UPDATED DONATION HOURS AT OUR RE-TAIL THRIFT STORE

We have updated our DONATION DROP-OFF HOURS for our Re-Tail Thrift Store located at 3503 Lafayette Blvd, Fredericksburg, VA:

DONATIONS ACCEPTED:

WEDNESDAYS & SATURDAYS 10am – 3p

Read more about our store here:

FRIDAY, APRIL 23rd – JOIN US !!!

March 17, 2021 Wednesday at Rikki’s Refuge

March 17, 2021 Wednesday at Rikki’s Refuge

all in a day’s work …. photos by those caring for the animals
(you can help support those animals at www.RikkisRefuge.org/Donate)

Good Mooooorning

Coooockaaadoooodllllllddooooooo

Dark and cloudy day

But look what’s growing !!!

Wooly Hair Day – humidity always makes it stand out !!

We’ve churned all this up and it’s like sand …

Please get us MUD !!!

With a little water, Patrick makes quick work of digging a hole

Thank you !!!

Clean up time

Doug scoops

with helpers

Hay delivery time

Running along side the tractor

Heading into the evening

Because of YOU WE have a happy loving home at Rikki’s Refuge

www.RikkisRefuge.org/Donate
Rikki’s Refuge, 10910 Barr Ln, Rapidan VA 22733 (shipping address for food, etc)
Rikki’s Refuge, PO Box 1357, Orange VA 22960 (secure box for checks, etc)

Thank YOU for making it all possible !!

March 16, 2021 Tuesday at Rikki’s Refuge

March 16, 2021 Tuesday at Rikki’s Refuge

all in a day’s work …. photos by those caring for the animals
(you can help support those animals at www.RikkisRefuge.org/Donate)

Bella waiting for her morning apple.

Macy and Honors waiting for their’s.

Goats in the dark of early morning

5 am at the Life Center

what are the lights doing on ?

Looks like the cats have fed themselves, gotten fresh water, cleaned up, taken the trash out, and have their dishes in the sink !!!

Looks like we have a stormy day in store for us

Hope we can get lots done before it pours.

Weather never stops us, but it sure makes tasks more difficult.

Look !!! An angel over the 9th Life Retirement, Assisted Living and Psychiatric Center. Can YOU identify her?

It’s Sylvia, one of our guinea hens. They come in many colors, she’s our lightest one. Isn’t she beautiful?

All is well at Feline Fields this morning.

Let’s take a walk down to the creek where the trailcam is.
Ohh look who visited !!! A wild turkey.

Three of them !!

Four !!!

We’ve never had a turkey leave to join a wild flock.
A Mrs. Peacock left once and went wild. She spurned our Mr. Peacocks constantly. Ond day a large flock of wild turkeys were out in the field, and something blue and green was glinting out there. It was a Mrs. Peacock. I’d thought she was investigating, but that night she didn’t come home. A few days later, there was the flock and there she was. I tried to entice her home, but she said, I’m not coming back where those annoying Mr. Peacocks are. Saw her very frequently that spring with her new flock of wild turkeys. I worried about her over the summer, but they were all back that fall. I saw her off and on for several years, living happily ever after with her turkeys !!!!

Breakfast in the hospital.

This guy is about to go home, he’s been in with a UTI, just a couple more days of meds to make sure all is well. He’s not easy to catch, and would require netting if he knew we were coming at him with a pill !!! Some kitties we can medicate in their homes. Others need to spend some time in our 24 bed hospital. Thankfully there are usually only a few patients in the hospital at a time, though we have had to fill it up and add temporary cages occasionally. Nobody enjoys those times !!

Breakfast at Feline Fields.

Nearing the end of breakfast at Feline Fields.

Marbles heads down to feed the residents at Piggy Paradise.

While you’re filling that water bowl, I’ll just get in some scratching on this here log !

My water full yet? I’ll take a sip and them climb in for a swim.

At Bovine Boulevard, Triangle is holding up the water trough so it can be scrubbed out well.

When everybody’s been fed it time to clean up.
Before

Pooper scooping

After

With pooping and scooping going on in every field and giant trash cans being filled with

it takes the tractor to haul it all

off to the compost pile !

