Eeyore developed a fast friendship with Bob. Bob in his capacity as the head of security was generally tied to the porch where he could keep an eye on everything but couldn’t run off. If we could cure his wonderlust he would be perfect for the job. Eeyore had the run of the property because the house was not yet fenced off from the pasture. For safety he was fenced off from the road. It was really pretty amusing to watch the two of them chewing on each other, however, as it turns out it was folly on my part to enjoy the show..
People will tell you that donkeys are sure-footed. I believe they are. I have fallen, but never seen a donkey do so. I have seen them play head games with themselves and be helpless. At least Eeyore did. He could climb our front steps and frequently succumbed to the urge. The problem was that he became a little confused when it came time to get down. He had to be trained to go downstairs and seemed to easily forget. I got tired of teaching him so I fenced him away from the house. Being an only donkey is apparently like being an only child. You have a different type of relationship with your parents (humans).
Some things weren’t very funny. Bear with me and I will relate the story of the sheep.
Some things weren’t very funny. Bear with me and I will relate the story of the sheep.
Google image. Not our actual sheep.
We combined a trip to San Antonio for our Granddaughters birthday with the acquisition of some sheep. American blackbellies were imported to this country in the early part of the twentieth century. They basically come from Barbados sheep that originated (maybe) in Africa. There was considerable crossbreeding with other type sheep until they developed a horned species in the Rams. They are a hairless sheep so they don’t need to be sheared and that is good for this part of the country. Less work and less heat stroke. We bought an older ewe that was pregnant and a younger Ram and Ewe who were not physically grown yet.
As easy as Eeyore was to deal with the sheep practically killed me. They were spooked and there wasn’t much I could do about it. At first they got out of the yard and I needed a crash course in how to build better fences. Once I got past that it got easier. We lost the young ram to some sort of sickness. His sister became sick but recovered. With the arrival of twins (one died) the population was stable. We had a lot of weeds and tall grass that sheep liked and donkeys didn’t. With that sort of Jack Sprat and Wife approach the land got eaten down pretty well.
When the plants became eaten down a little I moved the team to the neighbors yard. I would tie out the donkey and the sheep would roam close to him. My neighbor did not use his mower the year of the sheep. The sheep never let Eeyore out of their sight until I told them to. I would do that by ringing a bell and shouting Eeyore at the top of my lungs. The sheep would come running and since Eeyore thought they were eating all the grain (they were) he became really easy to bring home as well.
The donkey became part of the sheep family. When mama sheep gave birth we knew it. Eeyore saw us and came running over. He kept braying until we followed him over and looked in on the newborn. He just had to let us know. A scientist would say that I am delving into anthropomorphism by saying he was excited. I would say that the scientist never had a dog or a donkey.
Donkey’s are supposed to hate dogs but, like I said, Eeyore and Bob seemed to delight in nipping and barking/braying at each other. That got pretty tiresome if you were trying to sleep, or think, or whatever. Eeyore’s liking for dogs and overall friendliness resulted in us losing the sheep and getting more donkeys. I read and believe that donkey Jacks are only good for one thing. If you want a livestock guard you need a Jenny or a Gelding.
We had three dogs. There was Bob that you have heard about. We would always tie Bob to the porch when he wanted outside but there were two others. Mama always wanted to name the animals after Winnie the Pooh characters so the first nonworking dog was named Pooh Bear. She was a mix of Rottweiler and something.
The second nonworking dog was named Indy. Pretty much the same mix. I have no idea why Sally named him after something other than Winnie the Pooh critters but she did. The two dogs had to be collared to keep them from chasing sheep but they never harmed them.
Then Sally developed staph infection in her blood and everything changed. She had been in the hospital for over three weeks and we had just about figured out that we weren’t going to lose her when it happened. I took about a week off work to visit her in the hospital and try to keep up with things at home. Then I went back to work. That resulted in a severe loss of control on the home front
I came home from the hospital one night after visiting hours and found a strange scene. The donkey was standing by the fence and began braying at me. Bob was barking and everything else was quiet. I went to the fence and found the two dogs finishing off the last of the sheep.
Now you could ask yourself why I did not just kill the two dogs. One was very young and the other very old. I had no sheep. I let myself be talked out of killing them and it wasn't very hard. I did decide to do something about it. That was the start of the herd which was really sort of an arms race.
As easy as Eeyore was to deal with the sheep practically killed me. They were spooked and there wasn’t much I could do about it. At first they got out of the yard and I needed a crash course in how to build better fences. Once I got past that it got easier. We lost the young ram to some sort of sickness. His sister became sick but recovered. With the arrival of twins (one died) the population was stable. We had a lot of weeds and tall grass that sheep liked and donkeys didn’t. With that sort of Jack Sprat and Wife approach the land got eaten down pretty well.
When the plants became eaten down a little I moved the team to the neighbors yard. I would tie out the donkey and the sheep would roam close to him. My neighbor did not use his mower the year of the sheep. The sheep never let Eeyore out of their sight until I told them to. I would do that by ringing a bell and shouting Eeyore at the top of my lungs. The sheep would come running and since Eeyore thought they were eating all the grain (they were) he became really easy to bring home as well.
The donkey became part of the sheep family. When mama sheep gave birth we knew it. Eeyore saw us and came running over. He kept braying until we followed him over and looked in on the newborn. He just had to let us know. A scientist would say that I am delving into anthropomorphism by saying he was excited. I would say that the scientist never had a dog or a donkey.
Donkey’s are supposed to hate dogs but, like I said, Eeyore and Bob seemed to delight in nipping and barking/braying at each other. That got pretty tiresome if you were trying to sleep, or think, or whatever. Eeyore’s liking for dogs and overall friendliness resulted in us losing the sheep and getting more donkeys. I read and believe that donkey Jacks are only good for one thing. If you want a livestock guard you need a Jenny or a Gelding.
We had three dogs. There was Bob that you have heard about. We would always tie Bob to the porch when he wanted outside but there were two others. Mama always wanted to name the animals after Winnie the Pooh characters so the first nonworking dog was named Pooh Bear. She was a mix of Rottweiler and something.
The second nonworking dog was named Indy. Pretty much the same mix. I have no idea why Sally named him after something other than Winnie the Pooh critters but she did. The two dogs had to be collared to keep them from chasing sheep but they never harmed them.
Then Sally developed staph infection in her blood and everything changed. She had been in the hospital for over three weeks and we had just about figured out that we weren’t going to lose her when it happened. I took about a week off work to visit her in the hospital and try to keep up with things at home. Then I went back to work. That resulted in a severe loss of control on the home front
I came home from the hospital one night after visiting hours and found a strange scene. The donkey was standing by the fence and began braying at me. Bob was barking and everything else was quiet. I went to the fence and found the two dogs finishing off the last of the sheep.
Now you could ask yourself why I did not just kill the two dogs. One was very young and the other very old. I had no sheep. I let myself be talked out of killing them and it wasn't very hard. I did decide to do something about it. That was the start of the herd which was really sort of an arms race.
What you can see above was the start of the herd. The short stubby one on the left is Eeyore. The two taller and much more graceful ladies on the right are the two additions. The male should not be the smallest of the group, however, I can tell you that all the tall, gracefull, beautiful women and girls in my family allow me to empathize with him. Blue is wearing the blue collar and red is wearing the red. There is actually more than a little involved with the acquisition of these two girls. The bottom line is that Eeyore was hopelessly in love. If you can look at this picture and not see identical twins in Red and Blue you are more discerning than I. The next chapter in the saga of Eeyore and his progeny is to be found on the page Eeyore and the girls.
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