Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Irritability All Around

When I mentally review what is new and of possible interest to blog readers, hmmm, I come up empty handed.  Two issues which I've previously mentioned continue to prevail:  battling flies and trying to appease the insatiable donkey duo.

Add to those issues my current knee situation... and you hear a heavy sigh.
The dadblasted thing went bonkers Saturday evening for no apparent reason and mobility has been an issue since.  Thankfully I see daily improvement, but in microscopic increments.  So, my patience has been short, extremely short.  (thank goodness I have a little Honda scooter to zoom out to donks and clucks as the bike is out of the question right now)

That depleted patience views donkey insistence that they're starving 24/7 with a short fuse.

Because Luigi and Gabariella came out of the winter underweight, for the past two to three months they've been receiving double their normal rations plus some extra supplements which they regard as treats.  But I am greeted continually with their ear-shattering communication that it's not enough.

And their increasingly daring attacks upon the grain can stopped being amusing quite a while ago.  I can be inches away and they are at their tricks.

  



You can observe the sequence, while I'm standing right in front of Luigi.
These are intelligent beings, but bloody hell I don't know how to train them to stay away.
Verbal persuasion doesn't work, physical threats don't work.

It's very inconvenient to close the door behind me while getting hay then turn around with an armful to unlatch the door.

What to do!!

So, I'm irritated with the donks, the donks are irritated with me, and the flies.  Who knows with whom the flies are irritated.




7 comments:

  1. Aww, so sorry to read your knee is giving you problems, believe me, I know all about bad knees. My daughter also has one of her knees giving her trouble, yesterday out of desperation, she bought one of those "as seen on TV" copper lined knee sleeves, and she said it made a huge difference. Could just be the compression in the brace, but hey it cost ten dollars. My husband use to rub horse liniment on his ......
    She hasn't tried the fly spray on her donkeys yet, since she is till using up what she already has. We live east of Nashville, TN.
    ~Jo

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    1. Our kids aren't supposed to inherit our faulty parts! -- but I think my son is doomed too. I have a knee "brace" but only use it when I know I'm going to be on my feet for a while. Maybe I should be using it more.

      Is your daughter in the same part of TN?

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    2. Yes, she lives ten miles from us.
      ~Jo

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  2. I understand knees too. 20 years on my feet on concrete floors in the library has done a good job on them. Hope you find a solution to the donkey problem.

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  3. Oh dear Janet - you sound as if you are in the wars. Hope your knee makes a speedy recovery. As for those donks - oh how can you be irritated looking at those adorable faces? If they weren't up to their tricks and into all kinds of mischief you'd be worried something was wrong. I suppose when the cooler weather comes the fly situation will decrease. Do you use fly masks on the donks at all? I'd be interested to know what the temperature is in Michigan at this time of year. Here in UK it is really cool at the moment and pouring down with rain (typical British summer). All things considered, hope you have a lovely, less irritated weekend. Best regards, Louise.

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    1. Louise, it's been mid-70's Farenheit the past few days (a lovely cool down with fly-chasing breezes). Although just moments ago I went out to bring donks in from the pasture and the flies were lighting, though not as thickly as in the heat.

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