Rufus, Dressed in Rags

Lately, every time I get in the swimming pool, I think it's the last time for the season.  The water feels so cold when I first get in!  But my nieces and nephew don't even hesitate.  And their advice about how to warm up is good - once I'm in, I just have to jump up and down, and up and down, and then kick my legs like a maniac, and then I warm right up.  The secret is to be constantly in motion.  My youngest niece was in the pool before ten in the morning, on a rainy day even!  Brrrr....

I was excited to introduce Rufus to the kids this weekend.  When he saw them approach the fence for the first time, he took off for the other side of the pasture, and I had to coax back him to the fence with treats.  

It didn't take him long to figure out that having kid visitors is like being offered a buffet of treats.  He couldn't chew fast enough to keep them satisfied!  We tried to coax him to eat pieces of pears, but he wouldn't even try them.  He's not a very adventuresome eater.  So far he has rejected pear, apple, and watermelon.  He let me pry his lips apart so we could see his teeth and everyone laughed at how much they look like dentures.  

The kids were as amazed as I am at how delicately he can nibble sweet feed from a hand.  His fuzzy lips can extract a single kernel from between your fingers without really touching you.  It feels funny, but nice, like donkey kisses.  

Yesterday, Rufus let me put his halter on, and didn't even flinch.  He even let me take it back off again later.  We're making progress!  I've started rubbing some essential oil fly repellent (Flicks brand) on him with a rag.  It comes with a spray bottle, but he hasn't decided to trust anything that makes a scary spraying noise just yet.  This natural fly spray works pretty good, although flies still land on his eyelids, and I don't want to get any of the oil in his eyes.  He lets me rub him all over though, and I can even pick up his feet for a few seconds.  

Rufus, look what I have.  It's an old towel.  Don't looks so worried, I promise, it's clean.

He was mortified that I would put such a old and holey rag across his back, and take pictures of him wearing it!  Poor donkey, he's dressed in rags.

After I draped it across his back, he walked away and spent a few moments looking over each shoulder at it, and smelling it.  I thought for sure he would pull it off with his teeth.  I would have.

He was more interested in my phone than the rag on his back.  Every time I take a picture, my phone makes a clicking noise, like a real camera.  I think it's funny to watch his ears rotate to the camera each time.  What is that noise?

He never did take the rag off of his back.  Actually, I think he started to like it.  Maybe a little too much (wink).  

Donkey ears in the sunset.