jack and his shadow munch hay
The last three days have been active all day long every day. Preparing the donkey den for winter has been the number one priority in the few days before the temperature dropped last night. I was glad to see this morning they came out of the donkey den for carrot time. Carrots done, I gave them hay in separate places and went inside to have a look at the hay for imprints of where they slept. They slept side by side and it looks like they had comfortable space. The wind was blowing a little. I also stepped inside to to see how the air felt. The air was still. It felt cozy. I was most curious to see if I might need to move the wall of hay bales out a few feet to give the donkeys more room. They appear to handle the space comfortably. The opening is smaller now, giving them possibly a sense of security with only one way in and it a narrow passage, plenty wide enough for a donkey. Before, the whole side was open. This appears to be a solution for now to help them through the cold winter. Talking with my friend Marsha today, who knows equines, she emphasized that donkeys are hardy. Horses are hardy and donkeys even more. She told me not to be concerned about them handling the cold. They can take it, and it's good for their health. It's still cold for them. This morning I saw Jack when he emerged from the den. His tail was tucked between his legs like a scared dog. The temperature was below twenty. I put a bale of last year's hay on the dirt floor to give them insulation. They prefer the dry dirt, but I put the hay in anyway. Jack left a pile of droppings in a corner. I took it for marking his new space, or maybe he would have needed to step over Jenny to go outside, which would not be tolerated. It's the same as the old space, just more comfortable in winter. It smells like home now. I happen to be somebody who loves barnyard scents. I'm glad my place smells like donkey. I drive home from somewhere, get out of the car, smell the air of home and it feels so good to be back.
happy donkeys
My heart has been welling up with love for Jenny and Jack since Jenny's misfortune with the baby. I felt we were close before, but we went into a new zone. Before, it was like them and me. Now it is we three. I am now included in their life together. I'm not just a human that handles and feeds them. I really am their friend now. I felt a bonding with them, individually, in the time of our shared sorrow. I felt their sorrow with them, grieved with them. They know now that I feel their feelings and they feel mine. Though it is a sad time, it is an equally happy time, sorrow and joy together, yin-yang, balance. I feel we have a better balance now. Just because we are closer, doesn't mean they won't swing their rear ends to me like they do each other. It means I understand them a little bit better and they understand me better. I believe love is shown by action so all my movements around them are loving in that I don't threaten them or hit them. I talk to them and tell them I love them. I also show them. I feel a love coming from them. I've learned the four-leggeds are apprehensive of our arms and hands. They're unpredictable. At times I've taken friends into the meadow to visit the donkeys, I'll ask them not to make fast arm movements. Move an arm too fast and they jump. I keep my arms down and make slow movements with them. They learned when I roll bales of hay down the hill they are in no danger. They ran from the first ones. By the time I rolled the last bales down the hill, Jack became playful with them and Jenny curious. Sometimes in the meadow with them, when I'm spending time with them, talking to them, rubbing their backs and necks, Jack will push me with his side. It is something he gets a kick out of doing. I can see it in his face that he's doing something fun. He will push me until I take a step or two to get balance. He laughs like it's a donkey joke.
one-eyed jack
I want them comfortable with me and see by now that they are. Giving Jenny carrot in the morning, I break a long carrot into three sections. The big end is sometimes too big for them to chew easily, as all their teeth are in front. I will hold one in the open palm of my hand and Jenny will chew it sideways. I give them a handful of grain sometimes, too, just for the fun of seeing them eat from my hand and I never feel their teeth. They pick everything up with their lips. Today and yesterday my heart has been overflowing with love for Jenny and Jack. It's love that makes our communication flow so freely. Love is also the telegraph wire for telepathy. I don't know that I am aware of anything I'm receiving from them, but I do know they pick up telepathically from me. There's no other way they could understand everything I say to them. Words we speak are pictures in our minds. I feel like the donkeys read the pictures of the words I speak to them. This makes me curious about the Chinese language where the words are pictures. I wonder about the language in relation to telepathy. I would not make a conjecture that something is better about their language than ours or ours better than theirs. A look at Western history and Chinese history, it is all human madness, men killing and conquering, women raising kids and mourning. It looks like a groove all of humanity is locked into. The madness is expression of hate, perpetually burning itself off in wars, but never being cured. Perhaps this time of major wars and ongoing wars is a time of burning off the hate to such an obnoxious extreme that maybe collective humanity will learn something important. Never has. Who can say now can be any different?
punk jenifer
The core of all the religions is love, yet religions are used to fire up hate, us against them, we're right, they're wrong, no two ways about it. My love connection with Jenny and Jack is far more important to the soul than any religious observance I can think of. There is probably not a preacher in Christendom who would go along with that. For one thing, it's out of their control. Making it all the better. Love was nonexistent in the first half of my life. I did the love-making, but once it was made it was done. It got me into some crazy situations and some crazy parts of town. There came a time I learned I cannot trust myself. That's when love opened up to me. I came to the mountains for attempted solitude to give my true self opportunity to come forward from the super-conscious to everyday life. It is through love I am able to know Jack and Jenny. I show my love by being a human they can trust who wants to understand them. They fell in with a human who finds all life forms fascinating. The primitive people, primitive meaning first, not stupid, called the various life forms people. They are people. What we call people in ourselves, they are too. Jack is a unique individual among donkeys, as is Jenny. I know them individually, know their personalities, their peculiarities, their love for each other. It makes me feel fulfilled to provide a home for donkeys who are in love. They are mated for life. It's the love between them that keeps them together day and night. I love giving them a place to live where they can live their donkey nature freely without expectation from a human. I feel like the meadow I now call the Donkey Meadow has become a love meadow. I feel tremendous love when I'm in the meadow with them. It almost has a dream-like quality walking through the meadow.
jenny ears up
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