Earth Songs: I Took, She Took.

Lillie and I spent a Girl's day at the sanctuary. It was her choice to do whatever she wanted and she wanted to visit the animals. We took photos of each other hence the name of this post. I hope you enjoy our adventure as much as we did.

It can't weigh easy on your psyche to be abandoned at 3 or so days old. No matter what species you belong to. This sweet baby goatlet was found in a neighboring town and brought to the sanctuary to be raised. And oh she has endeared herself in the hearts of every person that has had the inclination to walk through the clinic. Her official name (given by Traci!) is Atrayu, to go with our previous baby goatlet, Falcor (going along with that Never Ending Story line of names...). Lillie and I took her outside for a walk in the sun--who enjoyed it more?

In the pasture we encountered a sweet Sicilian donkey. He and his buddy, a llama, came several months ago to live at the sanctuary and have settled in nicely. Though the Llama is very shy, he's not. He loves pats and scratches, and kisses.
Sicilian donkeys are miniature in size but not personality. They have a dark brown 'cross' from their neck to their shoulders and across their shoulders. Story has it that a pregnant Mary rode in to Jerusalem on the back of one of these little guys and forever left a holy mark on them.

A visit to the pastures wouldn't be complete without visiting older, established residents. The whitetail buck came to the sanctuary by people that captured him while very young. They thought it was great fun to raise a fawn and when he grew up (and in his mind was part of the family) and didn't leave they realized they had done him a great misservice. They brought him out and he lives in the pasture with other permanent residents.

And a visit wouldn't be complete without seeing Rocky. Sweet Rocky boy! All love. When I visited not long after these photos I saw that he had a snaggle tooth. I opened his mouth and the tooth pretty much fell into my hand. I was alarmed in that I didn't know if this was normal or part of his 'special' self. So I did a little research and found that lambs will lose their first baby teeth between the ages of 10-16 months old. They will then grow in the middle incisors and continue to lose and grow in subsequent incisors for the next 4 years. He's now a full fledged sheep. And, he got his first hair cut (sheared) yesterday. I cannot wait to photograph his new look.

Our day ended far too quickly. We had lunch in Blanco and headed home. We recounted our stories to the the rest of the family and promised to do it again soon.