March 03, 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)

The sun comes up on another beautiful day at Rikki’s Refuge

Meanwhile ….. at Bovine Boulevard …..
as the sun rises all the cow come out, marching in the same direction, coming to investigate ….

What is THAT stuck on our fence?

Don’t worry guys, just something that blew in overnight. We’ll get rid of it for you !!!
Every fence line must be inspected, every morning, and every evening, no matter the weather. And in icy or windy weather where a tree might come down on a fence, even more often !!! Occasionally some kind of debris catches on a fence too. The animals are always very curious about anything different or out of the ordinary in their neighborhoods.

Once everyone’s been checked on and any issues have been dealt with, it’s the mostest favoritest time of the day !! BREAKFAST !!!

Kneeling to say grace before Breakfast.

Did you say BREAKFAST !!!

Let’s wrap up this meeting, I hear breakfast on the way !

Oh yeah !!!! MY favorite time of the day !!

… until DINNER !!!

Stealing some cat food

Everybody gets fed even when they’re stubborn about coming to the table !

The Life Center has a heat pump for heating and cooling. We must heat to keep pipes from freezing. And many elderly or special needs residents live in the Life Center too. They need heating and on the hottest most humid days, some of them need the cooling.

The last electric bill was more than double the normal, so we asked Don (the bestest hvac guy on the planet) to come out and check it out. Fortunately it just needed charging and it’s all better now and that electric meter is spinning a lot slower !!!

BUT …. there’s now a $243 bill to pay. If you’d like to help any of the oldsters or special needs residents of the Life Center pay their bill YOU CAN !!! www.RikkisRefuge.org/Donate

Thank you for helping us. I have very fractious diabetes and have problems with real temperature changes. I have asthma and can’t breath very well when I’m cold or when it’s really hot and humid. I’m very elderly and my joints are so terribly stiff if I get cold. Thank you so much for helping us. We just don’t have the health to be able to get jobs to pay our bills. We rely on YOU. YOU are the miracle that gives US life ! Thank you so much for making it better.

Trying to get that itch !

The goats will tilt their heads back to scratch their shoulders and upper back. I so often wish I had horns to reach those hard to get places !!! Imagine just being able to tilt your head back and get a good back scratch !!!

Good swimmin holes are getting scarce as we start to dry out from days of rain

The ducks are not thrilled with this wonderful beautiful sunny weather !!!

Oh please ! Let it RAIN !!!

Donations of livestock feed …..

Donations for the cats and dogs

We are SO very thankful for days like these where there is enough food to go around for all. Even those who want a second helping. It’s so hard when we have to ration canned food and say, I’m sorry, you’re young, you’re healthy, you’ll have to skip canned food today.

Thank you so much for your mail in donations of canned cat and dog food.

Did you know we’re now open for DONATION DROP OFF on Saturdays? From noon to 3 pm. AND when you come with donations, you can visit with the larger animals, cows, goats, horses, sheep, pigs, on a self guided tour. Bring them apples and carrots and you’ll make friends for life !!!

NO. I am not coming down. I know you’re hiding a pill.

Medicating your patients can be quite challenging at times ! Unless they’re sick enough to need confinement in a cage, first you have to find them, then you have to climb to them, capture them, convince them not to bite, claw, horn or kick you, and often, clean your wounds and bandage up before moving on to the next patient !!

Bedding needs to be changed out very frequently while nights are cool and mud abounds !!

She just loves to help spread around fresh straw !!!

As the sun goes down

We’re so grateful for YOU and your support !

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)

We could not survive with out YOU !

Thank YOU !!!