Donkeys Are Extra-Ordinarily Special, Even If The Horses Don't Think So

We have had a lot, and I mean a lot, of mud out here lately, which means that Dudley and I have been hanging out with the horses quite a bit because we are running low on non-flooded pasture. The horses are bothered by the mud and have been grouchy and out-of-sorts.  This means they have been pretty bossy and have spent considerable time trying to hog the big round bale of hay. They act like they own the place.  They have had little patience with us and have taken great pleasure in making fun of Dudley and me because we are short.  That really bugs us, but there's not much we can do other than go off and have fun playing by ourselves. They are really annoying us, but considering that Christmas is right around the corner, Dudley and I are trying to take the high road in hopes that Santa is watching. 

Anyway, I told you last time that I have been thinking about Christmas.  This certainly means Santa, but it also means I have been thinking about the Christmas story. You know, when Mary and Joseph had to go from Nazareth to Bethlehem because the ruler of the land proclaimed that everyone had to be registered?  And it was when they were on their way that Baby Jesus was born?  And that he was born in a stable because there was no room in any of the inns? 

Well, I want to reiterate a very important fact about the Christmas story (and I hope the horses read this), which is that Mary rode on a donkey.  Not a camel.  Not a horse.  I repeat...  Not a horse, but a donkey.  A short, sturdy, protective donkey.  And that the distance of their journey was so great they travelled for four to six days.  Let me tell you,  that is a long, long way, but I can assure you that their little donkey took very great care to carry Mary as comfortably as possible and to step quite carefully over rocks and ruts so she would not be jostled and lose her balance. If you have been reading my letters you know how much we love our people, and I just know that Mary and Joseph's donkey loved them and worked very hard to make the journey safe and comfortable, which is saying an awful lot. 

I just had to talk about that because the horses have been so full of themselves lately.  They don't always understand how important we are, and they are certainly not remembering the critically acclaimed role we played in the arrival of Baby Jesus.   Gosh, if it hadn't been for donkeys, we might not even have Christmas!  

So I really hope the horses lighten up and stop and think about the fact that donkeys, though not always respected, surely should be.  

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!  And may you all be lucky enough to find a donkey beneath your tree on Christmas morning...

Love, 

Donkey   

Missing My Barn Manager

So I have been thinking about Christmas coming up and that this is the time of year when most animals think about and want to be with those who mean the most to them.  There is someone I have been thinking about lately who is very important and who loves me.  I haven't seen him in awhile though.  It's been a long while, actually.  I miss him a lot and wish he was here.  I dreamed about him last night.  I dream about him a lot.

I'm talking about our barn manager.  He has been gone for a long time.  He is in a far away land that has a very funny name.  He is helping protect our country.   I think he is very brave to do this.  I pray every night that he is safe and warm and knows that we all are thinking of him. I miss him feeding me and taking care of me and talking to me and giving me treats, but I know that he has an important job to do and that he will be home as soon as he can get here.  I'm pretty sure he misses taking care of me too... well, all of us, really.

I hope he knows that we can't wait for him to come home...  even though waiting is hard. Sometimes it seems like forever.

So please hurry home as fast as you can.  We will all be here, waiting for you to talk to us and scratch our necks and tuck us in...  We miss you...

Love,

Donkey

Farm Emergency 911

So one of our favorite farm people was in our stall the other day and something quite unexpected happened. We were very surprised and could not believe our eyes. 

Our farm person knocked himself out.  Yep, one minute he was standing upright, looking quite normal as he took care of us, and the next moment he was laying on the stall floor, out cold.  Trust me, that has never happened before.  Dudley and I didn’t quite know what to make of it.  Now I know that some of you will think this is silly and that because I am a donkey I am not a reliable reporter, but I am not exaggerating one bit.  This is exactly what happened.  You can even ask Dudley if you don’t believe me.   He was right there and saw it all. 

