Thursday, June 14, 2012

Good Morning Good News !!!! June 14, 2012


We are Vincent D. Cat and adopted sons Opie and Timmy and we are 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! We want our 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 us 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
I’z a little behind again !!!!   You can keep more up to the minute with us on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/vincent.cat We’ve got the max number of friends so you’ll need to subscribe, but that will give you all the second by second news of what’s going on at Rikki’s !!!!

Everybody be remembering to vote today !!!! Just click here http://tinyurl.com/VoteRikkis and Enter USA, VA, Rikkis Refuge and then enter the the code it shows!!! No registration, no apps, no nothing - quick and simple!!!


IMPORTANT NEWS from Melissa Felts: paws crossed! Wish me luck at the bake sale and raffle ticket sale (Autograph Quilt http://rikkisrefuge.blogspot.com/2012/06/raffle-spectacular-autograph-quilt.html) today! It's at Dixie's Hair Salon on Lafayette Blvd. at Princess Anne St. It's right across from the train station. I'll be there from 10:00 until 2:00! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dixies-Hair-Studio/123476841015137


Ok here be the notes from my Diary this week !!!!   Now you can know all about what’s happening!!!


Sunday June 10, 2012

Timmy wants to thank everybody for making his First Birthday on June 10th, Sunday just spectacular !!!!  He had a wonderful party, lots of presents from his friends and then GreatGrandPa took us shopping to trade Timmy’s birthday green stuff for nummy stuff !!! 
Oh my goodness !!!! We shopped till we dropped !!!!! Me and Opie be so tired GreatGrandPa had to carry us out the store !!!! You should see all the goodies we gotted!!!!! I be so excited !!!! And we stopped for ice cream too !!!! Num num num. The not so nice lady behind the counter said SIR we don't allow ANIMALS in here it's against Health Department Rules. GreatGrandPa said EXCUSE ME .... these are MY Great Grand Kids you trying to discriminate? Now serve me up one chocolate, one tuna and one mouse sunday!  And nummy was it good.  Cept for that chocolate one poor GreatGrandPa had to eated.  He didn’t even want try my mousey one!


Good Good Good News - the three cows in West Virginia who wanted to come to live at Rikki’s and not get killed and ground up to be hamburger and get eaten - got a ride !!!!   A nice man who drives rescue horses said he has a cattle rig and he’ll give them a lift.  Soon as they get their traveling cross state lines health certs or what ever it is for cattle, they’ll be headed on down here!!!  Yippee !!!!!   Thank you to everyone who shared that message around.  Cuz of YOUR help the cows are saved!!!!



Check out some of this cool furniture !!!!!   Your imagination cold be our dream!  What can YOU make for us?  CONTEST --- Make something and we’ll test it out and get your picture in here !!!!
http://www.felinesnoozers.com/


GORDONSVILLE VIRGINIA - PET SITTER and MORE -- Excellent well qualified pet sitter, located in Gordonsville Virginia, lots of experience with dogs and cats, medical issues, can give meds etc! Mother Daughter team Contact Christiann and Sarah christiannrogersd@gmail.com Sarah is also a very accomplished piano teacher. I know them personally, have been to their home many times and know their cats and dogs and the care they provide. Christiann is also available for personal errands and assistance. Got a need? Just ask. If they can help, they will !

Grandma got invited to a webinar "Watch and learn: Radiographing vomiting patients" sure sounds like fun doesn't it !!!!! I bet we can find some friends to practice on !!!!! Gack Gack Gack

And all that was just Sunday!  Then we gotted to Monday !!!!

MONDAY June 11, 2012

Well good morning to you !!!! Another bright and sunny day!!! It's Timmy Bday + 1 and we're chowing down this morning!!!! Nummy presents. Thank you all !!!! Timmy be happy and he's learning more and more everyday that people's can be good. Cuz he met-ed on bad one who hurted him when he was a baby he can't be thinking all are bad and scary. He gotta be happy and love life and look for the good poeples. That make him happier too !!!! There's always gonna be some peoples who ought to get covered up in the litter box. Wez kitties just gots to cover them best we can and go on looking for da nice ones that a gonna clean the box out for us !!!!

