# I'm Back :)



## PaintedPromiseRanch (May 18, 2010)

haven't been around in quite a while, guess i just needed to take a break from some of the negative aspects of the forum... i am part of several miniature donkey yahoogroups which kinda kept me going but i have really missed all the pictures and discussions and most especially the Mini Donkey Talk forum

so i'm back






it's been a busy busy time for me in all aspects but my donkeys have been a total joy and sometimes my sanity! i need to check out the new aspects of |LilBeginnings as things look different since i was here last, and hopefully i can get used to posting pictures again and update my signature etc.... but as kind of a re-introduction and for all the new people i am sure are members here since i have been gone, i just wanted to say...

i started my breeding program just before i took my break and things in that respect are going quite well. here in Arizona there just aren't a lot of miniature donkeys so despite the economy and so many people saying "don't breed anything", all of my foals (10 over the last 3 years) have been sold before they were weaned



well except for the one i am keeping lol - and i actually have a waiting list. i like to say... first i was an admirer of miniature donkeys when i met my friend's little one... then i got my own and i became a convert... then i got mroe and became an addict... and now i breed and consider myself a "pusher"





i currently have 14 miniature donkeys of my own. my two jacks are Dillon (brown, my avatar) and Wiley (spotted). i know i don't really have enough jennets to warrant more than one jack... but i LOVE spots and SSSHHHHHHHHHH don't tell Dillon, he is perfect in every way EXCEPT he is not spotted





Dillon's "harem" consists of Betty Jean, a gray-dun, and her 3 gray-dun daughters, who are Betty Lou, Susie Q and Mary Ellen. he also has Josey Marie, who is IMDR registered and is gray with NLP (she has a dark nose and belly). before i saw her i thought only the black donkeys were NLP! and his newest addition is my Sarah Beth, by Wiley out of Taffy Leah, although Dillon will have to wait quite a while for her - she was just born in November! more on that later...

Wiley's "harem" consists of Taffy Leah (spotted) and 2 of her daughters, Peggy Sue (black) and Ellie Mae (gray-dun), Becky Lynn (spotted - and same sire as Taffy's daughters) and Milly Jo (IMDR gray-dun but has thrown a spotted foal in her past), and my new rescue donkey whom i named Nikki Renee. i gave Wiley all of the girls that either were spotted, or that i knew had spotted in their genetics, in the hopes of spotted foals... and my plan for building my own herd is to keep an of his daughters, to later breed to Dillon. (because if i ever have to get down to ONE jack, it would HAVE to be Dillon, quite simply he has part of my soul...)

although i have tried for YEARS to catch my girls having their foals, i was not successful until this year, and now i have been able to be there for 3 out of the 4 foals from this year! it was awesome to watch Sarah Beth being born, i saw that little face with the big blaze and thought WOO HOO i got a spotted baby, now if only it is a jennet so i can keep it... then her body came out and i watched inch by inch and saw NO SPOTS! i was flabbergasted until her hips appeared and she had white patches on both sides... so i laugh and call her my "appaloosa donkey" because she only has spots on her butt! i had never seen this particular pattern before and thought it was quite unusual until thanks to Shawna (Minimule) i was able to take in a rescue from Colorado and when she arrived, she had the same pattern - blaze, and white patches on both hips!! so now i have TWO appaloosa donkeys lol.

and although i worked through lunch the day Sarah Beth was born, so that i could get home before dark and get some "dry" pictures, that did not happen... because when i got home and went out back with the camera, i heard a sound like gushing water and looked around and Susie Q was starting to have HER baby!



yup two in the same day... it was an awesome day!!!

and i finally got myself busy and got a website set up just for the donkeys - i'm on a bargain basement budget so not a lot of fancy stuff but thanks to the power of links i can get whatever i need on there! i'd love feedback if anyone wants to check it out at www.paintedpromiseranch.com. besides links to pictures, there are links to my blog entries of the days the foals were born, and links to a blog about my grand-donkey Madeline, who has quite the busy and interesting life! i just found out today that the folks who bought my grand-donkey Charles, and are waiting for Benjamin to be weaned so they can add him to their family, have started a blog as well, so i need to get busy and add that one to his entry. i never know what to expect next from them, Charles gets to come in the house and watch TV with dad so their pictures can be quite entertaining!!

well that's enough for now, don't want to turn this into an all-night project for me to write, or for you to read



and i want to have some time to look around and get re-acquainted with some old friends and meet some new ones!


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## PaintedPromiseRanch (May 29, 2010)

wow. what happened to this forum



it sure used to be a lot busier and friendlier.


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## MeadowRidge Farm (May 29, 2010)

WELCOME BACK SUE, glad to see one of the "oldies" venturing back to the forum. I dont know what happened, but I am still here. Its no where near as active as it use to be when I did the x-mas hee haw exchange, etc. Sounds like you heard is still about the same as last time you were on here. What did you mean by the negative aspects of the forum in your post? I dont recall anything ever being said to you that was negative towards you, on the donkey forum, and if you do have problems PLEASE let me know about it. The donkey forum is still the friendliest forum around ..just not a busy one, but yet alot more so then most of the forums I am on .Shoot..some of my plant forums ..you can go a full week or two and not have a single comment made! SOOOOO...WELCOME BACK!


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## chandab (May 29, 2010)

Welcome back. I'll look at your website when I have more time. sounds like you are busy with your herd.


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## PaintedPromiseRanch (May 30, 2010)

thanks Cor it just surprised me to go so many days and not one comment... i don't remember it being like that around here.<BR><BR><BR><BR>{hey couldn't resist, i guess i have been gone so long you forgot i don't answer to "Sue" lol - Sue is someone else! you can call me Susan, Suz, Susie, but never Sue



} <BR><BR>no worries about the negative aspects, it's been so long i forgot the details anyways... just some kinda sniping at me for posting links instead of actual pics is what i remember most... it was a timesaver for me but apparently a big no no... oh well. <BR><BR>Chanda nice to meet ya!!! <BR><BR>now i am off to Cali for a week so i won't be around lol <BR><BR>that's weird how come an edit puts BR instead of a return????


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