Because you love your pet, please...

...vote at the Pepsi Refresh Project for ARF, an endearing enterprise in Brandon, Mississippi.

Click here to cast one of the most important votes you’ll ever cast.

ARF of MS is a no-kill animal sanctuary in Rankin County, Mississippi. Most of these rescued animals are abandoned, neglected or abused. All rescues are given veterinary care, good food, compassion and love while they wait for their "forever home" with a family that will continue to care for them and love them. We have found that even the most neglected pet can again learn to trust and gives back much more then they take.

ARF began with 35 dogs and 2 birds rescued from Waveland, Mississippi after the hurricane. In the months after the storm, ARF volunteers traveled to the South Mississippi Humane Society shelter and assisted the shelter in taking in dogs that were ready for adoption in order to assist the south Mississippi shelter in making room for more intakes.

Our goal is to find GOOD, safe and loving homes to the animals already in shelters. When one adopts rather than buys an animal, a life is saved. ADOPT rather than BUY please.

How will the 50K be Used?
$ 10,000 Promote and assist with the spay/neuter of pets
$ 10,000 Renovate outdoor runs and pens
$ 10,000 Upgrade Cat Sanctuary
$ 10,000 Veterinary Care for Neglected pets
$ 10,000 Add a fenced area around pond with walking trails.


Ginger with Kailey, Duncan with Mama--that's Leland beside Ginger and Kailey and Lamont beside Duncan and Mama. I took this photo last Christmas Day. We all loved that little dog Duncan and still adore that cutie pie Ginger. We love each other a whole lot, too!


Tinkerbell who lives in Smithdale, Mississippi, with her people who love her dearly. Mama and I love all three of them! I took this photo when we went home in 2009.



Ginger, who was dearly loved by my Aunt Baker and her family. She lived with them in Puckett, Mississippi, for all of her life. Mama and I love all of them, too! I also took this photo when we were home in 2009.

Vacation, Day 8, 10/28/2009, Part 6

Our lovely friend, Kay, who is more like a sister to me and another daughter to Mama. We are blessed.


Stirring the fajitas.


Closer to sunset.


Supper's sizzling and the jalapenos are HOT.


Everyone is so-o-o-o full. Some are standing around the heater, no only because they want the heat, they're too full to sit down! Look at the flame on that heater-wow!


Bundled up together, Tinkerbell and Kay sit in front of the TV.


Here's what we watched every chance we got while we were at the campground.

Vacation, Day 8, 10/28/2009, Part 5

Tinkerbell's finished playing with the empty water bottle, for now.


Honest, I don't know who was messin' with Kay, or why. I do know that she's takin' it very well 'cause I see a grin! By the way, that trailer directly behind her is the bottom end of someone's U that faces the next road over. The front part of the trailer to the left of the photo is part of what turned out to be an L for us this time. Both sets of friends arrived in time to settle in well before supper and sunset.


See, she's using that sharp knife to prepare beef for fajitas. Ian's checking out the satellite reception for his grandfather Milton. And there, beyond Ian, you see it's open--that's where our U would have been closed if it hadn't turned into an L.


Here's Milton.


Now that he won't have to go back up the ladder to make satellite adjustments, Milton has hung the metal rack on it, the rack that he crafted for the kitchen sink. My Daddy would've loved this whole idea and its execution!


He's working with tubing and connectors for the sink.














The white hoses are for water.


Yowsers! Running water has arrived!


Kay's Halloween bat lights look good even in daylight.


Kay's Halloween ghost lights on the golf cart.


Moon rise.


Scary Halloween skeleton--what a look!


Kay and Ian cut tomatoes for the fajitas. You can tell the temperature's dropping--Kay's got on her sweatshirt.


Milton set up the outdoor heater. I think it's propane, but I'm not sure.


The sky is so pretty in this photo.

Vacation, Day 8, 10/28/2009, Part 4

Blue skies over Talladega and the campground mean it should be OK for Milton to move the trailer to their regular camping spot, which essentially makes the bottom of a U, with usually two of their friend's rigs making the two arms of the U which is open to the road.


He skillfully backed the hitch in the truck's bed into the trailer's connector.


You have to head in the right direction so that the doors on the trailer would open into the U.


Milton directs Ian as he backs onto the planks placed there to keep the wheels from directly resting on the ground, in case it rains again.


The tarps are moved and covered with blue indoor/outdoor carpet.


Actually the tarps and the carpet are secured at the corners and every now and then with metal spikes to keep everything in its place, plus they're duct taped together along their overlapping edges. Speaking of everything, look at all of the stuff unloaded the day before and toted across the road. Some people came to help, the ones from the previous vacation post, the ones with the short, swiveling flag poles holding the American flag and a Dale Earnhardt Jr. #88 flag.


Kay and Tinkerbell sit and rest for a bit.


Now Milton and Ian begin to work at putting up the E-Z Up canopies. First off comes the storage bag.


Then you spread it out.


And more.


All the while making the E-Z Up larger and larger.


Now Ian and Milton each stand at a leg, raising it to the desired height.


Tinkerbell plays with her favorite toy, an empty plastic water bottle, on a section of the indoor/outdoor carpet yet to be covered by an E-Z Up canopy. Look how she's holding on with her front paws!


Kay's hanging her purple Halloween bat lights in the E-Z Up.


The skeleton will join the bat lights later on. He's waiting on top of the folded out white plastic table, covered with Kay's plastic table cloth.

Vacation, Day 7, 10/27/2009, Part 5

First, you have to understand something about Milton. The man can cook! So inside the trailer we've got all sorts of stuff to cook with, to cook on, and to cook. Let's see what came out of there!



You'll get to see this little beauty in action later on.


OK, you also need to know that I don't cook out, grill, or smoke food. I eat out. That's it. (Of course, I cook at home, in the kitchen, then I eat in.) So I cannot remember for sure what this is, but I believe it's a smoker, and maybe it could be a grill, depending where and what you put in it to create the heat. (If I weren't in a time zone that often means Milton and Kay are already asleep when I need to ask them a question, I'd call one of them right up and find out for sure.)


Out comes the ladder.


Good thing curiosity didn't take out the doggie 'cause Tinkerbell's some kind of curious, standing at the backdoor, lookin' in to see what's coming out next.


She's a blur, just to the right of the golf cart 'cause she's seen Milton take a seat and put the key in so that he can start it and drive it down the ramp. Also to the right of the golf cart, you can see boxes of bottled water, a yellow plastic jug that I think holds cooking oil for that Cajun Fryer, either Kay or Ian's golf clubs, a white plastic table folded in half, a whole bunch of extension cord, and no telling what else.


A second later, and she's in one of her all-time favorite spots, with her beloved Milton talking to her. See the blue baskets behind them? That's the something free from the Fred’s Store in McComb, Mississippi.. Later on you'll see them in action.


Looks like Tinkerbell's concerned about the golf cart's descent, with Milton at the wheel.


The golf cart's on the ground. Tinkerbell's the picture of innocence. Looks like she's thinking, "Me, a side-seat driver? Nah."


Time for an exercise break for Tinkerbell and Ian!