In October of 2022, my husband, and I relocated to Southwestern Nevada from Washington State. We absolutely love the area, sunshine, and climate. Coming from a much wetter climate of the Pacific Northwest, we understood there would be a learning curve on how to care for our new high desert landscape. Our front yard in Washington State had a holly bush, a beautiful burning bush, and maple trees. Our front yard here in Nevada has palm trees and ornamental grasses. Huge differences.
A couple of months ago we noticed our young palm trees fronds were looking extremely ragged. At first, we attributed the damage to unseasonably high winds and colder weather. We did a bit of research and decided to try some palm feed to refresh the battered-looking babies. When that intervention did not seem to help, I contacted a landscaper to come take a look. He came out and looked at the Palms, and within seconds stated he had seen this before and either wild burros or horses had been feasting on our palm fronds. What??? We were aware when we moved here that this was considered “open range” and yes, there are wild burros and horses that wander but I was still very skeptical since we had never seen any in our area.
I immediately was peeved that they were coming into our yard and feasting on our beautiful little palm trees. We had just moved in, and the front yard was exactly what we had imagined having here. Now it was a buffet for the local wild burros. And the trees looked awful! Instead of a calming peaceful appearance, they looked angry and violated.
After the initial anger and shock of discovering the responsible party subsided, I wasn’t sure if I was more peeved they were eating our palms or that they were so close, and we missed it! How cool would it have been to see these wild animals so close to our house? The photo op would have been fantastic.
So, where am I going with all of this?
Well, this morning while taking a walk around our neighborhood, we were given a gift. We encountered a family of 3 burros along our way. They were far enough away that we didn’t need to be too concerned but we were still cautious and made sure not to startle them or invade their space. They stopped; their ears perked straight up as they heard our footsteps on the gravel road. We did pause enough to take a few pictures, however, as we rounded the corner and they got closer, we opted to keep on walking instead of pausing for a closer shot. It really was such a wonderful chance encounter. Just putting a precious face to culprits, made it better. They are living creatures created by God just like you and me and I guess I am glad we were able to provide them a meal. However, we WILL be putting up a fence to prevent future dining opportunities. Lol
Just remember, when you look for it, you will find awesomeness in every situation.
God Bless and God Bless, the Donkeys!
Have a Great Day!
