The donkeys and I exchanged insults at the barn gate this morning, after I came out to crow at them for outsmarting them and thwarting their efforts to eat the barn wall with chicken wire. They were waiting for me, braying and snorting at me. Having been outsmarted by donkeys many times, this was a triumph for me. Listen, I explained. I know you are bored and restless,and I’m sorry. I’m not buying you a bunch of toys. You can have some pine wood and get your big butts out of the barn and go chew on some shrub and bushes, of which there are plenty. Lulu was sniffing around the edges of the chicken wire, looking for an angle.

Forget it, I said, we stapled it good and tight. Give it up.