Are you sure?

...it's only March? Boy this weekend couldn't have been any better if it was mid June. Can you believe this? Being outside and basking in the sun, one tends to forget that it's only the middle of March. This weekend has just been glorious. I had the best time ever. Friday I took a drive down to Ancaster to visit a local crafts store and purchase a few things that added up quickly, but hey it's all for the donkeys and my little crafts for the Market Place. On the drive home I made a little detour and took a side road cross country, just because I could and because it was such a nice day. Once back home I sat outside and worked on some of the crafts, nothing fancy, just something very simple and personalized, so the kids will love them. Saturday we went down the Mountain to Hamilton Place, I thoroughly enjoyed the show that Danny Bhoy put on, he was entertaining us for almost two hours and there wasn't a dry eye in the house. The tickets were a still a Christmas present waiting to be redeemed. I love those kind of Christmas presents. But what can I say, Sunday was just the best, it was going to be a beautiful day and I left for the farm by 7:30. Even though the donkeys love this weather, it's not exactly ideal for them, as they still wear their thick winter coats and the heat just causes all kinds of skin infections from sweating. But omg the donkeys were just the amazing yesterday, not they aren't always amazing but we had so much fun, they were so playful, cuddly and just wanted to get attention so badly, even Juanita, one of our shyest creatures, was playing ring around the donkeys with us and when she then finally got to us she just snuggled up, she never does that. Rosie had fun sorting out brushes and sorting them from my kit into another volunteer's kit, she was also constantly taking all my things and wandering of with them.

Cocoa, the donkey, was another one who took my whole tool kit of the fence and kicked the tools all over the place. They were all very mischievous today.

Buffy coming in for an Eskimo kiss

While most of them were up to no good....some just enjoyed a snooze in the sun....like Cocoa totally relaxed on the concrete pad.

Look at that face of contentment.

However this is the face I am more used to getting from Cocoa.

Getting the evil eye. Cocoa, the goat and I have many run ins with each other. :)

Then others just made for cute ......like Luna and Sam, my little man.

Isn't Curly Sam just the cutest little guy?

And here are some of our Rowdy boys....

......looking pretty tame...but I still have to venture on that side since the new barn is up. It's a little intimidating...but then after brushing Juliet today....I might just be crazy enough to do so...lol.

Brushing Juliet....a brave move on my part.

And of course I spend some time with my Orly, who enjoyed a thorough brushing from me.
It was an absolutely delightful day, full of sunshine, hugs and donkey love. Couldn't get any better than this.

You can lead a horse to water.....

...but you can't make it drink! Well in this case it wasn't a horse but a donkey, and it wasn't a donkey, it was many donkeys! Now that hydro finally has been hooked up to the new donkey house it was time to make use out of the automated water fountains for the donkeys. But with the donkeys being donkeys it wasn't as easy as just letting them figure it out by themselves. Like always something new is observed with great curiosity but also with great caution, so in this case caution won out over trying the next water buckets. The odd one has figured it out that it doesn't hurt them, and it's ok to use, but most of them were extremely curious yet too scared to try it out, so our job today was to try to make them less scared of them. We spent about an hour  on the girls side, slashing in the water and showing them that is really is only water and nothing scary even though it makes a gurgling sound when it fills back up. I tried to show them that it's really water that I am getting out of these funny looking buckets that make strange noises. Here is Franco taste testing.

In the meantime the boys on the other side of the fence were carefully watching and see how it's done. Here are Odin, Tengen, Eeyore, Indy and Hershey taking notes. And Tengen actually did try it by himself.

On the girls side, progress was slow but Franco finally took a sip, and Dolly was a show off  by showing them how it's done. 

We ended up giving them their "normal" water troughs back for the time being, because they really seem to have a hard time getting over their nervousness and they were all obviously very thirsty, because as fast as we filled their troughs it was just as fast empty again. Having both things going it will give them some time to adjust and get used to the noise of the new water buckets. 

After all the chores were done, we hung out in the main herd some more and watched the girls much on their new barley straw. Here are Donkeschoen and Orly digging in.

Meeting Rob!

Last Wednesday while working in the office at the DSC I had the honour to meet Rob Laidlaw.  I had heard Rob's name many times before and have read some of this books, so it was of great pleasure to meet him in person.  Rob is an acclaimed animal activist and founder of Zoocheck, one of Canada's leading animal rights organisations. He began his animal protection work in 1979, investigating slaughter houses and farming practices in Ontario. Since1984, he has been involved in wildlife issues, with an emphasis on the welfare of wildlife in captivity. His work has included successful campaigns to change wildlife protection policies and laws in many jurisdictions, as well as the closure of a number of substandard zoos. For the past 10 years, he has also been involved in numerous international initiatives, with a particular emphasis on wildlife in captivity issues in Asia. Laidlaw has authored several children's books on animal issues, such as On Parade, The Hidden World of Animals in Entertainment and Wild Animals in Captivity, is a Chartered Biologist, and a former Humane Society Inspector, past member of the board of the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies and past Project Manager/Technical Advisor for the World Society for the Protection of Animals operating in 91 countries around the world. He currently serves as Director of Zoocheck Canada. On that day Rob had been invited by Sandra to visit the DSC and attend a meeting with her and our Operation's Manager. It was Rob's first visit to the Sanctuary even though he had been involved in speaking engagement through the DSC with us. We are hoping to organize  a workshop with him in the near future and that would be totally awesome and can only benefit us all and most importantly the donkeys. 

Thank you Marion and Don

On an Open Day Sunday a few weeks back we had some amazing visitors, amongst them were two very talented people. They were  talking about a video that they had made and donated to the SPCA and offered to do the same for the DSC. Wow, this is what they came up with. I just love it....they did an awesome job at putting this together. Thank you so much...the picture R. picked for the video just capture the true essence of the DSC. Well done!