And I bet you complain about disposing of the little bags of poop YOU collect !!!

Thank you so much for sending me nice pressies in the mail, says Panda,

though could you do better than THIS?

Let’s see what YOU sent me today !

Now THIS is more like it !!!!

I can’t wait to eat it ALL, THANK YOU so much !!!!

Let’s play balancing games this afternoon !!!

Sounds like fun !!!

I’m in !!!

You stoopid cats always come up with the stoopidest games !!

Yeah! Don’t they?

I’d play fetch with you Beauty if it wasn’t so much fun nosing around in the mud.

Yeah, I agree, mud’s the place to be.

Parade ! Parade time !!! Line up !!

I’m coming !!

Open the gate and we’ll be there !

I’m exhausted.

Me too.

I just can’t figured out WHERE all these new cats keep coming from ?

Thank you God !!! The rain held off till 6:30 and we’re just about done outside for the day !!

Because of YOU close to 1300 animals have a happy loving home at Rikki’s Refuge

www.RikkisRefuge.org/Donate
Rikki’s Refuge, 10910 Barr Ln, Rapidan VA 22733 (shipping address for food, etc)
Rikki’s Refuge, PO Box 1357, Orange VA 22960 (secure box for checks, etc)

Thank YOU for making it all possible !!

March 15, 2021 Monday at Rikki’s Refuge

March 15, 2021 Monday at Rikki’s Refuge

all in a day’s work …. photos by those caring for the animals
(you can help support those animals at www.RikkisRefuge.org/Donate)

Brrrr it’s chilly this morning, we’re all crowding to the window with the most sunlight

There’s even ice on all the water containers this morning. Booo where did spring go?

Good Morning !

Remember our Wild Friend? He’s back !!

He went away for a few days and we figured he’d headed on to meet his gaggle. He’s back alone. I wonder if he lost his mate and is feeling alone in the world? He’s very welcome here. I just hate seeing him alone all the time. Maybe he’ll eventually make friends with our geese. Or another flock will stop for a visit and he’ll join them. The idea of anyone feeling sad and alone just breaks my hart.

Time to get up you say?

Mmmmm breakfast time !!! Wake me any time for nums !!

Did somebody say BREAKFAST?

We love a great big pile of shredded wheat for breakfast !!!!

One good long drink from a full water tank, and it needs refilling !!! It takes a lot of water to keep a 1,500 pound cow from being thirsty !!!

Breakfast is coming !!!! Breakfast is coming !!!! Breakfast is coming !!!!

How long before the goats will find these?

Soooo many water bowls to scrub and bleach out every day.

It’s a lot of work, and it keeps our residents happy and healthy !

And oh the floors to mop. I wonder how many square feet of flooring there is over the entire refuge? I don’t know, but it takes hours to mop them all clean every single day. If you have a few animals, and you can do the math, you can probably imagine how much icky stuff gets dumped and projected and leaked onto the floors !!!

And don’t forget the litterboxes, they’re VERY important !!!

We’ll never forget your litterboxes, we know how important they are. Good nutrition, fresh air and cleanliness are so important to keeping everybody healthy. And clean litterboxes makes our jobs (da hoomans) easier too. Cus kitties won’t use dirty ones !! So that’s more floor scrubbing.

We use a TON of pellets every week to keep all the kitty’s in nice fresh clean litter. When we used clay, it was several tons, cus it’s so much heavier. The wood is easier to keep clean, easier to clean up with they kick, and so much lighter on the hooman backs, and so much cheaper at the dump since we pay by the pound.

If you can help, you can call and order for Rikki’s Refuge directly from:
Deep Roots Home and Garden Center
28284 Constitution Hwy, Rhoadesville, VA 22542
540-854-5093
Order Hardwood Heat Pellet Fuel (cheapest when they have it in) or Pelletized Horse Bedding (a few cents more per bag) for ~$5.99 (market price fluctuates about 50¢ a bag week to week
Just tell them it’s for Rikki’s Refuge.
They’ll contact us to come and get it !!!
Their hours are Tuesday – Friday 9 am to 5 pm, Saturday 9 am to 3 pm, closed Sunday and Monday.

