You Had to Be There

Our plans for Saturday included catching up on some yardwork.  Although we did get a few things done, our plans changed around lunch when we received a call from Lindsey.  Lindsey and Maddie were headed to town when one of their neighbors stopped by to say that Ozzie, their wonderful donkey, was out and had been quite busy.  He had been in one neighbor's garage and in another's garden, among other places.  Josh was in clinicals, so Lindsey loaded Maddie up and they headed off to round up Ozzie.   After chasing him in and out of neighbor's yards and up and down the road, she accepted defeat and realized she needed help! (They live in the country, and many of these neighbors are 1/4 to 1/2 mile apart.) Let me add that she was able to chase him up the driveway of a neighbor that just happened to have an open gate to their pasture.  Ozzie darted through the gate, she hopped out of the car and shut him in.  All of their friends were out of pocket, so she called her dad and we headed off  to round up this sweet little critter and bring him home.  She also called Josh at the hospital.  He is not suppose to have calls, but she told them that it was "somewhat of an emergency."

 If you look up the definition of a donkey in the dictionary, it says "obstinate and stubborn."  Let me assure you that Ozzie was all that and more!

If you think he looks all sweet and innocent, please think again!

Lindsey was chosen to go out first with the bucket of sweet feed and the rope.  Ozzie doesn't like men, so Reed and Josh waited for her to work her magic!

This actually took a few minutes. I was beginning to wonder what Plan B was....

I didn't get a picture of it, but Lindsey actually got the rope around his neck and then the rodeo was on!

Josh arrives to help!

Ozzie thinks it will be a great idea to wrap himself around the tree!

Hartley, the neighbor's son comes to help out! His dad comes to help, too!

Maddie and I watch from a safe distance and play with the neighbor's dogs.

 

Finally, it appears they have the upper hand on ole' Ozzie.  Looks can be deceiving.  The fun was only beginning.

Check out those teeth.  Reed's jeans were wet where Ozzie kept trying to bite him.

Securing the rope for the walk home. The walk was only about 1/4 a mile.  Sounds simple right?

Lindsey and the super nice neighbor that offered his pasture and help

Time to head home!

This cracks me up!  Check out Lindsey's switch!

Ozzie decides he's really not into this!

Reed sends Lindsey back for the truck, as cars speed by.  I can only imagine what these people thought. 

Ozzie doesn't really care to wait for the truck!

The plan was to tie him to the back of truck, so he would have to walk.  That may sound cruel, but at this point it was either that or a shotgun!

And they're off again!

Notice that the truck was on both sides of the road.  Ozzie couldn't make up his mind where he wanted to walk!

 Finally, they head up the driveway!

Pop and Maddie having a little chat after the adventure was over!

You really did have to be there to fully understand how hilarious this was!  It was also lots of hard work.  However, even if it meant traveling all the way across the state, we got to see Maddie, so it was well worth it!  After Ozzie was safely home, Lindsey and Josh rode around to all of the neighbors to apologize.  Everyone was real nice, except for the guy with the garden......Oops! 

I have a feeling we'll be talking about this for years!