Friday, November 4, 2011

No, you can't have the car tonight

I have been doing some work on my barn, trying to finish the siding.  This is all part of my Mother-Of-All-DIY-Projects that began in 2008 when I bought a piece of land and decided to build a house and a barn by myself.  That is a long story for another day, suffice it to say that my house and my barn are mostly finished.  Still, in the past few weeks I have been trying to finally get the battens on my barn, which is why it is sporting candystripes lately.


In order to work on one of the walls, I had to move a riding lawn mower out of its normal position under the shed roof of the barn.  Since I like to give my horses ample opporuntily to learn about potentially scary stuff in a safe and comfortable environment, I simply pushed the mower into the area in front of the barn and let Emma and Tessa give it a thorough going over.  Beyond a few nose-prints on the mower, what could it hurt?  

Well, a while later, I returned my attention to the mower.  I was amused to notice that the entire mower was covered with slightly muddy nose-prints.  I remained amused right up to the moment that I tried to start the thing.  My thoughts from that point went something like this:

Oh no, where's the key
OH NO, Emma has the key
OH NO, EMMA HAS THE KEY!

You really don't want to know the exact words going through my head at this point.  I was just beginning to think about how I might be able to get Emma to Cornell for emergency key removal when I spotted a shiny glint on the ground.  Thank God, there it was.  The whole thing was somewhat bent and the plastic bit on the end showed distinct donkey teeth-marks.  

Note to Self (and any other donkey owners or prospective owners):  One's donkey can not be trusted with the keys to the family car, or lawn mower, or tractor, wheel barrow, hammer, clothing, tools, etc, etc, etc,....

In fact, one's donkey cannot be trusted with anything that she can get into her mouth no matter how remote the possibility may seem.  One's donkey simply cannot be trusted.

5 comments:

  1. I read through all your donkey posts because I was curious. Emma is so cute! Kudos to you for getting her :)

    I got my first donkey for my birthday this summer, in August. She's a mini (34") grey/white spotted jenny, and she's prego so she has a built in buddy. I have a boarder who has a donkey, but they haven't really bonded or anything. They're ok with each other, but they're not best friends. I kind of thought they'd bond, but he's more bonded with his owner's shire mare (haha, it's funny to see them together, she's huge and he's a tiny 36"). Anyway, just thought I'd share, and I'm looking forward to more cute, funny posts about your delightful donkey!

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  2. To Classy 'n Ivan's Mom,
    Congratulations on your new donkey, I hope you have as much fun with her as I am having with Emma. I think that donkeys are very loyal and once they bond with someone they stay bonded. I can just picture a great, big shire and an itty bitty donkey having lots of fun together:)

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  3. ok our question is how do you keep the wood on the barn????? our eats the post slap outta the corner of our barn!! lol a 4 x 6 yep not even a toothpick left. they would have a ball with yours! lol whenever we are working on the fencing and stuff nope you can't lay down the hammer, drag the skill saw off by the cord. just to name a few....lol just sayin...

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  4. To darlienepaints:
    I have a secret weapon I use to protect the barn boards - it's deer repellant spray. The stuff smells vile but works great. I only need to use it a couple of times a year as a reminder if I see any nibbling going on. They also always have access to a couple of small trees that they have already killed as well as toys and some coarse but clean hay to nibble at all times. While I do find the occasional tooth mark on a board, this combination works well for me.

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  5. Id prolly have her right in the house.

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