Play Time !!!!

Follow the leader

Let’s sliiiiide …..

Hey Marbles !!! What you wanna play while dem hoomans clean up?

Over here Panda !! Over here!! I found toys !!

Oh cool !!!!

I think I smell a puddy tat …….

Panda Panda come here !!! I found a great rolling spot !!!

Mmmmmmmm … Yeahhhhhhh

I’m just going to take a nap if you don’t mind

King of the MOUNTAIN !!!

I’m goin for a swim

On the count of ten, we fly out, and see who can get home quickest …. one … two… three

Anybody up for a game of head butt ?

I just wanna be wif my bestest friend ever

I want a hair cut

I’ll close my eyes while you go hide …..

I’ve searched everywhere … she’s no where out here

… meanwhile back at the barn

Mr Peacock roams the refuge far and wide looking for SOMEONE to admire him

Because of YOU we live at Rikki’s Refuge

www.RikkisRefuge.org/Donate
Rikki’s Refuge, 10910 Barr Ln, Rapidan VA 22733 (shipping address for food, etc)
Rikki’s Refuge, PO Box 1357, Orange VA 22960 (secure box for checks, etc)

Thank YOU for not letting us end up in an oven !!

March 14, 2021 Sunday at Rikki’s Refuge

March 14, 2021 Sunday at Rikki’s Refuge

all in a day’s work …. photos by those caring for the animals
(you can help support those animals at www.RikkisRefuge.org/Donate)

Cock-a-doodle-do rise and shine !!!!!

Let’s go down to the creek and see who came by in the night !!!

Sure hope the freezing nights we’re supposed to have the next few days don’t kill the flowers that have come up.

Good Morning Isabella? Breakfast?

Did I hear THE word !!

Kaywood snoozes in an empty litter box !!!

Hoping there will be enough to fill them all up !!
Keeping our kitties in fresh litter takes a pallet, 2,000 pounds, of wood pellets.
We use 50 bags a week. Really, not that bad for over 500 cats !!!
If you can help, you can call and order for Rikki’s Refuge directly from:
Deep Roots Home and Garden Center
28284 Constitution Hwy, Rhoadesville, VA 22542
540-854-5093
Order Hardwood Heat Pellet Fuel (cheapest when they have it in) or Pelletized Horse Bedding (a few cents more per bag) for ~$5.99 (market price fluctuates about 50¢ a bag week to week
Just tell them it’s for Rikki’s Refuge.
They’ll contact us to come and get it !!!
Their hours are Tuesday – Friday 9 am to 5 pm, Saturday 9 am to 3 pm, closed Sunday and Monday.
Thank you !! Meow !!

Breakfast for the birds !!

Ohhh look at that sky, and it’s warm, what a beautiful spring day !!!

Doug knows just where Lucky’s sweet spot is !!

Clarence cleaned and scrubbed and bleached out Patrick’s water bowl, and before he could fill it, Patrick has mud in it again. Clean, and repeat !!

But it’s a wooly caterpillar, not a bird, I no canz eatz it?

Nope Marbles, ALL species sanctuary means just that. We protect everybody.

Goat and cat

Goat and dog

Sunny and warm enough to seek shade in the middle of the afternoon.

It’s been a wonderful day. Warm and dry. So many extra chores for done. And with the sun staying up longer, there’s more time to get work done without having to work only by the light of a headlamp. A wonderful invention, but does make it more difficult to do a lot of things than doing them in sunlight.

Everyone will need new hay bales tomorrow. And it’s supposed to rain. It’ll be much more pleasant to do that work as the sun goes down and it’s dry, than to do it in a cold rain tomorrow.

It will take almost a dozen trips back and froth to the hay barn, loading up, driving to several stops in Bovine Boulevard, to Piggy Paradise, two trips to Horsey Haven, 2 more to Ramsey Residence and several to Capri Corners.

Nobody could resist their late night fresh hay !!

