August 18, 2011
June 25,1011 Eleanor and Franklin's new owners have sent us their message to all of the volunteers who loved and cared for them during their stay at WNCR: A day in the life as told by Franklin and Eleanor "We stay in our barn during the night and at about 7:30 AM our humans get going to feed us. I, Franklin, like to eat my food and Eleanor’s food – so Eleanor has her own little area to eat her mushy food peacefully and I have learned in this short time at my new home that I do not have to get nervous and try to push open the gate to Eleanor’s eating area because I am going to get some very tasty senior pellets in my own dish. "Eleanor takes longer to eat than I do so I get my hay to chew on while she finishes up. You see, Eleanor was my mom and I do not like to be separated from her for very long so I keep an eye on her. Finally Eleanor gets finished and out of her little eating area and after we both take a big drink of water together and we hang out and munch on hay. "Midmorning Eleanor takes a nap by lying down on the ground and I stand watch over her. No wild animals seem to be around here but I have watched out for her since she went blind and that is my mission. "After our nap, our owner Irasema comes out to take Eleanor on a walk around the yard. This is to build muscles in Eleanor that she lost when she was so hungry. Eleanor likes her walk and is building muscles. Her neck has become strong again and she shakes her hay back and forth. "Lunchtime is more hay and we hang around in our yard - -sometimes by the new chicks who have a pen that is in one side of our corral. "Sometimes Jane comes to groom me. I sort of like it but getting started is sometimes difficult. She knows to put the lead gently on my back to let me know that she wants to halter me. But sometimes I just want to run away – we are not sure why --- maybe old memories – or maybe I am just a shy boy but finally I get brave and stand still and let her halter me. Then I get washed and brushed and lots of treats, which helps. My eyes are sensitive but now I even let her clean my eyes. "Dinner cannot come soon enough. Eleanor goes into her little area and I wait while she is tended and then I get my food which I love. "Evenings are really nice. It is cool and we are tired and we both go to our barn and prepare for the night. The best thing is that I am with my mother and I feel so good when she is near me. At night we are under a sky full of stars and, like the Kalahari Bushmen that Laurens van der Post wrote about, deep in the night we can hear the music the stars make." Post Script. From Eleanor: "Franklin gave a good description. He is a good son. What I would like to say is that my humans seem to appreciate my strength of character. They notice that I sometimes teach them what I need or want – lead them with my body sight as my eyes no longer see-- to the shade to groom me when I do not want to be under the hot sun. Also they see that I learned our new routines very, very fast and they praise me a lot. Sometimes it seems that they want to be near me, petting me or grooming me every spare minute that they get. I don’t mind. "One of my humans whispers to me very softly, very often that I was the love of some human’s life in my early years - - perhaps the treasure of a little girl or boy whose purpose for being, I was. My human whispers to me that my sweetness and brilliance and peacefulness is connected to the deep love that I have had from humans at some time in my 30 years and that the hard times I have been through never eclipsed that love that I carry inside of me. Thank-you WNCR for rescuing me. I feel better now." ###
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