From the Lioness' Den...

I'm B-a-a-a-ck! or Attack of the Very Hungry Donkey Herd

Back to the grind!

I was in the Black Hills of South Dakota taking a breather and playin' for a few days. Nothing too earth shattering, I didn't get a tattoo at Sturgis or anything (not this time anyway). I went with a friend who grew up there and helped her and her sister put together a surprise 50th b-day party for their mom - complete with Red Hat themed decorations. Other than that, we just took it easy and relaxed. One of the days we went for a drive through a couple state parks. The leaves are awesome there now. Very pretty. We saw lots of deer, elk, buffalo, antelope and prairie dogs. One thing we did not see (which I am very thankful for) was mountain lions which have been reported in some parts of the area. There was a group of about 6 donkeys at one of the parks, and they come right up to the cars that stop. While one might think they are only after a friendly pat on the head or pet of the snout, that is not the case.  As we were driving, we stopped and my friend A said to roll down the window to pet them. Sure - as if that's going to be satisfactory.  We had a bag of popcorn in the car, and I fed some to one of the donkeys. I must have missed the donkey signal that said "Hey guys! Over here! Popcorn to eat and if we nibble fast enough, we might score a few fingertips in the deal!" Within about 2.5 seconds, all 6 of them were trying to poke their heads in my window and get their share of the popcorn. Donkey lips everywhere! I couldn't get the popcorn out of the bag fast enough, so pretty soon I just shoved my arm out the window, and dumped what was left in the bag onto the ground.  After I got my hand back in the car and counted my fingers to make sure all 5 were still attached, I wiped the donkey slobber (ewwwwwww) on A's arm and told her to get goin' before they came back for dessert!  She was laughing so hard, she couldn't see through the tears in her eyes to drive for a minute.

I enjoyed the time away, and came back rested, refreshed and rejuvenated. It should last maybe another 12-24 hours if I'm lucky. I didn't even bitch (much) when I picked Shelby up at 8:30pm last night and she informed me she still had homework to do.  You've been with your dad since Wednesday, it is 8:30pm Sunday, and you're telling me you've got homework? Yep, a page & 1/2 of Math and oh yeah, the trumpet hasn't been practiced since Thursday. So, from 8:45 to 10 last night, she worked on homework and practiced her trumpet while I tried to work on my homework. I did some while I was gone, but after the donkey trauma, it was kinda hard to focus on tax forms!

Anyway, I'm back, jumping in where I left off.