Because of YOU we live in peace knowing we are loved at Rikki’s Refuge

www.RikkisRefuge.org/Donate
Rikki’s Refuge, 10910 Barr Ln, Rapidan VA 22733 (shipping address for food, etc)
Rikki’s Refuge, PO Box 1357, Orange VA 22960 (secure box for checks, etc)

Thank YOU for making our lives possible !!

March 13, 2021 Saturday at Rikki’s Refuge

March 13, 2021 Saturday at Rikki’s Refuge

all in a day’s work …. photos by those caring for the animals
(you can help support those animals at www.RikkisRefuge.org/Donate)

Caturday !!!

Dedicated to out Platter Puss today !!!

Looks like it will be another beautiful day … just waiting for the sun to be fully up

When noon comes round … it’s DONATION DROP OFF TIME
and that means time to head up to the life center to get ready to welcome visitors !!
Do YOUR blinds look like ours? Compliment of Kitty Decor !
We have wall and door trim decorators too.

The Life Center has the worst drywall I’ve ever seen. The cats just scratch and rips the cardboard stuff off from the drywall and leave great hunks out of the walls. A volunteer once accused the humans of constantly destroying the walls she was trying to paint !!! But nope, these Kitty Decorators do all the destructive work on their own !!!
As we head to open the gate …. the sun is high and bright

And We’re OPEN

DONATION DROP OFF AT RIKKI’S REFUGE’S LIFE CENTER
21410 CONSTITUTION HWY, RAPIDAN, VA
EVERY SATURDAY FROM NOON TO 3 PM

Please stop by with food. It’s the purple gate at the end of the rainbow fence at the corner of route 20 and Quarterhorse Ln. The gate will be open, come on in, follow the signs and drive up to the Life Center. After dropping off your donations we invite you to walk around in the beautiful fresh country air while visiting with some of the larger animals. We’re still not allowed to invite you inside, or do full tours of the refuge, but bring apples and carrots to hand out to the goats, sheep, horses, cows, alpacas and pigs. We have a porta potty on site for your necessities.

You can always drop food and supplies off for Rikki’s at our Thrift Store in Fredericksburg too.
Re-Tail, 3503 Lafayette Blvd, Fredericksburg, VA

Bring donations and then visit with the larger animals on a safe outdoor self guided tour !!

Meanwhile, down at the refuge, a mile further back than the Life Center, and critters are missing visitors. They long for the time full tours with folks walking all over, and bringing treats, will come back. So they plan a contest for the afternoon to keep busy.

Today will be Turkeys vs Peacocks
The contestants are rounded up

Seriously? Why not a contest of strength instead of show?

We want to play Head Butt !!!

The contestants square off

The Emcee climbs to the top of podium

The crowds gather to watch

Some of the contestants aren’t playing fair and trying to buy votes with the promise of Double Your Dinner !!!!

As the show begins

The judges watch with rapt attention

The displaying and posturing continue

Until a winner is chosen !!!

We really need to get him a white or a black backdrop so he stands out better, he’s always washed out with all the green grass and trees around him.

While most of the animals are entertained by the visitors down at the Life Center, or by the contest at the refuge, the hoomans toil on. Never a moment to rest, for if you sit down, someone instantly jumps in your lap, and someone on your shoulders and you must start patting and snuggling.

Ivan The Great hitches a ride to help deliver hay to the big critters

Getting ready to roll and head to the dump ….
what do YOU see wrong with this picture?

Yup a resident will be in trouble is the hoomans don’t take some evasive actions !!!
Before any vehicle can roll out … or roll at all … it’s down on all four and check thoroughly underneath, walk around and check on top of every tire… whack on the hood, especially in winter if the vehicle has been sitting …. then if the windows were open, totally search the interior for stowaways, under the seats and all …. check the bed of pick ups for anybody in, under, or between any of the cargo. All non-hooman stowaways must be evicted before leaving the property !!!

These are the kind of things you learn in volunteer training. How to be safe, how to, at least pretty much, avoid being stomped, smashed against barn walls, horned, clawed and bitten, and how to make sure every resident is safe and secure.

