honey bees and baths

This morning after feeding, mucking, and giving full baths to Keil Bay and Salina, I went dripping down to the labyrinth path with the loaded wheelbarrow, tired but hoping the outer loop would energize me.

My husband went down yesterday and did some weed-eating to make the path passable again, and as I went down the hill through the woods (passing an assortment of mushrooms I've never seen before in my lifetime) and walked out into the sunlight and the path, I was completely taken aback by the 8-foot tall yellow wildflowers swaying in the breeze.

It was like walking into the color yellow. Dazzling.

I walked onto the outer loop and realized suddenly that the flowers were full of honey bees - it's the first time in over a year (other than my time at the writing residency) that I've seen honey bees in the wild.

I'm absolutely thrilled that they're out there, and although I was hoping to take the geldings down one at a time to walk the outer loop, I've decided it's a better idea to let the bees have the labyrinth undisturbed until the blooms are done. They were so focused on their work. They're so important to the earth.

As this is the last in a string of warm days for at least the rest of this week, I'm giving horse baths. Keil Bay got soaped up from head to hoof, as did Salina. This afternoon we'll do Cody and the pony. Rafer Johnson would probably enjoy a good dust bath, so perhaps I'll get a few handfuls and rub it into his fur for him. He can lie down, but he doesn't seem to be able to roll! I'm beginning to see just how important those rolls in the dust are for good donkey hygiene. His fur isn't quite the same as normal since he hasn't been rolling - even though we're brushing him each day.

milestones

The week started in some chaos but it has ended with a number of milestones. As you can see, Mystic the kitten has learned not only how to get out of the cat door but how to hang with the big kits up on the rail by the butterfly bushes.

Apache Moon has learned to put the little hole in the bottom of his grazing muzzle to good use. He is grazing and drinking water and for the most part acting like it's no big deal. Except for when he realizes any of us are looking at him - then he picks his head up, stands, and looks pitifully in our direction. Ponies!

Rafer Johnson is beginning to put weight onto his casted leg more and more. Tonight when it was his time to graze outside his stall, he turned right instead of left and marched straight out to the gate. Just as if it were any other night and he was ready to be turned out. All the way down the barn aisle and across the barnyard he was walking with a perfectly normal gait - each foot bearing equal weight.

The outer loop to the labyrinth is complete. When I walked down this morning, I realized that four crows were in four trees - one in front of me, one behind, and one on each side. They were calling to one another round-robin style, and when I stopped and listened, I realized they were marking each direction. North, South, East, and West. It felt like they were doing a location check for me. Here's the labyrinth. Here you are. Here's where you are on the earth.

cats and donkeys

This is why we don't worry too much about Rafer Johnson being lonely.



There is almost always a pal close by.



He got another wonderful card today from Ken, Marty, and Redford. I'm heading out to check on everyone and put it on his wall.

rainy days, a writing spider, and a much-loved donkey

We've had more rain today, a rather soft but steady rainfall that sets the tone for a quiet, peaceful afternoon.

Last night when I went to let Keil Bay out of his stall after his dinner, there was a huge and lovely writing spider with her web right at the handle of the stall door - there was no way I could miss it.

At first I took her presence as a sign that I needed to write about Keil Bay. Then, that I should write about the horses instead of the novel. Then, that I should just write, period. It has been a dry week in that regard. But finally, I wondered if perhaps Keil Bay has a book in him, something that might be snatched up by HBO and made into a series, putting me into early retirement and the Big Bay into the limelight.

Later in the evening I was in Rafer's stall. His mood was very perky and mischievous, and he gently butted me from behind as I was fluffing his hay pile. This morning my good friend emailed to say that last night, the entire Reiki group she leads sent Reiki to Rafer Johnson! I think it worked!

This afternoon I managed to get the camera out in honor of a USPS delivery that arrived after lunch.

Check out Rafer Johnson's Wall of Love!

