Rikki's Refuge

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

March 7, 2018

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

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

Good Morning from Chevy !!!!

I think today should be all about cats .... what do YOU think ?

JoJo catching a ride on Clarence's shoulders

photo compliments of Clarence Deal

that's his favorite thing to do the whole time Clarence is working in Cat House #1. He's just the friendliest little guy ever !! Critters like Jo-Jo are what make it so much fun to work at Rikki's. You always know you're loved and appreciated !!!

Batman leading the hoomans in early morning yoga!

photo compliments of Clarence Deal

Breakfast time at Feline Fields

photo compliments of Clarence Deal

Buddy

photo compliments of Lolly Busey

Buddy and me been having a contest to see who can loose the mostest weight the fastest ..... Buddy is winning paws down !!!!

Pongo! He's king of the world!

photo compliments of Lolly Busey

He likes to think he's in charge of whatever room he is in! Isn't his nose cute? Pink and outlined in black !!!

Your Fearless Leader hard at work

photo compliments of da Hooman

Steppin out of Feline Fields to meet and greet some other animals .....

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

Morning Buttercup

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

Howdy Reece

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

Greeting Milo

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

Hey Obie, where's your shadow?

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

Ah !! There you are Wanda!

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

Where are you two headed off to?

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

Just a little breakfast for Madison and Lucy

photo compliments of Lolly Busey

The ducks love it when there feed container is full

photo compliments of Clarence Deal

It's only possible with the love and support of YOUR donations!

$9.99 buy 50 pounds of cracked corn or scratch or mash for the birds ..... could YOU spare a bag today? www.RikkisRefuge.org/donate

photo compliments of Clarence Deal

photo compliments of Katie Terrill

photo compliments of Clarence Deal

Today's afternoon project was working on putting up the new metal roofs for cat houses.

photo compliments of Clarence Deal

This is important cus our old plastic mesh was suffering from UV deterioration and would tear easily. Then it became urgent when so much land around us was clear cut and all the wildlife had no place to go, so they moved in with us. Even though we have 350 acres preserved just for wildlife, a sudden influx from hundreds of clear cut acres drove the animals to us to look for food.

One night gang slit open the roof of an aviary hoping for a buffet of poor little birds. Obie and Wanda barked for hooman back up and in no time the wildlife was chased out .... and we knew we had to put up safer roofing.

Next some went into cat runs to eat cat food at night. So now those roofs are all being replaced with metal too. We don't want the wildlife to be hungry ..... but they can't eat our animals and they can't go tearing up roofs to get in either !!!

First thing in the morning everybody splits up the chores and gets everybody fed and cleaned and medicated ... then they stock up the stations for the next day ... then, if it's a quiet nice day and nothing crazy is happening, they work on a project.

Today was putting up more metal roofing. It goes fast with lots of folks can help.

Did you know our cat outdoor play areas are 2,000 square feet for each Cat House? 100' long so the kitties can really run and play !!!! With trees and everything !!

Love, Opie

photo compliments of da Hooman

www.RikkisRefuge.org/donate

Thank YOU for making it all possible !

March 6, 2018

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

photo compliments of Clarence Deal

Ben says good morning to you good hoomans who make sure I'm safe and fed and loved !!!!

photo compliments of Clarence Deal

Kitties rush to the fresh warmer water after having a skim of ice and cold water during the night.

photo compliments of Clarence Deal

Did YOU Know ????

photo compliments of Lyn Hamlett

That you can drop off your donations for Rikki's Refuge at our Super Duper Fantastic Thrift Store in Fredericksburg, and Lyn will stop in and pick 'em up and bring 'em out to Rikki's ??   Yup!!!   How's that for convenience?

Just stop in at Re-Tail at 3503 Lafayette Blvd, Fredericksburg .... that's out of the city in the easy to get to part of Frederick burg with much less traffic and lots of parking!!!   Open ever day 10 am - 5:30 pm but Sunday noon - 5 pm.

AND if you bring TEN cans of CAT FOOD or more .... you will get 20% OFF on your entire purchase !!!!   How cool is that!!!!

Just LOOK at everything Lyn brought out to Rikki's today !!!!

photo compliments of Clarence Deal

Here's Clarence ready to unload !!

photo compliments of Lyn Hamlett

Yup .. you bring the donations and we'll unload your vehicle for you ..... no matter how much you bring !!!!!

Am I too late ?? No nums for me?

photo compliments of Lyn Hamlett

After the excitement of Lyn's visit and everybody coming out to say hi ....... the refuge quieted down and every one got back to their routine.

THEN .........

Obie and Wanda think they hear their best friend's truck coming down the driveway !!!

photo compliments of Cindy Wright

YES it's Cindy ..... Diva of Doggy Downs !!!! And a Truck full of nums for the BIG animals !!!!

photo compliments of Clarence Deal

Buzz and Chevy come to get some treats, love and snuggles with Cindy !!

photo compliments of Cindy Wright

After Cindy said hi to every body and handed out treats and was on her way and life returned to quiet normal routing chores ......

