Last week, CeeCee left the following comment for us:

“With 6 donkeys in the family now, could you do a little tutorial on identifying each one. Obviously, Ells is the only redhead, but I struggle to tell them apart in a group photo. I believe that Buck is red, but much darker. The rest leave me wondering.”

While she was here on Sunday, I asked our friend GK if she would help with the tutorial. She was able to point to the Boyz and Gracie and identify them each by name without batting an eyelash, after all. (I was so impressed!)

Here’s Buck and Nigel:

Buck is definitely red, and is darker than Ellsworth.

Ellsworth is bigger than Buck and his face is much whiter:

Nigel is also unmistakable:

Such a strikingly handsome boy.

And here’s Bernard:

Bernard is short and has shorter hair. Most of the time, Bernard will be next to Ellsworth.

Patrick, however:

Patrick is fluffy all over; his body, face, legs, ears. He has the longest mane of all, and has very cute leg stripes:

By the way, I have to say that it really, really touched me when (out of the blue) GK said she was so happy that Patrick was here at Morning Bray Farm. She’s a young lady who’s so wise for her years.

From a distance, I still sometimes confuse Gracie and Bernard. Here’s Gracie and Buck:

Look at Gracie with GK:

GK was right when she pointed out that Gracie’s nose is more wrinkled than Bernard’s:

Gracie’s taller than Bernard and Patrick too:

It’s all relative. Sometimes, it just takes time to see who’s who. ♥ ♥

Our beautiful donkey boy had a busy day yesterday. He played chess with his rocks:

Had a deep conversation with his good friend, GK:

Was a trusty steed for the first time in his life. Oh goodness, Bernard was so proud:

Ry thanked Bernard with a hug afterwards. I heard Ry say to Bernard, “I love you.”  Melt my heart.

If you know Bernard, you know he always wants needs something to do.  After such a busy morning, Bernard still insisted on helping his dad carry a big, heavy bucket.

I will never be able to express how much I love this beautiful boy. ♥

We presented the Boyz and Gracie with a shiny, new Jolly mega ball over the weekend.

For some, there was great interest in the new toy:

Ellsworth was more interested in his lunch than he was in the ball:

Initially, Patrick was too:

Because they were spooked by the green monster, most everyone headed out of the corral. Bernard’s curiosity had him by the ears though.

He stood as close as he could to the monster while standing as far away as possible:

He approached it from every possible angle:

And wherever the wind blew the monster, he followed it:

In the end, we moved the green monster out to the pasture. It was then that Bernard finally summoned up the courage to touch it.

We figure it’s just a matter of time before Bernard finds something entertaining to do with it. ♥

August 2011

Welcoming our beautiful Gracie Belle to Morning Bray Farm:

Being mesmerized by Patrick’s transformation:

Always being amused watching Bernard amuse himself:

 

And always being amused watching Bernard amuse us:

September 2011

Loving all of my Ds:

Realizing the way to Nigel’s heart:

Oh, if I only knew then what I know now… as silly as it sounds, at the time, it didn’t occur to me that we actually had a “baby” in our midst.

My mom came across this photo that she took of Bernard and Ellsworth. She took it a little over two years ago. I’m shocked at Bernard’s size… he had just turned a year old. What a baby!

And speaking of babies, here’s a recent photo I took of the baby down the road. I think it’s a little jack, and he’s now about a month and a half old.