Vintage Home and Farm

Guess who we babysat this past week?  Patch the donkey!! It is always a joy to be able to take care of Patch.  Patch is a friendly, gentle donkey who loves his treats and enjoys play time.  Did you know that donkeys like to play?  Among our donkey friend's play toys are pool noodles, tug-of-war ring toys, and a ball with a handle.  Patch also has one of those toys that you put peanuts inside (the kind of peanuts with the shell still on) - he pushes the toy around so that the peanuts fall out. We made a short video so that you could see what Patch can do.  Here it is: In case you missed it from a previous blog article, here's the video we made the prior time we babysat Patch.  In it, you can hear the noise that Patch makes multiple times a day.  He makes this noise whenever he sees his family drive by (he recognizes their car!), and when they go into the barn (he's excited to be fed and played with) and at various other times during the day.  ...

Patch the Donkey There was finally a break in the rain today and so we headed outside to visit with the farm animals. As we entered the community barn, we noticed how festive it looks with red ribbons hanging along each stall. Our neighbors have been busy decorating. Each of the animals in the barn has a Christmas stocking as well.  Mocha the Horse Mocha is always eager for attention. She's a rambunctious horse and so we handle her with care. Before long, we were also greeted by Barney the Barn Cat, who hopped down from a bale of hay to come over and greet us. Loud meowing and purring are hard to ignore and so Barney was thoroughly petted before we headed back outside. Barney the Barn Cat We walked out to the end of the field to take in the shiny foil decorations hanging on the fence posts all along the horse field.  The decorations are a tradition for our neighborhood.  Before we left the barn, we were fortunate that Andrea stopped by to get Reggie dressed up for his hol...

We've had the pleasure of taking care of our friends' donkey while they are away.  He is the most gentle animal and he is also quite happily spoiled.  Our friends refer to him as their "pasture pet" because they fuss over him much like anyone would one of their pets at home.  He has many toys and is given special foods and vitamins for his health. Patch is an American Spotted Ass. I will admit I feel rather uncomfortable calling this sweet animal an ass.  So, you can imagine my relief to learn that Patch is also a donkey.  This tidbit came from a book I'm reading,  The Donkey Companion: Selecting, Training, Breeding, Enjoying and Caring for Donkeys .  At the beginning of the book, it explains that the terms donkey and ass mean exactly the same thing; people transitioned away from the term ass due to it's similarity to the British word "arse".  Patch is no arse.  So, we will gladly refer to him as a donkey. My daughter and I both go ...