When we go camping up at the Lake, we always like to stop and watch the donkeys across the road. Sometimes at night we could hear them braying and it sounded so fun! Our favorites were the miniature ones and their babies.
Our little mini goat lost her two “pen” pals, the geese, and we tried putting her with my horse, but their differences were just too big for them to overcome. We started a search for a companion for her. There were some people in our family who did not want more goats so we had to explore other options. While watching a video one night, there was a character named “Dinklepuss” and we thought “Dinklepuss the Donkey” would be the perfect name for a perfect companion for our little goat! THAT started a search for a donkey….
We watched craigslist.com faithfully, went to auctions and looked through the Pennysaver, but no donkeys were found that would work out. After months of looking, we found the alpaca, Snufflesworth, and had to make the big decision whether to get him or continue the hopeless search for a donkey. Well, Snufflesworth won the debate and we now have 3 alpacas who simply adore the little goat that bosses them around. (They were able to get over their differences!) We still kept an eye out for Dinklepuss the Donkey, but it was pretty slow.
WELL, the day before Thanksgiving, at about 9:30am, I was looking at craigslist while Mom and Dad were out for coffee (Tim Horton’s or Dunkin Donuts, I’m not sure which) and there was an ad for 2 miniature donkeys in our price range!!! “Hey, Beck!!” I called, “Hurry up! You've got to see this!” Jonathan also came running and we looked at the ad with the pictures of the half-brother, half-sister cute little donkeys. “Shall we email them or wait and show Mom and Dad?” “Oh, no! Let’s email them and get information first.” “Wouldn’t it be great to surprise Mom and Dad and have them in the pasture when Dad comes home sometime?” “Oh, yeah!” I was afraid that the place where they were was too far away, but Jonathan, who has traveled around Western NY quite a bit helping to build sheds, knew that it was only 30 minutes away. That wasn’t bad!
An email with lots of questions was rushed on its way and 3 very impatient kids waited to see what would happen while their minds started dreaming away of how Daddy would be surprised. Fifteen minutes after we sent the email, Becky wanted me to check and see if they had responded yet. Nope. Mom and Dad came home (with no donuts) and sat in the living room talking about what they wanted to tackle that day. While they were sitting there, I checked emails again. Oh! I looked at Becky and tried to nod my head very slightly so no one else could guess something was up. Becky and Jonathan slowly meandered over to the computer, blocking the view of the screen while I quickly read the email and turned it off. Hintingly, I said, “Becky, where did you say you put Teresa’s letter in your room?” “Oh, I’ll get it for you.” Upstairs we tried to calmly walk and then rushed into Becky’s room and I told her and Jonathan that the donkeys were about 36 inches tall and very friendly and if we wanted them we would have to come before 3pm that day as there were 3 other interested parties looking at them!
AHHHH!!! It was almost noon! What do we do now?!?!? Hmm, was Mr. Brockett home? No. Oh, maybe Alana could get them for us using her truck and horse trailer. Alright, Abby you call and see if it would work. Next job: slip the phone away and try to make calls where Mom and Dad couldn’t hear me. Result: Done. Alana would love to help us and she would call me and ask if I could come help her that afternoon. I told Jonathan and Becky and we went down for lunch.
Now, I may seem to be very descriptive about this story, but have you ever tried to calmly eat lunch without letting the word “donkey” slip from your mouth and you’re trying to hide the twinkle in your eyes and you have to be very careful about looking across the table because you will burst out laughing.
Dinklepuss
The phone rang. Jonathan says, “Oh, that’s Alana on the answering machine. Sounds like she wants some help, Abby.” “Okay.” Cough. Daddy said, “See if she can wait till after 4pm because we’ve got to meet Anna in town right after lunch.” I called Alana back, “Daddy wants to know if I can help you after 4, but I know that won’t work so I’ll be over in a little bit.” I told Dad that she needed me right then. “I’m so sorry that you’re going to miss seeing Anna” he says. “That’s alright, Daddy. Alana really needs my help and I’ll write to Anna later and hopefully we can see her again soon.” (The clock right next to me kept right on ticking and ticking and ticking...almost 2pm!) I tried to sound real sad (sorry, Anna), but I could call, write, or see Anna a different time, but I couldn’t with these donkeys!
