Rubí donkey writes:
So here we are then, the trials of Lent are over. It is Holy Week, Semana Santa in Spain.
I gave up kicking Morris for Lent, so it is nice to be able to kick him again. He does appreciate it. I could see that glint in his eye: «Ah good, mummy is kicking me again: everything is back to normal on our field and she loves me.»
El Provedor is going away for nine days, to England. It is the first time he has been back to that country since 2010, when he came here to take up a teaching post and rented a house in the country, looking for two donkeys. He bought me first. He saw me in a dealer’s stable in Parcent and he liked me. The first thing he ever said to me was, «You’re lovely.»
Then his friend Barbara came from France to advise on buying a proper walking donkey. She saw Matilde in the same stable and recommended her as a good walking donkey. It is now five years since Matilde and I first came to this field. We never did any «proper walking» because we were both pregnant and we gave birth to foals – so now we are a herd – and we keep El Provedor fully engaged here.
So there we are: five years here in this place. While El Provedor is away in England, Barbara will come and look after us. She has not yet seen our foals, Morris and Aitana. In fact the last time Barbara saw us, in December 2010, we were still in the dealer’s stable in Parcent.
It was Barbara who inspired El Provedor to keep donkeys, so it is quite fitting that she should drive down from France to look after us while he goes back to England for the first time since coming here. What will she make of our rood and norty foals Morris and Aitana that she has never seen? They are now four and a half years old. Older than Matilde and I were when we came here.
Five years in this field, and the foals have never known anything except this. Morris and Aitana were born under the lemon tree on consecutive days, and they took their first steps around this dusty field. We watch the house every morning for signs of El Provedor awakening. He rises early on weekdays, late on Saturdays and Sundays, and we bray to bring him to us. We always start the day with carrots. Nothing interrupts our routine, and we shall wake Barbara with braying if we don’t get carrots before 8 o’clock.
On Palm Sunday afternoon El Provedor sat with us in the field and he seemed a little sad. Life has not been very kind recently. It seems that everything has been conspiring against his simple vision of living a quiet life in the country. A life with us four donkeys. Some people don’t like that. If you try to live your dream – no matter how simple – there is never a shortage of people who want to interrupt it, criticize it or blatantly trample upon it.
We saw him sitting there. Morris was the first: he went slowly up and started licking El Provedor’s face. Then he bit his shoulder, very gently. Aitana joined them. She lifted her front right leg and put her hoof on his knee. He held her foreleg and kissed her nose. Matilde was next. In an unusual display of affection – as she is always very aloof – she put her head in his lap, then rested her chin on his head.
I decided it was time to demonstrate my affection too, so I went over and sniffed El Provedor’s trousers, bit his socks, then I turned round and backed my bottom into his face. That was the end of El Provedor’s appreciation of donkey cuddles. He got up quickly and went indoors. Oh dear… I must learn to be more subtle with my signs of affection.
I have no reason to doubt he will be missing us even as his plane flies over our field on its way from Alicante to Liverpool. Meanwhile, we have been assured carrots will arrive as usual.
I wish all our readers a prayerful Holy Week and a joyful Easter.
The usual postscript, to the usual stalker:
Definition of a stalker: the person who comes to this blog just to spy on the blog owner. So, if you are the Jehovah’s Witless who just comes here to stalk the blog owner and find ways to make him a target for your strange sect, this blog is not written for you. Please get up from sitting in front of your television and your computer all day and get your own life instead of spying on mine. Regular readers have followed this blog and the earlier Brotherlapin blog for six years: they are from all over the world. This blog is not written for the stalker next door.
Apologies to regular readers for the stern tone of this postscript: but as you may imagine, it is very necessary. This is one of the hazards of blogging: it may be great to be in touch with a world wide audience, but it can leave you open to stalkers. If anyone has experience of this and can advise a remedy, I would be pleased to hear from you. 🙂
Equus Asinus 
El Provedor, may God be good to you through this Holy time and wishing you a very special and relaxing time in England. We would always be welcome to have some good beer and coffee in sweet old Sussex if ever your travels took you my way.
Praying that the PNDs (people next door) find the true Faith….
Big Easter hugs for the gorgeous, rood and norty donks!
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Ohhh…typo….I meant to to say…»you would always be welcome to have some good beer and coffee…» but I expect you gathered that!
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I would sprinkle blessed salt all along the edges of the property as evil dislikes it.
Wishing you a blessed Holy Week and joyful Easter season.
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Thanks for your kind messages. I was already a little unsettled by events of recent times at home, with hunters and «neighbours», so did not feel very happy about going away from my donkeys. I don’t like flying at the best of times but the massive disruption to flights out of Alicante yesterday (French air traffic control strike) sounded the alarm. Today brings the awful death toll from Belgium in the continuing satanic Muslim war on Europe. I don’t feel like travelling anywhere. I may cancel all my plans. This will be a hard decision, as my daughter is expecting to see me and she is unwell. Difficult decision.