The sleet started falling ..... ughhhhh

The sky is falling !!!! The sky is falling !!!! The sky is falling !!!!

photo compliments of Doug Deal

How many kitties can you count taking cover from the sleet?

And that's how the day ended ..... icky and icy and wet ...

Love, Opie

photo compliments of da Hooman

www.RikkisRefuge.org/donate

Thank YOU for making it all possible !

March 5, 2018

March 5, 2018 - Opie's Diary of Daily Doings at Rikki's Refuge

photo compliments of Doug Deal

Dear Diary, it's Monday ... lots of paperwork ... but nothing unusual or specially citing .... ordinary days are good days !!! It's always a good day when nobody is sick .... no disasters happen ... and things all go smooth and nice !!!!

Good Morning!!

photo compliments of Doug Deal

Yup .. that's ice in the water bowl ..... brrrrr

photo compliments of Doug Deal

Not impressed with that frost on the ground.

photo compliments of Clarence Deal

Moon in the western sky.

photo compliments of Doug Deal

You're familiar with the multi-species sun deck by now !!!

photo compliments of Doug Deal

Here comes our Wishing Well !!!!!!

photo compliments of Clarence Deal
Coming our of storage and into the light of day !!!!!

photo compliments of Clarence Deal
Headed to the Life Center.

photo compliments of Clarence Deal
Where I hope volunteers will come and help me fix it up and paint it pretty. Will YOU help me? Volunteers@RikkisRefuge.org

Despite the sunny day .... it was chilly ...

photo compliments of Clarence Deal
and a good day for an afternoon nap curled in some cuddly straw.

This is Mommey Kitty

photo compliments of Doug Deal

We don't know where she came from. She just appeared last summer with three newborn kittens. She was skinny, anemic from all the fleas, sick. She was scared but too weak to out run my hoomans when they saw her. Her babies were only days old, flea bitten, full of worms, sick and skinny. Oh... so so sad ... they were all so so skinny. You could see the bones of the little babies. And poor sick Mommey was trying as hard as she could to nurse them. She was so sick and starved herself she had almost no milk for them.

My hoomans went to work as hard as they could to save everybody. Sadly the poor babies just weren't strong enough to survive and one by one we had to bury them at our Rainbow Bridge Cemetery. It was so sad. And Mama Kitty cried.

We thought she was going to give up and that she'd die too. But the hoomans took such good care of her and begged her to keep trying and promised she'd be happy again some day. And slowly she got stronger, and she started to get well, and finally she was walking around and starting to get interested in life again. It took her many months but now she's well and even a little bit fat. But not fat like ME !!!

She lives at the Life Center and she's still a little shy, but she loves to play with the other kitties and loves to be petted by the hoomans she's come to trust. She gets more and more trusting every day. She's not much more than a year old, and she's really like a kind and sweet and quiet and gentle forever home. Can she get dopted by YOU?

Love, Opie

artwork compliments of Wayne Morris

(artwork: Opie, compliments of Wayne Morris)

www.RikkisRefuge.org/donate

Thank YOU for making it all possible !

March 4, 2018

March 4, 2018 - Opie's Diary of Daily Doings at Rikki's Refuge

photo compliments of Doug Deal

The sun and the moon together, not long after a red sunrise. Still some color in the sky forming a red ring around the moon. That's really how the photo is .... I promise I didn't draw in that ring !!! Cool, huh?

Anything good to eat in there?

photo compliments of Doug Deal

Rays of sun on Feline Fields to the left ... Jackass Junction to the right ...

photo compliments of Doug Deal

some fresh new grass that needs eatin in between !!!

It was sunny but a bit chilly today .... and no rain ... so a good day for me and Clarence to put on our Roofer's Hats and go up and fix some leaks .....

photo compliments of Clarence Deal

A gaggle of guineas

photo compliments of Doug Deal

amongst the tractor implements.

A pair of ducks deep in conversation.

photo compliments of Clarence Deal

The guineas go marching past

photo compliments of Clarence Deal

while the baby mountain lion looks out !!! Wait, before you call the game warden, take a closer look, it's really a kitty resident. That's right, a regular kitty!!

Nibs helped Aunt Nora work on organizing all day at the Life Center

photo compliments of Nora Eldridge

Here he helps to hold down her bag so it won't blow away.

Equal times for dogs, says Buzz

photo compliments of Clarence Deal

We deserve as many pictures as Opie does and those cats do. Those silly cats think Rikki's is all about them. I'm on Obie's team this year. I hope you will vote DOGS in our April Cats vs Dogs contest !!!!

Well folks, that was about it for the day ... quiet ... sunny ... a bit chilly .... but over all a good day .... Just disregard Buzz there. YOU know who does all the work at Rikki's and who should be voted in as the Senior Spokes Animal and Leader of Rikki's in April. Don't YOU? I'm sure you'll vote for cats and ME, right?

Love, Opie

photo compliments of facebook

www.RikkisRefuge.org/donate

Thank YOU for making it all possible !