Rikki's Refuge

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Good Morning Good News !!!! June 22, 2011

I’m Vincent D. Cat and 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! I want my 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 me 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

Today is Dedicated to Teen Volunteers

Want to know about our fun summer plans at Rikki’s Refuge? This will be the second year for our exciting summer program for teens, ages 13 - 18 years old. And I get to go this year too, cuz I had my 13th birthday on April 30, so I’m officially a TEEN now, too!

At last summer’s program, some very special teens worked hard and showed tremendous Leadership Skills. They’ll be back this year helping to run the program. Congratulations to Kristina Anderson of Fredericksburg who’s been volunteering since the summer of 2007, Grace Fisher of Orange, Erin Paxton of Orange, Morgan Colonna of Spotsylvania, and Paige Receveur of Fredericksburg.

Teens CARE Program meets every Wednesday from 9 am - 3 pm, starting June 22th and running thru August 24th. On August 27th we have a great big celebration party for all the good work we did all summer long! Teens can sign up for the whole summer or for just a few days. Contact Katarina Galvin, our Youth Director, at katarinagalvin@yahoo.com or 540-854-0870 x3.

If you’re not a teen anymore, but you ARE young at heart, you’re welcome to come too! And if you’re not a teen YET, but you do love animals, ask your parent or guardian to come and work with you.

CARE is an acronym that tells you

what the program is all about.

CARING FOR THE ANIMALS

We teach kindness and compassion, because we firmly believe those with compassion for their fellow humans and animals help make a better planet.

They learn first hand the importance of neutering and spaying, so unwanted litters don’t end up in the shelter. There are so many inexpensive clinics now as well as financial assistance for those truly in need, so nobody needs to keep having puppies and kittens, call your local shelter or rescue group or call Rikki’s for a referral, 540-854-0870.

Teens get to work, hands on, with 22 species of animals. Cats and dogs and horses and cows and rabbits and more. They learn proper feeding and caring, grooming and cleaning. We’ll have a professional dog trainer spend a day teaching the tricks of the trade. Teens will hone their skills teaching dogs to walk politely on a leash, sit, stay and other useful commands that make them more adoptable.

Heee Heee Heee can’t teach us cats things like that!

ACTION TAKEN TO BETTER RIKKI’S REFUGE

We’ve come a long way in 13 years at Rikki’s Refuge. And there’s a long way yet to go as we continue to improve our animal neighborhoods, Feline Fields, Doggy Downs, etc. New construction allows us to care for more animals and animals of different species.

Teens help with repairs and new buildings and do a wonderful job of making things more beautiful. Several returning Teens are very artistic. They’ll be painting murals. Everyone can help.

Every year more and more folks come for tours to meet the animals. Summers are especially busy. The YMCA of Fredericksburg has signed up for four days of tours and volunteering. Teens who show maturity will train to be educational tour guides. You need to know something about all the different kinds of animals so you can ask questions!

Teens will learn to care for a vegetable garden during the summer. As summer comes to an end, they’ll have the fun of picking the veggies and feeding them to the animals!

We stress preservation and protection of our environment. Teens will be help make a six mile long path around the perimeter of our 367 acres. They’ll clear brush and set up nature observation sites and picnic areas.

RAISING FUNDS FOR RIKKI’S REFUGE

We count only on donations at Rikki’s Refuge and it takes a lot of work to raise enough money to feed and care for 1250 animals every day!! Teens will learn how much and how we do it. They’ll learn to write promotional material, make posters, talk to donors. Teens learn to budget and to get special bulk deals. And most fun of all, they’ll get to attend events like the Vegetarian Festivals.

EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE

WHEN YOU VOLUNTEER AT RIKKI’S REFUGE

Bringing joy and happiness to the rest of the world is a very important goal at Rikki’s Refuge. Some returning teens have asked to visit retirement homes with the animals this summer. This and many other new projects will happen this summer.