Sharing!

Well it was an absolute gorgeous day today, the sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky and warm temperatures, the weather couldn't have been any better for a nice drive through the country side to enjoy the fall colours. I had one destination in mind as I had to pick up some paper work from there, so I called one of my friends to ask if she would like to come along for the ride. I have wanted for so long to share that little corner of my world with her, but it never worked out that way, so I was delighted when she said she would come along. The drive was nice and we talked about this and that and soon we arrived at the gates to the DSC. The long driveway ends at the little parking lot where most of the donkeys right now are gathering around the feeders, to get some food and to soak up some sun. After I got my papers, we stood a while at the fence and she met big boy Cocoa, Juliet, Apollo and a handful of others who couldn't resist getting an ear or butt scratch. We took a little walk around the barnyard where she met Juno, Tibet and of course our cute Minis. It was so nice to show her around and to spend some outside time with her. After we got home, I pretty much went straight to work, packaged up 20 mail orders and got half of them sent out already,with the rest of them ready to got tomorrow. Wow and it's not even close to Christmas yet. Oh and I had fun going "stash" shopping thanks to my win at Cathey's blogger giveaway. Woo hoo $ 100 worth of stash, the choice was hard to a degree, because there were so many nice things on that site, but on the other hand it was nice to buy without thinking can I afford that or should I get it....well I just got it. :) What a nice feeling!

Crazy Day!

For four days now we have been without email at the DSC and wow you should realize fast how much you rely on it for daily communication. Its not exactly the best time to be without email as there are three big events to coordinate, but well I can't do anything about it and no need to sweat about it yet at least. With having no email to answer we got a full day in (ten hours) of concentrating on learning how to do Ty letters for donors and sponsors. Wow what Cheryl does with such ease every day is quite the ordeal and there is so much to learn and so much to remember. By the end of the day my head was just spinning and I don't think I retained a single thing lol. Well I have three more days to work on it until the Christmas rush begins and by then I better have everything up and running in my head. I mean it's a fun job, but omg very detailed and so many different things to do and I am just doing the "Thank you letter" part of the sponsorships and donations. We had a few good laughs at some of the mistakes I made and one, omg it reminded me so much of my mom, I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. We also had a nice quick lunch with my sweet friend Cate, it was so good to see her, we haven't had much time together lately, so that was extra special. Being out at the DSC with no internet connection and a very poor signal to even receive my emails on my blackberry, I didn't find out till later in the day that I had won the big giveaway at Pumpkin's Blog. Omg I can't believe I actually won. I am so happy....WOO HOO! $100 Gift card to spend on " STASH" from  "Anita's little Stitches". What could be better than that? Definitely did my little Happy Dance! 

Are you sure it's not November?

OMG, can you say friggin' cold and it's only the first week of October. It sure felt like November yesterday as we spent all day outside on the farm and gathered at 1 pm around a bonfire at the DSC Memorial Hill to celebrate the life and remember those animals that touched out lives. It was a very meaningful and touching ceremony and despite the lousy weather, there were people gathering and coming out just for that purpose. I dedicated my remembrance card to  Mrs Jenners, who I had a good cry over just the day before. Poor Mrs Jenners, I have never seen such a tragic ending to one of the most loving donkeys we ever had at the DSC. Mrs Jenners was just a people loving donkey, always seeking out visitors, staff and volunteers. Could never get enough attention and was just the sweetest creature. She was here one day and gone the next, she was still physical here, but her eyes were empty, without life or any expression, she was just an empty shell. Mrs Jenners went from notching people one day, to not knowing what to do with a carrot, how to eat or what to do other than wandering in the same path over and over again. It was so sad to watch, she wouldn't stop for anything or anybody, when she stood still for a minute, she was just gone. It was determined that Mrs Jenners brain had swollen up and she was euthanized  after extensive tests showed nothing conclusive and medication to get the swelling down had failed, in the end we will have to wait for the necropsy results to determine the cause, but a tumor was the most likely cause......poor  Mrs Jenners. One of the sweetest donkey girls.

 MRS JENNERS 1983 - 2011

Heavenly- Picture this.....

Sitting on a beautifully decked out Picnic table on top of an incline, overlooking a quiet pond to the front of you, with beautiful trees behind it, reflecting in the water, the sky redish in hue, beautiful cloud formations and absolute peace. To the right you overlook beautiful pastures filled with joyful animals enjoying the cooler breeze of the early evening and playing tag and other games. As we gather there and just reflect and enjoy the beauty of this place, the love that comes from all kind of different sources, I really couldn't have felt more at peace and  happy as I did yesterday evening as the staff of the DSC gathered for their Staff Barbeque.In all the hussle and bussle of the days working there, volunteering there and always having the mind set of what can we do to make more money, to make the donkeys life as good as it gets, it gets sometimes lost in the business. However I hardly ever leave the parking lot without taking a second and stand at the fence and watch in silence.
Sandra wrote a beautiful blog about the Staff  BBQ and it sure made me very emotional, I don't know but I feel so honoured and so happy about being a part of this group of amazing people. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever be where I am now. And the safe environment of the DSC makes it so easy to want to be nothing more than your best in everything you do.
I arrived at the DSC after lunch to volunteer with some long overdue office work, and as we were all working quietly Sandra came in and announced that dinner would be ready for about 6:30 but suggested that we leave the office at around 5:30 pm so we could start drinking early. Very funny coming from her..and for sure my kind of people lol. So with wine or beer at hand we enjoyed the beauty on the hill while we waited for dinner. Nice to be at a place to, where every single staff member is at a Staff BBQ and is looking forward to coming. We sat around and learnt a few new things about each other, e.g. that our Louise,our newest barn staff member was an elite fencer, training for the 2016 Olympics before an injury destroyed that dream. We learnt about new diseases, and of some of the adventures of the DSC from the early days, and oh we did laughed. Dinner was absolutely delicious. It was such a beautiful evening and I enjoyed every second of it.
I am so looking forward to the next BBQ that will be part of the Donkey Holiday and staff is invited to mingle with the guests of that endeavour. Looks like a lot of great people have signed up for the 3 1/2 day holiday and I am looking forward to meeting people I know by name only so far. Most of them are longtime donors and some come from as far as the other side of Canada to experience the DSC to it's fullest. Lucky them.