He has a beautiful card from his family of origin: Ken, Marty, and Redford. Inside, the card says "Heal." What a perfect mantra for a donkey growing new bone!

He has his branch to de-bark, his Jolly ball, his lick ball (in the white tub to keep out flies and ants), and a cardboard box full of balled up socks (they even have horses on them!)

But, the piece de resistance is the new Sheaffer poster that came today. The caption says: My excellence confuses you.

Perfect!



And as you see, Rafer Johnson was thrilled. He took a moment to pay homage to his good cyber-friend Sheaffer.



Even Keil Bay came to check it out!



I also got a Sheaffer mug for coffee. Head on over to Sheaffer's place and you can follow the link over there if you'd like to support donkey rescue.

some random notes to begin the week

I feel like I hit this week with far too many loose ends, things to do, and things to play catch up on, so my day and my thoughts have been scattered.


The pony is somewhat horrified by his new grazing muzzle. He is an opinionated pony and yet he is not really expressing his opinion wrt this thing we've strapped onto his head. I expected him to tear it off, rub it, fuss and complain. Instead he stands and looks pitiful. Dare I confess that we could not even leave it on all night so far? I actually brought all the geldings in to the paddock at midnight last night b/c I couldn't bear to leave the pony standing in the field w/o the ability to graze. So far we are managing to keep him off the field altogether during the day, limiting his grazing at night, and giving him a few hours of the grazing muzzle in the hope that he will figure it out.


Another random pony note: when we left him the night before last he was a dark brown mud color all over due to rolling in the paddock. When we went out yesterday morning he was perfectly clean (and he is a painted pony, white and brown, so it's somewhat amazing that the white was... white again). I maintain that there are pony fairies who travel from farm to farm, taking care of their smaller pony friends.


Rafer Johnson is doing well. I know he would like to be out running around but he's handling his confinement pretty well so far. He loves his time out to graze in the evenings and he also loves his licking ball.


Why is it that when Mom becomes overwhelmed and types out detailed chore lists, all the kids in the household disappear?


I awoke from a horse dream this morning - a natural horsemanship trainer had come to do a trial session with our herd. I looked out the window and he was out there with the entire group of 4 horses and donkey in the arena at one time, directing all of them simultaneously through a series of walk/trot/canter and airs above the ground moves. He had Keil Bay doing some sort of dance that involved Keil going down onto his knees and then coming back up again. He had built a wall of big rocks and the horses were climbing it for him, like giant mountain goats.

I went out and proceeded to interview him, as if I were only moderately impressed with these feats. He wanted to know the entire history of each horse and donkey, and I was impressed with that, and proceeded to tell him, while the horses continued to show off all the new tricks he'd already managed to teach them.

If dreams are wishful thinking, I suppose that's what I longed for just before waking - a day where everything went as directed, gracefully, breathtakingly in sync with my commands.

Let me assure you - that is NOT happening.

It's one of those days when I can identify that the chaos is inside ME, almost at the cellular level, and the world around me only SEEMS out of control. Tomorrow the chemistry will have shifted and I'll be back to the regular perspective.


There is an ongoing discussion on several different horse forums right now about feeding practices. A man from Scotland typed in what I feel is the most elegant, simple, natural feed routine I think I've ever read. The fact that it happens in Scotland certainly must be adding to my romantic idea of how perfect it is. And he has herds of cattle to graze fields before putting horses onto them, to break the parasite cycle and to bring the grass down for the horses so they can graze round the clock without getting too much.

Still, his use of barley and green leafy things such as shard, some vegetable oil, salt, molasses for those who need it, seems wonderful.

He tapes each horse every week, puts the data into Excel, and creates a spreadsheet so he can track weight gain/loss accurately over time, rather than eyeballing it and guessing. Guess what went onto my to do list this morning?


We have hoof trimming tomorrow, I have a 3-day spread of client sessions, a meeting I'd like to attend on Friday morning, and all the regular stuff on the agenda. Maybe the extra activity will counteract the chaos!