Homemade Salsa: Another BIRTHday

This is an amazing story. Vance's good friend Ray flew in from California last weekend to go bow hunting with Vance. They left last Sunday morning and were gone all week...and I want to say "thank you" for all those who dropped by to see how I was doing and to bring meals. It was very helpful.

The kids and I stayed in most of the week. Amazingly, we were able to get a lot of school work done and even a few shopping trips. I even got rid of two washers and a dryer and a couch. I feel like there's a little bit more room to breath in the house. I also did a lot of work on the rooms that are pictured in a previous blog, but the "after" pictures are quite ready yet :).

Vance's birthday was Friday and Ray and Vance got home around 10:30 that night. I was glad. Originally, Vance told me not to expect him until Saturday. I hadn't heard a word all week. This trip was different in that Ray was with Vance and they were able to take a donkey and a pony with them to pack out meat.

Vance and Ray had a good time and the horses weren't any trouble. They both said it was hard going and it rained quite a bit. Unfortunately, all that hard work did not pay off and they didn't get any animals.

The night they returned home was one of my roughest. Tristan was up all night. At about 4am in the morning I heard a strange thumping sound and woke Vance and asked him to check it out. He had left the pony and the donkey in their trailer for the night and apparently they wanted out. He tethered them to a line in our yard and gave them some food. We didn't hear any more disturbances after that.

Of course, all the rest of the kiddos woke early - between 6:30 and 7am. Vance was kind and got out of bed before me so that I could get a little more rest. However, when he looked out the window to check on the horses what he saw made it so no one could go back to sleep. He said, "Oh, my gosh there's a baby out there!" He said, "I think the donkey had a baby!" So, he went out and checked. At first, I thought he might be referring to one of the neighbor's horses that got out and was hanging out with the donkey. I asked if there was after-birth hanging out of the donkey's backside and he said "yes".

We couldn't believe it. No one, not even the owners, knew the donkey was even pregnant. I remember looking out the window in the middle of the night and thinking that the donkey had quite a pot belly. Vance and Ray said they really worked her during the week. Maybe that brought on labor (the poor girl).

The foal was perfectly healthy and extremely cute. We spent the morning outside with the horses in complete amazement. Watching the foal nurse and trying to keep her warm.

For the rest of the morning the kids took turns riding the pony and the weather turned out quite nicely. Vance and Ray and the boys took the pony, the donkey and her new foal back to our friend's ranch that afternoon. Glen held the foal on his lap the way there. Vance said that by the time they left the ranch the foal was running and jumping around.

So, the day after Vance's birthday we had another birthday on Terry Acres :).