A very Crappy Camera!

Back in March of 2010 I purchased a 

Sanyo VPC-S1415 pocket camera

for $89.81 at our local Walmart.

The purpose was to be able to put it in my pocket and

carry it around to take pictures.

On the bike.

Riding Libby.

or just because.....

I have had issues with it off and on since i got it.

Mostly it would just freeze up, and I would have to 

open the battery case and restart it.

Usually I have missed that

"Kodak Moment" by then.

 

Mine is the Pink one.

 I thought it would of lasted more than just a year and a half.

I will NEVER EVER own another SANYO PRODUCT!
Especially after some of the reviews of various Sanyo products I have read on line!
OUCH!

Click here to read some reviews!

I am going to send it back to the company,

IF

I can find an address to send it to!

With a nasty nice little letter of what I think of their product.

Anyway, onto a more delightful subject.

"STAR".

Yes, this little Donkey has hooked me big!

 

 We have been working on desensitizing.

She is afraid of EVERYTHING!

It isn't just being cautious she literally will tense up.

I don't think she has been exposed to very much in her life, which is where this will change.

I plan to take her everywhere that I take Libby, and we have a long road ahead of us.

Everyday, I go to work, and rush right home to run out and play

Donkey games.

(I am open to any ideas on some new games by the way.)

She greets me with her honking....

 You can't see much here, but you sure can hear her!

Music to my ears!

I can now walk up to her, face to face, most of the time, but I can always catch her.

Sometimes I have to wait for her to decide it is a good idea.

She was terrified of my whip, (arm extension) at first.

But now, she will stand and let me rub it all over her, and I use it to guide us on our little pasture walks.

She puts her cute little nose in the halter!

Yesterday we picked up all 4 feet, and cleaned them!

I brushed her thoroughly.  ALL OVER and UNDER!

Of course this goes without saying, that each of these sessions

costs me a pocket full of cookies. 

(Nicker treats)

So, I thought maybe we would go for a walk outside of the pasture.

You know, get a change of scenery....

Star would have NOTHING to do with crossing that gate line!

I am sure that if the gate ever got left open, she will not leave the pasture!

I have kept the "L" part of my pasture fenced off for the past month.

So the other day, I thought I would open it up.

It is the first time Star has been in this part of the pasture.

And as you watch the video,

You will see, 

Libby sees it open...

But she knows it HAS BEEN CLOSED UP!

Last minute thoughts in her head! 

(I apologize for my yelling and the quality of the video. This is also the first time, the dogs, girls have pretty much met Star and her them. Sydney was not being very nice!)

So, now I am on the hunt for a pocket camera

to take lots of pictures of Star and Libby,

and of our Motorcycle rides.

And if you are looking for me, 

check the pasture!

Most days everyday I am out there playing or just hanging with my best friends:

Libby and Star.

(And in case you are wondering, the above photo and video's were taken with 

the "crappy camera" hence the picture and sound quality.)

What the HAY?

This years hay that is in my barn, is TERRIBLE!

It seems that every year, 

the hay I get is worse and worse!

I do not feed alfalfa.

This hay came out of Touchet Washington.

It is full of weeds.

The pale bales are suppose to be sun bleached

but they are more weeds than anything.

And the green bales are on the moldy side.

(I got two ton of 'bleached' hay, and one ton of good green hay)

So feeding is wasting alot of hay.

This last bale of hay,

has the weeds that grow rampant in my pasture.

And I PAID for this crap!

 The photo below is all weeds from the morning feed.

The only good part was:

Libby and Star did not eat the weeds,

and it did have some alfalfa in it.

The bale before this last one,

gave Star and Libby the scoots.

So I fed that to the neighbors cows.

A Whole Freekin Bale!

And when I did that,

BOY OH BOY!

Star charged the fence,

and Libby bucked and rared!

Neither one liked that the "neighbors" were eating their food!

(And of course I did not have my camera to photograph the incident.)

I now have a shadow when I feed.

Star was totally scared of my wheelbarrow when I would go out to feed.

