Oh, Donkeys!!!!!

No pictures for the last two days. Too busy, too wet, too forgetful.
Yesterday Jim left at 5:15 AM to go fishing. Now when he and John fish, they do catch and release. It's a beautiful float trip on the Sacramento River from the Posse Grounds in Redding to points south. Yesterday the water was flowing too heavily for the fishes to play, but they had a nice day anyway.
When Jim is gone it's up to me to feed and water. He loads the tractor and has the hay placed where I can feed it. No problem. A great time with the critters.
Then it was my time for Ladies' Day. Four of us shopped downtown Oroville and had a wonderful time. There are so many fun and interesting places to find goodies. We then went to Checkers for lunch. It's a PIC place where students learn about the food service business. What great food and service we had.
After that we went to the Oroville Dam Visitor Center and bought some unusual Christmas gifts. Viewed their museum and will go back to watch some of their videos. We "girls" had a lot of fun.
Time to feed in the evening and several of the horses wanted in. They knew a storm was coming.
Tucked in horses here and there. We still need a few more shelters for those who don't like the cozy comfort of the barn. Any help??
This morning I heard a funny noise. Some donkey and/or mule had rubbed on a water handle and had turned on the hose. The whole 5000 gallon water tank was empty!!!!! Poor Jim. When he went out to start the little generator to run the pump to fill the tank the generator died. Off to Chico to buy a new one, then home to fix the pump.
When I asked each donkey and mule if they knew anything about the incident there were just big innocent ears and eyes. Who us???? Do that???
By afternoon the tank was almost full and life went back to being normal. At least as normal as it can be with 60 + equines, 4 dogs, 9 cats, 4 goats, 2 calves, a flock of noisy birds and thousands of hibernating frogs.
When I went to feed this morning Marnie was in a stall and had an episode. He was head shaking, rearing and kicking. I let him out and he calmed down. His very wise and responsible owner had decided not to sell him and have someone get hurt. After seeing him today I really respect her decision. Responsible owners do what is right for the horse and others.
This afternoon Aaron came to help us put away 8 horses so they could be out of the storm. Brian blanketed Daisy tonight and tomorrow we'll do some of the others. It's supposed to be really wet and windy this week-end. We are not going to Tractor Supply Company tomorrow and we are closing the sanctuary Sunday. No visitors nor volunteers. Too wet and muddy.
The big news is about Jessie donkey. She is loving all the attention she gets. She even comes up and asks to be petted. It took 4 years for her to trust us, but trust us she does. We humans must respect that our timelines and the animals' timelines are not the same. We shouldn't push them to meet our time. There is so much for us to learn about them.
Visit our web page http://homeatlastsanctuary.webs.com/ Check the cafe and buy a gift or five. Home At Last gets a donation for every item purchased.
Remember the rescues, shelters and sanctuaries at the Holiday time. Every one can always use some extra help.
Thank you Dana and Peggy for your donations. The animals appreciate your generosity. You are their Holdiay angels.