Our Youth Director, Katarina Galvin, said the most impressive experience was learning the necessity of facing and doing important tasks you don’t really like and doing them from a standpoint of love, such as what must be done for the animals. She loved watching the kids embrace responsibility and compassion. For many teens at the awkward age of transition, the CARE program raised confidence levels dramatically, just in time to enter high school.

Toni White, mother of teen Grace Fisher who’ll be back for her second year, says, “The overall culture of Rikki’s Refuge fosters a higher moral character than general society. Sadly, most principles that Rikki’s exemplifies, like compassion, integrity, hard work and self-sacrifice are fast-fading from day to day life. Thank goodness they can still be found in a few rare places....and definitely at Rikki’s!”

And it doesn’t end at the end of summer. Last summer’s teens helped sponsor Rikki’s Refuge Fall Furr Festival, Haunted Forest and they made Rikki’s Refuge float for the Orange Christmas Parade!

Did I tell you? Teens CARE Program is FREE!!!! It’s a public service offered by Rikki’s Refuge.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Good Morning Good News !!!! June 21, 2011

Today is Dedicated to my mom’s friend

Kathy Russell and her family.

I’m going to let mom tell the story.

A very dear friend of mine lost her mother yesterday. Moms are hard to lose. We only get one. I guess it happens to all of us sooner or later. And it's still tough. Real tough. Lots of love and prayers to my friend Kathy today. Please include her family in your prayers.

Meeting my dear friend Kathy, 30+ years ago, involved one of the most humiliating experiences of my live. Fortunately, what could have been a ruination to a new friendship probably helped cement the deal.

Teddy the Cactus Pooper (I'm using polite terms since this is family reading) lived with me at the time. He’d come to spend his last few months, which turned into years, after being returned to the group I worked with because he developed thyroid cancer. A skinny old man who now needed surgery, the folks who’d adopted him years before no longer wanted him, the organization didn’t have the money to cover the surgery and he wasn’t supposed to live long after it anyway, so was his life worth saving? His destiny was sealed - his life doomed.

I saw life in his eyes and I knew he wanted another chance. And so Teddy came to live with Fred and me. He had surgery, did very well, and despite a few oddities - probably not caused by the surgery - he lived several very happy years.

Teddy had a thing about cactuses. He loved to poop on them. At the time, I was young, and relatively new into rescue, and I still had plants all over my house, great big potted plants, hanging plants, you name it, my house was full of plants. As the population of cats increased, the population of healthy living plants decreased. Cats would dig in the big potted plants, chew off the leaves, swing from the macramé hangers.

Remember the days when anybody who was anybody made macramé plant hangers in their spare time? Remember the days when anybody had spare time? Though my life as cat (and other animal) rescuer is much more hectic than my life as basket weaver was, I have to say I’m much happier and much more fulfilled knowing I’m saving lives every day. Though there are some days I'd like to revert to basket weaving.

This frail old gray and white kitty, Teddy, would climb up into 4 inch pots in macramé hangers and dangle over them to poop on the cactus spines. I’m sure I had the only house in America, maybe the world, gee probably the universe, with cactuses in little pots hanging all over my house, with cat poo on top!!!! I never did figure out how he could do this over and over without getting spines in his butt.

If only little video cameras and YouTube had been around back then!

Teddy was also a vegetarian. He hated cat food. He loved things like cheese and tomato sauce and corn. Teddy loved Pizza. When my son was a young teenager he’d be so embarrassed to bring his friends home. We’d call out for a pizza for the boys and Teddy got first dibbs to eat all the cheese and lick off all the pizza sauce he wanted first. My son got a reputation around school, “see if you can get an invite to Jimmy's house, you gotta meet his crazy parents.”

Remember that time in your life when there is nothing more embarrassing than having anybody know who your parents are? Even if they are quite normal. Poor Jimmy, what he had to grow up with!

Teddy spent 98.7% of his life in front of the refrigerator screaming at the top of his lungs. We kept an assortment of sliced cheese for him to eat. Very seriously, he would not eat meat. No cat food, no tuna, not even Fancy Feast.

