Sanctuary Days...

From Jim: A couple of weeks ago someone asked me how long I thought I would continue with the sanctuary, doing what we do? I said, without any real thought, well, until I die or physically can't do it anymore. You see, they thought of caring for the herd as work. I will agree it takes effort and there are days we get pretty tired and sometimes a little overwhelmed. For the most part though, we do what we really enjoy, take care of our wonderful animals and enjoy the days of life on the ranch. We've have met so many great people that we now call friends. We have a cycle of daily, weekly, monthly chores. There's excitement and joy and quiet times, and, yes, moments of tremendous sadness. Our life is filled with a sense of wonder and humility and purpose. There's never enough money. There's always too many needy critters. We seem to be on the losing side of a harsh equation and, then, we go back to the story of the boy with the starfish and it's all OK. We make a difference to our loving beasties. We get calf kisses and goatie tail wags, and horse and mule and donkey hugs. We greet spectacular sunrises and enjoy the brilliance of the sunsets. The crisp air and soft rain and raging storms and sweaty heat of all the seasons touch us. Our year is divided into straw hats or felt hats, T-shirts or slickers, leather boots or rubber boots. Everyday, twice a day, there's feeding and watering to do. Generally, there's a few fence or gate repairs, and most of the time, someone to doctor. We never have to worry about finding something to do. Getting older slows us down and there are some aches and pains, but that's alright. We figure if we hurt a little in the morning, it means we're not dead yet! This same someone asked why we save horses? Truth is, for all our critters, they saved us. We can't give to them nearly what they give to us. Love abides, love is why we're here-all of us.