Wednesday, January 26, 2011

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.

22 comments:

Calm, Forward, Straight said...

Sheaffer - I love your photos! What a way you have with abstraction - thanks for sharing.

So glad to hear that Jack is doing well - I know you must miss him terribly...

billie said...

Sheaffer, I am laughing about Jack and Russell Mule's cubes. Those cubes are special, you know! They were in someone else's bowl and that makes all the difference!

Keep counting the days. We are counting with you. I love your photos, although they do make me shiver just a little bit!!

Buddy said...

Hay Sheaffer - glad to hear Jack is doing so well.

I think the second picture is my dear Molly covered in winter stuff - snow ice???

62 degrees here at the moment and sunny - lovely weather.

Your fren,

ponymaid said...

Calm, Forward, Straight, thank you for your kind words. I find that the movement-limiting aspects of snow to someone my height cause me to view things in more detail than I would sometimes choose; Molly's enormous backside, for example. At least Jack was spared the sight of that Titanic-proportioned posterior.

ponymaid said...

Billie, Jack is an old man of very strong opinions. His distrust of anything new is such that I believe he is employing Russell as a food taster. That, and the old reprobrate isn't above enjoying ill-gotten gains. I'm glad you enjoyed the photos - I see them as a sort of horror-commentary on winter. Do you have green buds coming out yet at November Hill?

ponymaid said...

Buddy, I included the image of La Molly's hindquarters just for you! She is impervious to cold weather and quite enjoys standing out in a good blizzard. Sixty two degrees at your place, you say? I can't even imagine it anymore.

Buddy said...

Hay Sheaffer - I was right? That was the beautiful behind of my beloved? Please give her my love.

YOU stay warm and out of the elements. Wonder if Jack has room for you in his bubble??

Your fren,

Buddy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Buddy said...

Sorry - my big hoofies hit the enter twice so I deleted the duplicate post.

Your fren,

BumbleVee said...

I was going to ask if it was ah ... somebody's butt.... but, Buddy even recognized whose butt it was ! ahhahah Oooh...cheeky Buddy...

How wonderful for old Jack... his very own lovely warm room... how amazing and how perfect.

I'm so glad he is toasty and feeling fine...

on the other hand....sorry all you are seeing is snowy butts from your rather low vantage point....I know how that goes... and ....is that Sally fur? ... probably licked clean by Ms. Molly...

billie said...

Sheaffer, just yesterday I discovered the spring bulbs poking their green heads from the very very wet earth. Which is a clear sign to me that I need to get out there and clear the beds so they will have room to thrive and we can actually SEE them when they do.

Another sign of the season here is a huge debarked area on one of the big trees in the front field, now covered in a big blue ugly tarp. This weekend's chore involves woven wire and probably some ticked-off equines when they realize we're blocking their middle of winter snack.

If we don't they will have no trees left!

ponymaid said...

Vee, Molly's backside is an edifice that is very hard to overlook. Buddy is so smitten that he recognized it immediately. Yes indeed, that is Sally's fur, fresly laundered by Molly. Do you know what the first photo is? Also freshly laundered...

ponymaid said...

Buddy, of course you guessed right! Molly is very pleased indeed...I would love to join Jack in his bubble but the woman says I am too young and healthy to live in a facility for the elderly and infirm. Hah.

ponymaid said...

Billie, please, please take photos of the emerging greenery! It's the only way we know that spring may creep this far north eventually. I am also very interested in viewing the large bandage you have affixed to the tree. I'm sure donkey teeth could remove it...I mean, if you needed it removed.

Buddy said...

Did I win a prize - like a visit from Sheaffer and Molly???

Your fren,

billie said...

Sheaffer, they already started. The donkey teeth. Removing said tarp. I found evidence lying about at the base of the tree - blue shreds.

For now they are rotated off that field!

Rafer has found another smaller trunked tree to work on, at the edge of the forest. He appears to be sculpting, so I hesitate to interrupt his creative endeavors. If it means I must sacrifice that particular young tree, then so be it.

ponymaid said...

Buddy, if only it were so, we would be at your side immediately. Time and space conspire to keep us apart. Did you guess what the other photos are? Especially the one that looks like a hairy tree trunk?

ponymaid said...

Billie, those boys show such artistic promise! We simply cannot help releasing our inner donkey sculptor. It's very wise of you to give him a smaller but similar medium to work on. May we expect to see the finished work?

BumbleVee said...

hahhah... it must be you in the first one then... Molly has been ever so busy doing laundry..

dogma said...

Oh we do hope you get another companion, Sheaffer! Ma is so old we think she was on the 'ARK', 'cause she always likes to see animals in pairs! Do you think Molly has confused you and Sally for salt licks?

ponymaid said...

Vee, you are correct, it is my very sticky, soggy self!

ponymaid said...

Dogma, I believe Jack to have been on the ark as well. Or certainly the Mayflower. Molly is a most peculiar pony - we have given up questioning her motives because her explanations are simply too confusing. The "second donkey" question is one that looms large around here these days...