9/27 Update: The girls gifted us with a double-yolker right out of the gate.

Don fried it up for us last night. Delish! The consistency of the egg white was extremely thick, but Don said it tasted just like a fresh chicken egg. 

As for me, my mind played games with me at first, thanks to my dear husband. After I took my first bite, Don said, “Why are you eating your grandchildren?!”

Aaack! Once I got past that, I agreed with him. It was a delicious, fresh egg. Not gamey or weird at all.

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9/26 Post: We irrigated our pasture yesterday for one of the last times this season. We’ve gotten into the habit of putting the ducks out in the pasture on irrigation days because they love being ducks.

We found everyone and got them into the pasture, but Izzy was nowhere to be found. Finally, Don found her under a holly bush near the house. I heard him gently shoo her from where she sat and then heard him exclaim, “Oh my!”

Here’s what Izzy was sitting on:

Once Izzy was out in the pasture being a duck, I collected the eggs and took them into the house. The three smaller eggs were cold, but the large egg was warm. I figured that means Izzy had just laid it.

Oh, the eggcitement!

Just look at what Izzy did:

Pretty impressive, don’t you think? Once I finished oohing and aahing over the eggs, I put them in an egg carton to store in the refrigerator. The lid didn’t close all the way on the corner where Izzy’s egg sat:

Thank you, sweet Izzy:

Thank you, sweet Hillary:

And thank you in advance, sweet Emmy:

Our next step is getting the girls to use the nesting boxes in Duckingham Palace:

We irrigated our pasture yesterday for one of the last times this season. We’ve gotten into the habit of putting the ducks out in the pasture on irrigation days because they love being ducks.

We found everyone and got them into the pasture, but Izzy was nowhere to be found. Finally, Don found her under a holly bush near the house. I heard him gently shoo her from where she sat and then heard him exclaim, “Oh my!”

Here’s what Izzy was sitting on:

Once Izzy was out in the pasture being a duck, I collected the eggs and took them into the house. The three smaller eggs were cold, but the large egg was warm. I figured that means Izzy had just laid it.

Oh, the eggcitement!

Just look at what Izzy did:

Pretty impressive, don’t you think? Once I finished oohing and aahing over the eggs, I put them in an egg carton to store in the refrigerator. The lid didn’t close all the way on the corner where Izzy’s egg sat:

Thank you, sweet Izzy:

Thank you, sweet Hillary:

And thank you in advance, sweet Emmy:

Our next step is getting the girls to use the nesting boxes in Duckingham Palace:

Don and I took the day off from work yesterday to go to the New Mexico State Fair donkey show. We met some really nice donkeys and their people while we were there.

This is GW and his person Judy. Judy adopted GW from Longhopes Donkey Shelter in Colorado.

Here’s Judy’s jenny, Daisy decked out with her pack saddle:

Judy riding GW:

Daisy performing in the donkey trail, in hand class:

Judy with her other jenny, Patience in the donkey trail, in hand class:

After the competition, Don and I enjoyed walking around behind the scenes to meet everyone up close and personal. Here’s one of the handsome Severs mules:

A spotted jenny named Chloe:

Who has a heart-shaped spot on her behind:

When we stopped to visit with Judy and GW, the little jenny named Patience caught my eye. When I started telling her how pretty she was, she literally started posing for me:

Really, seriously posing:

What’s not to love? ♥

It’s been far too long since I posted on our For the love of donkeys page.

Photo credit: John Rennison/The Hamilton Spectator

Thank you to Kim who sent us this very sweet story to share with you:

I work at our local SPCA and we have a summer camp for kids. So far this summer, we’ve gone to the Donkey Sanctuary of Canada 3x for our field trip. It is a fantastic place that deserves more recognition. Can you believe Ontario has TWO donkey sanctuaries?!?

Anyways, a reporter from our local paper recently went along on a trip with us. You can see the story and video here: http://www.thespec.com/news/local/article/575359–donkey-doody-duty-builds-character

And you can check out the sanctuary’s website too… http://www.thedonkeysanctuary.ca/

Kim at The Donkey Sanctuary of Canada

And, since most of you are donkey fans, I’m putting in a plug for a new page I recently started on Facebook: For the Love of Donkeys. While I began the page as a forum to talk about and bring a stop to the practice of using donkeys as a training tool for roping horses, things are now at a bit of a standstill with our local government. Are you surprised?

In the meantime, I’ve found a plethora of happy stories that exist out there about donkeys – all over the world! I hope you’ll enjoy reading them as much as I’m enjoying finding them. We want the world to know how wonderful donkeys are! ♥

There’s a new duck at Morning Bray Farm. We’ve named her Emily – or Emmy – for the emerald color of her feathers.

She looks like the female version of Jake the drake. Here’s Jake:

Here you can see the size difference between Jake and Emmy:

We think Emmy is slightly younger than the rest of the flock because she’s a tad bit smaller than Izzy and Hillary. She’s settling in quite nicely though.

Don and I decided to get another duck because our four drakes (boys) were constantly “bothering” our two ducks (girls). Poor Izzy and Hillary couldn’t catch a break from Alfie, Oliver, Jake and Gussie.

Here’s Izzy and Hillary now. They’re getting into their pool for a leisurely bath:

Of course Izzy couldn’t wait one second more to get into her bath:

They’re all growing up so fast. As I was taking pictures yesterday afternoon, I couldn’t help but notice how handsome Oliver has become.

More than any of the others, Oliver loves to show off his crest.

In Muscovies, both sexes can raise the feathers on top of their heads into a crest when they’re excited, flirting or angry. The male’s crest feathers are longer and stylishly waved.

Welcome to Morning Bray, Emmy! You already look cleaner, happier and healthier! ♥

I came home from work yesterday to find a surprise in our mailbox.

The Boyz and Gracie were very interested in learning more about this surprise.

After all, the surprise was for them.

It was a very delicious surprise.

Incredible-smelling, yummy donkey treats from our wonderful friends at Casa de Cuckoo.

Can you believe how beautiful Gracie is? 

She’s not shy, that one.

She’s definitely a knows what she wants and goes and gets it kind of girl. 

Nigel and Gracie especially loved their treats.

Alright, who am I kidding? They all particularly loved them.

Thank you, dear Casa de Cuckoo friends. ♥