25th November 2006
Last week you will recall I wrote about the saga of the sandcastle, and how it was that after all the muddy areas had been dealt with the surplus was placed inside the gate in our paddock.
Well, whilst Annabell and Marion might have been tempted to get out a bucket and spade, the rest of us are far too mature for such childish behaviour, so why a pile of sand in our paddock? It is of course an 'ancestral' rolling patch!! but you probably knew that really.
I might have been born in Wales where it is hilly and wet but somewhere back in the dark ages my ancestors populated the desert areas of the bible and are used to a hot dry climate, and their historic need for rolling is still imprinted in my brain.
I am sure that you have been told to turn off the lights and lower the temperature of the hot water to save energy, and all heard about today's 'eco-friendly' houses, built with lots of insulation and minimum heating in an attempt to reduce carbon emissions and counteract global warming???.
Well here I am, the original eco friendly animal - super insulated with my furry coat, and if I get too hot I roll in the dust and sand in our rolling patch just as my ancestors would have done in the desert and fill my fur with a layer of it to insulate my skin against the heat. In the winter when I am cold my fur all stands up at right angles to my skin so that a layer of air is trapped amongst it to help keep me warm. If you put a donkey into a nice new paddock with a covering of grass what is the first thing that needs doing? A bit of 'housework' ? he or she starts to dig away the grass with their front hooves, breaking up the surface to make a dusty rolling patch.
If you see us in the rain we look awfully miserable because our fur isn?t waterproof and lets the water get to our skin ? after all you don?t need to be waterproof in the desert ? but when it is cold and snows we are very well provided for, because the snow sits on top of our soft sticking out hair and just stays there like a layer of insulation.
So just call me 'Eco-friendly Lolly'
Mud, I do have to just touch on this rather delicate subject at this point - mmmm mud, my human thinks the least said about that the better, but she just doesn't understand - mud - dust, dust ? mud, how could one possibly know that the dust has turned to mud until you have tried it out???
Now you're getting the picture, and the resaon behind a layer of clean sand on the rolling patch........... sand + water = wet sand, which just dries back to sand particles and drops off....................................dust + water = mud, which dries to a hard rocklike coating that sticks like glue!!!
So that is insulation dealt with, I am not so sure about the carbon emissions though - there is an awful lot of hot air breathed around here from time to time, and a human does have to wheel a lot of dung from the stables each day, might have to look into recycling???????
18th November 2006
After we had gone out to our paddocks the other day a very large lorry came so I simply had to put my ears well forward, and watch with interest; could it more donkeys? No it was an open lorry, and you aren't allowed to put animals in open lorries in this country; then it made a strange noise and the back part started to lift up and out poured a large amount of sand, indeed an enormous 'sandcastle'
I just wondered what this was going to be used for? especially as I had heard someone say something about an early 'Christmas present' for the donkeys - personally I was going to send my letter to Father Christmas asking for a sack of carrots and new donkey rug - definitley no mention of a sandcastle!
Later our friend Marion appeared, she is the person who helps look after us, goes to shows with us and has even been seen to dress up as a 'duck' - I just can't imagine what her letter to Father Christmas might include. Anyway she got out the wheelbarrow, filled it with some of the sand and proceeded to spend the rest of the day day moving the whole pile bit by bit to cover the mud that had formed in the gateways - you will of course remember that I do not like getting mud on my feet.
After the gateways were nicely dressed she covered the whole of the bridge (we walk over a bridge made of about 6 large railway sleepers to get to our stables), this sand was laid down extra deep to prevent us slipping when it gets frosty and icy. Yes, meal times here do occasionally resemble the charge to the dinner queue in the school playground so you will sympathise with having to walk over a slippery surface whilst leading the charge! Not that I would push, shove or charge anywhere of course - I just wait for my human to open the gate wide and then she puts her arm around my neck and we walk in sedately together.
The remainder of the sand was put just inside the first gate to our paddocks, it made a very large area and makes a wonderful rolling patch - more about rolling patches another day........
