Picnics and Parades

After posting yesterday's progress report and having so many of you cheering us on, I thought I'd better let you know where all this is going ... eventually ... I hope.

When I adopted George and Alan from the BLM a year and a half ago, I had very limited exposure to long-ears. My sole purpose in bringing them into the herd was to have easy-keeping companion animals for the horse that got left behind. I thought they might serve as livestock guardians and figured I might see them every now and then, if I got lucky. After all, they were wild burros – they would probably hate people and never come near me. Who knew?

I had a few treasured stuffed animals as a kid - Jocko the chimp and Petey the blue dachshund. I talked to them, slept with them, took them everywhere, and wished every day that they would come alive. Well, having George and Alan around is like having stuffed animals that come alive. Their gentleness is astonishing, their intelligence humbling, and their personalities are simply off the charts. If everyone knew burros like I now know burros, then everyone who could would have a pair. Simple as that.

As I've shared my life and times with George and Alan through this blog, I think I've made a couple of converts. If just one more BLM burro gets adopted because of us, I will die smiling. But I want to do more. I want to be an ambassador for burro adoption. I want George and Alan to go forth and show the world that burros need not be beasts of burden, but sources of smiles and princes of peace and kings of kool. And that is why I am teaching them to drive – so that we can proudly walk down Main Street in a 4th of July parade, waving to the crowd and preaching the gospel of burro adoption.

Can't you just see them, side by side, pulling a cart like this? With "Fabulous BLM Burrito Brothers" painted in red with gilt trim along the sides? I'm still trying to imagine what I'll be wearing, besides my hat with the snakeskin hatband. My kingdom for a stylist...



So that is our goal - to be in a parade. It will take a lot of work, and it won't happen quickly. But it will happen. And we'll practice by going for Sunday afternoon drives to explore the land around us. If Smooch can control herself, she will sit next to me, navigating. We'll take a picnic basket in the back of the wagon, filled with carrots for the boys and goodies for me. And we'll take the camera, too, because lord knows we'll have to blog about the whole thing.

Thanks for coming with us on our journey.