Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Winter Abides

We are stuck in some sort of time/space nightmare where it is always winter. There can be no other explanation. It has been snowing and blowing for eternity. Every morning Jack and I take one turn around the run-in and are back in the barn before the woman has the door halfway closed. We find the air just a tad too fresh to be healthy.

Being inside has allowed me to observe Sally the cat more closely, so at least there is that silver lining to the snow cloud in which we currently dwell. Sally is very, very small and of a fastidious nature; she keeps her brown fur coat tidy at all times and even though she has been starved, she never bolts her food. We all wondered how her introduction to Penny the dog would go and it went just fine. Sally sits regally ensconsed in her blue igloo and regards Penny with amusement tempered with a hint of disdain. Penny performs a clean-up operation on the floor and ingests any spilled cat kibble. A state of symbiosis is obviously evolving.

Jack is obsessed with the idea that Penny wears a coat like his and he insists on examining it closely at every opportunity. The dog has given up trying to evade him in the close quarters of the barn and allows him to run his nose all over the material. "Huh" he says " I never seen such a thing as dogs in clothes before." When I point out that he himself is wearing a larger version of the same coat he just shrugs and says that's different. You simply cannot reason with someone that age who has made up their mind to ignore logic.

Doc is rather subdued owing to the fact he is outside on his own all day. Molly on the other hand, is the belle of the ball and rarely has fewer than six or eight people clustered outside her stall inflating her already supersized ego. She'll need an overlarge trailer to return home - one with room for her ridiculously swelled head.

18 comments:

Finn the Wonder Pony said...

Oh Sheaffer, You are SO right! Winter has been here for aeons as well. I still have to go out, as stated in my last, well, missive. I believe weather must be pretty bad in many parts of our world, as bloggers and list-servs are writing so much more than before.

The new pictures of Sally are wonderful. She is a lovely girl. Puma wants to know how you get a nice warm yert like that. He has one but it is strictly self-warmed. Our woman is kind of stingy about some things.

Doc should realize that he is not alone; he is part of an equine FRAternity, one of the BOYS. He should quit whining about Molly and either join you and Jack in the barn, or man up and stay outside being the watchman and protector you two distinguished gentlemen deserve.

As for Molly, maybe her head will be too swelled to fit back in the barn at all! Although I remember all the adulation I used to get at the training barn because I was larger than the typical ballet horse, but so gentle and much sweeter than all the rest. It was nice. Don't know if my head swelled, it was pretty substantial to begin with.

billie said...

Sheaffer, perhaps when they have to hire a box car to bring Molly home (surely they would get her a nice one, not something filled with coal dust) you, Doc, and Jack can commandeer it, quickly deflate Molly's enlarged head, and set out on the adventure to pick locks, pick up our friends, and meet us here. Although if it is July, we will simply pile ourselves into the box car with you and head back up to your place!

What we need is one of those direct flight routes, but with a huge, well-appointed box car instead of a plane. The boxcar can go back and forth as needed so that no one has to endure any extreme weather. I happen to know that there is an abandoned railroad track very near our farm. Hmmm.

Sally is absolutely beautiful! She looks so serene and the perfect complement to the barn's gentlemanly fraternity, as CindyLouWho pointed out.

Nachodonkey said...

Sheaffer, I have been reading your blog for quite some time and never miss a week. I look forward to the goings on at your place. Never a dull moment....not the same old, same old that we put up with day after day.

I paid a visit to the barn where my daughter works and saw a very pretty little horse that I had not seen there before. When I looked at the name on the door I realized that this was the beautiful Molly. What a sweety!

Please keep up with the entertaining stories of your life and I will pass them on to the gang at home.

ponymaid said...

CindyLou, apparently you must be small and furry around here and then you get central heating in your personal space. Yet another discriminatory practice. You can see from Nachodonkey's reply here that Molly has ensnared another human in her web of pony deceit. Just like flies.

Billie, I love the idea of a boxcar rolling up and down the eastern seaboard, following the good weather. I can see myself as a railroad baron, watching the scenery unfold at a stately pace from the comfort of a velvet upholstered seat.I was born in the wrong era.

Nachodonkey, I can see you have been lured by the siren call of the golden pony. How much food did she manage to cadge from you? Have you checked your wallet? Counted your fingers? She's Margaret Thatcher in a plush pony suit - beware.

BumbleVee said...

your Sally is absolutely beautiful...

Nachodonkey said...

I held firm despite the desperate pleading. I was not prepared for the long pink tongue that protruded through the bars for an astonishing distance and seemed to follow me up the aisle. Is she crossed with an elephant of some sort? It is very difficult to deny that pretty little face but I don't give treats without permission. Perhaps a mini carrot or two?

Anonymous said...

Little (choke, snort) Pony?
I have had to add Fred to my signature after he read Nachodonkey's tale about the golden girl and commented: "Little pony? She's little like a barrage balloon is next to the Hindenburg!"

After you, Sheaffer, have suffered so many comments about your waistline, the idea of Molly being "little" is rich indeed. In any furniture catalogue, she would be described as "well upholstered."