Feeling better!

After my meeting on Tuesday, I was almost in tears driving home, because I was just so totally overwhelmed with things, so many things to learn, so much to do and so much going on right in the beginning, plus a lot of catching up to do as this job has been kind of neglected and just ran beside so many other things that needed more attention, not that this part doesn't need attention, but there just wasn't time for it. So now I have inherited the whole thing and I am swamped right now. There are definitely things I need to learn to get used to to do, no way around it, and it freaks me out, but well it's just part of it and hopefully once I have a few under my belt so to speak I will be better. Hopefully! Yesterday I went up to the DSC right after dropping Pookie of to school, I got there and started the computer, but since it's a slow computer I took the time instead of waiting in front of it, to walk down to the barn and check on a few things, I am so glad that Summer is back on her feet and ready to snuggle with you,  it really looked bad for her for a few days, I hope she is on the way to recovery and up for  more  years at the DSC. When I came back up to the office, I had a surprise visitor at the gate, well nothing like starting your work day of with a hug from a person you love dearly. Can't believe we got so lucky to hang out so much lately, it sure is a treasured time. Then it was time to get to work, I spent all morning catching up on recording volunteer hours and then we logged into my mail...woo hoo....can you say overflow? Ok so here I got the hang of it pretty quick on responding emails and directing requests....so I got that under my belt now and I am feeling so much better, and I am not quite so overwhelmed anymore, but the work load right now is huge,  it will all be even itself out once everything is the way we want it and I am more familiar with the things to do and how to do it, right now I am just totally green behind the ears. While I was busy in the office, the was a school group of autistic kids for a visit and you could hear the joy they had with the animals. The barn manager was busy making hay and by the time it was evening he had brought the first cut in. Woo hoo.....we need about 2600 square bales of hay each year plus many many more round bales for the winter feedings. So that is a lot of hay to be made, cut, baled and stored....Here is to a good start.

Watch out, here they come!

What a fun day I had yesterday. I went to the farm right after breakfast to help with some pre-donkey day. I was suppose to meet Ruth around 9:30 am, but since she had a few stops to make she was getting there later, so I did what I knew I still needed to do, haul some more boxes of books, make some buckets and then went down to the barn to do some clean up there. When I saw her arrive I went up to the office and hey what a nice surprise, Cate was sitting in my chair doing photo cards for sponsorships. We presented Cate with an edible Arrangement that we had purchased for her with a GET WELL card and she was tickled pink. It was really a beautiful arrangement, I had never seen one, only on pictures, but definitely something I would send to somebody now that I have seen them. Really neat! So Cate was to spend as long as she could last and not tire out in the office while Ruth and I started working on the Boutique tent, we watched a video on how to set the new tent up and it looked easy as can be, reality well that was different, after about an hour of trying whatever way we could we finally gave up and came to the conclusion we might have to ask the guys for help, which was really going both of our better judgement. So we just left it there for a while, because they were no guys around to begin with. LOL. We went up to the upper barn to get all the other tents out, to get signs and stakes and whatever else we still needed, just so we can get everything organized for the big set up day  today. To get to the upper barn we had to get into through the complicated gate of the "Paddock for the Fatties", like they are lovingly called, lol or the Weight Watcher herd. There are about 18 donkeys in that group that need to slim down and it seems to be working for some quite nicely so far. In the beginning the "fatties" were all out in the pasture, and we had an easy pass to the barn and loaded up our dollies to haul stuff out, as I opened the door to get the last tent out...omg here they came running like a little mini stampede towards us. I quickly closed the door again and when we finally were ready to get out, they were all just standing in front of the door, it was hilarious, they just looked at us, had pulled everything we had loaded up from the dolly again and just brayed and brayed. What little stinkers those guys are! Orly was of course right front and center and one of the leaders together with Pablo, who is turning into a real attention seeking donkey, he never used to bother with anybody but his buddy Chullo. After some rearranging and donkey wrangling we got all of our stuff out and continued working.  Ruth and I work  well together, and we had a lot of laughs at our own expense and were just grateful that Kim wasn't there to take pictures of us to post on Facebook for everybody to see lol. Well and then came the men, so with a heavy heart we asked for help, only to have to tell the guys how not to do it, because you know how guys are, they think they know but we had seen the video just weren't strong enough to get it up. David was about ready to get the heavy machinery out  as the six of us still had a hard time even moving it up wards and Ruth almost had a hissy fit, because as soon as you touch it with stuff like that, the warranty goes out the window. But thank God for one good man, who actually listened to what we had to say about the instruction, and it turned out that one of the middle posts was jammed because of a little metal piece that was rough and it couldn't go past it, and once that was rectified it went up in no time at all, almost like in the video. So finally we could  start on setting up the boutique and it was smooth sailing from there on. I also spent some time in the office with Cate pricing items and checking orders. It's so nice to have Cate around, even if we don't get to do much together, just knowing that she is there, gives you a warm fuzzy feeling. She was getting tired fast, but if you know Cate....she is on the go all the time so she is having a hard time with that, and of course she had to go down to the barn and spent some time brushing donkeys, but at the end of the day she realized that she had overdone it a little bit for today, after all the surgery was only a week ago. So I was glad when she decided to go home and get some rest. Of course she will be there on Donkey Day.

