A Micro View of Winter

Being thirty six inches tall limits the overall view of things within my orbit. I thought this would be a good time, given the idiocy of the weather, to show you some of these things and let you try to figure out what they might be.

On another note, Jack is doing very well and seems to have taken over running the sanctuary. He involves himself in all activities, from food preparation to visitor tours. He dislikes being on one side of a closed door so the humans have learned to leave all doors open where possible. Sheila holds his breakfast bowl for him and she tells us that by the time he has finished smearing it on her and then licking it off, her coat looks like a plaster cast.

She has been working on trying to get him to eat soaked cubes, an effort the Woman laboured at without success. Jack saw Russell Mule eating his dinner of soaked cubes and indicated he would like some of that. So. Sheila made him up his own bowl and - that was unacceptable. He only wants cubes that have been scooped directly from Russell's bowl into his own. For someone with compromised vision, he oversees all with an eagle eye, missing nothing.

This week has had brutally cold temps, the lowest being -29 degrees. Jack, who has the run of the barn with O'Sullivan and Simon, told Sheila that he was cold and she escorted him back to his room, which is now called the "donkey bubble". He had his lunch in there, bedded up to his knees in fresh straw. The temperature in the bubble remains toasty and warm, even on the coldest days, and Jack has quickly figured that out.

For all this we are most grateful. I simply cannot imagine how he would have coped with this cold snap in our much chillier barn. I know he misses me and I miss him sorely but he is where he needs to be. I am glad he has such a hectic social schedule at the sanctuary to keep him busy. Meanwhile, I can only count the days til spring and show you my world from a donkey's eye view.