Did you know I have an Uncle Alfred? Well I did. It's sad I think. I never knowed him. His barrister sent me an email today telling me that my great uncle Alfred of the same sirname - I think that means Cat, that's like last part of name hooman use, right? - died. I guess he was trying to reach out to his long lost relatives - I not be lost but I guess he was lost? - to share his great fortune. Sadly he died before he found me. But he got a barrister to keep up the search. And now they've found me !!!! And they want to give me the 50 million pounds sterling that he left behind. Gee I wish it was 50 million pounds of Fancy Feast!!

He just be needing grandmom's bank account number. I asked him where I might could find it and he said to look on a check and it should be there. To hurry hurry before mom was up so I could give her the goodly surprise of all the pounds in her bank account this morning. He said she's give me an extra Fancy Feast appetizer if I worked quick.

So I need your help. I'm looking at a check and there are all kinds of numbers on it. Which ones do you think this nice barrister man want's me to tell him???? Hurry hurry, tell me quick, I want to surprise Grandma !!!!    -----   Love, Opie


I think I gotted born to help save da aminals and to teach peoples to be nice to dem


Oh Imelda Samaniego THANK YOU and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOO !!!! Look what Imelda wants for her Birthday !!!


Wez be in da paper for winning in the Toyota Contest!!!!!


Annette Harley !!!! WOW Thank you !!!!! Annette just signed up as a monthly donor !!!!! This is a huge help to us. It means we know we can count on you each and every month. We certainly feed everybody every month and it's a real comfort to know you're there to help us!!!!


Remember to check in every day and vote for somebody to make them real happy in the Toyota 100 Cars for Good contest!!!!  https://apps.facebook.com/carsforgood/  You know how good you felt being on our winning team !!!!  Well you can do that for somebody everyday !!!!!


WORST email of the day --- "We've been trying to make a substantial donation to animal shelters and everyone is turning us down. They "claim" to be full and don't want our donations. We have 4 large dogs and 3 cats we are hoping to donate to an agency. If you do not want this donation, please put us in touch with organizations that are taking donations." ........I'm serious .........


BEST email of the day -- "Thank you so much for offering to take my cat, KEE KEE into Rikki's Refuge. I am so glad I had the time to read up on Feline (FIV). My vet had me very worried for a short period of time. Kee Kee will remain with me and I will take the best care possible for him. I am providing a small monthly donation to your organization for having a open heart to take him in I wish other organizations were like yours. God Bless your staff."

YES YES Yes, LUCKY KITTY AND WONDERFUL HOOMAN --- WOULD LOVE WAY MORE MESSAGES LIKE THIS ONE !!!!!!


Another great email was from Mike Wood, one o our volunteer acquisitions coordinator.  He works mostly with Purina, but he’ll help with anything!!!!    He wrote to tell me Purina is going to make a "little" donation on Thursday ..... cat litter, it's scoopable clay, and it will last us almost 10 months.  YIPPEE, we were within a few weeks of running out!!!!  So this be really good news!!!!

Can you guess how much - in pounds - cat litter this is and what kind of vehicle(s) will be needed to deliver?


AND Monday was the Take delivery of our 4,749 pounds of the Worlds Best Cat Litter, which YOU won for Rikki’s by voting in a contest !!!!!!

The driver called and said HOLY COW that's not a drive way, that's a hole in the forest and I'm NOT coming down that!!! So he went and parked at the Harley dealer and I said fine, we'll come out to meet you. 10 minutes away.

He said WTF what are YOU going to drive I have almost FIVE THOUSAND POUNDS of stuff for you - do you have any idea how much this is, how are you going to unload it, what are you going to put it in, how long is this gonna take??

I said TRUST ME !!! It's ONLY 5,000 pounds, we're used to handling a LOT more product !!!!