You’re probably thinking that the first day Kathy came over we called out for pizza. But no, I didn’t even know her that well. She was bringing a kitty over that she’d rescued and I was going to foster it for the group I (soon it would become we) worked with. Kathy and I were sitting in the family room chatting, we were about the same age, had many of the same likes and dislikes and had a lot in common. We were hitting it off real nice.

When, in strolls Teddy, who assesses the situation, says MEROOOWWW, looks Kathy in the eye, says Merooowww, lifts his tail and pees right into her open purse sitting on the floor next to her. I mean hosed, he totally unloaded. He never sniffed it once first. How he even knew he was in place for the hit I’ll never know. It seemed he totally ignored the purse. Caught her full attention. And then wham or psssssss I should say.

I about died, how could Teddy have done this! Teddy wasn’t a sprayer. Only on rare occasions would he do such a thing. Maybe Teddy was claiming Kathy as his fast and forever friend. She sure became mine.

As I was stumbling with apologizes and so upset, Kathy began to laugh. She went to the sink and dumped out her purse and rinsed off what she could. It always gave us something to laugh about when folks would say, so where’d you meet????

You know those few and far between friends you have in your life, the really special ones, the ones that you may be out of touch with for a few years and then when you talk again, it’s like you were just sitting around chatting last week? That’s the kind of friend Kathy is.

I remember one Christmas, one great big huge Christmas at my house. Back then we did a big thing for Christmas. Jimmy was little and still enchanted by Christmas and by wrapping and opening presents. All the family came to our house - despite the growing number of cats who kept climbing Christmas trees and knocking them over. We’d have several Christmas trees (from the days Fred and I loved auctions, definitely not enough cats to keep us busy in those days) and each tree would have a theme, like, for example, something like Cats. Did you guess? Then all presents under that tree would have to be cat related. Sometimes even cats! There’d be a house tree and all presents relating to house stuff, fix ‘em up things and so on. And the Sailing and Scuba Diving tree, and so on.

Gosh I must regress. This animal thing is a serious inherited disease that runs in my family. For my son's graduation from 8th grade we bought him a little sailboat all his own. He could tow it behind my dad's boat in the summer and then go off and explore deserted islands all by himself. We also adopted a foster cat, Jake, a big fat bobtail boy who nobody else wanted. He'd been a foster for months and it was going no where. Jimmy was begging us to adopt him. And so for graduation we made him close his eyes and took him out to see his new sail boat with a big red ribbon tied around it. Jake was sitting in the cockpit with a big red bow around his neck.

When Jimmy opened his eyes he screamed in delight and ran to Jake and said "oh you're mine you're mine I love you!" After a bit Fred said, "Jimmy, did you see what Jake was sitting on?" OH !!!! Then he noticed his sailboat!!!

One year before Christmas Kathy’s behavior got very odd. She’d come over to visit and love hanging out half way under the couch getting to know my real skittish kitties Elizabeth and Pumpkin. She’d always loved my kitties but this was getting a bit nutty. Trust me, just a bit nutty. She was like family and came and went as she please and several times I came home to find half of her sticking out from under the couch. Oh well ... we all have our eccentricities don’t we?

On Christmas day that year, Kathy apologized for not having much money and for “only” being able to give me a painting of my cats. All thirteen of my cats on a canvas looking just like themselves. From mean slapping Kasha to skinny Teddy. Of all the gifts I got that Christmas and maybe any Christmas ever, that was the most touching and most meaningful ever. Kathy is a fabulous artist and really captured everybody’s purrsonality purrfectly. And that’s why she’d spent so much time getting to know Elizabeth and Pumpkin under the couch!

Well Fred, I bet you’re glad I’ve got to get back to work and turn this back over to Vincent before I tell the Christmas story about the 89 gifts. If you have a chance take a picture of Kathy’s painting of our kitties and zap it to me. I’ll put it in here tomorrow.

