Still tinkering . . .

Those of you viewing our blog with the free Firefox browser are seeing our blog layed out just fine -- no matter what font size you're using. (For those of you Firefox users who don't know what I'm talking about, go to your menu under VIEW > TEXT SIZE > INCREASE).

It's the darned Internet Explorer that refuses to cooperate!

We're still tinkering. We'll get it right soon.

Want to download the lovely Firefox browser? Get info and download here. Get it! You really want it!

Tinkering with our style

If you visited our blog before, you'll notice we changed our template. We think the "Minima" Blogger template more suits us, and we are tinkering with it to come up with a look we like.

We have also added a link to the Orange County Animal Shelter adoptable pets in the LINKS column to the right. (If you don't see a column to the right, scroll down -- it will be at the bottom of the posts. That's part of the tinkering we are working on.)

If you have comments on things we should change or add, please let us know.

Animal cellphone ringtones

Recently, a woman on a commuter train left her bag in a seat and walked away. Almost immediately, a cat started crying. Startled passengers looked everywhere for the cat, only to find that the woman had a cat ringtone on her phone.

What would Rikki's Refuge ringtones sound like? Wouldn't it be fun and hilarious to find out?

A little searching brought up a step-by-step guide to making ringtones with free "Audacity" software. The instructions can be found at this site: http://www.mrbass.org/ringtones/

The free, open source, cross-platform, "Audacity" sound editing software can be downloaded at this site: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ (You gotta love the wonderful people who make free, open source software available to the world!).

We need to find a volunteer to walk around the sanctuary recording the animals to create the initial sound files, but this is a very cool project and surely someone will step up soon.

Any votes on which animals we should start with first?

If anybody has actually created their own ringtones before and knows of a better way, we would love to hear about it.

Cats want fresh treats too, so here's a recipe

It's always "monkey see, monkey do" at Rikki's. What one group has, the other group wants. Wait . . . it's that way with people, too.

The cats outnumber all other animal groups at Rikki's Refuge sanctuary, so they usually claw their way to the top of every "wish list" we create. If the horses are getting fresh-baked treats, the cats want them too.

We found one recipe for homemade cat treats at Rebecca's Soap Delicatessen. These treats don't sound as yummy as the horse treats, but the cats might like them. Does anybody want to make a batch so the Rikki cats can try them out?

Does anybody have favorite links to pet treat recipes -- recipes that you have actually tested?

Horses want baked treats -- here is recipe

The dogs and cats get all the attention from the volunteers, and the pigs and fowl get to do what they please. Some days it seems like our horses, mules and donkeys are second class citizens! (Well, sometimes people bring them apples . . . )

We found a few recipes for horse treats! Could you make some and bring them out? We don't know how long they will stay fresh, so don't make them more than a few days before coming out, and don't make a huge supply.

Most of the recipes here sound delicious (but we don't want the ones with peanut butter) : http://www.moniteausaddleclub.com/horse_treats.htm

Here's another one: http://equisearch.com/horses_care/feeding/feed/barnparty_111505/

Adopt Virginia county shelter animals

County animal shelters are always packed with wonderful animals looking for a chance at a forever home. Many of the dogs and cats living at Rikki's can be adopted, but we encourage you to start your search with animals in county shelters -- the Orange County shelter is just down the road from us.

You can find a list of Virginia county shelters at: http://www.rikkisrefuge.org/adopt/va_shelters.html

Many county shelters will do same day adoptions, but call before you drive out to find out what their exact adoption requirements are.

If you are looking for a cat or kitten, consider adopting two at the same time(especially bonded pairs or cats from the same family). Most cats really enjoy the company of other cats, and two cats are not harder to take care of than one cat alone.

Rikki animal photo necklaces

Rikki's Refuge has many crafty volunteers, so we thought we would ask a question: Who can volunteer to make photo pendants of our animals that we can sell at fairs and adoption days?

We have several cds of photos that can be used, or you can come out and take the shots you want. Interested? Email Kathy for images.

Pet photo pendants: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=76990.0

FYI: The link above goes to an amazing crafting website. If you don't want to work on photo pendants you're sure to find other ideas.

College scholarships for vegetarians

Dozens of student volunteers come to Rikki's Refuge to help care for the animals. Many of them are preparing for college. We just found out about a great scholarship being offered by the Vegetarian Resource Group.

If you are graduating from high school in spring 2007 and have promoted vegetarianism in your school and/or community, you could win a $5,000 scholarship. Two winners will be chosen.

Applicants will be judged on having shown compassion, courage, and a strong commitment in promoting a peaceful world through a vegetarian diet/lifestyle. (Full application info).

Deadline is February 20, 2007. That seems like a long way off, but why not start your essay now during your summer break?

Need inspiration? Come on out and spend the day working among the pigs, cows, and chickens.

On Beauty

emu_beauty
Originally uploaded by rikkis_refuge.

Have you ever wondered who determines what is beautiful in our society -- and who gave them the power to decide?

Anyone who spends time surrounded by animals and nature can tell you that real beauty is all around us. If who don't think our emu model is absolutely stunning, you need to come out and spend some time at the farm.

Motivational poster made with fd's Flicker Toys.

Video blogging cats

Vlog cats --- that is, a video blog of cats. What are we talking about? Check out Josh Leo's Vlog Cat Clips at http://www.joshleo.com/vlogcats/.

Scoll down to the "Medicating a Cat" post -- uhmmm... yeah ... it's that easy!

Now that we have moved our website to hostmonster.com we, too, can make and upload little video movies to our site. We can have a whole series of video clips on "medicating cats" -- of course ours are feral, crazy, or turn wild the instant a human even THINKS of medicating them.

Who wants to volunteer to be in the first video?

Update: July 13, 2006: We set up our free video hosting account with YouTube, so come out and shoot some little video clips for us to post. Our user name is rikkisrefuge.

Alien cats invade Rikki's Refuge

alien_beings1
Originally uploaded by rikkis_refuge.

Rikki's Refuge cat population has been infiltrated with aliens! They look like regular cats. They act like regular cats -- but see how their eyes glow!

We have taken a number of photographs of these alien cats and will share them via our Flickr account soon. Scary!

The rikkisrefuge.org website has been moved from Burlee/Interland to hostmonster.com.

The website became inaccessible while on Burlee/Interland, and they never responded to a technial support request. Can't run a website that way, bro!

It's a Rainy Day

It's a Rainy Day here at Rikki's. Be we have big plans for tomorrow. If all goes as planned ... ... ha ha ... ... we'll be starting major remakes of Doggy Downs at 10 am tomorrow Friday 5/12. Be here to help Kenny and Chris. Thanks Kerry