March 2, 2009

What do you do when you are bored and all your friends are asleep? Brush your teeth with a stick, and then perhaps lean over the fence and try to wake them up! 

Minnie was having a great day, when one by one, Deb, Ron and Lottie all decided to store up some radiant heat by taking a long nap in the pasture. Minnie was the only one awake, definitely unacceptable to her!  Deb and Ron were sleeping so close together they looked like one elephant! Lottie must have been exhausted as she and Min had covered a lot of ground that day, but nobody was worried about what Minnie would do while the rest napped….except Min. So she leaned over the fence to try and get Deb and Ron’s attention; no luck. After much posturing and silly antics, Minnie finally walked away as Deb and Ron snored. Minnie wandered over to where Lottie was napping, tried to stare her into waking which failed to disturb her, and then waited sort of patiently until Lottie awoke. Several times over the past week Frieda and Lizzie have been seen napping by Jenny’s mud wallow and not returning to the barn until after dark. Today Frieda and Lizzie are napping side by side, while Billie watches over them both.

This week went from being warm and sunny, to being snowy and windy.  Early in the week Shirley and Bunny ventured all the way down North Road to the trail that leads down the hill and to the lake. This spot is almost at the end of the North Road, on the other side of the property, and they stayed there for a couple of days, with Tarra visiting now and again.  At the end of the week, the temperature dropped and the ladies took a leisurely walk that encompassed most of the day, all the way back to the barn and made it home before it began to snow.  It snowed for a good portion of the evening and there was enough that it didn’t all melt throughout the next day.  Just when we thought winter had come to an end, and it seems all the ladies were hoping it had, we got more snow than we’ve had all winter.  Maybe now it’s done. 

These seem to be easy days before spring, bathing in the warm midday sun and crisp nights in the barn with browse, sawdust, special treats, and lots of hay. At breakfast time in Africa, the doors of the barn are opened after a chilly night. Flora comes out of the North side of the barn and Tange out of the East side. Tange speeds up to make sure she is in the lead following the caregiver and their breakfast. Zula was always the one in the lead and even when Tange would be ahead, she would wait and let Zula go past her. So it's great to see that Tange wants to be in the lead now and that Flora lets her.

After a couple of hours they come back to the East side of the barn to nap. When the sun is out it is just the perfect spot to take a nap. In the afternoon it is time for a game of soccer. Tange ran behind the big blue ball, kicking it and then running after it again. This went on for a while with a lot of rumbles and trumpets. In the meantime Flora tried to use a tree trunk root ball as a soccer ball. It didn't roll as well as Tange's ball did, but she had a lot of fun trying. 

Tarra and the Sanctuary celebrate 14 years on Tuesday and Flora celebrates her fifth year of Sanctuary!