A Donkey, Football and Sumo Wrestling

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I love my animals. I (we) have two dogs, two cats, a horse and now a donkey.

Hunnybun laughed at my expense when I was dragged around our yard by the Donkey. I wanted to include the aforementioned statement. Yes, I could have let go of the halter but I was really hoping he would settle down before my arm came off. Eventually I did let go and immediately glared at Hunnybun. Hunnybun said he would have come to help but his laughter was impeding any chivalrous acts.

Moving on…

I have been searching for a buddy for my horse. Prior to recent events Miles, my horse, has not been lonely as my neighbors fostered horses from time to time and they could visit across the fence. However, about two weeks ago they moved their horses leaving Miles by himself.

Hmmm, what to do, what to do??? I really did not want a second horse because I am the only one that rides. I have had two horses before but it is such a handful and stresses me out because I feel guilty if I do not take both of them out to ride. It is similar feeling resulting from taking one child to the part and leaving one at home; not a good situation…

So, I tried a goat, but goats are heck to keep in. Either they jump the fence or go under it. The one I had did both – I returned him to his previous home. 

I have thought about this situation many times before the foster horses were moved so the prospect of getting a donkey was not foreign. I conceded, Hunnybun and I discussed the donkey, and I made some calls. Sure enough, I made contact with a woman that had a six month old male donkey. She wanted to give him away. BONUS! I have learned there are some things one should not pay for, donkeys being one of them. While nothing in life is ‘free’ not having to pay a purchase price for the donkey was a bonus thus leaving me the extra funds to cover the vet bill.

The Donkey

Yesterday afternoon, I made the drive to Forestburg, TX to pick up my ass, err donkey. He is a cute little bugger and has a pleasant personality. The issue is he has not had any hands on work and is jumpy. We coaxed him into the loading chute, closed the gate, put the pony halter on him (which is a bit big), and gently shoved him into my trailer. Whew!

Here he is:

Jesse the Donkey

Once home, we let him out of the trailer into a smaller area of our back yard. After thirty minutes of cornering and my getting my right arm nearly jerked off, we succeeded in attaching the lead rope to the halter. (Note the lead rope in the above photo.)



He began to lead, somewhat, and would let us pet him as long as we held the rope and did not move suddenly. Doodlebug, our daughter, and he seemed to be bonding.



Doodlebug and Jesse

Then, like an idiot, I removed the lead rope and let him out in the large area with Miles. (By the way he and Miles get along nicely.) Consequently, getting closer to Jesse than an arm’s length proved to be an issue today so I decided we should move him in to the back yard in an effort to have him in a smaller space.

Doodlebug came out to assist and opened the gate. I jogged out to the middle of the pasture and divided Miles and Jesse. Miles was disinterested and continued to eat while I began rounding up Jesse. I was please to discover throughout this ordeal that I still have the ability to break into a sprint from a dead stop!

I zig left, Jesse zags right, I sprint around him and he cuts back to the open gate. As he approaches the gate I notice he sees Miles and begins to turn left towards his buddy. I kicked my run into high gear and cut him off. Landing in a wide horse stance (no pun intended) I slide to a stop, cut to the right and woolah, Jesse is in the back yard.

We made great progress with Jesse this evening. We were finally able to touch him while standing right next to him. Tomorrow, we will begin again. Oh, and no, I did not get the lead rope back on the halter.



Football & Sumo Wrestling

This evening, I was sitting on the loveseat reading my forensic psychology assignment, Doodlebug was on the large sofa and Hunnybun was dozing in the recliner. Doodlebug began talking to me (she loves to talk) and brings up the donkey round-up escapade. She said, “Mom you were really fast. You reminded me of a football player crossed with a sumo wrestler!” I am surprised at her description of my round up style and ask her if she cares to continue digging the hole. She replies, “No Mom! I am not saying you are fat like a sumo wrestler, you are NOT FAT, but you had an extreme look of determination on your face and you stayed down low with your arms out, that’s what I mean!” Uh huh, and then I began laughing - laughing so hard I had to blow my nose. Then, of course, I had to come and write about the incident in my blog.



