Sunday, March 6, 2011

The Pied Piper's Got Nothing On Me

Oh, how I wish someone had been around to video tape the donkeys at dinner feed.

I needed to empty the wheelbarrow before cleaning up, so let them out, and started trudging down the driveway through the snow to "the pile".  Fran had come up to me first, as she always does, to say hi.  She decided to join me in my little walk, and when I looked behind, there were all three following along in a single file line.  At the point I stopped, we were maybe 50 feet from the road and I was putting together a strategy to shoo them the other way.  No such strategy needed.  They waited for me (Fran right on my backside) and started back with me.  Gabs and Luigi decided to stop and catch a quick bite of weed sticking through, so had to issue a strong "Git!" to get them back on track.  They politely trotted right back into their yard.

What a team!

Musings

The farrier came out Friday, skated across the ice, and took a look at everybody's feet.  No one needed trimming.  If my records are correct, the last she was here was late September.  That's 5 months!  Now Natural's hooves keep growing over the winter.  A mystery indeed.

We've gone from a sheet of ice up the driveway and in front of the donkey gate to a few inches of snow.  So tired of slogging through the mess.  One minute the inside of the shed is part lake and the next it's frozen pockets of uneven dirt. So, so difficult to clean.

Our newest addition to the family, Gunner, is not appreciated by the donkeys.  A 3-year old rescue dog (part Rottweiler, part Bermese Mt. dog) he's a little too rambunctious for their taste.  However, they've put up with Dudley's shenanigans from the beginning.  Although there was a bit of posturing between Luigi and Dudley at one time, it was never serious.  Last week Gunner charged the donkeys and they took off down the driveway vocalizing like I've never heard before.  I think it was a red flag distress call.  I stood there trying to decide what action to take, when Gunner comes high-tailing back down the driveway with the donkeys in hot pursuit.  Took a bit of clucking and soothing to get them calmed down.  Later, I was able to get Gunner to gently make nose contact with Luigi through the gate.  The relationship has smoothed out a bit, thank goodness.