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[SJC <indexer AT localnet.com>]

Lynda wrote:
> Donkeys have a mind of their own and a sense of humor.  Yes, a sense of 
> humor and find humans entertaining.  Mules are more stoic.  Thus, mules are 
> "easier."
>
>   
In that particular conversation I'm pretty sure he was talking about 
keep and upkeep but I didn't ask specifically.  However, that was the 
general thrust of the conversation at the time.

Having said that, I don't find mules at all stoic.  None of ours have 
been, nor have been any of those I've known well enough to comment on.  
YMMV.  I have known a couple mean mules, but if I had to live where/the 
way they do, I'd likely be mean too. 

Herman, the fellow I shared with a neighbor for 24 years, was definitely 
into devilment if he saw the chance, and well aware of the 
consequences.  He either 'liked' new people or he didn't.  If he didn't 
care for someone, he'd wait until we were outside talking and sneak 
(yes, sneak) up behind them; when he got about 3' from their head, he'd 
let out with a gawdawful loud braying, then turn and kick heels, take 
off and watch from a bit away....so if it was muddy, the subject got 
that too.  After the first few times, he and the dog worked in concert 
to accomplish their orneryness.  My "job" was to keep talking until they 
(dog and mule) got into position.   I admit to being so entertained by 
it, I just let them have their heads. There's no question they got a 
whale of a kick out of it, as did I.   He (Herman) also picked up and 
moved things and then would stand back watching while someone looked for 
their jacket, or whatever they'd hung on the fence.  He had so much fun 
with the sheep shearer that the guy used to call from the last place 
before here, to make sure Herman was put up before he got here.

I suppose they picked up their cues from me, because I usually had to 
agree that they both had uncanny good sense who to harass......they 
cured several unwanteds from hanging about,  like the suited guys (with 
ties, no less, in Waldo County!) in shiny black cars that used to come 
to "speak" (in the New England sense) to me about my kids not being in 
school, that having been illegal at the time. 

It's times like that I used to wonder why anyone would tolerate the city 
to go to the movies for entertainment.   Of the critters I've had in my 
time, the mules were second only to the goats in having a sense of 
humor.  I've never had donkeys here so don't know how they'd stack up, 
but I'd think just from watching them at the various places around here, 
they'd be high on the fun list.

Susan Jane, in Maine, enjoying the kind of weather and colorful scenery 
that toles folks to move to Maine