So I let her get closer to it,

Then I let her eat from it.

Now she follows me around.

Enjoy the video:

Me and My Shadow.....

Star thinks lead ropes come with Nickers!

 

Today the sun shined bright!

So I rushed home from work,

(like I do every day, lately)

Throw on my jeans and T-shirt and my warm coat,

and race out to the pasture to spend time with Star and Libby.

I really wanted to put the saddle on Libby and ride,

but I know that Star needs to understand that 

this is now her home,

and I am her new mommy!

So I gave Libby a dose of wormer,

Threw them a bit of hay,

Star is getting use to being in separate pastures now at the noon time snack.

After I grab a bit of lunch,

I go out to 'play'!

Since Star is so paranoid of the lead rope

I hung it off the side of her feeder when I fed them lunch.

She managed to move it off and finish her lunch.

I could not take pictures of course

but I managed to walk up face to face to pet her.

Gave her a 'nicker' treat.

I got the lead rope around her neck.

Gave her another nicker treat.

She tried to take off, but I held her back.

I moved the rope all over her,

around her neck,

Gave her a nicker treat.

Let the rope fall over her face.

Gave her a nicker treat.

Then I took the rope away.

Gave her a nicker treat.

(See a pattern here?)

She resigned herself to letting the lead rope go all over her.

I got her halter out.

She PUT HER NOSE IN IT!

I took it off.

She stood still.

I put it back on.

She stood still.

It was such a good session today!

I went thru a pocket full of nicker treats, 

but I think she is getting the idea, 

that the lead rope is not that bad.

And it comes with NICKERS!

While I had the halter on her, we did some leading.

I even got the brush and brushed her.

Then I picked up each little hoof.

She was an angel about the whole thing.

(I need to be able to get her ready for my farrier on Jan 24th!)

After our session,

I take my bucket and 

I go sit in the pasture.

Libby is busy cleaning up every last bit of lunch,

and Star moves in close to me.

She gets so close that she is almost standing over the top of me.

It was so warm in the sun.

Libby came over and got jealous,

Star moved away, but came back to me,

as Libby's threats go unheeded.

I told Star, that I could just take a snooze out there in the pasture.

She was always on alert though.

Star making her way around Libby.

 Star: "Who's the Ass here?"

 "What ARE you doing sitting there?"

Me: "Waiting for you to play with your toys. I set them up special for you."

Star: " But I don't want toys to play with."

 "I want to hang out with you."

 "Your feet smell funny."

 "Ok. Fine! I will let you get your kisses!"

At one point she is smelling my hair, and coat.

She gets her nose about my shoulder and gives me a good nod.

It was gentle, and I felt like she was saying: "Don't be a bump on a log. PET ME!"

 This was a Kodak moment! The shadow shot! Libby behind me, and Star in front.

 The nose that is so soft and I love to kiss

 She let me put my sunglasses on her!

She is so mellow!

I am awed by that.

 Gotta love the ears!

 Her cute little feet!

Yes, they need trimming, but I think they will be OK for the next month.

I got to thinking though,

I have to introduce her to hubby!

I don't want her chasing him around the pasture this summer!

Working with Star....

For some reason Star is totally scared to death uncomfortable 

if you have a

halter or a lead rope in your hands 

when you go visit with her.

So a friend came over to help me work with her on this.

 You can NOT, approach Star from the front.

 Has to be from the side.

 Once you touch her, she melts in your hands.

 She loves to be petted and rubbed all over.

But hide that dang lead rope!

 Snuck it around her.

She did not bolt.

Rubbed her with it.

She stood very nice.

AND was very cautious about it.

 Took it off and showed it to her.

 She allowed it to be put on again.

 I even was able to do this with Star.

 Took it off and she was allowed to walked away.

 Then for being such a good girl, I was giving her cookies.

And hanging off my wrist was her halter.

She ate a few, and then before I knew it,

She took the halter off my wrist!

 She was so cute!

 Then dropped.