It was a normal day.  Our farm person was feeding us dinner and changing our water.  I’m not sure he was paying attention because he does this all of the time and probably doesn’t need to think about it much.  Or perhaps he had a lot on his mind.  I’m not quite sure.  Well, while he was emptying the bucket of old water and throwing it from the barn into the pasture he took a big, giant step forward and konked his head on the low overhang.  Down he went.  

You see, Dudley and I – and the goats – (yes, I said the goats.  I have no comment on that one.  Well, actually, I do.  Sometimes when the goats escape from their pasture the farm people get annoyed and put them in with us because they cannot get out, which then annoys me.  But apparently my vote carries less weight than the humans, which I think is quite unfair, but I am stuck.  If anyone has any ideas, please let me know).  Anyway, as I was saying, we are in the stall for short animals. The horses could never comfortably fit in here so we stay in a part of the barn where the ceiling and overhang are low.  Our farm person is pretty tall, plus he was wearing a baseball hat and probably couldn’t see where he was going, though I still don’t quite understand.  He has been in our stall a thousand times and he knows the overhang is low.   Why didn’t he duck?  Ducking would have solved everything.  All we know is he was tossing water, hit his head, and down he went.   

Well, we didn't quite know what to do.  We have never before had one of our farm people all of a sudden fall down in our stall. He took up a fair amount of room, actually.  We took great care not to step on him.   

We were a little shocked so we waited... and watched... and waited some more.  It appeared he was breathing, which made us quite hopeful that he was not dead.  I'm not sure what we would have done if he was dead.  I’m pretty good under pressure.  Actually, I’m very good under pressure, but if someone were dead in my stall I would probably lose my composure.  So we continued to carefully watch him breathe. He didn't move. After a little while we thought we should try to wake him up and I did what any good, responsible donkey would do…

I licked his face.  Dudley stood and intently watched for life signs and I licked away. We worked on him for a number of minutes. 

Well, I am very, very happy to report that our farm person was not dead and that we woke him up and made sure he was ok.  We were enormously relieved.  He was sore and felt a little silly, I think.  He got up pretty slowly and we watched while he checked out whether he could walk.  He could.  He picked up his hat and rubbed his head a lot.  He was probably pretty sore. We told him he didn’t need to worry about our water bucket, but he filled it anyway and made sure we were ok for the night.  Despite his accidental loss of consciousness he had to make sure we were all tucked in.  As he left, we noticed that he was walking a little slow, but we were fairly certain he was going to be ok and would not die any time soon. We were awfully glad for that. 

I think under the circumstances the Dud and I did pretty well, considering we didn't have a first aid book on hand.  And may I point out that during all of this the goats did not contribute in any meaningful way... whatsoever... at all...  which is yet another commentary on the great value and protective nature of donkeys and why we out-rank the goats.  Yep, we sure carry our weight around here, that's for sure, and we were more than happy to assist.  Everyone does so much for us, it's the least we could do... 

Love,

Donkey

My Farm Lady

Because of my farm lady, three (count ‘em three) horses just went to their new farms!  This is very excellent news because our equine friends really deserved to have their very own families who will love them forever and ever!  Dudley and I hosted a little goodbye get-together in the pasture to send them off.  Our friends were sure looking a whole lot better compared to when they first came to us, that’s for sure.  They were feeling confident and happy; their bodies were sound and they were feeling just fine.  

While here, Major learned to stop jumping over stall doors and fences (that habit was not in his best interest, let me tell you).  He now knows how to stand quietly in his stall.  He sure worried everyone a whole lot when he first came here and he caused quite a bit of havoc, especially the morning he jumped the fence to get to the girls which was the same morning my farm lady had to leave for the airport.  Trust me, that was not a good day around here.  But Major eventually learned to relax and hang out and I know that all will be well in his new home.

Faith did an exceptional job raising her baby (remember my letter about the New Kid on the Block?)  We will miss her.  She was such a good mom.  Now this was a horse that was absolutely destined to go to that place where Unspeakable Things happen, but because of how that baby was born, and because of my farm lady (along with another very special farm person), they came here to live and Faith now has her own family and a little girl who adore her.  That story nearly brings tears to my eyes if I really think about what might have happened, it really does. Her story came very close to having a tragic ending.  

