  Profiles in Kindness |
 People Making a DifferenceLife is a strange thing. One never knows where our paths are going to take us. In Richards' case, that couldn't be more true.After retiring from the carpentry trade, Richard just wanted to surround himself with the peace of the Creston hills, work on his Harley, and drink the occasional beer. Richard situated himself on a mountain that looked over Creston, as well as the eastern side of the California coastal mountain range. Slowly but surely he began building his home and putting up fences and shelter for his dogs. He was pretty sure he would have more animals around him. He always had. He had rehabilitated countless injured birds, ravens, owls, and hawks. Various dogs and cats, goats and even a pony found their way to Richard when they were lost or abandoned. So it wasn't unusual for him to volunteer to help out at The Sanctuary when the facility moved to the ranch at the base of his mountain. What he didn't know at the time was that The Sanctuary and its' founder Diane, would someday move up to the mountain. Within a few months that became the case. Now Richard spends his days building habitats, putting up fences, and feeding the large animals and birds of The Sanctuary. He can occasionally be heard to say, "I've got to work on my bike." However, one usually finds him working around the animals. In fact the only bike he's been on for the past two years is the four wheeler which takes him around and about The Sanctuary. His greatest accomplishment over the past year has been constructing the barn. Using scrap materials and logs harvested from trees on the property that were killed by a passing fire, Richard has, by himself, built a barn large enough to house all of the large animals and shelter them from the rain, wind and occasional snow. Though he loves all of the animals, his favorites are the pigs. Perhaps that's because they actually do what he tells them too. One thing Richard has learned about animals is that they all have their own preferences and desires. Sometimes their will is not conducive to their safety or the safety of other animals. In shepherding them on a daily basis, Richard has found that the pigs are the most likely to pay attention when he asks them to go this way or that. His favorite pig is Ralph. Ralph constantly talks to Richard, especially when he wants to eat. When building any habitat for animals, Richard shows great concern to keep a natural feeling to the structure. Passionate about all of nature, he has placed fences around the oak trees in the large corrals to protect them from the goats and donkeys, who think bark is an excellent treat. He also installed a solar and wind energy system on the property to help insure that he and his could live without taxing the already overburdened Earth. Richard grew up in Ventura County and has six human children. He now has over four hundred fur and feather kids and is expecting more. |
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