Kathy took this photo of Mom and her brother patting Josephine, shortly before Josephine swallowed mom’s arm, camera and flashlight. All were recovered with no injury to Josephine. While the spectators were laughing so hard their masks filled with water, mom vanished. Their next thought was, “Oh my did Josephine go back for seconds?” and they got worried and started searching. It was a long time before anybody came to the surface, assuming mom was gone forever, to find her sitting in the dinghy. She’d shot out of the water so fast nobody saw her go. Diving in salt water was very painful for the next several days till the wounds that were like kitten claws raked up and down her arm, had healed over. Mom has since learned to leave wild animals alone! That was what she called her Summer of Wild Animals when she just had to pat a puma, a morray eel and then Josephine. I’m glad Josephine stopped her from going on the Pat the Wolf Sled Adventure. Maybe it’s a good thing mommey has no more money (we used it all up) to go on her so called “exciting adventures”!!!

YARD SALE at LOW FLEA MARKET SATURDAY

Ok we’re on for the show!!!! We’ll be there, just east of Lake of the Woods on Route 3, 8 am till 3 pm. And I’ll be there for kisses and hugs from 10 am - 12 pm. Please help us!!! Got things to donate? Come and buy! Come and kiss me!!!! Mom will be on hand with her camera. A $20 donation will get your picture with me, an 8 x 10 full color copy mailed to you!!!!

Monday, June 20, 2011

Good Morning Good News !!!! June 20, 2011

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY

Today’s Edition is Dedicated to my Daddy

and to yours!.

I’m really sorry it’s all late. I was just about to send it to you yesterday morning when I got called out of the office .... Well being a good kitty (am so mom!!!) I went and helped out, and then it was time to hug and snuggle and purr for my visitors, and then there was something else to do and then ... well when I sat back down it was almost 11 o’clock at night!!! Oh speaking of clocks don’t let me forget to tell you about Wayne’s new clock.

But first, my DAD !!!!!!
He’s a real King!!!

My Dad has to wear many hats to take care of us all.

And shoes too .....

All the local poachers are terrified of running into Bigfoot in the woods,

they’ve seen his feet print, so they know he’s out there just waiting to get them.

I know my Dad’s a plantavoir ....

... but the rumor in the poaching community is

you better watch out for that giant man eating rabbit!

My Dad is very talented - he’s a pig belly rub expert.

My Dad is a wild Mountain Man who leads Nature Hikes

My Dad is a fearless Sailor

I think that’s real scary, all that water really terrifies me,

but he’s brave enough to go scuba diving. Ick!!!

My Dad is so talented he’s even in the movies!

Thank you for being MY dad, Fred!!!!

YARD SALE at LOW FLEA MARKET SATURDAY

It didn’t go so good Saturday. Not much traffic. Only $30 all day for all that hard work from Kathy and Kim. What we really need is a GOOD location where we can set up and even store things on site. Do you have a house or a business with good visibility? Decent parking? Maybe even an extra shed we could use?? Preferable not too far from Fredericksburg, VA, USA.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Good Morning Good News !!!! June 18, 2011

Today’s Edition is Dedicated to my Grandma.

That’s my hooman Grandma. Today is her birthday. She’s celebrating it with all my friends at the Rainbow Bridge. She was an aminal lover, just like her daddy and her grandpa were.

This is her feeding Gertrude in 1938. Now you know why mom loves to dress me up!

And here she is in 1943 with her doggy Boomer.
That’s not the same Boomer who lives at Rikki’s Refuge with me!!!

My Grandma was a cool lady. She was the benefactor who donated to land to Rikki’s Refuge to make my home possible. Without her, I’d have had no place to go and I’d been sent to the Rainbow Bridge. It’s a nice place, but I’m glad I got to stay on planet earth !!! Thank you Louise Hilliard and everybody since who’s made Rikki’s refuge possible.

Rikki’s Refuge is named after her kitty.