I took the big van, with the transmission problem but that doesn't matter for hauling!!! It's a cargo sized van with one non removable seat that makes a bed in the back. And Blue Dog the pick up that has a cap on it. 8 foot bed, ordinary truck.

The guy's standing there with two tall pallets (the height of two "normal" ones stacked together) and another 1/2 pallet and says you're going to put THIS in THERE? And how long is THIS going to take?

Out jumped Valerie, Doug, Billy, Heather and Phil (and me) and they went to town !!!! That first half pallet was off his truck before he could even bring the next one forward. Even with shuffling vehicles, being rained on, and with an itty bitty room to spare, we were all loaded up and rolling out in just under 13 minutes after arriving on the Harley lot !!!!

The driver said, I've never seen anything like this !!!!!

You want to help Rikki’s? We’ll sure do everything we can to make it as easy as possible !!!!

Next time you’re at Rikki’s give the staff a little thank you.  A card saying thanks for all your hard work for the animals, a gift card for gas, a plate of cookies!!!  They are really dedicated hard working people and do so much above and beyond their duties for their animal charges!!!


Woooo Hoooo I got mentioned in the paper twice today --- well Rikki's did --- THANK you everyone who shared the cow story -- a lovely gentleman who's driven rescue horses will be giving them a ride !!!!!! We couldn't save the animals without your help!!


Big thank you to Cathy Dyson of the Freelance Star for your help too!!


Getting married this summer?  We still had two of the designer wedding dresses available - the ones YOU won for us in the Fancy Feast contest - never worn - brand new - retail $5,000 - get a deal here!!!!  One has been put on consignment in Occoquan, Va at LaBella’s  http://labellabridalboutique.com  Ask us for more info ......   Melissa dogslife24@comcast.net

TUESDAY, June 12, 212

Good morning. It be kind a dark out there ...... it be cloudy stuff .... or is light thing not up yet .... or it gonna be ducky day ??? What dat weather hooman have to say?

It be a ducky kind of day.  Kind of rainy and wet and cloudy.

Can you help me with thoughts of dry please? I gotz two tractor trailers a coming wif da litter, 75,000 pounds from Purina, and dey needs the weather to bez dry to get the trucks in da road. Please not to let today's raining soak into the ground too deep and no more rain till they leave on Thursday, ok? It be very bad when da tractor trailer get stuck. One time it tooked three big tow trucks to get one out. Yikes !!!


Shared by Lauren Gordon: Saw a blurb in the Examiner that the Washington Humane Society and the Omni Shoreham Hotel in DC (2500 Calvert St, NW) will be hosting a Towels to Toys Recycling Event on Saturday, 16 June 2012, from 10 AM to 2 PM at the hotel. Event open to the public. Dog owners encouraged to bring furry friends. Folks will be cutting and twisting the hotel's discarded linens into dog toys which will be distributed to local Humane Societies.


8:44 am -- I'm going on a road trip !!!!! Gotta go get two RR Ties for the landing gear on the tractor trailers coming Thursday with the Cat Litter ...... Iz be back .... dey better have some mighty strong hoomans there to load them up, cuz I'm staying out of the way, I no wanna get squished !!!!








Amy Griffin writes in ----  Opie - Guess what? I found a kitten last night! He was stuck in a hole in the stump of a huge tree in the woods in front of my house! Somehow I heard him crying & found him & Kenny was able to get him out of the hole. He's about 5 weeks I think. He's not sure how to eat or do anything on his own, but he's got the teeth. He's all gray with blue eyes. His name will be Gibbs (he's a character on the tv show NCIS). Will post a picture as soon as I get a good one of him!"