I got home after six pm and was dead tired and in bed by 9 pm. So today it will be another busy day and then Sunday is the big day, which will be long and super busy! Only one more sleep til ....DONKEY DAY!

I guess it pays to be a nine!

Being a nine can be sometimes a little bit of a challenge, especially when you are not a healthy nine, plus coupled with being an introvert, life can be quite interesting and overwhelming at times. But the good attributes of being a nine are great attributes to have, even though it can cause a lot of conflict within oneself at times. Being introverted at the same time, it takes me longer to process certain things, have to think them through and then act on them, sometimes that is hard when people want a decision from you right away, but I have no problem anymore to ask for time to think about it and time to  work through it that works for me. The good nine attributes have landed me the job I have just accepted at the DSC and I am looking forward to that part as I know I will be good at it. Having said that there are some requirements that cause me great stress in that job, but everybody is aware of those and I have not kept quiet about these issues and I am sure that with their guidance and support  I will master those parts one at a time too. After all it's not just a safe haven for the donkeys, it has also been a blessing and a safe haven for me. One where I can experiment with and exceed my limits in a safe way, with great role models to look up to and loving people around me. My position and role has now been officially announced and some came to celebrate yesterday at the office and once the technical difficulties that we are still experience are sorted out, it's time to get in the swing of it. First projects.....fundraising through volunteers and board members for the new barn, volunteer training session and  getting a volunteer forum set up.
Even the other day my peacemaker skills came into play at work as I had to mediate between some disgruntled seniors and find a solution that centered nobody out, but made everybody aware of the issues...part of it was self preservation on my part too...because I sure didn't want to talk in front of the whole group, but that's were that sure came in handy too and woops there was my solution for them and they sure liked it and everybody was happy. What more can I ask for?

My weekend/ Part 1: remembering two special little friends

Friday morning, after dropping my daughter of at school, I made my way up to the DSC to work on logging some volunteer hours and getting more familiarized with my upcoming duties regarding that department. It was fun to do and well I am sure once I have done it a few times, it should be a breeze to find my way around the logging system. As soon as I got to the DSC I was informed that my dear friend Cate was going to stop by later in the afternoon for a visit and that I had the final honour of laying two of our special friends to rest. Knowing that Cate was going to be there later in the afternoon, totally changed my plans for leaving early to go up to Brentwood, sorry Stitching Sisters, but I had the whole weekend ahead with you, and I don't get much time with Cate these days anymore, and it was just too important to me to miss just one second of that. So I worked all morning on the volunteer logs and took a late lunch around 1:30pm. Just as I was getting to my car to get it, I saw Cate's car drive up the driveway, gee she almost forgot to put the car in park as she literally jumped out of the car with excitement. We had some catching up to do and well it wasn't all good, but hopefully it will sort itself out and we will have much more time together in the future. We stood a long time in the parking lot and talked about everything, she was absolutely excited for me to have gotten this job at the DSC and she said she will help me as much as possible with some of the Training sessions...woo hoo, couldn't have a better person beside me for that. Honest to God I never  have seen anybody as happy for me as she was, and what a great opportunity and how great it was to have a foot in the door so to speak and well she just went on and on.  It's really nice to know that the DSC is also like a safe place for me and to see all the support one is getting from all sides, it's nice to have no back stabbing and jealousy going on and to all work for the one and only cause and nobody is in it for themselves, and it's amazing what such an atmosphere can produce in accomplishments and reaching goals. Every place should be like that and things would run so much smoother in the end. I mean no matter what job or occupation or position we hold, we all should work for the good of whatever place we work for and not have our own agendas, but some people just don't get it, they want to the top and they don't care whose body they step over, well that's just not me..never was and never will be. I will be always considerate of other's feelings and thoughts, might not be easy all the time, but just how I am.

After visiting with Cate in the parking lot, I asked her if she wanted to go and put Chiclet and Paco's little souls to rest over at Memorial Hill, and of course she did. We got some pictures of the two and the urn with their ashes and walked over to Memorial Hill to spread their ashes. Memorial Hill is a beautiful quiet little place just above the pond on the Sanctuary grounds. It holds many memory stones that people have donated, for loved pets, loved people and loved donkeys. We spread the ashes all around Memorial Hill, put some on their gone donkey companions and remembered them with little silly stories, like how we forgot little Paco inside a stall for the morning one Sunday, because he was so tiny and so quiet and  locked away behind the "old high stall doors",  to be able to eat in peace and quiet and well halfway through the morning when we did head count, we were short a donkey and remembered all of a sudden, that little Paco was still in the stall, never making a sound of complaint just waiting patiently. Or how he would just come running as soon as you called his name at dinner time. And how Chiclet always found the most peaceful places to curl up in and relax and sleep. We shed a few tears and shared  a few laughs
 in our memories and we spent about 30 minutes spreading their ashes. It sure was great, even if it was a so sad at the same time, to see their ashes being returned to their safe haven and being blown in the wind all over Memorial Hill.

After that we returned to the office for a little while, talked some more and then it was time for Cate to spend some time in the barn and me to finish of with my meeting and then get on the way to Brentwood. I left the DSC around four and even though traffic was heavy at times, and I got lost for a little bit, because I was in total unknown territory, I arrived in Brentwood shortly after six, which was way faster than expected. I was the last to arrive, but that was ok, since I had the most special afternoon at the DSC. So it was all good. 

It was nice to be back in Brentwood, nice to see old friends again, and to meet new ones, and it sure promised to be an amazing weekend....and that it was.......to be continued.

Must have been Friday the 13 th!