I’ll let my grandma tell you the story:

Rikki, born Jan. 13, 1981, was a new breed - a Balinese, a Siamese mutation, same body shape, grace & disposition, but with silky long hair. My daughter gave Rikki to me in April 1981. He was greeted by our 11 year old Siamese, who let Rikki know, “I’m top cat.” Rikki, who was always happy, was satisfied to be “bottom cat”.

The only thing Rikki ever regretted was not having wings! He would climb the drapes, walk across the valence and look for something high to jump to, like the top of the china cabinet. He darted this way and that in perpetual motion. My husband said, “He darts around like a mongoose”. So Rikki was named after Rudyard Kipling’s Indian mongoose story, “Rikki Tikki Tavi”.

Rikki was 4 years old when the Siamese cat died at the age of 15. Rikki was lost. Who could he follow around? Rikki needed a companion cat. My husband suggested a kitten - so “Rikki could be boss for once.” When the kitten cried for its mother, Rikki laid down and the kitten suckled Rikki’s paw while Rikki washed him. Although Rikki was a bachelor, the kitten could not have had a better mother. The kitten grew up to be “top cat”.

Rikki would get up on my knick-knack shelves, and with a graceful paw movement would push a cat statue off, then lean over and watch it fall to the floor. This was great fun and Rikki would stop only temporarily when I said, “NO NO”. Rikki always hated water far more than the typical cat. One day while playing this game, I wet my fingers and tiptoed near enough to flip my fingers so a few drops of water hit him. He never played that game again!

My children grown and gone, my husband’s business keeping him out of town, Rikki was my loving, loyal, joyful companion. With me almost always - he slept with me, sat on my lap if I read or sewed, rode on my shoulder out to get the mail. Rikki never did a mean thing to a person or another cat. He was all softness and love. All he ever wanted in life was to be hugged and loved.

Rikki died in my arms in September, 1996 of kidney failure. He had become like a toddler in his illness - never letting me out of his sight. My grandson said, “Rikki was all love without a mean bone in his body.”

I still grieve for him, crying as I write this. What could be a more fitting memorial for Rikki, always so full of kindness & love, than to give comfort & love to homeless and unwanted animals. So I donate this land for Rikki’s Refuge as a perpetual memorial to Rikki for the love and happiness he gave me for 15 years. And so others, less fortunate than Rikki, may know love in their lifetimes. I know Rikki would approve.

Rikki’s Refuge’s Benefactor, Louise A. Hilliard, 1998

Under Grandma’s Kind and Loving Guidance

My Hooman Family Evolved Over the Years

1976

1978

1997

2003

Without my Grandma Louise

there would be no Rikki's Refuge. She always asked that in lieu of gifts for her birthday, please make a contribution for her beloved Rikki's Refuge. And you can do that right here! http://rikkisrefuge.chipin.com/honoring-louise-a-hilliard-benefactor-of-rikkis-refuge

The Celebration of the Life of Louise A. Hilliard

If you’d like to read more about the 80 years she spend on planet earth, here’s where to go: http://rikkisrefuge.org/Rikkis/louise_hilliard.pdf

YARD SALE at LOW FLEA MARKET TODAY

Please stop in and visit our site - lots and lots of new things this week!!!! The Flea Market is set up near Lake of the Woods on Route 3. If you’re coming from Fredericksburg, it’s on the left after the glass office building and the Ace Hardware and before Lake of the Woods light. Saturdays 8 am - 3 pm.

Kathy and Kim are running these sales to help support Rikki’s Refuge - 100% of proceeds is for food and medicine for the animals of Rikki’s Refuge. Please stop in and see what goodies we have this week.

Clean out your closets, your garage, your attic ......

Contact Kathy KDoucette@wri.org or Kim kidoujs@gmail.com or by phone 703-350-3957 if you have items they can sell to benefit Rikki’s Refuge. Their home is off Rt 3 not far from the new shopping center with Giant, Petco and Home Depot. They have a great garage for storing things.

VOLUNTEER to help with the sales on Saturdays.

