Woodstone Prairie

I’ve been feeling like a complete slacker the past few days…

There are bills that need to be paid, the bathrooms are filthy, the gardens are weedy, and I haven’t even started the first of the two unit studies I wanted to get done this summer.

Granted, the past few weeks have been busy ones… we’ve had a graduation (and big family party), planned a wedding, took a trip out of town, celebrated Father’s Day (with another big family party) and celebrated dh’s birthday. But still it’s really time for me to pull it together and start getting caught up on things.

So… did I spend yesterday staying home getting caught up on things?

No. I added to the livestock (and my work) instead.

I got two donkeys, temporarily named Jack and Jenny. (A jack is a male donkey, a jenny is a female donkey, so the names aren’t highly original but we’re only using them until we think of better names.)

Jenny has the white face, Jack is behind her.

The donkeys were a gift from Al, the guy we got our goat, Rose, from. Al has a little farm just north of us and we were driving by the other day when we saw a few of his geese out. We turned around and kind of herded them back up the driveway (with the car), then decided it would be rude not to stop in and say hi.

Al wanted to show the kids all his new animals. He raises llamas, miniature horses, goats, sheep, donkeys, chickens, geese, turkeys, peacocks, and probably other things I’m forgetting. We stayed for a long time, admiring all the new babies, and then M helped Al with the evening feed. As the animals came to feed, R noticed a very calm gray donkey standing waiting her chance to eat. R started petting her, and the little donkey just leaded into R, obviously loving the attention. R climbed into the pasture with the little jenny and within 10 minutes R was in love.

Al showed us the jenny’s companion, a darker colored donkey gelding. The gelding (jack) was much more skittish, he was obviously not used to being around people.

As I watched R with the jenny I thought about my brother, Steve’s donkeys, and asked Al how much donkeys cost. He said he’d give us the jack and jenny if we wanted them. He’d gotten them from some people who’d lost their farm, they’d given them to him and so he’d just give them to us. (He was also watching R with the little jenny)

So we picked them up yesterday….

They are very sweet, although Jenny is thin and not as perky as Jack. I’ll worm them both today and probably have the vet out to take a look at them. (I wish my brother was here to check them over!)

Here they are… Jenny is on the right, Jack is on the left.

Jack isn’t at all sure about making friends… He’s very sweet, but kind of dances around trying not to get too close.

 This morning I stood out with them as they ate, and he’d come close to me to grab a bite of hay…

…then quickly move away.

Jenny’s very friendly though, and even let me check her teeth this morning… (Trying to figure out how old she is… unless donkey teeth are very different than horse teeth, she’s not a senior citizen yet!)

So anyway… that bathrooms are still dirty, the bills still need to be paid, and the garden is still weedy, but we’re having all kinds of fun with our new Jack and Jenny.