There's nothing like munching on hay!
I spent the week obsessing about my donkeys getting fat, but all that worrying when away when we got something to really worry about in the wee hours of the morning on Saturday...Toby disappeared into the dark and was gone for over an hour! This has never happened before in all of his fourteen years. The dogs always wake up between 4:30 - 5:30 a.m. (charming Bravo is usually the first to make noise!). On this morning, Toby was still fast asleep and was even dreaming - his little paws were moving like he was running, something I've never seen him do before. I thought it was cute, but I should have realized that he was still not quite awake and was disoriented when I took him outside without a leash. Bravo always goes on a leash because he'll just take off if he feels like it - but Toby always does his biz right close to home and then goes back inside. At any rate, he didn't this morning...he wandered out by the back cabin and I lost track of him, so I took Bravo back into the house first and then went back to look for Toby. I heard a lot of rustling in leaves but couldn't see - so back indoors I went for a flashlight. When I returned, I heard more rustling and then nothing. NOTHING! I had a bad feeling about it - it didn't feel like Toby was there!! So I immediately woke up the foreman and we spent the next hour frantically hiking around the big acreage next to us with flashlights, under barbed wire fences and through the woods, up the big hill, etc. - the foreman even took a few minutes to drive down our road to look for him. It obviously doesn't help that Toby is deaf - sometimes he will respond to a loud clap, so I would clap every once in a while. The cabin backs up to what we call the "creepy coyote area" - a watershed canyon with trails that go up onto a ridge that the coyotes definitely travel on. It is an area that I don't get a good vibe from, so I've never put the critter cam there. Toby had gone by the same spot, in fact, where one of our hens was eaten years ago. I started to get that dreaded feeling that a coyote had taken Toby, and the foreman echoed that same awful thought...but then, just as it was starting to get light, the foreman saw something white move on the ridge and heard a faint yip! He said Toby looked really scared when he came upon him and looked confused, and like he was going to run away - so he charged after him and scooped him up. It was such a relief to hear him yell "I got him!" OMG!!! I feel like we got a second chance with the little guy - and I'm not being dramatic; coyotes can and DO take small dogs! Poor Toby was covered in burrs and I had to give him a drastic haircut to get them all out. Then he had a bath and lots of treats and hugs. And from now on...leashes on at dawn and dusk, no exceptions!!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DREW THIS WEEK!!!! Can't believe all my nephews are growing up so fast.
I think I used this same photo for Drew's birthday last year...but I love it! Taking a bath in Grandma Snap's sink!
Toby After His Scary Disappearance!
I would have had a hard time getting over it if something horrible had happened to my little Toby!!
Buck Stops to Listen!
The hay muncher again!
So upset was I by the donkey's weight gain, I decided to pay a visit to the Honkey Donkey farm so I could check out the weight of the older donkeys there...
Two Short Bunny Videos, Below!
And that's it for this week!