Some things they’d like to get:

baked goods (no icing or other melt in the sun items)

potted plants

home accent pieces

furniture that is easily carried

chairs would be good, small tables or plant stands

decorative mirrors

anything you can put on the wall

kitchen items

camping items

anything for outdoor entertaining and living

Vincent Guest Appearance

from 10 am - noon on June 25^th at the Lake of the Woods Flea Market. And I better not get no fleas!!

ADOPTIONS

We hope to be doing adoptions at the Flea Market by next week too. Meet the animals and fill out applications, animals will be delivered at the time a home check is done after applications have been processed. Really really need more volunteer help. We can do so much for the animals. With YOU we can do so much more!!! Please sign up to volunteer for adoptions or other activities at Rikki’s.

FATHER’S DAY SPECIAL

Prince and Pop list two of their original Pig Paintings for Father’s Day!!! If you’ve got that dad that has it all .... well here’s something unique!!! Click on photo for more details.

Saturday Donation Drop Off

Every Saturday from Noon - 2 pm, gates open and you can bring in donations, food, especially Fancy Feast, and all kinds of things. We always need bleach, paper towels, cleaning supplies, trash bags, laundry detergent, dish detergent -- gee that does make us sound like a bunch of dirty animals doesn’t it? And don’t forget that canned food - cat and dog!!! And we’re running low on cat dry food again too. Gees it’s a never ending cycle, haul in the food, scoop the poop .......

Father’s Day Tour

Sunday at Noon - gates open at 11:30 am. Bring your dad out to meet the animals. I’ll be giving special hugs and kisses to all dads!!!! Tours are about two hours and it’s all outside, dress for the weather and remember sun screen, hats, and always good sturdy shoes and long pants and t-shirts with sleeves!! Hooves + sandals = smushed hooman feet!!! Claws + Scratchy Pig Bristles + shorts = itchy bloody hooman legs!!!! Tank tops + kitties climbing on shoulders = sore bloody hoomans! Help us help you enjoy the animals. It’s all interactive!!!

When visiting please remember to keep your car windows rolled up. They must be kept shut in the parking lot, Kitties and chickens can climb in thru the smallest slot left open. You may be thinking, well that’s ok, if kitty wants to nap in my car while I’m touring. But did you know many of the outdoor kitties are incontinent - they won’t mean to, but you’ll find your seats and dash and all over covered in drippy smelly stuff !!!! So keep those windows UP for all of us!!!

Tours every Sunday at Noon.

Last Week Rabbit Rotunda II opened for new residents!!!!

Hope you’re coming to visit this weekend!!!!

Love,

Vincent

Help me keep this wonderful Refuge running just the way my Grandma would want me to! http://rikkisrefuge.chipin.com/honoring-louise-a-hilliard-benefactor-of-rikkis-refuge

Learn more www.RikkisRefuge.org and help spread the good word, tell everyone you know about Rikki’s Refuge

Friday, June 17, 2011

Good Morning Good News !!!! June 17, 2011

If we made it to Cheezburger are we famous ????

SO CLOSE ......

http://rikkisrefuge.chipin.com/healthy-kitty-fund

Jan, Alyce and Kent have challenged you - open your wallets to help the kitties and they’ll open theirs big time Sunday - Matching $1,500 --- wowee, we’re almost there, if a few of you could just add one $ .... please !!!!!

Sorry, this isn’t formatted well

Having trouble learning the new format on this blog. Seems they took away all my functionality. HELP - what’s the best blogging system to use? Most flexibility? Please tell me. I think I need to switch off Blogger here.

Time is running out!

Do you need the perfect Father's Day gift?

Check out the paintings by father and son pot-bellied pigs on e-bay!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Surfing-painting-father-and-son-pigs-Rikkis-Refuge-/320713167481?pt=Art_Paintings&hash=item4aabfe9279#ht_500wt_1156

http://cgi.ebay.com/Oceans-and-Glaciers-painting-dad-son-pigs-Rikkis-/320713169816?pt=Art_Paintings&hash=item4aabfe9b98#ht_500wt_1156

The auctions end on Sunday at 1:00 est, so hurry and get in your bid! 100% of the monies raised from these paintings go directly to the animals. Well, not like they have their own checking accounts, but you know what I mean -- it will help with food, medical expenses, or what ever other needs they have.