So this morning I get up, got all my things ready for my day and had extra time before heading out and I thought, well I have even time to blog...well so I thought, but then blogger had some issues and my intentions went right out the window. Arrrgghhh! So then I had to fill my time with something else, which was really disappointing, but well I got some things done and felt good about that. I started to take the first few boxes of my book collection up to the DSC, where I was going to spend my day on Friday.  I had some Donkey Day stuff to finish off and then it was time to get some things done in the office and start finally some training on my new job. Boy it's a mess right now, it has kind of been neglected due to other duties of that staff member, so before I can start anything I will have to work on getting things organized, filed, recorded and then well then it's off to being in charge lol....I definitely have big shoes to fill, because Cheryl has been doing an amazing job with the Volunteer program, but she has had just too much other things to do at the same time, that she could only do so much. And everybody loves Cheryl, so it will be a change for people. Oh well....they will get over that too. I am definitely excited but also nervous, I will just go with the flow, unlike Cocoa.....

So I got a few things accomplished at the DSC that day too and as I was leaving I noticed that Adam and Chantal have been working hard on the paddocks, there will be a paddock for a fatty group, the main herd, the problem donkeys, Halfway Haven, and for the minis plus Juno and of course the barnyard and the office paddock with the learning centre, I think it's all to be set up by Sunday, we will see, they still are waiting for a few new shelters. And then the big change suppose to happen at the end of the summer with construction of a new barn etc. So lots of things going on right now, in the beginning it was a little bit hard to envision, but once you get the plans explained, it all makes sense and I know it will be great and exciting and it will eliminate a few ongoing issues with drainage and mud. And the barnyard animals will have the Eastside as their home, and the other side of the barn will be more our hospital. But I am sure there will be rules and regulation to come with that and who knows what they will be. However I will not worry about this right now and just deal with that's in front of me. No use worrying about stuff you have no control over to begin with and we all somehow adapt to changes somehow.

***************************************************

Otherwise I have been scheming how to lend as much needed support to my good friend, somebody I love dearly,  and try to brighten up her days. It's a little bit tricky as access to her is very restricted, however it's good to know that others think, if anybody can pick her up, it's me and I have their support and help. Who would have thought!! lol. 

"Enough with all this donkey love nonsense", says Nello

I got a good chuckle out of Nello when I went to the farm on Sunday. After all the chores were done, and I decided to have a little down time with the donkeys, grooming and taking pictures of different things going on in the barn, Nello made it quite clear that he had about all he could take of people fussing over the donkeys only, and thought it was his time to shine, after all he is a very handsome sheep. So as I am trying to take a picture of Gordon with his Helia, Nello took the opportunity to steal the limelight, by inching his way into the picture, posing just perfectly for a nice group picture.

He sure loves to pose and when you take a picture of him, he always looks right at you.....so this entry is dedicated to NELLO, one of our  handsome sheep....

Nello with Buffy ( one of my all time favourite pictures)

Nello with Juno in Feb. 2011

Nello and Juno in the Summer of 2009

Nello in earlier days

I met Nello the first time when he was a tiny little lamb, born in 2006, orphaned and brought to the DSC in 2006, where he was bottle fed and raised to grow up into a sometimes a very, very grumpy sheep, however, over the last year Nello has turned into an absolutely loving animal, he loves attention and loves to be cuddled, but most of all, he is very nosy and doesn't put up with anything from anybody, not even the new barn pup, who you can see being chased around the barn yard by Nello quite often. Nello is highly energetic and always on the lookout for attention, or somebody to aggravate. He sure is a character.

Dinner for two!

Why are there 8 to 10 standard donkeys tightly gathered around one little feeder, while two little mini donkeys hog the other feeder? Well it was dinner for two, just for Peter and his Katy.

Now Peter is quite the character, and I have never ever seen anybody take such good care of his woman the way Peter does. I call him Petey, because he is just so tiny and Peter sounds so grown up. Petey loves his Katy and he will make sure that Katy is not bothered by anybody, not people and for sure not by other donkeys, so when Katy wants to eat, Katy gets to eat, undisturbed and uninterrupted and Petey makes sure of that. So when other donkeys approach the feeder, Petey, as tiny as he is, kicks his heels in high gear and takes on any donkey, no matter what size and chases them away. He won't let them near his dear Katy. He has always been so protective of her and the rest of his family, his kids Gemmi and Marci.
I have observed his protective behaviours plenty of times, e.g. one time him and Katy came in from the field to the barn to get a drink, they were the only donkeys in the barn at that point, but as others arrived with the same idea, he guarded the entrance of that barn with all he had, so Katy could have a peaceful drink in the other part of the barn.
When Katy gets  groomed he is always right by her side and makes sure we don't do anything to her that we shouldn't be doing, he oversees every move we make. He never is further than a few feet away, and when Katy starts moving he is sure to follow her.
They are often seen cuddling together in the lane way or out in the field, Peter resting his head on Katy's back or just snuggling up together.
These two are just too cute, well the whole family is just adorable. So nosy, lovable, cuddly and just absolutely sweet donkeys.

Katie loves Donkeys

Katie has been seen hanging out close with several donkeys, affectionately licking their faces, not all of them take to it kindly, but most of them put up with this little loving goat.

Katie loves Orly

Katie loves Juno

I know, I know...

... I have said it almost every in entry that I write about the DSC, but really it doesn't get any cuter than this. This time I am meaning the Mini family, consisting of father Peter, mom Katy and brother and sister Gemini and Marci. All four of them arrived at the DSC some time in 2001, when their former owner realized that his advanced age was going to be a problem with being able to take care of the foursome, so one year prior he had made arrangement that the four minis will move all the way from British Columbia to Ontario to the DSC. While the four donkeys took a five day long road trip to their new home, their owner flew up to Ontario to meet them at their new destination and make sure they were settling in ok. I remember the family from my first few visits to the DSC, then they left to live on a Foster farm and they have recently been returned. As much as they look alike they are very unique in their being, except they are all very very cute. Peter makes sure that his family is well taken care of and has no problem to be assertive to make sure his family has a spot at the feeder. He is small but mighty. He never leaves his wife Katy's side. Peter also has a very distinct walk so he is easily to tell apart from the rest, he lifts his hind legs up really high and walks like a little snotty donkey, almost like " there is so much donkey poop all over here I don't want to step in it". Katy is a great mom, always making sure her kids are taken care of and always on the look out for them. Katy's crest is fallen slightly so I can tell her apart from the rest. Gemini is very nosy, but also very attached to his family and is almost always with them. His mane stands straight up and he is a little chunky, so that's how you know it's him. Marci on the other side, she is like a rebellious teenager, and doesn't like to hang out with her family, but they always make sure she is ok. Her crest is more fallen than Katy's, so that's how I can tell her apart from the rest.

