PEOPLE WHO ARE VIOLENT TO ANIMALS RARELY STOP THERE!

Monday, June 13, 2011

DONKEY DAY!

Wow that was a new perspective of DONKEY DAY, it was awesome, it was scary, it was stressy, it was tiring but it was great day. Looks like a great day for everybody who attended, people seemed to have just a great time, there was lots to watch, lots to do, lots to eat and lots to learn and of course lots of donkey time.
I arrived at the DSC by 7:30 am, unloaded my cookies, which my friend Olivia had made, 
 and some more books and then parked somewhere in the mule pasture down the road, since there were only a few of us, the mules were still in the pasture, and you could see them peeking over the rolling hills wondering what we were doing here. Of course being mules they kept a safe distance. There was still a few adjustments to make, some rearranging to do and some last minute set ups, Then it was time to get the donkeys sorted out. It was different today then any other Donkey Day, the main herd was situated in Riley's Paddock, while all the special need donkeys, goats and sheep were ushered into the Apple Orchard, the mules stayed in their paddock and the mingling donkeys were kept in the lower part of the east side paddock, and Hershey, Donny and Indiana had no clue of what was even going on and minded their own business over in Halfway Haven. After everybody was sorted out it was time to do last minute clean ups on our mingling donkeys and then get this show on the road so to speak. 
Abbey ready to mingle

Buddy all dressed up
At around 10:30 Abbey, Carrie and I made our way up the lane way to start greeting visitors, Abbey just wasn't very happy about all this excitement at first and it took us almost an hour to make it up to the gate, but then she was in her glory, having all these people dotting over her  and scratching her ears, petting her nose and just loving her. She was really well behaved. Then it was time to switch her up with Tibet and well Tibet was a trooper for a little while until she turned around and made clear indication to us, that that was enough already. So we just put her back into the enclosure. It was really busy, I think we broke a new record in visitors, and it turned out to be a beautiful day, even though it was a little on the cool side. There were lots of first timers, lots of familiar faces, lots of people that came and thought it was a regular open day, and lots of people that wanted to walk away with having learnt something today. There were some heartwarming moments, like when the former owners of Sable came by and we had to bring out all three minis so he could get a picture taken with Sable, because Sable won't go anywhere without Poppy and Pansy, so of course it took us a while to get them there because as soon as you were out of the enclosure you were surrounded by people asking questions, wanting to pet etc, so I can definitely see how it gets too much for the animals and for everybody's safety and well being we made those appearances as short as possible. I think I haltered and lead more donkeys yesterday than I had to lead before in all my times there, thank God most of them were very cooperative and not too challenging, of course little Marci had to show who was boss of  her, but in the end I got her where she needed to be. And Cargo, well he thought even though he was on a lead it still would be nice to chase after Buffy who was in heat, so I had to pull all my strength together to keep control over him, which I must say I mastered surprisingly well, even though he once came down on my foot. But hey we are all there to once in a while take on for the team, as we were suppose to be always in twos with the donkeys, one in front and one behind lol, not a safe place, but if they know you are there and are close enough, not quite as bad and so far I can say I have never been kicked and I would like to keep it that way. The day ended with the carrot walk and people started to slowly leave, and of course then it was clean up time, and in less than 1 1/2 hrs the place looked like nothing had taken place here all day. It's amazing how much we can accomplish when we all work together. I even got some Cate time in lol. 
I finally got home after 6pm, made a quick supper and then headed to work. I couldn't wait to get to bed and get a good nite's rest, and I sure did. It was a fun but exhausting day. This morning every bone and muscle in my body aches but no rest yet, off to work to get some clean up done.
Here is my contributions to this year's Market Place on Donkey Day, however I can not take credit for them, somebody else made them for me and I donated them to the cause. But boy we sure have a lot of talented people amongst us, we had everything from quilted bags, to felted donkeys, to knitted donkeys, to baby dresses and bibs to paintings and drawings etc.
Cargo

Cocoa

Gordon

Ms Jenners

Odin

Sable

Earl Grey
Summer

Orly

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