Friday, April 25, 2008

Caught In The Overspray

I've had a difficult few days this week. With the advent of spring, Molly mare's thoughts turn mushily romantic and she finds herself strangely attracted to Doc, who has no interest in her whatsoever. She bats her eyelashes at him and clacks her teeth when he so much as glances at her. The worst, however, is the pungent and abundant spray that coats everything in sight as soon as she lifts her tail. This morning I didn't move quickly enough and caught it full in the face. At least it's warm enough for the woman to give me a sponge bath on the head and neck. The woman herself was lightly sprinkled yesterday and went off to the house mumbling about the pitfalls of mare care.

Molly also managed to flood our saltblock and holder in the run-in, so that had to be removed and washed. It was considerably smaller after all the scrubbing. TJ, unsurprisingly, loves the whole smelly mare spray routine and stands behind her on purpose saying "hey, this is way cool!" Of course he won't let the woman near him, so with the heat and the layers of mare spray, he can be smelled miles away. Thank goodness they're spreading some very ripe cow manure on the fields - it's the only thing that can compete with TJ these days.

They are renting something called an auger tomorrow to make post holes in my stall so it can be divided in two, with TJ bunking in the other half. The very idea is making me anxious and alarmed - why don't they just invite Charles Manson to move in instead. Better yet, if they think the pestilent mule is so "cute", let him live in the house.

One small bonus today was that the woman was walking the paddock fence line picking up recycling items that had blown away during the winter. We sampled a pizza box that she found (too much emphasis on cheese), licked the orange juice residue off a carton and then TJ found a tin that said something about creamed corn. He turned it over and over and finally, losing patience at shaking anything out, stuck his whole muzzle in there. That boy never learns. With it wedged on quite firmly, he bolted around, muffled noises coming from inside the tin can. "help, me!", he yelled. Only it sounded like "hulllllmeeeeeeep" because he couldn't breath properly. We other three would know to immediately go to the woman and demand the removal of the offending object. Not TJ, of course. When his oxygen was nearly cut off, he came to a shaky stop and rubbed the thing off on his leg. He was quite blue under all that facial hair. I'm sorry to say that in about five minutes he was fully recovered and accosting a detergent box. Oh well, at least it was five minutes of peace.

4 comments:

Gale said...

Now wait just a second here, Sheaffer! Do you really mean you'd give up YOUR rightful place in the house to TJ? Imagine TJ with the TV remote, access to the refrigerator (unlimited snacking!), pillows and sofas, the COMPUTER! The list is endless. Time to rethink this plan, my friend. Or...maybe not! Just think of the havoc created by having TJ in the house. Might make the humans come to their senses after all! Sometimes we must learn by our mistakes.

Oh, speak to me of road trash! Muddy and I did a little "community service" not long ago, picking up bottles, cans, plastic bags, etc., along the road. Oddly enough, it never occurred to him to stick his nose into what we collected. I guess that's another difference between a donkey and a mule, eh?

Not to ignore Molly's "condition," as we have a spring orgy going on out in the jennet pasture. Poor Cavalier (yearling gelding)...he is clueless or perhaps just lucky!

robert5721 said...

Sheaffer,
detergent box???? Bet he looked funny blowing bubbles about the paddock....he he he....I agree with Gale, donkeys are too smart to do that sort of thing....
By the way, how are the T Shirts going? Bet ya sold a lot of em!!
Mr Gale

robert5721 said...

PS....can they do coffee mugs and stuff like that?
Mr Gale

ponymaid said...

Gale, at this point I would gladly inflict TJ on the humans' habitation. I'm sure they would enjoy his non-stop fidgeting, his early wake-up hour when he plays loudly in his stall and his constant, highly annoying curiosity.

Mr. Gale, the tee shirts are beginning move and thank you for setting the pace. I have added two mugs, a tote bag and a barbque apron to the inventory. I like the idea of the apron because I'm very attracted to any sort of fire or coals. Had a nice roll in the firepit tonight and of course, didn't shake all the sooty goodness off my person.