 Star came over to me.....

 "Did I do good mom?"

"Yes Star, You were very good!"

"I WUV YOU!"

Trials of First time Donkey Ownership:

What NOT to give your Donkey to play with!

I repeat NOT!

I had 2 of these noodles.

As you can see, I have 1 and 3/4 of them left.

I only had put one in the pasture, thinking Star wanted something to play with.

Both had been in the pasture for months with Libby and Poncho and they never touched them.

So I did not think twice about it.

(Hit self on head, "THINK")

 As I come home the next day, 

I see Star carrying it around and throwing it about.

I "thought" How cute!

Until I went out to pick it up!

 YOWZAAAAAA!

For three days I have been watching her!

Like a HAWK!

The pieces below is all I could find of the missing parts.

As you can see it is not nearly enough to make the thing whole again.

Star has had Diarrhea as you can see in the above picture.

Below is, One of Libby's (the bigger) and One of Star's.

She finally took a normal poop today! YEAH!

I put them side by side for comparison.

As I was doing this, 

Of course Libby, thought they were COOOOKIES!

Till she got a whif!

PeeeUEW!

Then I got to thinking.

I read where Donkey's digest and use up most of what they eat, and their bodies utilize most of the moisture from their grazing...

ummmm....

YEP!

I smelled them!

Star's had no odor whatsoever,

where as Libby's were pretty stinky!

I still did not find any green foam in there, 

but they were nicely shaped,

So I am hoping against hope that 

the foam got digested!

You would think they would make them digestible anyway.

They are for kids,

Anything made for kids, can be eaten!

Right?

I went an bought two traffic cones. 

So far she only sniffed at them.

Yesterday she was very skittish of me, and would not let me touch her.

So I took my bucket and went out into the pasture and SAT!

with my back to her.

Libby stood to the right of me.

I finally saw Star's shadow come up to mine.

She sniffed me all over.

She worked her way to my left.

Finally I looked at her and asked if I could pet her.

Her eyes said yes.

I got my Donkey kisses.

Once I start to pet her, 

she just melts and I can pet her all over.

It is getting that first touch in.

I have been doing the
"Donkey Cram" on the internet.

Trying to learn all there is out there.

I learned that Donkey's REMEMBER things.

They also have a thought process where instead of using the

Flight method like a horse, they will study the situation first.

Star does study a lot.

When I go out to visit with her, 

she will not let me touch her right away.
She shys away from me.

This bothers me.

So I spend a lot of time with my back to her, and let her make the first move.

I know I am the one that took her away from her home.

She might be holding a grudge.

I do not give her chocolate donuts like her other mom did.

Maybe she thinks I don't love her.

So today I went out with Whinny power!

I figured if this doesn't break the ice, 

I would be back at square one!

So off I go, with Two Whinny Cookies in hand.

Of course Libby knew exactly what I had.

I broke them into 4 smaller pieces each.

Makes them last longer.

Star gobbled up each of her 4 pieces.

She could not get enough of them!

I was her best buddy today!

She followed me all around.

She let me pet her right away.

So I got my donkey hugs and kisses today.

 I have found that Star is not very cool with the camera.

She is not sure what it is.

Even though I have let her sniff it.

She does not like the noise it makes.

So I keep snapping pictures,

because if you live here,

you have to learn to be a STAR!

 Libby is a camera hog!

 Star: "Does this thing produce cooookies?"

Libby: "No Star, but I bet she has some extra's in her pockets!"

 Star following me.

 Star still not sure of the camera.

Maybe I will let her see the images next time.

Today I was her best friend.

After a few scratches and pets,

I would turn away and walk.

She would follow.

Yesterday felt like I was loosing the battle.

Today I felt like I made progress with her.

 I love the shadow image.

More handouts?

After I spent about an hour out there,

It was time for me to go in, because I was quite cold.

Star laid down to rest.

I just love the cross on her back!

So in my trial of new Donkey ownership,

I pray that I take good care of her.

I just asked her to guide me along the way.

.