I hope you enjoyed this story, I am sure there will be more to come...

Ahhhhh (in a sing song voice) Ahhhhh

I opened the case and there it was, the most beautiful electronic device I own.  Well, may be the second because I really enjoy my vi.... he hum, nevermind... :-)  Are you smiling??

BUT, nevertheless, this is my early, happy graduation and grad school gift to myself.  After much saving and sweating over spending the money:

Here it is:

My Macbook Pro  15.4"




There was much rejoicing...

Funny Pictures of My Cat

For the love of all things sacred, spray the Febreze!!!

See Mom, I do floss!

Tomato, Tomato

Once again I have to be different.  Being different can be good and it can be, well, different.

You have heard of the protective covers for laptops, right?  Right.  Well, I developed my own line of laptop protection. 

Are you ready?

Are you set?


Here it is:

     Introducing Tomato Skenz!!! 

This is my very own label and design!   Patent pending and all that jazz..

I even had someone place an order!  

(pictured is my laptop)

Making Squash from Watermelons

I noticed my "watermelon" plants were not viney.  I thought maybe I go some type of hybrid, well, really hoping that is the case.  I began researching and comparing pictures.  I have learned that I was sold the wrong seeds at the feed store. 

WWWWWAAAAAHHHHH! WWWWWAAAAHHHH!!!  :(

The seeds turned out to be squash seeds and now I have two beautiful non-watermelon squash plants. I bought the seeds at our local feed store and the seeds were coated in a blue coating which is some chemical that encourages germination.  I did not question the seeds, I mean, why would I?  The seeds had the same shape and size as the watermelon seeds.

Dammit.

Here are the pictures of my squash plants.

So now, I am going to go to Home Depot and purchase some watermelon seeds.  It may be a bit late to plant them but by George I am going to plant those babies!

I am wondering how many other people in Cooke county are growing squash instead of watermelon...

Hunnybun The Snake Slayer

In case you missed the story about my rescuing a rat snake tangled in some vegetable netting, click here.  While my experince with the snake was not frightening, Hunnybun had a much more dramatic experience.

Note:  About 25 years ago he was bitten on the leg by a copperhead and is understandably jumpy when it comes to the slithering reptiles.

It was Saturday morning and he went out to his shop to begin working on his next project. He discovered he needed a fitting to make an adjustment on whatever he was working on and opened his tool chest.  For informational purposes, Hunnybun is extremely organized and has all his tools, hoses and whatnots in proper order. 

Ok, now we get to the exciting part. Are you ready?   Have you been to the bathroom recently? Seriously, if not, you may want to go drain your radiator for this is quite intense.

Waiting...

Waiting...

Waiting...



He opened the top drawer of the tool chest and suddenly is struck at by not one but three copper head vipers!  With the drawer open and the snakes coming out of the drawer, the exit is blocked. He reaches for an axe and takes a swing. Missed!  Swings again and misses! Snake strikes and misses! 

Copperhead Photo

Hunnybun swears and notices his propane blow torch 8 feet away. He backs away, grabs the propane torch and lights it. Keep in mind this propane torch is like a mini flame thrower, typically used to burn weeds or light the barbeque grill depending on the circumstances.  He is now armed with an axe in his right hand  and the torch in the other.

He lights the torch, turns the flame all the way up and. WHOOOOSSSH one snake down!  Keep in mind there are three at this point.  The second snake had slithered behind the work bench and around the the wood burning stove. He pivots and WHOOOSSSH french fried copper head! 

Two down, one to go.  Hunnybun spins back to the left and the third copper head is eye to eye with him. The snake strikes nearly hitting hunnybun in the chest. Hunnybun swings the axe, nicks the snake and then finished him off with the torch. 

Whew!!!! 

