We go together like rama lama lama ke ding a de dinga a dong

The vet said "wait a month".  I did.  Sophie and Caramel have been able to touch noses only across the wire divide.  Sophie has been getting wet in the storms, and hot in the sun, with little shade and no shelter whatsoever.  Caramel has been hogging the barn and so finally I decided that this weekend he would learn to share.  

I took Caramel out of his pen and led him towards Sophie's field, he got increasingly excited as he realised that for the first time in seven years he was going to be allowed to live with another animal.  He thought he had reached paradise, he thought that all his dreams had come true, he couldn't believe his luck.  Sophie called to him, he strained to reach her, they touched noses, then Sophie kicked him in the teeth and chased him four times flat out round the field.  

Caramel has not really been a Derby donk but despite the unexpected exercise he wasn't going pass up the only chance he's ever had at meeting a female .However, after the third kick in the teeth he lowered his head, bowed to queen Sophie, and accepted that she was in charge.  She condescended  to sniff his ears and rub his neck.

The rules are now established, peace and harmony have been restored to little idyll, I have a dry pony and a donkey who, at the mature age of seven, has found his first herd.

Saturday morning idyll

A lovely sunny day today! I suppose the exclamation mark is slightly uncalled for since the weather has been dry and warm, but still the sun actually came out and decided to beam upon us rather then the more resentful "oh I'll shine if I must but would rather just stay in bed" type of sun that we seem to have been having of late.  So what did the children chose to do, having been cooped up for the last few weekends?  They sat and played cars.  Until I decided that I wanted to be outside and chivvied them out to enjoy themselves.  (I worryingly suspect that I am going to be one of those mothers who turfs their teenagers out of bed at 9 o'clock with a cheery"it's a lovely day shall we all go out for a picnic?"  Whilst whipping back the curtains amidst shrieks from the vampires in their beds, but time will tell)

And enjoy ourselves we did;

The donkpon were brushed till they shone, M suggested that Caramel would win competitions - she's so loyal, the poor donkey has hoof problems following laminitis and still has half a winter coat that he refuses to shed, but his little owner thinks he's beautiful.

Then they relaxed in their field whilst we pottered,

 I admired the garden and the children polished off another bowlful of cherries.

,

See Mummy was right! But I do now have cherry and dirt stained clothing to deal with....  Hope your Saturday was sunny too.

The big arrival

The big day finally arrived, and at half past five I was up and cleaning the kitchen because we weren't leaving until half ast seven and I'd already got everything ready the day before!  Father-in-law and horse box arrived and we were off!  Until halfway there the car decided that it had had enough and stopped.  And could not be persuaded to continue.  We were brought home, minus the horsebox, which had been hired for the day and was now in a garage an hour and a half away.  So change of car and off again.  Luckily this time we made it there and even more relief when the animals decided that maybe the horsebox was not to be feared too much.  The way home was also quite eventful with near zero visibilty through thunder storms in the mountains.  Father-in-law remained stoic and at half past seven, a mere twelve hours after we first set off,  Caramel and Sophie were welcomed into their new house by pyjama-ed children and a relieved husband.  Here are a few little pictures of them.  Enjoy.

Caramel

And Sophie

In her field

Introductions

A breakthrough!

Yay, we've found a floor!  We had a lovely surprise when we dug under where the oil barrels were and discovered a stone floor.  On the down side it meant that there was actually alot more rubble and earth to move than we had first thought because the floor is substantially lower inside than out.  There were two options either hire a mini digger and scrape it all out or dig it out by hand.  We had to go for the second option, at least I could get on with it during W's naps.

So finally, barrow after barrow, we have cleared it.  By hand.  Have a look now.

And this was some of the stuff we pulled out;

It looks like my donkpon will have a shelter after all.  And thanks to the children collecting hay they shouldn't get too hungry on the journey either;

10 days to go.....................

The next adventure.

So after seeing a cute looking donkey on a "please rescue me" site despite not actually planning to own an equine in the near future I bundled the family into the car and headed off two and a half hours down the road, on a bank hoilday, ignoring that fact that there were several donkeys for sale in our area. I was promptly smitten.  Obviously.  Now, I have two children and a large field, donkeys like friends, the only option was buying a second hoofed companion, great, the man was also selling a pony.

So we have a month before I, sorry, father-in-law, has to drive back to collect them and nothing was remotely planned let alone started.
Here is where their shelter will be

 please note lack of roof, infestation of ivy and crumbling walls.  We have started to clear fifty years of rubble, and earth, a complete roof (broken) and father-in-law (again!) has done two trips to the recycling tip with two trailer fulls of rusty oil barrels! - Why were there oil barrels?

On a more positive note under the barrels we did discover an old drinking bowl and I suspect that there is a stone manger under that broken beam there.

Finally though they will have a lovely view from their bedroom door once they arrive