a kitty, even a feral, is used to being here and has made this their home, if they escape, they come back looking for dinner. Once upon a time a storm knocked down a tree and tore a hole in the roof of a cat house ..... and there were like 3 cats still there .....   UH OH .....   and then as breakfast went down for them ... one by one here came the other kitties climbing up on the roof and back in thru the hole to get breakfast !!!!!

Finally they caught this poor baby. By then, totally terrified, I'm sure you can imagine. Took him to the quarantine building and ..... he slipped right out the bars in the cage !!! WHAT ???   He's tiny and just skin and bones, but he's not a baby.

Now he's resting in a cage with much smaller bars and it seems he's totally terrified, but really wants to be patted and loved. We'll find out .......   I'll let you know how he's doing in a day or two. I think Lauren will survive too .... she'd finally just reached out and grabbed him as he was flying thru the air .... knowing that if they weren't having success netting him and as fast as he was going and from one pen to the next ... he'd soon be totally out and that might not be so good for him .... she said what the heck .... save the cat comes first .... and she gotted chomped up real good .... well real bad I guess you'd say.

photo compliments of Lauren Todd

Here's Goliath sharing the end of the day with Lauren. Though he's inflicted many a puncture wound on her too, he's loving when he wants to be on his time, but you tell him to do something he doesn't want to do .... like take medicine, stay inside, come inside, don't mess with that .... well you gonna bleed !!!!

Lauren says, "This is why I love my job.... for all the misunderstood cats that couldn't get a home because they were "mean" or "aggressive"....whether it be paperwork or sharing my lunch, Goliath is never far."

Winning the trust and friendship of the challenging animals is such a special feeling, you can only know it if you're crazy enough to be in the biz of loving them and caring for them.

photo compliments of Doug Deal
Getting ready for bed ...... nobody can see me here, can they ? Sorry sweetie, the hoomans have to peek at you to make sure you're safe and sound for the night ..... now you can go back to sleep !!

photo compliments of Doug Deal
Another day in the life of a Refuge .... as the sun sets over Feline Fields.

photo compliments of Doug Deal

and Ramsey Residence ....

that's one awfully big sheep in there ....

All residents of all neighborhoods are safe and sound .....

Good night my friends !

Love, Opie

www.RikkisRefuge.org/donate

thank you for making it all possible !