I spent the last few days at my mother's house in the city. She was having a garage sale, and I hung out to keep her company. The sale went horribly, hardly anyone came around. She made a few dollars anyway.
Someone decided that my mother had a potty mouth. My friend Hooter had come over and we were all talking in the kitchen. Mom got down a glass, got some Ice and filled her glass with some pop. I really don't recall the conversation at the time, because suddenly my mother was spitting the pop out into the sink. I asked her what was wrong. Turns out someone had filled the pop bottle with soap! Hooter and I couldn't stop laughing for a very long time. My side still hurts just retelling this.
Mom had a sad story to tell as well. She and her husband were at a McNasty's having lunch when a man walked in. He went straight for the trash can. He pulled out some fries and went outside. Mom and stepfather were talking about him a bit. He hadn't approached anyone in the restaurant about food. Mom looked around, and saw him on the sidewalk, he had found a partial cigarette and was smoking it. When he finished, he came back into the restaurant and went through the trash again. This time he pulled out some more food and a bit of something to drink, then sat down at a table. My stepfather approached him, and asked if he wanted a meal. The man looked at my stepfather (and this is when my mother starts crying in the story) I will be honest, he tells my stepdad. I have twenty dollars in my pocket. It is all I have left. I have lost everything, and I am scared to spend the last of y money. Stepfather didn't care, told him to come on, he will buy him a meal. They got to the counter, and stepfather told him to order what he wanted. The man never once asked anyone for any money in the restaurant.
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In other news, the garden is doing well. Harvesting a bunch of peas, making jellies, growing the best grass this side of Kansas! Weeds. . . gggrrrr. . .
We have a date set to move cattle, 4th of July. How fun will that be? Not like I have a few other things I have to do that day.
oh and yeah You want to tick me off? Then pull this one on me. Neighbor across the way called. We made a deal that I could exchange some labor for a few sheep well she reneged on that offer. Instead I get a phone call, I am handing the care of all the animals over to you. WHAT!?! I don't have room for them here yet, not until the cattle are moved. There is no power at the house across the way, so I have to lug water over there. I am livid that she would do this. She is being neglectful and putting me in a bad position. Husband and I are slowly moving the animals over, so that we don't have to keep doing this all the time, dragging water and feed over twice a day.
Does anyone know a good way to move a ignored and neglected donkey? You put a bridle on her and she freezes. She was trained when they got her, and they never did any work with her after that.
A couple of the woolies are males, too many males. So looks like soon I will be posting a How to butcher your Lambs.
6 comments:
We also had a yard sale that didn't do very well. One of the ladies that did come by happened to know my husband. She said the best time to have a yard sale is the first weekend after the first of the month. That's because people who get monthly checks have money at that time - in our area that is both SS and welfare. The second best time is the weekend after the 15th for the same reason - biweekly checks and other gov. The last weekend of the month everyone is flat broke. Just a useful factoid we filed away for future sales.
Does the neglected donkey have any buddy-animals she's fond of? If so, she might be willing to walk along with one of the other critters. Sorry you've gotten stuck with the mess. Good luck with it.
Have you tried re-teaching the donkey how to lead?
Take a LONG lead rope (I worked with one that was 10' when I had my horse), connect it to the halter, wrap it around the opposite side of the donkey, around it's butt, and then back up to you. If you are gentle, this should work just fine. The pressure from the rope on the donkey's butt should be enough incentive to make it go.
Be careful. Make sure it is not afraid of ropes. Could be horribly frightening for the donkey if rope was used at anytime for abuse.
Also, have you tried feed? Throw on the halter, and offer some oats. She may just start moving forward on her own accord.
And I know some people cannot stand Parelli, but the groundwork he lays down in his teachings is fantastic. Check this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzVJD1ckrqg), watch it, but the part that is most relevant to your situation starts at 5:30. Getting the animal to move with halter/lead attached.
There are also a bunch more Parelli natural horsemanship videos available on YouTube it seems. Check them out, try them out. Maybe you can get donkey moved today.
Cheers! Love your blog!
Hey girl, hang in there with this heat. I'm sorry the neighbor cheesed out on you...yeah, maybe it's lamb on the menu soon. I got news today I might be losing my job. It's not that many hours, but still feels like things going tilt a bit. I'm really feeling for the fellow eating the leftovers from the trash, and very grateful they bought him a meal. And wondering what he's going to do now...so many people in this situation...asking myself what plan i can have in place for those who cross my path, and not coming up with anything concrete yet. Shall still keep thinking on it...be well!
Your mother's story about the man at the restaurant is terribly saddening. I'm glad to hear that there still people like you're stepfather that are willing to help.
I thought about the retraining. Hopefully she will remember and it will be quick. I would love to get her moved out of her situation asap. Hopefully a few carrots will make a difference.
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