Welcome to Piggy Paradise !!!

Where we’re suffering horrible with our mud drying up.

Look hooman! Our pond is drying up!

Pleaz… Hooman … you can bring that hose over here

and make my life just heaven !!!!!

THANK YOU !!!!! Come on in, I’ll share !!!

Because of YOU we live in bliss at Rikki’s Refuge

www.RikkisRefuge.org/Donate
Rikki’s Refuge, 10910 Barr Ln, Rapidan VA 22733 (shipping address for food, etc)
Rikki’s Refuge, PO Box 1357, Orange VA 22960 (secure box for checks, etc)

Thank YOU for our wonderful home !!

SATURDAYS AT RIKKI’S – GATES OPEN NOON – 3 PM

March 12, 2021 Friday at Rikki’s Refuge

March 12, 2021 Friday at Rikki’s Refuge

all in a day’s work …. photos by those caring for the animals
(you can help support those animals at www.RikkisRefuge.org/Donate)

I’m sorry I’m behind on getting the news of Rikki’s Refuge out to you every day. About a week behind at this point. Some days end up being longer than others. There are so many things to do to take care of the animals every day, things at the refuge, things at the store, things with suppliers, supporters, donors and more !!! Many things keep me on the road for long hours. Sometimes by the time I finish for the day, it’s way late and I’m so tired, I just go to sleep for a few hours before getting up again. I always promise I’ll get up an extra hour early to get that newsletter done. But sometimes I just can’t wake up after two hours !!! Or I get up and there’s more Its-Just-Got-To-Be-Done things waiting. I know you love reading about what happened yesterday. I’m working on catching up!!! IF there are no unexpected disasters today, I’ll get three days of What’s Happen at Rikki’s out to you !!! But if somebody calls and says I’ve got 1,000 pounds of cat food and I’m only two hours away, and it has to be out of our store before we close today …. well …. I’m on my way !!!!

Trying to decide if it will rain or sun today

Let’s head out to the woods and see what we caught on the trailcam over night !
Rocky is the only one to cross the creek at our spot last night.

Marbles is winking at YOU !!! Good Morning !!! Got nums today ?

Yes sweetie, every day, nums for you and all your friends !!!

Mr Peacock showed off and displayed for attention

But the attention Toby and Marbles gave him wasn’t exactly what he had in mind !!

The Rainbow over the Bridge.

Getting faded and needing YOU to come out and help us keep up with painting !!!

Panda hops in the bucket of the tractor to head to pigs to give them breakfast.

Ohh please let it rain today

I so miss my mud

The skies are darkening

Ohhh please let the rain come and make mud … please !!!
As soon as the rain starts the pigs run to the mud hole !!!

The geese are thrilled to see water again !!!

Panda says, “I guess I’ll go inside and wash dishes.”

By 3 pm the rain has stopped and the clouds have blown away and it’s a beautiful day !

It’s truly spring !! Beautiful things are spring up ever where !

Spring peepers start singing as the sun goes down, and keep it up all night till the sun begins to rise.

Not the “friends” we’re happy to see again this year. Every year the ticks seem to get more populous. The guineas love to eat them. Such a blessing to have them !!

The ferals back as far away from the hoomans coming to clean up.

Grass is coming up every where, fast and beautiful !!! Soon we’ll be mowing for hours every day !! If only everything was fenced in appropriate sections where the sheep could just move from one area to the next to do all the mowing !!!

5 pm and it’s still sunny and warm and beautiful !! Yup, we love the spring !!

Thank YOU for giving us chance to LIVE at Rikki’s Refuge.

www.RikkisRefuge.org/Donate
Rikki’s Refuge, 10910 Barr Ln, Rapidan VA 22733 (shipping address for food, etc)
Rikki’s Refuge, PO Box 1357, Orange VA 22960 (secure box for checks, etc)

YOU have saved our lives !!

March 11, 2021 Thursday at Rikki’s Refuge

March 11, 2021 Thursday at Rikki’s Refuge

all in a day’s work …. photos by those caring for the animals
(you can help support those animals at www.RikkisRefuge.org/Donate)