addendum from billie

If you enjoy reading about the donkeys and seeing their photos, you will LOVE Sheaffer's blog.

You may also visit Primrose Donkey Sanctuary online and can send donations to:

PrimRose Donkey Sanctuary
1296 Bowmanton Road - RR 4
Roseneath, ON
KOK 2GO

happy birthday to our dear friend sheaffer!

Dear Sheaffer,

We tried our best to come but they said it was too far.

So we decided to have our own little party in your honor.



First I had some hay.



Then Redford tried to play Pin The Tail on Rafer Johnson.






Then (Redford here!) we ate some grass. See how good we are at dodging the buttercups?



And then I went over to say my own special Happy Birthday to my favorite uncle!



I (Rafer Johnson back again) send you a tip of the ear



and a roll in the dust, and my very best donkey wishes for your birthday!



Then she made us pose for a birthday portrait in your honor.



Happy Birthday, Sheaffer!! We wish we were ALL there to celebrate with you!

Love,
Rafer Johnson, Redford, and the whole November Hill Menagerie

we have a chimney swallow!

For the past few days I've been hearing noises in our woodstove's chimney, which rises through the air to the ceiling right in the middle of our living room/kitchen area.

At first the sounds seemed like pieces of debris falling, and I figured some of the stuff on the inside of the chimney had loosened and was tumbling down the pipe. Yesterday, the noises became a bit more intense, and it began to sound more purposeful.

This morning I asked my husband to check it out. He opened the lid to the woodstove, stuck his hand into the chimney hole, and then jerked back with a start. I thought he had been bitten, but he had been startled by the feel of something soft.

Initially we thought it might be a mouse. Then a squirrel. Then we got serious and my son aimed the big flashlight into the chimney hole. It was a bird!

My husband gently took the bird and released it off the back deck. Probably 15 minutes or so later, the noises resumed.

I'm not sure why any bird would want to live inside a sooty chimney, but apparently this one (these? we think there were two) do. They are busily cleaning out my chimney every time they go in and out, as evidenced by the growing pile of cinders in the stovetop.

The funny thing is that they seem quite comfortable with the noises WE make. The chimney is a metal tube, not enclosed with brick or stone, and yesterday they were scrabbling away as my children, my mom, and I played a roaringly loud game of Apples to Apples, and then, even more funny, my mom started teaching us to play Rook.

For now, we are co-habitating quite nicely.

missed photo ops

My husband asked this week why I wasn't taking pictures lately for the blog. I have no good answer. The camera is sitting right here on my desk, easy to grab as I head out the back door. I think I've just been so focused on other things I've gotten out of the habit.

But of course with all the goings-on here there are hundreds of photo ops each day. I missed getting the donkeys and Salina getting trims this week. There was one particular span of time when Salina was getting hind feet done in the grass paddock, Redford was facing B. and you could just see in his eyes he was thinking about taking B's cowboy hat off and running with it, and Rafer Johnson was looking over B's shoulder, pondering the trimming tools and now and then resting his head on B's shoulder.

There is no photo of Redford getting a little antsy during his trim and Rafer Johnson marching over to stick his nose in Redford's face as if to say: just stand still and it will be over soon! No image of Rafer Johnson standing with his head low, making happy donkey snorts while B. trimmed his feet. (for that one we'd need audio as well!)

I also missed Keil Bay and Cody taking turns lying down to sleep while awaiting their trims. That is just how relaxed they are about the hoof stuff. I am probably GLAD I missed Keil Bay taking B's empty shirt pocket in his teeth and pulling when he found it empty of the alfalfa cookies B. gives them after their feet are done.

There have been at least two memorable sunsets this week that I enjoyed but did not photograph. A number of our rose bushes are laden with flowers, and we are lucky again this year of plentiful rain to have the wildflower meadow stretching out alongside the driveway.

Today I missed shots of the pony helping me put out the fly predators (something about the way he was using his muzzle to check out the package made me think of him inside the house with a dust cloth, cleaning away), and I missed the two redtails who went shrieking over the barn as though on a mission.

It's probably not necessary to say that in fact I missed none of these images - but it would have been fun to also share them here! Maybe tomorrow I'll remember to take it out.

share your favorite quote

I just opened Jane Savoie's little book, A Winning Attitude, to a random page for one of her tips on jump-starting attitude.

It said, "seek sources of inspiration."

So that's what I'm doing. Looking for quotes that inspire.

One of my favorite quotes is this:

Of the five elements, none is always predominant; of the four seasons, none lasts forever; of the days, some are long and some short, and the moon waxes and wanes.

Sun Tzu, The Art of War