Today was an absolute perfect sunny day at the farm and all the donkeys enjoyed the sunshine and just stood there for most of the day, relaxing and soaking it all up.
 After having done all the chores, Cheri and I decided to groom the mini family together, because it's easier to take two out at at time, instead of separating them and having the other ones upset. So we took Peter and Katy out first, I groomed Peter and he was not very happy at first and always had to make sure his love Katy was right there too. After we took these two back from where we got them, we were looking for Marci and Gemini, Marci was easy to find but Gemini not so easy, because all of a sudden too there was Monty, who looks just like Gemini, but I know Monte has a lump on his neck, so we eliminated him as Gemini fairly quickly...but where was the Gemi? So we walked up the hill in the paddock and called for him, and sure enough the little donkey came trotting along. So we took Marci and Gemi out to the other side to groom, Peter was in constant communication with them through the fence, and Katy, like any mother would do...the kids are away for a few minutes, hubby is busy, I will enjoy some alone time out in the field and she went for a walk. So cute. Peter on the other hand watched for his children the whole time they were getting groomed. Marci and Gemi were very easy to groom and very cooperative, even with their feet. Then it was carrot time and all of a sudden we had new best friends, even long after we put them back on the East side, they kept checking us for more carrots.

Marci checks "Are you sure you don't have any more?" 

Peter using Katy as a headrest for his little snooze in the sun!

It was an absolute beautiful day at the farm, not a cloud in the sky and you could feel the strength of the sun on your face, even though it was very cold. We got lots of chores done, had some cuddle time and grooming time and some time to just watch and observe.....

 like Braveheart playing in the barn window...

or Johnny rolling in the dirt...

or lots of donkeys soaking up some sunshine.

As for the big boys in the gelding paddock, they were doing the same, just enjoying the sunshine and fresh food in their feeder.

My day!

My day started like any other day, that was until I got a singing birthday wish from my friend Jayne, unfortunately I missed the call but she sang anyway and it is on tape lol....Since my birthday fell on a Tuesday this year it was just the perfect day to go out to the farm and spend some donkey time there and then actually do some work too in the office, with hopefully finally finishing my 'project'. The drive up there was a little bit slow since it was snowing and the roads were really icy, I had to take one big detour as a big accident blocked the whole road of that I had to go on. Hope everybody was ok there. I got to the farm and decided that I go take my pictures first. Well the pictures of who I still needed were some of the mules, three white donkeys and the new mini family that is now in with the big herd in the far paddock. I spotted some of the minis right at the fence so I thought, I should start with them. But first I had to go through these guys.....

I felt like being in the movie "High Noon", four of the big rowdy boys starring me down and watching every move I make, it was a little bit intimidating and I was still on the other side of the fence lol. Well I climbed over the fence and there they stood, Panne and Indiana were off to the side, minding their own business, Chullo ( the one with the ears partially back) decided food was more important than people and Nugget ( the one beside him) stood like that the whole time I was in there, not moving a muscle. Of course the two big boys Apollo and Cocoa came to check me out, but not without trying to fight it out who will get to me first. Well I was sandwiched between the two big boys by the fence and petting both of them, but they decided I should only give one of them my attention and they were biting each other and positioning each other to kick out, well sorry boys I don't like being in the middle of your little fights over my attention, so I tried to walk away, but Cocoa kept following me, I guess Apollo got tired of it and took off to the feeder. Nugget still standing there just watching lol. I tried to take a few pictures over the fence but it was nearly impossible with Cocoa at my side, every time I moved so did he and tagged along, and if my hands weren't on him, but the camera I just got this big nose push in the side or back to change my focus. Needless to say... I didn't get that many pictures....well at least not of the ones I needed yet. While giving Cocoa his little butt scratch, Chaplin came over to investigate and so did Gemini, one of the minis. So I got a few photos of them, cute but not really suitable for what I need them for....but here they are anyway...

 Chaplin, as you can see Cocoa's behind  right there too.

Chaplin, he is such a funny boy!

I think this is Gemini, but not really sure...will explain later why I'm not sure. 

But whoever it is, it's cute as a button and nosy as can be. 

I stood there by the fence inside the gelding paddock for a while, with Cocoa following me every step I took and making sure he was getting the attention he needed and of course no problem to obliged to that kind of a demand. lol. I don't think I cuddled with Cocoa that much ever before. Then it was time to move on and since Cocoa decided to join his buddies at the feeder I had no problem getting out of the paddock. I made my way down to the mule paddock, to get some pictures of the ones I needed from there, I pretty much needed body shots, but omg those guys looked horrible and you couldn't even recognize what colour they were, so there went that plan. We had such horrible weather the last few days, with being mild and muddy that they just seemed to be enjoying mud bath all over and on Jimmy for example, who is white, well there was not a white spot on him, lol. Of course standing in the garden paddock, I got to snap a few pictures of one of my favourite girls, Juno. She loves to hang out there during the day, Tibet was also out in her little enclosure, getting some fresh air.

Juno..Isn't she pretty?

