October 19th

All in all, an excellent day for donkeys. I have received two comments so far from close friends. Smokey is a strapping 16hh grey lad and Maggie is one of my human friends from the Nation's Capital. Smokey once stayed with us while a horse infant was being weaned and he and I had a wonderful time wrestling each other. There was an unfortunate incident involving donkey tooth marks on his jugular region. These things happen when your friend is twice your height and suddenly raises his head, suspending you in mid-air. The marks are now gone and we remain best of friends.

It didn't rain today, as it was supposed to, and that is always a plus for donkeys. My personal foot care specialist came this morning to tend to my hoofs. Oh, and he also does the horses while he's here. I must mention, that after my rather impressive ears, my feet are a point of pride with me. They are small, cylindrical and black and leave a hoofprint the size of a Toonie (aristocrats are know for their refined feet). They have been described as "black patent leather" and "hardened blue steel". My foot man often remarks on their superior quality.

As a bonus, the corn that grows up against our paddock was combined today. The horses are somewhat wary of the gigantic combine but I enjoy putting my head through the fence so the machine can pass within inches of my nose. There's a huge cloud of dust (I do love dust in all it's many forms} and a deafening roar and the operator and I nod to each other and then it's over for the year. Sigh.

When the female human put us in our rooms at 6pm we each got a carrot with our dinner. She gave me the daily grooming and pulled some burrs out of my tail and discovered a small section of bird's nest entangled in the burrs. I examined it thoroughly and determined that the builder was probably a thrush.

Now it's starting to rain, but I'm warm and snug in my plumphy bed of fresh shavings, staring at the back wall of my room, thinking deep thoughts.