Welcome to July !!!
Wow I learned a new word "derecho" -
that's what happened Friday night!!! Scary and messy but
gosh we were so lucky!!! It's a nuisance and made lots of work and has cost
lots of money --- thank you thank you thank you all of you who are foregoing a
cup of coffee, a bag of groceries, or something to help us out, I love you
muchly, you know I've been having troubles with other bills and just not quite
the green stuff to trade for them and now this, poo on Derecho!!! ----
But I be so thankful we all be ok. Such bad and terrible
things could have happened but they really be little when you look at what
happened in other places. Our trees landed on the ground, small limbs and
leaves all over, but no serious damage, and I can drive around and see smushed
houses and sumushed cars, and I hear even some people and pets got smushed ---
so I thankful it really be so little here.
You know, we could have lost the new office trailers. They'd
just finished setting them on the foundation piers. Just Friday morning they'd
come back and installed the tie downs. The guy said it's so darn hot to be
working the guys like this but this is great weather for a bad thunderstorm and
you'd sure hate to see one go over. Thank goodness. Can you imagine after all
it's taken to finally get them ...... and they be gone before we ever get
inside !!!! Of course this will delay the electricity getting hooked up - which
is the next phase -- but you know something? That be ok, that be just fine!!!
And you know what else I be thankful for? I thankful for all
of you who been helping us. You who's been contributing $s where you can, those
who brought out bottled water for us and gatoraide for the hoomans before we
got the well pump converted to work on the generator, those who came to help
clear debris. And you know what else? I'm so terribly terribly thankful for my
staff who came to help us. They had to clear debris from their own homes, stop
and clear things off the roads, take detours, and they came to take care of us.
And in that hot hot humid weather, they made sure we all had water, even the
cows way way way down in the field, where they had to clear more trees and
branches to get to their water tub. A great big thanks to Valerie, Wayne, Doug,
Philip, Heather, Shannon and Sean who all made it in on Saturday - bright and
early to help us and to make sure we were safe.
Wayne spent several hours with the afternoon sun beating on
his back working, hanging over the side of the pump house reaching down in, to
rewire the pump so it could run off the generator.
WOW ...... I gotz me wonderful hoomans who help me !!!! And
I LOVE YOU each and every one of you !!!!! You're what makes it possible to
have the Republic of Rikki's where the animals are allowed to live!!! Those of
us that nobody else wants and so many think shouldn't even be allowed to live
cuz we're missing a part. My feet, Duke's eyes. We thank you - cuz we love our
life just as much as you love yours !!!! I don't even miss my feet!! Never had
'em, don't need 'em, me and Timmy can still play and lick each other and purr
and be very happy!!!!
OH OH OH OH Really cute story. At the electric store when
grandma and me went to get the supplies to hook up the well pump to the
generator, there was a young man, maybe 10 or 12, kind of hard to tell on
hoomans how old they be, it's always such big numbers, and he looked at mom's
shirt and said, "You work at Rikki's?" and she said, "Yes, have
you ever come to visit?" and he said, "Yeah, and you know who's my
favorite of all? Leaper!! I love Leaper!! Do you know his story? He got a bad
tattoo and it damaged his leg, but he's a real cool cat!"
You can watch Leaper leap and make you smile !!
YES YES YES
--- well is running FINE now --- got it running on the
generator. So we're fine on water. Have enough gatoraide for the staff for a
bit !!! Thank you all very much. If you're coming out we need gas. BUT before
coming out be sure YOU have enough gas to travel and to get home. We've got
people coming and getting stuck cuz it's getting hard to buy gas. Places have
no electricity, can't pump. And of the two that have had electricity in town,
one ran out of gas yesterday.
I'm hearing from people coming down from the northern
virginia area that they can't find gas anywhere along the way. I don't wanna be
a mean kitty cat, but with it getting harder to get and me needing to run that
generator, I can't give anymore away - not at any price !!!! I sorry !!!! If
you do have a full tank and can get in with more and can find a can to even put
it in - I'm hearing that's all sold out - we can still use gas. About 20
gallons a day for the generator it looks like.
LAUNDRY is a disaster --- thankfully we don't need much for
warmth right now -- the laundry mat by tractor supply in orange, same shopping
center as pizza hut and near Co-Op is open 24/7 --- if you can come and take
laundry --- please help --- if you don't have a truck or something bring BIG
plastic bags to put it in. It's like way icky. Some of us poo our beds. That's
why we live here, cuz Rikki's loves us anyway. Quilts, dog and cat beds, cage
pads, towels -- lots of icky things needing washing. This is gonna be one more
of those extra expenses, it gets real expensive to do laundry at the mat !!!!
Thanks for your donations everybody - you're keeping us
going and giving us hope that some day the lightbulbs will shine again !!!!
Oh and just a little bit of sad news ..... The tour on July 4th is cancelled. Wez got catching up to do from the storm and
cleaning up and it still be very hot.
The aminals get stressed when it gets hot and they need to be clam and
just lay around in the shade. Only da
hoomans can be out working hard !!!!
And dats cuz a you got them the gatorade!!!!
It be very bad too if the visitors pass out from the heat
!!!! When da ambulance comes to take
them away it makes lots of noise and scares the aminals !!!! So maybe tour next time!!! Boo, I gonna miss seeing my friends
.... ok well I go lay in shade now.
I hope you and yours did fine during the storm.
I love you,
Opie