Hunnybun gathers his composer and makes his way to exit the shop when he is confronted again by another copper head!  HOLY @%&_*#!   He grabs the rake and WHAP, the snake gets it!  So now, the count is up to four copper heads in his shop!  Hunnybun takes another deep breath and steps outside his shop door still armed with the rake.  He is then stopped cold by one more snake and this time it is a water mocassin!  He backs into the shop, lights the torch and WHHHOOOSH!  The snake lurches forward, hisses and strikes while on fire, fortunately it perished quickly.

The excitement is not over, ohhhh nooo, that would be too simple.  Sniff, sniff, that's and odd smell, and no it is not the charred flesh of the snake, it is the shop! The shop is on fire in about six different places including the curtain over the window.  Hunnybun rushed to the water faucet, turned it on and extinguished the fire before it got out of hand. Thank goodness! 

After regaling me in the story Hunnybun took the day off and opted to take a long nap. 

We have lived on our little piece of heaven for nearly ten years.  We have seen snakes on occasion but never like this.  I guess it was our lucky day... (yes, there is sarcasm in my tone) Why the copperheads were nesting in the shop is beyond me...

That evening Hunnybun went through every inch of his shop and did not find anymore snakes. Hopefully this does not happen ever again but I can assure you that we will all be on our guard when entering the workshop and opening the storage compartments or simply reaching for a tool.

Something that may be noteworthy is a local farmer told me that snakes are going to be "bad this year". Admittedly, I have not researched his claim but as of right now, I am taking his word for it...

Slither, Be Free

As most of my friends and family know, I am an animal lover. Some I do not care for, such as ferrets but I respect and appreciate them nonetheless because they too are living creatures, a part of the universe such as you and I.  That being said, I helped out a fellow creature today.  My husband was going to kill it because of its species and the fact that he had a close encounter with a cousin of the said species the other day and has been bitten by a poisonous one in years past.   You see, he has ophidiophobia , which is a fear of snakes.  Admittedly they startle me but unless they are poisonous and threaten me, I let them go on their way.  

Growing up in NW Oklahoma I instinctively know to keep a watchful eye out for the little buggers and only terminate them if they are poisonous, in my living area, and a threat to me.

That being said, last night I was awaken by my husband speaking of a snake caught in some vegetable netting in near out backyard fence.  Since it was dark I decided to wait until this morning to assess the situation.  My husband spoke of killing it but said where the snake was he could not get it with the shovel and did not want to shoot the gun so close to the house. Bless him...  Anyway, my heart ached. Seriously, I felt a pang of sorrow for the reptile lying trapped in the netting.  I really thought I had disposed of all the netting because I no longer use it to protect my vegetables from the Mockingbird.. That is another story entirely. 

Caught in Netting:

I stepped outside this morning to find the snake still tangled in the netting and still alive.  I took my time approaching the snake and locating the head. After all, poisonous or not, I do not want to get bitten.  I realized he is not only tangled in the netting but it is cutting into him in several places and without human intervention, he will die.  I took photos of the situation and then proceeded to gather my tools for freeing the snake.  I determined, with research that the snake is a Elaphe obsoleta, otherwise known as a rat snake.    I used a scrubbing brush on a broom stick to hold the snakes head down while I began removing the netting with scissors.  I did not touch the snake with my hands, only the brush and the scissors.  With each snip I remove the netting thread..

Most of Netting Removed:

Eventually, I set him free of the netting. Ahhh, a rush of relief came over me as the rat snake began to slither. Except he was coming towards me. I kept trying to get him to slither away from me, but he kept coming my way. I finally encouraged him to go under the porch. He literally looked up at me, made a left turn and slithered under the porch. He seemed to be happy. I do not know if snakes can show gratitude but he seemed to really appreciate my act.  

 

Then, like a fool, I cried.   Yes I cried big ol fat tears. I felt like an idiot, for I was crying tears of joy for the snake that will life to see another day and hopefully eat any rats that try to steal food from my grain bins.

You see, I have a love for life that goes beyond words and even snakes need love and kindness.

Now to call Hunnybun and inform him that his quarry has escaped!