Tibet closeup

After spending some time with the girls there I went down to the barn, but first I spotted my other favourite girl, Orly. She was hanging out with Katie, the goat. Katie was trying to snugged up to Orly, giving goat kisses, or so it looked at least...

but Orly got fed up very fast with the smooching goat and back went the ears.

and out came the teeth....

but Katie was determined to get to Orly and be close to her and here is what happened....

...but wait this is not the end of it....in her attempt to chase the goat away and Orly's maneuver to turn herself around so she could give Katie a swift kick, Katie got stuck under Orly's belly and Orly slipped on an icy patch in the lane way and both went down on their knees with Katie blocking Orly's fall and being underneath Orly. Of course they both got up as if nothing had happened and continued to annoy each other. While all this was going on Callie and Cocoa, the goat were munching on Adam's discarded Christmas tree and Gordon and Werther, the sheep, were munching on some free hay stack in Windy's paddock and thought they were in heaven.

                                      

After all this distractions by the donkey antics I finally made in inside the barn. Chantal and I decided to get out to the main herd and she would help me find the donkeys I still needed, three white ones, and the four minis. Well we found two of the  white ones really fast and I took some great pictures of them, and I even could tell them apart. Woo hoo. Then on to  the mini family which was mingling at the far feeder, so we walked up there. Now even that they are always together it is hard to get a separate shot of each of them, I needed face and body shots, so well a group picture will do for the face shots, I can always cut out the ones I need and leave the rest, or though I thought. Hmmm well plan didn't work quite that nicely...because when I got back to the office to work on them, oopsy they all looked the same to me, didn't help that all of a sudden the other three mini girls were mingling with the family. 

                                                                     Who is who? 

Now if they would all be lined up in front of me I could tell who is who, but just from a photo without comparing and eliminating possibilities, it's a little bit harder. Even from the single body shots, the differences are so minor, that they are hard to tell apart....e.g. Looking at both mom and daughter Katy and Marci, Marci's crest is more fallen than Katy's, so that' how I can tell them apart if they are right in front of me, but from a picture it's hard to tell whose crest is fallen more.

Last one to take a picture of was Odin's brother Loki, but he was busy chasing down a donkey girl and so we chased after him. And we made us walk for our money that's for sure, from feeder to hill to feeder, and even around the feeder, he just didn't want to waste time with getting pictures taken, but then he finally stood still and I got fairly good picture of him. So I hope I got them straight now....oh I am so confused by all these white and mini donkeys. Arrrghhh.....!

The rest of the afternoon was spent in the office working on the profiles and printing them out, almost done...woo hoo!

I drove home in a little  mini blizzard and visibility was next to nothing until I crossed the highway, there was no snowfall on the other side at all. I got home to a house full of presents from a dear friend  (thank you again) and flowers from my kids. How nice.

I made myself a nice dinner and enjoyed the rest of the day with peace and quiet. So I can definitely say I had a great day. And thanks to all of you who left me comments and messages with wishes for a happy birthday.

In the donkey world with Cate!

It's been a long time since I had a whole day with Cate in the barn, and it's not like we are joined at the hip on days like that, it's just nice to know she is there and well you will definitely learn something new and do something exciting. I also have never had anybody be that excited to see me as Cate is on the days we work together. We had prior arranged for me to be out one day this week to work with Cate, but weren't sure yet which day, so it seemed like such a big surprise to her to see me there Thursday, when I arrived she was standing at the fence by the office with Sandra chit chatting, well you would have thought she hadn't seen me in weeks, with a great big hug she greeted me and we walked down to the barn. Of course in true Cate style she was bossing ( how she calls it, I call it delegating) us volunteers around as to what to do. In the beginning it was just Lisa and I, so Lisa was cleaning the East side with another new volunteer that joined in a little later, and Cate wanted me to clean out the goat stall, once I picked out the stall, she taught me how to use the rototiller to finish of the goat stall, I bedded it down with some more peat moss and it was as good as new for the donkeys and goats, of course there is always one or two that have to try it out right away. While I was doing that, Cate was taking out the spreader and the deal was when she came back that I would help her with the big round hay bales for the paddocks. First one was easy....the mules, they are so much like horses and as soon as they hear the tractor scatter out of the way and don't really come close until the food is dropped into their feeder, so that was easy. Then it was to feed the big main herd and fill up their two feeders, which means you have to go all the way around and through the big gelding paddock to get to them, lots of gates, lots of donkeys to watch out for and not an easy task. Well we did some donkey wrangling, first got the geldings kind of locked into a smaller part of their paddock, got some of the main herd into another part and had to only deal with maybe 25 donkeys at the feeders, so that was manageable. It took two trips to get all the hay out, and the donkeys were very patient, as it is not always easy to get the netting off. Of course we thought if we fill the far feeder first, the donkeys will stay there and eat and we have peace and quiet with the second feeder...but not the case, some had other ideas. Unlike with the mules my job was also to keep the donkeys that were left in the paddock out of harms way, donkeys don't move when they don't want to, no matter what comes their way, so a big tractor with beeping horns and lots of noise doesn't scare them, so it took some maneuvering on my part to make sure Cate had smooth sailing to the feeders. Of course Juliet had other plans in mind and I find it always very unnerving when she is close by and I have to deal with her. She is such a pretty donkey, but so doesn't know her boundaries with people and is not scared off by anything. After filling up the far feeder, I walked back to the gates to let Cate back out and sure enough Juliet was following me, now that is scary because she has been know at any minute to change her tune and charge at you and she seems to always pick out one person and just goes after that one person, no matter how many others are in with her. Needless to say I was glad when I was at the gate and on the other side of the fence. Cate made sure I was feeling ok, even though my heart was racing I assured her I was fine. I walked down to the barnyard beside the tractor to get the second bale, while waiting for Cate to get it picked up, I saw Juliet making her way into the barn, so it was a little bit of a relief to know she was far away from the feeders. Cate got the bale and I walked back up to the gates to open them, when we got to the main herd paddock who was waiting at the gate? None other that Juliet, so I knew I was the object of her attention today. I really don't want to be afraid of her, but I am thinking better save than sorry.  I shooed her away a little just to let Cate in, I still had to make my way up across the field to the feeder and back down again, so I marched up there, with Juliet in tow, she was not leaving my side and wherever I turned Juliet was right in my face,  needless to say I was glad when that chore was done and we were out of there, all the donkeys were let out of their little lock ups and everybody was happy to have food for their bellies. By noon all the other volunteers had left and it was only Ruth, Cate and I, we talked about the Christmas Open Days and what a huge success they were, and while Cate and Ruth brushed donkeys I went up to the garden paddock to spend some time with Juno. Orly came up with me and as Juno is still rather watching from afar I had some cuddle time with Orly, and was later joined by Summer, because Summer can never have enough attention. Orly was trying to get close to Juno too, would really be nice if those two would bond and Orly would adopt Juno as her daughter, as I am sure she still must miss Pinta. Cate came and joined us in some girl time in the paddock and after a nice hour with the donkey girls in the garden paddock it was time to get back to work, next in order was taking care of Tibet. I really worry about sweet Tibet, she has been on stall rest for so long now, even though she gets out for little walks and some time in her tiny paddock and she is slowly healing, the constant bandaging and her special leg wraps for walking have caused quite some skin irritations on her tiny bad leg and yesterday it was just bleeding, you know how things bleed when you're missing a layer of skin. My job was to wash the scrape all out and trying to stop the bleeding, she was very patient and I washed it out good with some special solution  and we put some powder on it to stop it from bleeding and to keep it dry. She really is such a sweet soul and she sure ravels in the attention she is getting even if it is just to fix her up again, she is so patient and never complains much, she is so appreciative of your time in the stall with her even just to keep her company. Poor little Tibet. Normally I am not that fond of doing anything that includes body fluids, but with the donkeys I have no problem, it doesn't bother me at all that I have to wipe of blood or wipe snotty donkey bugger noses ( I am known to do it even with my sleeve if I don't have a gauze clothes lol), not a problem lol. Later on Cate and I groomed donkeys, filled their mineral buckets and fed everybody, cleaned the barn floor one more time and left for the day. Well that was the plan, we got stuck at the Gelding paddock fence and mingled with the big boys for almost an hour, we talked and talked about everything. It was really a nice picture to look at,  the back neighbour must have one big spot light, that hit the donkeys from there and you could see their silhouettes through the foggy darkness.  By the time we left it was pitch black and really time for us to go. So now it will be again back to hit and miss with seeing Cate and working with her. It sure was a treat and fun like always. And the day just seemed to fly by.