Do you like the paintings,

but would prefer one painted by Vincent?

Or Duke? Or Candy the horse?

Or Rockstar the guinea pig? Or Nanny the goat?

Well, then come out to First Friday in Fredericksburg on Friday, July 1! All of the paintings by the animals will be on display, and for sale, at Dog Krazy! Their address is 1011 Caroline Street, Fredericksburg, Va., 22401.

First Friday's are very popular in Fredericksburg

-- during the summer, on the first Friday of every month, art comes to life in downtown Fredericksburg. Many stores and art galleries stay open late (until 9:00) and display the works of local artists. This town is full of talent, and the animals have now joined them!

The art show will begin at 6:00 p.m. But come early and shop the store! Dog Krazy is donating 20% of their sales for the entire day to Rikki's! Customers are already saying "what? 20%? You always donate 10%."

Nancy Guinn, the owner, says that she loves Rikki's because they take the animals that no one else will, so she wants to do something that she has never done before, and she is giving us more. The paintings have even inspired her own bulldog, Piglet, to paint! And Piglet is donating her very own first painting to the effort!

To see Piglet's painting early, check out Dog Krazy on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dog-Krazy/146655838194.

So, come down to Dog Krazy, have some light refreshments, and view and purchase a painting for yourself! They make great gifts, too! And if a painting is "not your thing", then check out the Christmas ornaments! Priced at only $5 each, they make great gifts, and would also look great as part of the wrapping of a present!

Can't make it on the 1st? Don't worry. Mary and Melissa are busy finding other locations to show and sell the art. Currently, a library in the Fredericksburg area and an art gallery in Orange are considering showing the paintings.

Do you drink Coca Cola products?

Rikki's is collecting the Rewards codes from their 12-packs. If you would like to give your rewards codes to Rikki's, simply e-mail the codes to Melissa at dogslife24@comcast.net. Rikki's will use the points to receive items that can be used for fundraisers, or for trying to win some of their many gift card giveaways. Every little bit helps!

We’re so almost there

http://rikkisrefuge.chipin.com/healthy-kitty-fund please help us meet the challengs so Jan can get out that check book on Sunday!!!!

Hello! From Petco

I just wanted to remind all of you pet enthusiasts, rescuers, and working dog handlers that the Fredericksburg Petco (5717 Plank Road) is now offering Pet Nutrition Seminars for free in the store! Our special "Size Matters" canine seminar is tonight at 7pm!

The upcoming seminars include:

*Friday, June 17th at 7pm "Size Matters" - a canine nutrition seminar about specific dietary requirements of large vs small breed dogs.

*Friday, July 15th at 7pm "Senior Special" - a canine nutrition seminar about the metabolic changes and specific dietary needs of older dogs.

*Friday, August 19th at 7pm "Upset About Digestive Upset?" - a nutrition seminar for both cat and dog enthusiasts, interested in learning more about what makes a sensitive stomach formula special, the difference between prebiotics and probiotics, and the benefits of fiber in a pet's diet.

*Friday, September 23rd at 7pm "From the Inside Out" - a nutrition seminar about foods to support your pet's skin and coat.

This free, informal customer-education opportunity may be benefical to pet owners/handlers who feed a commerical diet, like the one's sold at our local Petco store or are interested in more information about pet supplements. I hope you take advantage of this free opportunity and look forward to answering your questions at our seminar tonight!

If you have any questions, you may reply to this email or call the store at 540-785-0137.

Thank you for your time!

Stephanie Holmes

snderr8459@aol.com

DESPERATELY NEED TIEMS FOR YEARD SALE

JUNE 18^th and June 25^th

Some things they’d like to get: