Iris and Matilda shown here on a calmer afternoon.
Marcella was able to squeeze through the center gate in Old Barn, a boundary break that was bound to happen. While it might sound like no big deal, it set off a series of things that made my afternoon barn feedings what we call "bucket kicking".
1. Marcella enters the old barn, leaving the gate wide open. Meanwhile, I had just walked through the old barn to feed Matilda in the donkey paddock and left the gate open down there, since no one is usually behind me.
2. Marcella spooked Matilda who scattered from her feed I'd put down.
3. Meanwhile Little Goose had entered the old barn. I saw him coming.
4. Stella and Iris were onto to the entire thing and were now at Matilda's food, just as Goose was trying to eat it.
5. Stella head butted Goose-no contest- and Goose went flying out of there to escape, but chose to flea into the donkey paddock, the opposite end of where he should be.
6. Paco enters. Paco is portly. Paco eats the food.
7. Marcella was up close to the donkeys for the first time-trouble. I threw a bucket near her to try and scare her off.
8. She grabbed the bucket and fled, "Hey! Great, this is fun!" dragging a bunch of stuff with her not knowing it was caught in the bucket handle.
9. Ernest heard it all and came to check it out. So did Moose. And Raggedy.
10. There are multiple escape routes for goats in the old barn, but only one for a human-unless I begin to fly or leap.
11. I began to try and fly and leap anyway to get everybody out of the barn but they were doing the 'Run fast-in circle-stop-run opposite way in circle-wait for farmer to trip or grab her sore hip" maneuvers. Highly successful.
12. They all finally fled the old barn.
13. But I forgot to shut the donkey gate and as I walked to the goat barn I heard familiar hoof steps. I chased the donks back to their area but Goose followed.
14. Stella and Iris chased Goose down a ways in the pasture and then he refused to come back, afraid of their size. So I faked him out with rocks in a bucket to sound like feed, donkeys following. Carried him 150 feet back, holding him like baby Jesus, and his little face was looking up at me with, "I'm still so cute, aren't I? This is fun"
15. Back at the goat barn it looked like a bad day care center. Marcella had taken about 10 buckets and scattered them and then pulled ropes and halters off the wall.
She also looked up at me with, "Gee this was fun, wasn't it? I'm still so cute, aren't I?"
That is the bucket kicking episode for the day.
