Saturday Dose of Cute: Finally, Some Happy News

We have a new baby donkey!

On Tuesday, with no help from us (and without our being anywhere around—which is how donkey moms seem to prefer things), four-year-old Daphne gave birth to this darling little donkey. It wants nothing to do with me yet, and of course all I want to do is scoop all that softness up in my arms and snuggle the heck out it. It's no wonder mama Daphne is being so protective.

After what happened with baby Flitta last fall right after I introduced you to her—as well as everything that's been going on around here lately—I've been a little hesitant to announce our new long-eared arrival and share these photos I took on Wednesday morning, but so far, so good. It's nursing just fine and has lots of energy. I've only been out to see it once (I'm still mostly shackbound, especially after overdoing it a couple of days this week), but Joe says that every time he goes out there, the baby is running around the field so fast that none of the donkettes can even keep up with it. That definitely sounds like it's Evie's sibling—her name is actually short for Evinrude because she used to race around in circles when she was a baby, starting about five minutes after she was born. At two years old, Evie is still a kid herself, and I'm sure she'll be joining in the fun real soon.

This baby donkey has special markings that none of the others did: there are thin dark bands around each leg, almost like bracelets (you can see them best in the fifth photo down). It'll be interesting to see if they fade away or not.

Neither of us has been able get close enough yet to tell if the new donkey is a boy or a girl. A girl would be very good news indeed, because then I'll get to keep it. (Donkey Doodle Daddy is more than enough jack for this farm—and in fact we're planning to de-jack him soon so our donkey herd can stop multiplying and he can go back to running with the group.) I keep thinking it's a girl, but I've been wrong before. Please. Please. Please. Please be a girl.

This is the sixth baby donkey born on the farm. In order of appearance:

Dinky (lives on another farm and is best pals with a giant Belgian horse)

Esmeralda (quite possibly pregnant herself!)

Evie

Fernando (lives in Tennessee and is spoiled rotten by his new family)

Flitta

© 2010 FarmgirlFare.com, the going against the flow foodie farm blog where it's hotter than blazes outside (108° heat index predicted tomorrow), so are we outside grilling dinner like we do most nights year round (even in the snow)? Of course not! We're in the kitchen slow cooking a couple of lamb shoulder roasts in the dutch oven all afternoon instead. Yes, obviously we need to get out of the flow (no matter what direction it's going), dunk our heads in a bucket of cold water, and get the tempermental gas grill fixed so we can keep the dinner heat outside like smart people. Just one more good reason we don't have any neighbors keeping an eye on us. P.S. It was delicious.