Esel- asino - âne -burro

When I drove up to the DSC yesterday morning, it was partially so foggy that at one point I thought I'd be better of to turn around and try a little bit later to drive up there safely. I made it in the fog all the way to St. George, where it was nice and sunny and just as bright as it could be, but as soon as I hit the outskirts of it, it was foggier than before and I pretty much inched my way towards the DSC. Thank God halfway thru the fog had lifted and was completely gone. I arrived at the DSC to blue and sunny skies and it was calling for a hot day without humidity. Cate was busy in Halfway Haven, Adam was attending to Indiana and his sore feet, Chantal was cleaning out Buddy's stall, so I went and started cleaning  the barnyard, up the lane way to the Garden Paddock and the Office Paddock. Cate asked me to help her with getting some of the animals for the Garden Paddock and I did that, feed them and made sure they had enough water.At that time people started trickling in, it was a busy day, but at least it was a constant slow trickling in and not like Wednesday when we had whole groups show up at the same time. Since there were plenty of other volunteers I proceeded to clean  the dark hill side with one other volunteer, but she had to leave after a while, so I finished it all by myself. I had the company of Abbey who was taking a sunbath the in the dry dirt and just enjoyed the heat.

She is such a dainty little donkey, skinny little legs and very gentle. I had made Abbey's acquaintance a few years back, when she stepped on my foot once. Now I tell visitors all the time, just watch your feet. The afternoon I spent with visitors and donkeys, and I met a little girl from Italy, and every time I met somebody speaking anything other than  English I always ask what donkey in their language means, so I am getting quite the collection of the word donkey in different languages...too bad I can remember them all, as some are easier to remember than others.  I did spend quite some time with a young lady from out of town and her boyfriend, really nice couple and it was their first time here and she just totally fell in love with the donkeys and just had all kinds of questions, other than donkeys we also talked a lot about my name and how she had an aunt named Martina and that lead then to her ancestry in Germany and her family life and so on and on, we must have chatted for good 45 minutes and it was really nice. I wouldn't be surprised if I will see her again soon at one of the volunteer sessions as she asked a lot of questions about that too.

I spent some time with Orly in the stall as she is on stall rest too, not really sure yet what is wrong with her, but she was really lame in the morning with three of her legs. I hope it's nothing serious. She is just such a sweet donkey.

Summer is  starting to show her age, over the last few weeks she has changed a lot, not so much into the people anymore, but always looking for a quiet spot away from the visitors, and usually she is always in the midst of the crowds, as she loves attention. She still seeks it from the volunteers all the time.

Oh I wish I would have taken a picture of the donkeys when I came out of the tack room, three of them were standing at the door and peeking into the room to check out what 's taken so long with their food, mind you they are always there early and hope to get something, there were Odin, Jacques and Summer and big Panne was standing behind them, over towering everybody and peeking in, as I made my way out of the tack room, Panne stood there, tilted his head and looked at me as he was going to say" did you bring me something?" I showed him my empty hands and he took off, very disappointed that I didn't have anything for him.

At the carrot walk I was the swisher again, it was a little bit nerve wrecking this time, Juliet had been in a aggressive mood again and I guess was attacking one of the volunteers the day before, as I was swishing the donkeys out of the barn, she stayed behind, well I thought to myself I don't want to get her going so I kind of ignored her and left her behind, but I guess she decided to come after all on the carrot walk, but she wouldn't go past me, I tried to get behind her, but she would stay back and rather wanted to trot  behind me, so the whole walk I kept turning around to make sure she was a safe distance behind me, you just never know with her. Halfway down the fields she decided to pass me and was just waiting for me, I sure had a very uneasy feeling about that, so after all the donkeys were out in the field, I just left her waiting there and returned to the barn. Juliet is a very pretty donkey, and we had a good time at the fence with scratching her ears and petting her, but she can turn from one sweet donkey into an aggressive one in no time at all.

Juno and I spent some time together in the corner of the Garden Paddock after closing time, and she let me scratch her ears this time without the fence between us, she  is so cute. I just totally love her.

Only one thing happened that made me sad that day, Cate pulled me aside in the morning at one point to let me know that she has had a  9 months contract offer at her "real" job and she will  only be employed by the DSC for the next two weeks, but hopefully still be able to volunteer twice a months. I surely will miss her, she has been so good to me, she has mothered me to death at times and I learnt so much from her. Working there will not be the same without her that's for sure, but I guess time for me to cope with yet another change....arrrggghhhh! Oh how I hate changes! Her friendship and almost mentor ship has made such a difference in my life and she will always be somebody I hold close to my heart.