A Donkey in Paradise

Living in Paradise is easy;

It's the getting there that's hard.

We parked the trailer in the pasture the evening before we left

so the donkeys could get used to it.

They haven't been in a trailer since they were babies;

a long time ago.

Saturday morning dawned cloudy and sticky warm.

Winston wasn't sure what the trailer was doing in the pasture.

I put halters on the donkeys and fetched their lead ropes.

We loaded Tuffy first.  He's the spitfire, in your face donkey.

If you've seen the movie Shrek, you've met Tuffy.

To our amazement, he went right in.

Finessa, our sweet, docile, shy donkey who is addressed most often with "darling" or "sweetheart,"

wasn't having anything to do with the trailer.

We tried pushing,

we tried pulling,

we tried smacking her on the butt, 

and we tried a rope looped around her haunches.

She weighs close to 300 pounds so we couldn't lift her in.

I sat on the edge of the trailer floor with Tuffy behind me,

in the trailer,

and Finessa in front of me with a sweet look on her face

and her feet planted.

Two hours later, she was loaded.

I think she got tired of the battle.

We closed the partition 

and the donkeys traveled first class

with a deep bed of shavings and hay,

and plenty of room to move around. 

The goats were in the area behind them.

Because Finessa took so long to load,

we didn't leave until almost 10am.

We arrived at Oak Creek Ranch at 7:30 pm.

I snapped their lead ropes on and walked them to the back of the trailer.

They looked over the ledge and jumped down.

Finessa took a giant leap forward and out.

Then they walked calmly to their new pasture

and dug in.

This morning when we got there to feed,

Tuffy and Finessa were hanging out at the back of the pasture,

under the big oak tree.

Can you see them way out there?

They are loving life.