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I do hope you decide to travel and visit your daughter since Barbara is coming to care for your donks and your place.
God will be with you whatever you do but a trip away from the place might give your head space too.
I could send you out some blessed salt if you are having trouble finding some where you are xxx
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Oh goodness, yes I see your dilemma. I hope whatever decision you make gives you peace of mind. Wishing your daughter better health too. Will keep you both in mind as I walk with our Blessed Lord through all the Holy Week Masses this week. 🙂
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sorry to hear about your problems, its good that you have donks to keep perk you up 🙂 If only my cat would do the same.
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Thanks, Jack. We have been here for five years. It was perhaps a naive idea that just living a quiet life with donkeys could be possible without ignorant and stupid people wanting to interfere (be they hunters or Jehovah Witlesses). Whenever you do something that is lovely, different from the «norm» that stupid couch potato people recognize from their TV soap operas, they will regard you as suspicious and throw stones at you. A sad and eternal fact of sinful humanity. We will overcome.
My longstanding plan is to find somewhere more remote than this, and eventually come under the diocesan hermit rule. These trials only strengthen my resolve to do so.
Canon 603 states: §1 Besides institutes of consecrated life the Church recognizes the eremitic or anchoritic life by which the Christian faithful devote their life to the praise of God and salvation of the world through a stricter separation from the world, the silence of solitude and assiduous prayer and penance. §2 A hermit is recognized in the law as one dedicated to God in a consecrated life if he or she publicly professes the three evangelical counsels [i.e. chastity, poverty and obedience], confirmed by a vow or other sacred bond, in the hands of the diocesan bishop and observes his or her own plan of life under his direction.”
I will write a blog on this some time in the future.
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That sounds like a good plan Gareth. I am preparing to make my first vows to the Single Consecrated Life in May. The faster the world spins and the more its tinsel and nonsense gets a platform, the more I wish to extricate myself from it all and live a life away from that.
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Fear not, Jabba: Rubí doesn’t kick El Provedor. Unlike Matilde, Morris and Aitana who have all attempted and sometimes landed a kick. Due to the basic ergonomics and anthropometrics, a donkey kick is more likely to make contact with the human thigh, rather than the knee or shin; and for that we can be thankful, though not entirely welcoming.
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I think some donkeys can kick with both back feet at once, if they really want to.
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Those kicks are the dangerous ones, as they are full-force and head-height! The two-leg kick is done while running away, which is why chasing donkeys – even when playing with them -should not be done too closely. They do a warning kick which is clearly instinctive, designed to show a pursuer that they must keep a distance. I sometimes chase the donks in order to get them running around the field for exercise and once they’ve begun, they happily chase each other around for the next twenty minutes! The two-leg warning kick is quite common in this situation and when delivered with full force it is accompanied by farting… also a device to encourage the pursuer to keep a distance? 🙂
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I can see why you love them 😀
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Hi Gareth-
I’ve been thinking of you and hoping your trip went well and provides some clarity on your situation at home. I’d also like to recommend the book «The Gift of Fear» by Gavin de Becker. It’s good information about how to deal with stalkers and other unpleasant people.
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Thanks Mary. For the moment I have decided the best approach is to say very little about my life on this blog. (A bit of a loss, as the blog was always about my life with donkeys.) I shall just continue with day to day routine stuff about donkeys but cut down on information about me. The stalking person may just get bored and go away. So: no information about my travel plans now, no details about when I am home, or not at home!
I’d be interested to see that book: I will check it out.
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The reciting of one Our Father silently in my heart vanquished a sudden spiritual attack on me once.
The evil one likes to trouble us with fears and worries. By continually praising and thanking God in spite of your torments, the evil one will up and leave you in disgust.
Remember, you have your angel guardian with you at all times along with all the hosts of heavenly angels who can also come to your rescue.
Praying for you now and wishing you a blessed Easter.
Ann in Ireland.
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Happy Easter Ann, and everyone – regular blog readers who have been reading this blog for years – and I really value your friendship and support.
Life with the donkeys is all my blog is about. My friend Barbara is now looking after the donks with all her love and care. She is solid C of E and has been warned about the JW situation nextdoor and will not engage in conversation with them. I am supplying no further info. here on my Easter travels as I do not want to give stalkers any information.
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Happy Easter to you and the donkeys!
Have you ever read the book mentioned in this article?
http://www.catholicgentleman.net/2016/02/the-book-that-made-me-catholic/
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Hi Luisa, Thanks for the comment and happy Easter to you also! No, I have never seen this book. Looks interesting!
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Just ordered the book! http://www.amazon.com/When-Donkeys-Talk-Rediscover-Christianity/dp/0310334985
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