WEDNESDAY, June 13, 2012
9:28 am -- Good morning!!!! It be sunny. The ducks not be so happy today. But I be happier. I need that ground to dry up so the litter trucks can get in tomorrow !!! Dry ground Dry !!!!! You help me blow on it to make it dry. It be bad when big tractor trailer get stuck. Real bad!!!! Vincent said the message in this picture is a real good one, and it's something I must help keeping every body to learn. It's real important. WWVD = be kind to everyone, no matter how many legs they have or how long their ears are. Yup, that's what my dad says!!! Who can you be kind to today? Can you think of just one little thing that will really make somebody's day??? Drop your sandwich so a goat can eat it. Adopt a shelter pet? Foster somebody for a rescue? Donate the price of a cup of coffee to the animals? That'd make me real happy!!! http://rikkisrefuge.org/donate.php


So the plate is full today. Tippy the doggie already had to go to hospital. She be peeing blood. She been having lots of bladder troubles for couple months now. Seems like everything works for a little and then stops working. She be old and grandma be real worried about her.

Michelin, the b/w kitty who Valerie saved after she got hit by car. The kitty, not Valerie. She's been in the hospital at the doc's very sick since Monday. She's looking good and should come home to our hospital today. She does have a pelvic break, and other problems inside that had to of been there before the accident. Her abdominal organs were enlarged and that's what was making her look pregnant. Ultra sound and xrays don't look so good in there. But pretty sure it's not from the accident. She must have been sick before. Paws crossed we can get her all well.

We have lots of stuff to pick up at Pharmacy today. Gotta take a truck. All the fluids for the kidney kitties and syringes for everybody. Even the ones with the great big needles for the horses and cows and goats and all !!! Yikes, those be scary !!!!

Grandpa needs a ride to the grocery store and drug store. And late this afternoon the man who'll be putting up the office trailers is coming out to survey the sight. So it's getting closer and closer to happening !!!! Paws crossed. Yikes, grandma says Opie, you gonna have an office in the new trailers? Well you better do da fundraising to get them going!!! Oh no .... Why's it all up to me???

Beauty sure ain't doing a good job of paying for her surgery. She just keeps eating doors and things in the house and costing more money. Bad dawgie. She says she won't help pay her bill till she's out of confinement. Not fair - bad dog!   http://rikkisrefuge.chipin.com/beautys-knee-surgery

Ok well I go be playing with Timmy in the sun now!!! Seez you later!!! Love, Opie


From Amy Griffin --- Okay guys, prepare for cuteness! Meet Gibbs! I found the little guy in a hole in a tree in the woods. So far, seems happy & healthy with a bit of feisty! :o)










10:52 pm -- Oh what a day !!!!! We’re pooped !!!! All dis supervising of dem hoomans is tiring work !!!! I needs to cat nap but wanted to say hi to you first. Today was good, not so good and total poo.

The sun shined all day and the field where the tractor trailers need to go looks like it should be dry enough for tomorrow. Yippie --- we be getting 75,000 pounds of kitty litter all for us to poo in !!! So that be good.

My buddy friend an really nice dawggie Tippy has a terrible tumors in her bladder, it’s really big and it’s really bad. She’s pretty old too. The doc put her on medicine for 30 days to see if it will shrink and if it will they hope they can do surgery and make it better. Paws crossed please.

Michelin, the b/w kitty who Valerie saved after she got hit by car, came home from the hospital today. Her injuries from the accident aren’t too bad and she’s doing well from them and that should be ok. The real problem is something was really wrong before the accident. Kidneys, liver, spleen, blood count - it’s all messed up. Doc don’t think she’s gonna make it, but thinks we can manage it as well at home now as they can in the hospital and here she’ll get that magic called love.

She got home to the refuge just in time for Valerie, our cat whisperer, to take her home. I was so worried when about ½ an hour later Valerie called -- I was thinking oh no ..... But Valerie sounded all happy and said I just sent you a video!!! Just as soon as Michelin saw her cozy bed and her food bowl she started purring and gobbling down the nums. Here she is !!!! Love really does wonders. Paws crossed for Michelin to heal from everything that’s wrong with her.


Lena took the truck to the pharmacy and picked up all the fluids for the kidney kitties and syringes for everybody. It really filled the back of the truck !!!!