So, off I went to Alana’s. We hooked up the truck and trailer and then we hit the road. The whole ride up there I was thinking what if someone is there already? what if someone comes when I am in the middle of buying them? what if there is some question with them that I’ll have to call Becky for? We arrived and saw them in the pasture. They were so cute, and friendly, and funny looking, and just hilarious!! After talking with the owner for awhile and looking them over, I said I’d take them.
Whew!! Now to get these two little characters into the big 3-horse trailer. That was quite a task! We got the little jack up in there no problem and Cici held him them for us. The jenny, however, was determined not to go on that trailer no matter how many apples she ate! We ended up using a portable wheelchair ramp and got her up there by “wheeling” her up like a wheelbarrow. At last! We drove out a little bit before 3pm.
Claryce and Dinklepuss
On the way home, I just couldn’t believe that two miniature donkeys of our very own were in the trailer. We pulled up our driveway and honked the horn to let Becky know we were there. I ran in to get her and Mom was baking pies in the kitchen. “What does Alana want?” she asked. “Oh, she wants to see Becky.” Becky came down the stairs her face saying, “They’re really here…ours??! “Come on out, Mom, and see Alana.”
After putting the dogs in the house a couple times, I went out to the trailer where Mom was looking puzzled as Alana and Cici were talking inside to something. “All set?” “Yep, I’m ready,” I said. Lights! Curtains! Action!! The door opened and out came the donkeys. Mom’s face was so surprised! At first she thought it was a surprise that Dad and I had put together for Becky. Then she found out Dad didn’t know anything about it!! It was so fun! The Brocketts rode up on their horses and saw the action, then they and Alana left and we put the donkeys down in the barn. None of the boys were home, so we went inside and I told the whole story to Mom and Becky; then we figured out how to tell Dad.
Cici – a wonderful helper in our surprise
The boys came home and Jonathan and Ben looked at me curiously, I nodded and motioned to the barn and they grinned. Dad sat down on the couch and told us about his day and I went on the computer and pulled up the ad on craigslist.
When he was finished, I said, “Daddy, look what I found!!” Everybody crowded around and we read off the ad and looked at the pictures. “Well, Dad? There is a jack and a jenny! We have never seen a jenny on here before.” “Well, email them,” he says. We all started asking what questions to ask and discussed where the town was. Since we had been thinking about it all day, questions were rolling right out! I sat there typing an empty email. “But tomorrow’s Thanksgiving, Dad. When would we be able to go see them?” “Well, if they have lights in the barn, maybe we could go over tonight.” “ALRIGHT!!” (Our minds were thinking, “Oh, yeah! There are lights in our barn!)
As I’m “typing” away, Becky took the camera over next to Dad. “See, here are some pictures of the Brocketts when they rode up on their horses today.” He flipped through them….”Wait a minute!” he says. “What’s this? Did you guys go up to look at the donkeys already?” “Hold on, that’s the tree in our yard!" What’s going on?!”
“THE DONKEYS ARE IN THE BARN!” we all yelled out. Yeehaw! That was great! Everybody started talking at once, each telling their part as Dad just sat there hardly believing us. After he got his boots on, we all went out to the barn to see the surprise donkeys. The rest of the evening, Dad would be just sitting there reading a book or talking about something when he would pop out with some question or comment about the donkeys. We weren’t sure what to name the jenny at first, but the evening before we were watching the “Apple Dumpling Gang”, an old Walt Disney and on it there was a stubborn mule named “Claryce,” so that was chosen.
Claryce
We have really enjoyed having them and watching them play out in the pasture chasing each other and resting their chins on the other’s back giving “donkey” hugs. They also took part in our Christmas Eve service. You know how they have a black stripe down their back and across their withers? Legend has it that the donkey that Jesus rode into Jerusalem loved Him so much that he followed Him even up to where the cross was. The shadow of the Cross fell on the donkey’s back and has been there ever since.
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