Greeting from Glass Beach in Fort Bragg

This is me having a blast sorting through kelp looking for little pieces of glass. The blue one are the hardest of all to find. But I found several mid-sized blues, and one really nice cranberry red piece half the size of a nickel. There is something really enjoyable about sitting on the beach sorting through rock and brushed glass pieces that look like little gems when they get wet. I even learned how to read the tide schedule, did you know there are two high tides and two low tides every single day. Low tide is the best for finding treasures.

Vacation is now over for me, back to work. School starts on Monday so it is time to set up the classroom and prepare for a new bunch of little learners, year-round school is crazy. But it works for us out here in over-crowded west coast suburbia.

Yummy Black Berries

Yesterday at the ranch I was off looking for my donkeys, and I got distracted with finding ripe black berries. So I pulled over on the quad and started picking and eating black berries. I also found some type of little yellow/peach colored plums and was eating those also when my little donkey girls, Sydney and Sierra, came running over to see what I was doing. So I started feeding them these yummy plums. It was funny because they were eating the pits and all really crunching on the pits. Next thing I know the mom donkeys were over with us all eating this wild fruit. It was really funny.

Glass Beach

Wow, Fort Bragg was a great place to go to escape the heat, smoke, pollution of the Sac Valley this last week. I spent some time sifting through the sand at Glass Beach. The beach used to be the city dump 50-60 years ago. The glass that people threw out with their trash ended up being tumbled with sand for all those years and now it pretty little pieces of sea glass. They are so fun to pick up and collect. Good luck finding any shade of blue.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

Hey, I am cool too! I did what you did Trish, do you like? Happy 4th of July from your cranky sister Marg!

Smoke filled air

Greetings Ya'll, Donkey news is slow. We are having a bit of a heat wave up here in the foothills of California and the smoke filled air isn't helping us out at all. The girl donkeys are roaming about the pasture looking for the spots of grass that the cows might have overlooked in the daily graising cycle. The Jack donkey's, Hershey and Snoopy, are locked up in their pens awaiting their next visit from the girl donkeys. The garden is growing up crazy, and zucchini is the most prevelent crop so far. Weeds are everywhere, and some serious time is needed pulling those darn weeds. I am off work as of Friday, and I will be on the hunt for some tree riped Peaches to can up for the winter. I have a lock on Pears, shouldn't have any problems getting those pears away from the cattle. No pictures today unless you want them of me sitting with my students. :>)

Spring is turning into Summer

I went up and saw the Donkeys yesterday, no pictures, and they were a little distracted they just wanted to eat their dinner. So after they had their favorite mix of 50/50 I decided to let them out for a few days. They, the four girls, had been cooped up and needed to stretch their hoofs. They made their way up to speed bump hill in my opinion to get away from the cows.

Breeding Season

We'll the ranch is in breeding season. The three year olds Sydney and Sierra are expected to produce offspring next year. They are being bred to the shortest mini-donkey, Hershey! Hershey is about five years old and acquired specifically because of his short height and dark brown color. However, Sydney is darker brown than Hershey. It is very difficult to tell their color this time of year because donkeys roll in the dirt to keep the bugs from bothering them. Pearl and Miss. Lily are due in December '08 and May '09 Respectively. Once the little ones come just expect your heart to melt once you see their pictures. And if you ever have the pleasure of picking up and holding one, consider yourself a lucky person!