We took GreatGrandPa shopping. He needed nums and medicines and things. He took me and Timmy shopping on Sunday, so this time we taked him !!!!

AND there’s a thrift store right near the grocery store and we gotted something we’ve been looking for, for a long long time. It be the Paws for Prayers Cabinet. It’s a cabined with a glass front. GrandMa has a statue of a cat praying, she’s sort of praying over a basket and GrandMa writes her prayers on a piece of paper and puts them in the basket. She calls it her Paws for Prayers Kitty. But she can’t keep the kitty sitting out in the office cuz sometimes us kitties get wild and we knock things over and they get broke. So now we have the purrfect cabinet to put it in!!! Isn’t that nice?? And it only be $5.99!!!

This afternoon the nice man who’s gonna put the office trailers on foundations came out to work out some of the details. He and mom went over where they were going to be and stuff. He should start work on Friday !!!! Yeahhhh .... Do you think someday we’ll really be able to use them?????

And so does that sound like a busy day???? Well I started writing to you about an hour ago when GreatGrandPa hollered that he needed help. Oh Yikes, he was sitting in a chair in his room with a big stream of blood running down his leg, and a big puddle on the floor. He bumped his leg on the corner of the bed and it made just a little hole. His skin is fragile and he’s on blood thinners and oh my gosh -- it was a ½ roll of paper towels to clean up after putting pressure on it for the longest time to make it stop and then bandaging. So now GreatGrandPa is nighty and starting to purr.

We think we better go nighty too. Yaaaawwwwwnnnnnn

Love, Opie and Timmy



Thursday June 14, 2012   FINALLY TODAY !!!!!!

And so the sun has come out for another day !!!! That's pretty cool huh? Da sun comes every day. Even if it's kind of cloudy, there be some sun out there ... every day !!!! That so nice.

Today we have big delivery. Purina has donated 75,000 pounds of kitty litter !!!! Yippee !!!! I be so excited !!!! It's reject litter from the factory, but hey, that's ok, some bad hoomans say I reject kitty cuz I got no hind feet !!! And really, what we gonna do with the litter no how? Like poo in it?? So who cares if it's the wrong kind in the container, wrong smell, like orange smell in lime boxes -- if you can poo in it then it's good !!!! Right?

The first load should arrive about 11 am and it's a big 18 wheeler coming. Then they gotta unhitch the trailer and go get the second load. They get back about 3 or 4 pm then. Everybody real glad we be renting the trailers for a bit so they don't gotta unload all that today !!! That make all dem hoomans tired just thinking about unloading 75,000 pounds in one day !!!!

That's the biggest excitement on the schedule today. Everything else looks quiet ....... paws crossed .....

Love, Opie and Timmy


 Stay tuned for more important insights from Opie !!!!!

LOTS
  OF
   LOVE
 Opie

PPS You tell me what you want! Email me at Vincent@RikkisRefuge.org with instructions to change your subscription: additions, deletions or modifications! Subscriptions:  Vincent’s VIPs - up to the second alerts about issues at Rikki’s Refuge for those who care and want to be intimately involved. Scheduled as needed. Good Morning Good News - a little something to get you going in the mornings, for those of you who want to keep smiling with us! Scheduled daily. Hairballs - so you know what’s coming up at Rikki’s! Scheduled weekly.

Rikki's Refuge, supported solely by private donations, houses over 1200 animals of 22 species. On line at http://bit.ly/Give-a-gift-to-Rikkis Checks, money orders, cash, items at Rikki's Refuge, PO Box 1357, Orange VA 22960

Rikki's Refuge is owned and operated by Life Unlimited of Virginia, Inc., an IRS 501(c)(3) not-for-profit Virginia Corporation, tax-id 54-1911042. Combined Federal Campaigns #77674, Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign #3163, PetsMart Charities #1377. A financial statement is available upon written request from the State Office of Consumer Affairs.

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