Christmas at the DSC

I had an absolutely fantastic day at the DSC yesterday, our second Winter Open Day. The weather was far better than last week, it actually snowed a little bit, was cloudy and therefore not quite as bitterly cold as  it would have been on a sunny day. It was damp and after about 6 hours outside it even goes through you no matter what and all of a sudden you feel chilled to the bone. First job of the day was to clean the Eastside with Steph, then it was time to rearrange some donkeys and the people started pouring in. We had one little incident with one of the minis, Sable totally freaked out and was just beside herself. Pansy, Poppy and Sable have been living with the main herd for the last few weeks, but since they are just such good little donkeys they will be brought over for Open Day, we kind of wanted to leave Sable over with the herd, because she is really timid around a lot of people and sometimes gets nervous, but she was not having any part of it, while Poppy and Pansy were on the visiting side, Sable was franticly running back and forth along the gate and fence and braying like crazy, she was in such  a frenzy, so finally we thought we better bring her over too, to calm her down, well in the meantime, Pansy and Poppy had made their way all the way to the top of the lane way and when Sable finally came over, she couldn't immediately see her two pals, and she panicked again, she was just running back and forth  crying for her friends, since there was no way to console Sable, I decided to go and try to get Pansy and Poppy to come back down, well we were about half way down, when Sable finally spotted her two pals she came running up to them and everything was ok again in Sable's little world. I have never seen Sable in such an uproar before, it was heartbreaking.

The day was filled with questions from visitors, seeing some familiar faces, like the young couple that came in the summer and sponsored Pansy, or the young woman and her dad who took amazing photos of her and the minis in the lane way all huddled up together. Lots of new people who had never been, and had tons of questions, people who came to visit their sponsored donkeys that we got for them from out the field. And lots of pictures to be taken. 

Cate was there too, so I got to work with her on some special things, like taking Tibet for a little walk, or feeding the Halfway Haven donkeys, which includes the family of minis, and the biggest chore of them all right now is filling up water buckets, since some of the water pipes are frozen,  we need to put hoses together to reach the buckets all over the farm, the hoses need then to be drained so they won't freeze too and well lets just say my fingers were so numb after playing in water in the freezing air for almost an hour. that it took a while to get feelings back into them. 

We had two new unofficial greeters at the Long Ear Boutique and I can't wait for my day on Wednesday  to have their company right at the door. They must have spent half the day there guarding the boutique.
Orly was my constant companion today as she knew I had candy canes in my coat pocket and was trying to get to them. It just is absolutely amazing how much the donkeys love peppermints. 

I received lots of donkey hugs from Chaplin today too, he is just such a sweetie, he just puts his head on your shoulder and starts to breath in your ear or lip your neck, very gently and soft. And when you pet his head he leans right into you. 

I also took my first orders for the mail orders home to mail out today. I am in charge now for any mail orders that come in through our quarterly newsletters. Awww something new again. 

Well it was a full day, a day full of hanging out with my great friends, furry and human. What a festive feeling and just so cozy and heartwarming.