It is a mystery of science how virtually every animal that finds itself in the woman's clutches expands to epic proportions. She is angular - some would say knobby - herself so I have no explanation for it.

There are rumours of upcoming arduous adventures in the Adirondacks. I doubt if you or I will be included in these capers though I think we would be ideal camp followers - or at least, we could stay at the camp and lounge on deck furniture while the hideous horses tramp through the mountains all day. Perhaps R&R and others in the boxcar gang would could be enticed into coming.

billie said...

Oh my - I can't wait to see R&R when I tell them they've been invited to ride a boxcar to the Adirondacks to lounge with other donkeys! I can see it now - Rafer looking studiously at me, considering the idea, while Redford looks at me, then Rafer, back at me, back at Rafer, then reaches over and gives Rafer a big nudge.

Say yes already, brother!

:)

Dougie Donk said...

Your photos of Sally have brought a lump to my throat, as the woman has just told me that our cat Spot is no longer of this world. He too had been very badly treated, but spent the last 7 years of his life in luxury with us & liked to come & lounge in the yard on a sunny day. I'm sure Sally will come to be similarly appreciative of a caring, loving human.

RIP Spot. I'll miss you.

Anonymous said...

Dougie, we are so sorry to hear about your loss of Spot. Cats are a wonderful doorway into other worlds. I am confident that Spot can now walk back and forth at will, and continue to watch over you and your woman.
All the best from Fred, Ginger, Annie, the Fat Lady and felines Tilia and Seville
Oh and canine Tango and the chicken ladies

billie said...

Dougie, we all here on November Hill send our condolences as well.

ponymaid said...

BumbleVee, I will pass on your kind words to Sally. She suffers from low self-esteem after years of abuse and neglect and we are trying to give her positive reinforcement.

Nachodonkey, we believe Molly to be part anteater - hence the five foot tongue. She is allowed an occasional treat in her food bowl but not by hand because she is by nature a pushy, porcine pony who quickly oversteps the limits. She will tell you otherwise...

Fred my boy, you can see how unfair things are around here. I am positively sylph-like compared to La Molly but still am told I must restrict my caloric intake. Molly restricts nothing and lives life large at all times. I quite fancy a trip to the Adirondacks, especially in July. I hear you make camp at the bottom of a sandy bowl? I will bring my antique campaign furniture and pith helmet.

Billie, remember to pack junior-sized pith helmets for Team R&R...

Dougie, we send our sincere condolences. That is a horrible loss, and even worse at this desolate time of year. We still miss our Gracie cat and she has been gone a year and a half. They seem to appear in spots where you're used to seeing them so maybe they never really leave where they have been happy. We are all thinking of you.

Finn the Wonder Pony said...

Oh Dougie, I am so sorry for your loss of Spot. Our condolences.

Finn the Wonder Pony said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
completecare said...

Sheaffer,
Finally I am able to contact you. My human has been having "computer problems" for months and has just now got things sorted out. She has been able to read about your adventures but could not respond. Now, I will actually feel like part of the Sheaffer family again. I am pleased that you now have Sally to care for. It is hard to believe that your Gracie left you a year and half ago. I had just started hearing your stories when she was hit by a car - how time moves on. We have two cats in our barn, Tom and Gerry. They are very spoiled, having their own cat door into the heated tackroom and a non ending supply of treats. They are very entertaining and are sometimes good for a game of tag. I have yet to catch one as they always duck behind a water trough just as I am ready to make my final move!!!!
We are in for another cold and miserable night so all the horses have come in out of the wind and are quite content to stay inside until it drops.

My heart is beating a little faster tonight just knowing I can be in touch with you and Jack whenever the urge strikes me. My mom and I have felt very isolated from all our "online" donkey friends.

Your fan,

Willy

P.S. Dougie Donk,
My mom and I are very sorry to hear about Spot. The passing of a friend is always difficult. Please accept our condolences.

ponymaid said...

WILLY, we all wondered where you had gotten to! It's nice to know you were with us all along, just watching from the sidelines. I trust you and your mother, Bert, and Uncle Ed and Wendy are all well? When you last wrote I was embroiled in my political campaign to wrest control of the donkey party back to it's rightful owners - you can see how well that went... Now I am just battling the weather. So good to have you back.

Dougie Donk said...

Thank you all for your sympathies over our loss of Spot. He is now buried in his favourite sunbathing spot, within view of the yard, so I will take comfort in the belief that he may visit from time to time.

The empathy of my virtual friends all over the world has reduced the woman to further floods of tears, but allowing her to cuddle me seems to be helping a little.

Willy - welcome back & special thanks for being supportive to me on our first introduction.

robert5721 said...

Sheaffer,
EXCUSE ME SIR !! YOU ARE THE PRESIDENT of the DONKEY PARTY....I voted for you in the last election, and you had NO OPPONENTS....so guess what? YOU ARE IT!!

Dougie, there is a story that I like....it goes:
When you croak, you have to walk over a long bridge to get to heaven, and at the other side of the bridge stands every animal that you contacted in life, and it is THEY who chose to let you into heaven or not!!
My guess is that Spot will be there waiting on you with a BIG smile!
Mr Gale