Rain and then VERY Warm October Weather, the Farrier Visits, the Ridiculous Job of Moving a Huge Manure Pile & Celebrating Twenty Years of Togetherness at the Lazy Vegan!

It was a rather crazy week weather wise, with our first real rainstorm of the season (hence my "cover firewood" reminder note, above!) to downright too warm days for October!  I'm looking forward to more rain even though it makes animal chores that much harder.  We had a great time celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary this week with a lunch date at our favorite vegan restaurant, the purchase of a new painting and a surprise dragonfly pin from the foreman!  Our real gift was buying all the new donkey fencing almost a month ago.  It still makes me so happy to look out our bedroom window and see the donkeys running around or lounging in their new area.  We have started the daunting task of moving the HUGE manure pile to a new location on the property so we can expand the donkeys' area even more in the near future.  After moving many wheelbarrow loads yesterday, I gave up and will tackle it one wheelbarrow load a day till the task is done - I even have blisters on one hand from my attempts (it was too hot, too) yesterday!  Plus, as darling as the donks are, moving their waste isn't all that charming.  Included with the manure are mountains of urine-soaked pine shavings, old hay and little rabbit pellets from cute Wasabi...and all of it will make excellent compost for the garden some day once it seasons!

 This is the crowd I get to look at while I cook in the kitchen!

 Paco's beautiful eye.  Even his eyebrows are shaggier now that he is growing out a warmer coat.

 Weegie looking for grass in the new area.  It is shocking how they have already eaten everything there!

 Yep, folks, it is that time of year when "Bones Rousseau" ventures out of his cabin and gets to be the star for the holiday week!

 The foreman had quite an animated chat with him...I think about politics.

 The faithful blog reader may notice that I've started to take more photos of food lately.  This is so people know that vegans DO have plenty to eat - and we eat quite well!  Above, a little avocado and tomato (from the garden) appetizer...

 And curried cauliflower with lentils over brown rice!

 This is kind of fun:  we subscribed to the NY Times for the Sunday edition only...it arrived like magic at the bottom of our long driveway this morning!

 Wasabi can't wait to get her paws on it once we've finished reading it!

 Such a civilized morning reading the paper in the sunshine on the terrace...that's the foreman's huge plate of morning red potatoes.

 The NY Times travel section!

 Bravo watches for intruders.

 Bones kicks back.

Oh, the careful task of relocating the bunny!

 Sitting happily with my new dragonfly pin from the foreman!

Sunbathing time.

Toby waits to be let indoors.

The trio!
 trio on film!

More transferring the bun!

Wasabi watches another debate while munching on hay!

Wasabi hangs out in her magic dream cottage!

Lunch date!

Happy 20th!

My choice of lunch, above:  vegan tempeh taco, while the foreman ordered a vegan enchilada!

Snap sent us this card that is the splitting image of Paco and Luigi!

And here's the painting that we saw at the restaurant and then went back and bought from the artist the next day - I love roosters!

We're still deciding where his permanent wall will be...
Young Deer with Mama (see how he/she tries to nurse toward the end...so cute)

The weekly pose!

CHEERS - here's to our next twenty or thirty or forty or fifty! We use our special donkey wineglasses from my aunt & uncle for all our really important events!

Old terrier on the move.

Sleepy donk.

Dust bath with Bravo nearby!

Foggy Evening Buck!

Our farrier came to visit - we really like him even if the donkeys aren't so thrilled to see him every ten weeks!

The boys were very well behaved this time!

Pre-farrier walk.

Giving the foreman kisses!

One of the many things I love about the Fall!

Lunch one day:  tofurkey sandwich with cucumbers and spicy mustard, figs, raw pistachios and, duh, carrots!

What Bravo seeks after the farrier comes - the many donkey hoof trimmings!  I have to race out before him and clean them all up.  One time he got one wedged way back in his mouth and we're not going to have a repeat episode!

Weegie with his nicely trimmed feet!

The long backside of Paco.

O.K., I admit I'm a bit obsessed with the donkeys' weight - but the photo above illustrates how they ARE trimming up - Paco's behind is noticeably smaller!  At least, noticed by me!

Beautiful donkeys, at any size!

Salad time!

Dinner one night (I had seconds):  asparagus with sauted onions and toasted almonds over brown rice!

Heading upstairs to watch the World Series!

Crazy terrier.

Silly rabbit.

Crazy and silly!

I have to wake Toby up most mornings now.

On the move!
Turkeys!

Spending quality time with the donkeys.

Big belly - I think they always have big bellies no matter what they weigh - but, again, I notice a trimming up here and there and am very pleased so far with the results of their diet!

Remember the first few days of this area when there was grass???

The foreman still working on his exterior painting touch up project.

Heavier than it looks...moving the manure pile, one wheelbarrow at a time!

And bigger than it looks...it is deep and stretches out a long way.  This is a big, big job - but it will be nice to have it out of the way for the donkeys!

The foreman gives the bun a treat!

The foreman catches me doing what he thinks I do on the sly...vacuuming the couches!  Hey, it works on the dog hair!

There's no escaping the foreman...while going upstairs to vacuum I caught sight of him painting out on the roof!
Fox Marks his Turf!

Bones Rousseau wishes everyone a very happy upcoming Halloween!