Of course as you can imagine when it was time for us to come in on that first night, we had to test the sand - oh I thought it was wonderful - so soft under my hooves. Not the rest of the crowd though, they got very excited, led of course by Capella who momentarily forgot all about the precious Annabell - saw an opportunity for some fun and instead of going to their stables shot into the garden and just galloped around and around holding their heads high and waving them from side to side with excitement, all braying as loud as they could - I think that they were probably saying thank you in a donkey sort of way, but my human didn't quite see it like that and came out holding a telephone in her hand saying "STOP - STOP - STOP"
I won't even try to describe the state of the lawn after five minutes of this creative galloping - I'll just leave that to your imagination - but the words wet football pitch, and goal mouth spring to mind!!! I of course, tried to tell them to stop but they wouldn't listen!....no point in going to the kitchen door as there is little hope of any treats for sometime.....................................
10th November 2006
Ears - Yes I have the most beautiful long brown velvety ones ? and they may seem a strange topic for this week's diary entry!!
Not, however if you are a donkey living close to houses during the weeks before and after ?Bonfire Night?....... Then they become a very important and very delicate accessory.
Now, no-one would suggest that we donkeys are exactly fleet of foot, although I have to say that when my tea is on its way I could beat anyone to the gate - nor are we necessarily blessed with good eyesight, although there again I can spot my feed bowl or a hay net at a hundred yards!!
However because of all our other shortcomings nature has blessed us with the most efficient hearing devices in our big ears and has even given us large external 'dishes' to catch the sound. A bit like the sky satellite dish that brings you your television programmes!
My 'satellite dish' ears trap all the sounds and convey them straight to my brain; they even rotate through nearly 300 degrees in any direction so that nothing is missed. If you watch a driving donkey listening for commands, you will see one or both ears turn backwards towards the person sitting in the vehicle to catch the sounds coming from them, such as ?walk on? or ?trot on? or ?stand?, and before you even think it, we ?in hand? donkeys listen too but because our head is close to the person leading us the noise travels straight to the left ear and it doesn?t have to turn too far to the left to catch the sounds.
Anyway therein lies the problem with bonfire night and fireworks, our ears work so efficiently that the bangs, whizzes and squeals even when two or three fields away are amplified and twice as scary as if we were there at the party.
Not that fireworks are lit too many times in a year where we live but other loud noises can have the same effect. So please do remember next time you see a donkey walking along the road with its owner please don?t shout or hoot from behind, we will know you are there because we will have felt your presence through the ground and a loud noise is more likely to frighten us than a soft one, just talk quietly, say hello and pass by.
Talking of which I am sure I just heard the kitchen door open so I am going to ?very quietly pass by? all the other donkeys in this field to see what is on offer???????????????.. might even be some cake as rumour has it that my human celebrated her birthday yesterday!!!
4th November 2006
We are feeling very important here as one of our number has been to record a programme called ?Songs Of Praise? for BBC Television.
Gigi had to go to Coates, a beautiful old Church built in the 12th century, not far from Cirencester. A very rural setting, where everyone parks in the farmyard next door. The Songs of Praise Sunday Programme which will be shown on 1st April 2007, that being Palm Sunday, will be about the humble donkey, but for the filming Gigi was pretending that she was one of the animals being asked to take shelter in Noah?s Ark.
When everyone was in the Ark the door was closed and the congregation sang Eternal Father whilst holding their umbrellas up and to the accompaniment of thunder, wind and lightening! Must say it was probably a good idea to keep ears forward!
Gigi was apparently wonderful as usual (and I expect that is a matter of opinion) despite having a sheep with it's nose practically in her bottom and a Shetland pony determined to push her out of the way! and that was only in the porch waiting to go in! She did all that she was supposed to do ? doesn?t she always?
As the programme is to be about the donkey, Noah demanded that someone look for the donkeys ? (well we already know they were in the porch silly) having been found they walked very sedately in Gigi of course did do a bit extra after we had come out of the ark when she was supposed to stand at the back of the Church, but being unattached to a human she decided she would rather go down the front and spent the rest of the service standing next to Mrs. Noah who had a different opinion of donkeys after that. She is even reported to have put her arm around Gigi when everyone had to join hands.
