PEOPLE WHO ARE VIOLENT TO ANIMALS RARELY STOP THERE!

Sunday, December 05, 2010

Breezy Sunday!

Alarm went of this morning at 6:25 am, took a quick bath, and put layers upon layer of clothing on as I could hear the wind howling even inside the house, so I knew it was going to be a chilly day. I made a quick stop at work to drop of a birthday present for my P.I.C. and then set out towards Guelph. I got to the farm at 8:30 and went straight to work on cleaning the special needs side, slowly but surely some of the new volunteers started to arrive, one was someone knew to me, but she pretty much looked like she knew what she was doing. I haven't really been down in the barn to work now for good three weeks and it was nice to have the fuzzy faces nudging you in the back for attention, or pulling on your sleeve to take you away from your chore and give a belly scratch or an ear rub instead. I took Tibet for a little walk around the barn, we made eight rounds around the feeder to get her moving and to change up her routine a little, she is finally good enough to go on little walks and doesn't have to wear her wraps all day long anymore, so hopefully that is a good sign, I know she still has a long road ahead of her, but every day is a little better, having a poor conformation in her bone and leg structure sure doesn't help this little donkey, but she seems quite content and doesn't complain much. Gordon was so cute and funny this morning. He usually spends a good time every morning in one of the stalls, no other reason than it is where he likes to stand, this morning Summer was however occupying this stall for her breakfast and he was not happy about that, so he kept opening the latch to make sure she can get out and he can  come in. After re-locking the stall a few times, Summer was finally done with her food and the stall was empty, sure enough Gordon walked in and stood there, looking very pitiful and making these little grunting noises, sounded really pitiful, what he was actually hoping for was that we would give in, like Helia always does, and bring him a bowl of treats, Helia loves Gordon and he loves her and every time she is there he gets a little extra food and treats from her inside that stall, only one problem today, Helia wasn't there. lol. And after grunting for twenty minutes he gave up and came back out, because none of us gave in to him. He is such a silly ole boy.
Orly was in a cranky mood and kicking everybody out of her way all day long. I took this picture of her last  Tuesday, her belly is very slow in healing up, and as long as it is still like that she will hopefully remain on the barnyard side.
We spent a long time on the East side learning donkey names today and finding tricks to remember them and telling them apart. I am still having a little bit of trouble with the white ones, but with process of elimination I can eventually come up with the real names and  finally   I have the Pintos sorted out and know who is who. Chaplin is fast becoming one of my favourite donkeys, well I have about 58 favourites right now lol, but he is such such a sweetie, he loves to give donkey hugs, and even though he was taken into custody by the SPCA from his previous home, he must have gotten some love there, because he really is very affectionate, loving and sweet.
I spent some time with Juno and she let me pet her and stand beside her for a little while, while soaking up the sun. 
As I was leaving the DSC I was standing for a little bit on the parking lot and watched the donkey boys play, there were Pablo and Tengen, both white donkeys, and I know it was them ,because they were carrying on in the barn earlier with the same kind of play. What was so funny was Cocoa, the big brown boy wanted to get into the mix, not sure if he wanted to play too, looked more like he was refereeing the two small standards wrestling match, he would just stand back and watch and when they got too out of hand he would walk in between them as to break up the fight, then he would let them carry on again, stand back and watch to just get in between them a few seconds later again. It was really cute to watch, he wasn't doing anything to them, just walked between them. Of course like always in cases like this...where was my camera? Well in the case of today it just wasn't working right probably due to the cold.
Well despite of the chilling weather it was nice to be between the soft donkey noses and  their sweet faces.

6 comments:

Melodie said...

Terrific stories and Donkey adventures! You could write a children's book about some of your days watching the donkeys!

Sharon said...

Maybe keep camera in an inside pocket?

Animal behavior is something else, I think you should make a children's book too, with all the little stories of the sweet and not so sweet donkeys! :-)

Windy as all get out here, yesterday too, and last night. The motion light kept coming on because of tree branches.

Jules said...

So sweet! I have noticed that we have a donkey farm of sorts near us now. I think there might be around 12 donkeys in residence. I am gonna have to go get some pictures for sure! Oh, and when we drove by it yesterday, my dad's comment was "That's a lot of asses", LOL! He's so silly sometimes.

Joan said...

I agree with the other comments, I always enjoy hearing your stories about the donkeys. And, of course I always love to hear of Cocoa's antics! I'm also very impressed with your grit and determination to be at the farm even on the coldest and darkest of mornings.

John Going Gently said...

nice tale
and I , like you resemble an onion in winter......too many layers!!!!

Tina said...

Melodie-Thanks....I rather leave the story writing to others, my English and mostly my grammar aren't up to speed for a venture like that.
Sharon-Well that camera is too big to be in a inside pocket, I am looking for an inexpensive small camera right now, for that reason. You just never know what you gonna see at the farm, animals are such natural entertainers.
Jules- yeah I know lol donkeys are usual the butt end of a joke, lol... you just can play so nicely on the word and their name, it just doesn't do them justice however. I am an "ASS" girl, you can take that any way you like lol....it goes any way I guess. I do like asses. :)
Joan-Thanks, but you know yourself there is no other place I rather be. Well Cocoa sure makes for good stories....yesterday he was checking out a new volunteer up close and personal and he was just putty in her hands when she started to pet him and became very possessive of her, when other donkeys tried to approach, he chased everybody away, he sure doesn't like to share, does he? He is such a sweetie.
John- well at least I was warm enough, well except my face, nose and cheeks were frozen by the end of the day. But nothing better than spending a cold day outside and coming home to a warm cup of tea or hot chocolate.Hmmmmm