A visit from the donkey people

We had visitors over the weekend. Cindy and Duane, along with their daughter, Holly, drove 4 1/2 hours from their Southern Oregon home, on behalf of Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue, to view our property. Peaceful Valley is the largest donkey rescue in the U.S. and is the leader in efforts to rescue abused and neglected domestic donkeys, as well as wild burros who are losing their habitat. Cindy and Duane run a Satellite Adoption Center (SAC) for PVDR and had been asked by the SAC coordinator in California to come and meet with me and make an assessment on our suitability to establish a Satellite Adoption Center here on our little farm. I have been corresponding with PVDR for over six months now, and with Cindy for about two months, so this visit was extremely exciting for me. Long before we ever moved to our 7 acres, I was plotting and planning how to we could use some of our land as an animal rescue or sanctuary.

And so, Saturday morning found the five of us - Cindy, Duane, Holly, my husband Jim, and I - walking the property, viewing our barn, discussing grass hay varieties and hay storage, talking about donkey care and personalities, and laughing a lot. Roxy, my pup, entertained, as usual, charming everyone with her energy, enthusiasm, and very best doggy grin. It was really fun.

Of course, we had to take a tour of the newly finished chicken coop, too:

Cindy wants to start having chickens of her own next year and was very pleased to see that I have two chicks of her favorite breed, the White-Crested Black Polish. So, my gal Dot has yet another fan!

Of course, I'm already fantasizing about how cool it would be to have one of these on the outside of my truck:

Thanks again, Duane, Holly and Cindy. It was so much fun spending time with you!:

Cindy said I passed with flying colors, which makes me one wonderful step closer to becoming a donkey foster mama!!