And Miss Belle found her forever home too.  When she came, she had wounds all over her body because when she worked in the fields no one paid attention to see if her plowing gear fit her properly.  It didn’t.  She had big sores when she came, but my farm lady tended to those wounds and Belle healed up just fine, started feeling good and was ready to go to her new farm in no time at all.

So my farm lady does remarkable things, although I’m not always sure she thinks so.  I’m just guessing, but I’m pretty sure she thinks she doesn’t do enough in this world.  She doesn’t always give herself credit for knowing what it means to the horses when she helps them relax and feel safe.  And she probably doesn’t think she is doing much when she gives them medicine or bathes them in special shampoo when their skin is rotting or they have big wounds.  And I’m not always sure she realizes what it means when she finds the horses their own special families who will love them and be gentle and kind to them forever.  She has been doing this for so long, she probably just thinks it is her job, but we all know that she saves the horses lives.  She is our hero.  She could not do more if she tried and we are really proud of her.

So she does big, important things like this and she does a lot of other things too, every day, even when she does not have the time.  Like making sure there is enough hay in the barn (donkeys believe this is a very critical item), and grain, and medicine when we need it, and making sure the animal doctor comes out if we aren’t feeling well, or the dentist or the chiropractor or the foot doctor.  But she also does other things that no one sees at all.  Like letting all of us know every day that she loves us and that we are safe and that it is her job to make sure we are OK and that we don’t have to worry about anything. 

 It doesn’t get any better than this, having her. We are the lucky ones…

So thank you for loving us, farm lady.  We see what you do every day.  And we all love you right back. 

 Love,

 Donkey   

 

It's Been A Good Week

I've been pretty productive around here lately, doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that.  Here are some of the highlights...

I've continued to spend a considerable amount of time keeping a watchful eye on the place, as I mentioned in my previous letter. 

Dudley has helped a bit.  I've got him in training.

This job requires an advanced level of skill, intelligence and patience. Not every donkey is qualified.

Here you get a good idea of just how how much expertise is required. 

I hope we get as much done this coming week.  Yep, we contribute a lot around here, that's for sure... 

Love,

Donkey

Sorry I Haven't Written In Awhile...

But I've been pretty busy keeping an eye on the place. 

Love,

Donkey

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

There are two adorable little girls who belong to one of our farm people.  I got to meet them not long ago.  They seem quite sweet and smart and well-behaved and they really love the horses.  That's for sure. 

You know what they did?  You will not believe this, I promise...

A few weeks ago they had the idea, all by themselves, to try and raise some money so that the farm people could save a horse from an auction where Unspeakable Things occur. The girls thought long and hard about how they could do this.  At first, they weren't sure what they could possibly do.  They are only small children, after all.  Well, they thought and thought and thought some more.  And this is what they thought up.  

The girls are both learning to play instruments.  One is getting quite good at "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star".  They thought they might play their instruments to raise some money.  So they made a sign and asked their mother to take them to town, and they set up on the sidewalk and played. And the town people who happened to walk by stopped to listen, and they read the sign and they learned about the horses that need help and they gave their hard-earned money to the girls so they could help a horse.  That is just amazing and heroic if you ask me. 

Well, these little girls played and played and raised enough money so that a very special boy horse, who was so scared, panicked, and frantic at the auction could come home to our farm.  The girls named him Justice, which is a very fine name.  Justice knows what the girls did and he loves them quite a lot for it.  See, the farm people (and children) love the horses, and the horses love them right back.  They know what the farm people do to help them.  Some of you might think this is silly, but it is very true.  I know. 

Anyway, while this might seem like a simple story about two little girls and some music, it is much more than that.  It is a very important story because it tells you what love can do.  And determination.  And the generosity of people...  which is what this place is all about.  


Thank you, little musicians... 

Love,

Donkey