Rain or shine

Rain or shine the DSC is a popular day to visit in any kind of weather. Wouldn't be my first choice on a rainy day, but nevertheless on Sunday despite the more on than off rain throughout the day a hundred visitors braved the wind and rain, and even though we were all chilled to the bone by the end of the day, it was a great day. We had some great visitors with great interest in the DSC there, some for the first time, some repeat visitors. I spend a little time with a young girl, maybe 8 or 9 , who had read in the Learning Centre that donkeys love the inside of their ears rubbed and she was eager to test it out. Her subject of affection became Donkeschoen, a very large standard donkey, with ears longer than her forearm, which she had no problem sticking in the donkeys ears to give Donkeschoen heavenly bliss. She didn't care that her hands were dirty beyond belief afterwards but she enjoyed watching Donkeschoen's neck getting longer and longer and her bottom lip quiver with pleasure. Those two must have enjoyed each others company for good 20 minutes and it was nice to watch and it's great to see that some kids are not afraid to get right down and dirty, which sometimes really surprises me at times at my job. Kids nowadays don't let to get dirty anymore, no digging for worms in the dirt, making mud pies etc, seems like a lost art of childhood.
Then I had the pleasure of introducing one of my favourite donkeys to a group of people who came to visit their sponsored donkeys, Dolly, Earl Grey and my sweetie Buffy. Buffy and I definitely have a bond, Buffy has been around me pretty much from the start and I have many great memories with Buffy, she has probably taught me  the most about myself  of all my donkeys, but she also trusts me and goes anywhere with me, which makes it then easy to get her from point A to point B. Before a donkey does anything, a donkey asks itself two questions; "Does this make sense? " and " Will I be safe?". The donkey thinks about it for a little while and then acts, so with Buffy trusting me, she knows she will be safe with me and therefore doesn't put forward the so- called stubbornness of the donkey's being. Donkeys are not stubborn, they are very smart and just need to feel safe to do the things we want them to do. So Buffy visited with her visitors for a little while as she stood there snuggled up against me and they were happy as can be to be able to pet "their" donkey and hear all about her.
I had a visit with one of my favourite visitors, and hopefully in the fall he will be a volunteer too. He has been out the sanctuary many times and loves donkeys, he currently is enrolled in the vet program at the University at Guelph and therefore is closer to the DSC then he normally would be. So with good luck everything will work out and he will start volunteering in the October.
At the end of the day I got to help with some donkey wrangling and bringing certain animals in for the night, I also spend some time with Juno in a stall brushing her winter coat out. It was fun, but of course Juno still being Juno it was a tough go, but at the end she relaxed enough to let me brush her while she munched on her hay too, so that was a little progress, she wasn't to intensely concentrated on every move I made.That definitely put a smile on my face and it is what I classify as a great day.