Donkeys Demand Derriere Day

Recently the donkeys voted and requested, nay demanded (!), an international butt-rubbing day be established.  What could I do but comply with their demands.

Each posterior was rubbed sufficiently, at least in my mind, and a potential tricky situation was averted.

Photos of said derrieres follow:

Gabs and Spice

Luigi

 

Sugar

Four oustanding butts/posteriors/derrieres all around

La Dolce Vita

This could more rightly be titled "a little of this, a little of that", but I wanted to finesse things a bit.

Donkey and chicken fans were going full blast, almost 24/7 the past few days, until the high temps broke on Sunday.  Rick elevated the donkey fan to allow for more air flow.  I know I've said it before, but he can be darn handy to have around.  I mentioned how Dee, the owner of the farm I boarded Natural at, had a fan suspended from a rafter.  So, he went out and built our fan shelf.  It really is perfect.

Speaking of horses, is this just a stunning painting -- adjacent to the women's bathroom in the Metamora General Store.  I just had to stand and gaze.

This next story/question isn't so much dolce as, "what the heck".

Buffy, at least 5 years old, has been residing in this nesting box for days.  I haven't seen her join the group during their afternoon walkabout in at least 48 hours.  Any chicken folks have a clue as to the possible reason?  Louise?  Melba?

Next post I'll introduce you to Finny, the incredible beta.

Until then, stay outta trouble.

Chonkey Hooligans

OK, most of you know I had knee surgery a couple of months ago.  Progress is steady but I'm not yet at 100%.  I keep experimenting with "back to normal".  Like adding chonkey duties.  Yesterday morning, I said to Rick that I would do morning feed.  I miss talking to the chickens. 

Mornings = cool temps, quiet time, chatty chickens, peaceful donkeys (once they get their hay).  The chickens follow me while on manure duty, pecking and talking.  About life in general.  Especially Sweet Pea who loves to climb on the fork as I'm scooping and help.

Well anyway, yesterday amid those cool quiet temps, the donkeys escaped twice.  Yea, it was my fault.  I was lax and they were bold.  So twice this new knee had to go scoot them back in.

Three chickens scooted through the gate to peck around the pasture.  Twice this new knee had to go scoot them back in. 

I finally got everyone coralled, by this time limping, and discover through my head count I'm missing Buffy.  Damn it!  Back out to the pasture, to the back corner and scoot her out from under the tree.

Hooligans!!

I haven't posted pictures of the donks lately, which they have mentioned isn't fair at all.  To appease all concerned, here are the lovelies.

      Spice on the left, Sugar on the right

By the way, I am smitten with Sugar's summer coloring

Gabs on the left, Luigi on the right (the escape instigator, of course)

Crisis Averted

A huge weight was lifted off my shoulders just minutes ago and wanted to tell you.
Whew!

Sweet Pea sat in a nesting box for over 12 hours yesterday.  Something was terribly wrong.

Now she is my favorite hen and the last of the original four I got in 2015.  She had not demonstrated any abnormal behavior or distress leading up to this strange behavior so I had no idea what to do for her.  Talk about feeling helpless.

I feared I was going to lose her too.

This morning Rick went out for first shift and reported she was up and friskier than normal.  Oh my gosh, I think I'll do the dance of joy.

Now, I will admit to you I believe in energy work.  I had a Reiki session many years ago that cemented my belief.  Someday I'll tell you about it.  Last evening I sent Sweet Pea the strongest message of healing energy I could muster.  Who knows if it helped.

    My little stinker

Sometimes Life Stinks

LANGUAGE ALERT:
Damn it, damn it, damn it.


We lost Emmy Lou 2 this week.

I don't even have a good photo of her, but in this image she's the middle brown girl.
She was a good little girl, although a little pushy when it came to bananas and would leap up at the bowl I was carrying.  If you recall, she was one of four hens I adopted from a farm being sold.  They did a good job of re-homing all 100 chickens with our four in the photo above.  That was in November so we've only had them seven months.

Rick found Em in a corner of the donkey pasture at the conclusion of their free range time on Tuesday.  No sign of a struggle which is odd.  I don't think that particular part of the pasture would have pointed to a hawk.  So, we'll never know what happened but I have to believe it was a predator.

 

Here's Emmy Lou peeking through the door.

Our numbers have now dropped to eight, with Ruby Dee's death in late April.

Damn it!

The Carpenter At Work

Going to do a bit of bragging here.

My husband can build just about anything.  That pretty much sums it up.

He built our house, the sheds, donkey barn, chicken coop.  And the list goes on.

Most recently he added a hay manger in a nifty afternoon.  If you recall past photos of the donkey yard, a wading pool always made an appearance to throw hay and straw into.  The theory was to keep the donks from eating off the ground and consuming dirt, which can cause gut impaction.  Well, my little lovelies got in the habit of picking the hay out of the pool and throwing it on the ground.  Yup.  Thwarted again.

So while I was convalescing with my knee, Rick decided to build a manger to contain their forage.

It's working well, I'm pleased to say.

And more recently, he built a Little Free Library, upon my request.
I have had this project in mind for at least a couple of years, but for various reasons didn't act.  About three months ago I moved forward, received permission to place it in a nearby modular home community, and Rick whipped it up.  Just a week ago it was officially installed (although I am waiting for the Little Free Library plaque) and I am excited as heck.

Again I say, pretty nifty, huh?

This has been a community effort in that friends have been donating books, and as a Friend of our local Library, I've been allowed to capture leftover books at the conclusion of a book sale.  I am so appreciative of people's generosity.

It's so handy to have a handy builder around.  And that's a fact.

High Energy Dog, Indeed

OK, let's get news of the new knee out of the way.  This one was a tad slower to turn the corner and was a tad more owwie, but all is going well.  I've been out to see the donks and hens three times, although my physical therapist doesn't want me on uneven ground frequently (shhh, don't tell I went out again today).  Hopefully I'll be back with more photos soon.

In the meantime a little story about Faith, the greyhound.
Recently someone said they thought greyhounds were high energy dogs.  I had to laugh, politely.

Here's the bright eyed girl, seemingly ready for adventure.  Ha!

Faith in her morning nap,

afternoon nap,

and, of course, evening nap

To be fair, these rest periods are interrupted with brief zoomies outside where she runs like the racing girl she used to be, round and round the horse trailer.  OK, now that that five minutes is out of the way, it's time to return to the house and settle onto the couch or the bed.  

And that's the life of a greyhound...