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1. Jeff McFadden (jeffanddonkeys@spore.social)'s status on Thursday, 27-Jul-2023 00:45:06 UTC Jeff McFadden

   2. Today I drove Missy by herself on a historic Doctor's buggy, restored to fully usable.
   I needed to return a library book no later than tomorrow, so this was a real errand.
   Last week I was running a load of recycle.
   I sit out here, five miles from town, and I think, ten mile round trip on gasoline - high mileage vehicle and driving style, but still gasoline - or ten mile round trip in a donkey cart?

   • Jeff McFadden (jeffanddonkeys@spore.social)'s status on Thursday, 27-Jul-2023 00:44:57 UTC Jeff McFadden

     in reply to

     14. Donkey lips are *so gentle.* You watch donkey lips and noses and you know how the elephant's trunk started out. When a kid gives them a treat they take it with these magic lips. Kids eyes are big as silver dollars instantly. So she petted Missy awhile, and said, "She's so beautiful," and I agreed - which I do. She's a beautiful creature.
     And we trotted on.
     It's a better life.

   • Jeff McFadden (jeffanddonkeys@spore.social)'s status on Thursday, 27-Jul-2023 00:44:58 UTC Jeff McFadden

     in reply to

     12. I did buy Missy a new set of Amish-made single driving harness, which was an extravagance, but it was a 3 digit number and she deserved it.
     These animals aren't slaves, they're pets who do stuff for me. I wouldn't leave the farm without a pocketful of donkey treats. Donkeys are very affectionate animals.
     Today as I was driving through a residential neighborhood in Richmond a girl called out,

   • Jeff McFadden (jeffanddonkeys@spore.social)'s status on Thursday, 27-Jul-2023 00:44:58 UTC Jeff McFadden

     in reply to

     13. "Sir! Sir!" I stopped Missy and said Yes, and she said, "Is your donkey friendly?" I said, "Yes, she loves people." (She particularly loves kids, there is some kind of psychic link between kids and donkeys.)
     She said, "May I go in and ask my dad if I can pet her?" I said sure, and off she ran.
     I'm guessing ten or eleven, somewhere in there.
     She came back out, came out to the street, and as she came over to the buggy, I said, "Here's a donkey treat, give her this," and she took it.

     Wonderskeptic repeated this.
   • Jeff McFadden (jeffanddonkeys@spore.social)'s status on Thursday, 27-Jul-2023 00:44:59 UTC Jeff McFadden

     in reply to

     11. My two fanciest buggies, the steel spring wagon and the doctor's buggy, cost me $3500.00 each.
     Won't buy a dependable used car.
     My Amish buggy, winter / rain buggy, cost me $900.00 and *lots* of repairs.
     I live on 28 acres in the sticks and when my donkeys bellow the neighbors can't bitch, because their cows bellow too and it's live and let live.
     And donkeys do bellow.

   • Jeff McFadden (jeffanddonkeys@spore.social)'s status on Thursday, 27-Jul-2023 00:45:00 UTC Jeff McFadden

     in reply to

     10. I do this for real. I do it to do things that otherwise would have required me to burn gasoline. Not every trip, but some of them.
     I have the circumstances which make it possible. I decided at midlife (37) to leave the city, buy land, and learn a different life. I am a disabled veteran, so I will have a dependable stable income until the Republicans blow the whole thing out of the water, so -
     My donkeys cost me $400.00 each, healthy, grown, tame, and untrained.

   • Jeff McFadden (jeffanddonkeys@spore.social)'s status on Thursday, 27-Jul-2023 00:45:01 UTC Jeff McFadden

     in reply to

     8. They can trot. I trot them some as a team. Donkeys don't trot real fast either - it is the literal truth that donkeys are the most energy efficient power source, except using our own bodies, known to humankind.
     Missy trots a lot better by herself than she does teamed with Clara, and she trots a lot better on blacktop than she does on gravel. Which is incentive for me to use the paved road.
     Their trot is also very efficient. Donkeys don't waste motion.

   • Jeff McFadden (jeffanddonkeys@spore.social)'s status on Thursday, 27-Jul-2023 00:45:01 UTC Jeff McFadden

     in reply to

     9. I kept trying to glue a trotting vid from today on that previous toot and it wouldn't process. I wonder if it will this time.

   • Jeff McFadden (jeffanddonkeys@spore.social)'s status on Thursday, 27-Jul-2023 00:45:02 UTC Jeff McFadden

     in reply to

     7. There's another gravel road, lands me in town at the city limits, 45 mph speed limit and only a mile to 35, but it's really steep. When you travel by donkey power you notice.
     The doctor's buggy weighs almost nothing. I originally trained Missy on a cheap steel two-wheel pony cart, and this buggy doesn't weigh much more than that. I'm pushing 200 but below it. Big wheels roll a lot easier on rough ground/rock roads than little wheels do.
     Donkeys tend to walk. It's not very fast.

   • Jeff McFadden (jeffanddonkeys@spore.social)'s status on Thursday, 27-Jul-2023 00:45:03 UTC Jeff McFadden

     in reply to

     6. I am able to do my shopping, my chores, my town business, sometimes, with absolutely no fossil fuels.
     If all these assholes didn't have to go a mile a minute it would be safe as houses.
     Even so, we get by.
     There's a back way into town on gravel, and when I hit town I'm already at 25 mph. Donkeys and cars don't have any stress at all at 25 mph car speed.
     But gravel is less comfortable for Missy than blacktop.
     My girls go barefoot. Not shod. We watch their feet carefully.

   • Jeff McFadden (jeffanddonkeys@spore.social)'s status on Thursday, 27-Jul-2023 00:45:04 UTC Jeff McFadden

     in reply to

     Here's a better shot of the Doctor's buggy, from a different day. It's my show-off ride.

   • Jeff McFadden (jeffanddonkeys@spore.social)'s status on Thursday, 27-Jul-2023 00:45:04 UTC Jeff McFadden

     in reply to

     5. I do this for a number of reasons, but most of all I do it to prove it is physically possible in 2023.
     I live a mile from pavement, then 3 miles of pavement from the town square, and farther than that from most businesses. Of that 3 miles, the first mile has a 55 mph speed limit, 2 lane blacktop, no shoulders *at all*.
     This is an old clip. The girls are calmer now. More practice.

   • Jeff McFadden (jeffanddonkeys@spore.social)'s status on Thursday, 27-Jul-2023 00:45:05 UTC Jeff McFadden

     in reply to

     3. They run on grass hay and water. Nothing else, and Missy, in particular, tends to get too heavy even on that. I have to restrict her access to the night feeding for her health. She's *so* good.
     I used to make all the hay here, myself, but I've gotten too old and rickety.
     I prefer loose hay - here's a video of putting it up. The donkeys, running on hay, carry their next year's feed in. No imported energy.
     Pretty raggedy video, shot with a neck-worn cell phone. https://youtu.be/6P8b520P0X0