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Monday, June 07, 2010

An exciting day at the DSC! ( for me)

It promised to be a very slow and yucky day at the farm yesterday, it was still pouring rain as I left my house, it had rained heavily without letting of since the evening before, and I am talking downpour not just steady rain. As I arrived at the farm it had finally stopped raining, but the aftermath of it was very apparent, mud and I am talking deep mud everywhere. The donkeys were all in the barn, so it was crowed in there, and none of us really expected that many visitors, as the day still looked gray and blah. There were plenty of volunteers around and we had everything cleaned up in no time, and then it was mass grooming time, well that was if you were lucky enough to find a dry donkey, they really don't care too much for being groomed when they are soaking wet. Well lucky me, I got Odin, our youngest. Odin is very much a little boy. I have no problem haltering him and he walks fine with me to where ever I want to take him, but his ability to stand still while being groomed is zero. And yesterday it felt it was even less than that, he was just dancing around and getting in the way of other donkeys being groomed and I had a hell of a time to get him brushed. I found a few cuts on this body, which I treated with a  medical spray. I managed to get him all cleaned up and groomed and then let the little rascal go.
We had a group of visitors come and make a donation presentation to the DSC and that was fun and very busy. And shortly after that people started to flock in, even though the skies were still gray and it looked like it could rain any minute. So it turned out to be a very busy midday after all. In the early afternoon we had to do some rearranging of donkeys, as the DSC was part of a local charity event "the Amazing Race" and there were questions about specific donkeys, so we had to ensure to have all the donkey participants on the visitor side. I was delighted to see that Buffy was on that list and I got to go out in the field to get her. Well not as easy as it looks either, because out on the field they can just go pretty much where ever they want, and of course they run because they kind of know you are coming for them lol. Obstacle to the whole task.....oops somebody forgot to put Hershey in the Halfway Heaven for Open Day, and Juliette was out there too....Caution!!!  It took a few tries to get Buffy to stay where she was, to place a halter on her and a lead. But once I got her she walked very nicely with me, of course with Dolly in tow, which worked out fine, since Dolly had to come over too.  Then it was time to get the goats and sheeps sorted out for the event. Well I guess that was the visitor entertainment of the afternoon.Well how many middle aged women does it take to herd two young goats from one paddock to the other? The answer is at least four and if we would have had more it would have been not such a spectacle for the on lookers lol. Not sure who had more fun, the people watching us or us trying to get the two goats to go where they were suppose to go. OMG we laughed so much and after a few failed attempts we got the "girls" into their paddock.It didn't help us either that there were major mud puddles right by the gates, which the goats sure didn't mind, but we did.  I was amazed at the agility and speed and jumping abilities of these two goats. Once every body was sorted out and all the animals needed had their nametags on it was back to business as usual. Visitors were still flocking in and in the later part of the afternoon the sun even came out. I had a very nice visit with an elderly couple and the donkey that is sponsored in their name. One thing we at the DSC like to do, is whenever it is possible people and time wise, is if someone comes to visit their sponsored donkey, that we get them from where ever they are and bring them to the people for a visit. It was my first time to have a personal visit with people and donkey.  The lady told me that her granddaughter sponsored Earl Grey for her for the last three years, when she found out that grandma likes donkeys, and every year for Christmas she gets a renewal package from her granddaughter in the name of Earl, and she makes it out as it comes from Earl. It was really apparent how much that meant to this grandma. So last year she got a map and an invitation from Earl Grey to come for a visit and that's what they finally did. The "Grandma" was so happy, her husband took pictures of her and Earl Grey and then I took a picture of them and the donkey. OMG she was so happy and promised Earl Grey to come again soon for a visit. After that I took Earl back over to the other side and let him go. The afternoon was spent with mingling with more visitors and answering questions and doing chores. At 3:30 it was  time for the carrot walk and yippie, the highlight of my day, I was going on the carrot walk with the donkeys. OMG how cool was that.  It was a very slow carrot walk because of course me being  a "foreign" object on their walk, one donkey after the other had to check me out first before they started walking. That was kind of funny, because it really dragged the walk out so much longer. We walked past the parking lot, down the big field and over to the other field where they were suppose to stay afterward, of course there are always a few stragglers and I had to herd some of them on to the right field, thank god I found a few pieces of uneaten carrots and apples and so that made it easy for them to follow me. lol.
It was almost closing time when we had them were we wanted them and I finally got to work on my DONKEY DAY chores and got that going.  By the time Terri and I got finished with that, the first AMAZING RACE people arrived, and were wandering around the DSC to find the right donkeys to their questionaire.
At five o' clock I finally dragged my FA back to the car to go back home, it was a long tiring day, with lots of firsts and new things for me, about that I am so happy.

Meet the new girls.....Katie (w/horns) and Callie

                              

5 comments:

Sharon said...

Gosh, Tina, that sounds like a lot of work! Guess you earn your pay the hard way! So, the Amazing Race is going to be there? Interesting!

Louise said...

Busy day! Bet you slept well last night.

AJ-OAKS said...

I must have missed the Amazing Race post. Um, what is the Amazing Race?
You really had quite the day. Not a dull moment for you!
Ah, herding goats to where you want them to go. I laugh out loud because been there done that!

Melodie said...

Well at least you don't have a boring job,lol! I like the new goaties!

Tina said...

Cindy- the amazing race was a charity event for a local children's foundation, after the tv show just on smaller scales. Teams of twos competed in different events over two days to be first at the finish line. It's like a race with lots of extra tests and quizzes along the way all over the city it takes place in. The DSC was one of their stations where the participants had to answer questions. It's like a big 2 day long scavenger hunt.
Louise- yup I slept well for sure, I always do after a long day in the fresh air.
Sharon- too bad I don't get paid for all this work lol...just kidding I would even do my Wednesday job for free.ssshhh don't tell them.
Melodie- yes never a dull moment and always something new lol...the two goats are really cute, I think their names should be Thelma and Lousie though lol...always on the run and always together.