The saga of Springtown continues

My neighbors across the street were...weird. I don't really know how else to explain it.

The husband drove a cab. He was short, squatty, and pretty large. He apparently didn't know what deodorant was. He wore overalls, with one strap undone. The wife 'took care' of her horses and donkeys. I think she had some sort of job, because she was gone at odd hours. She apparently didn't know what deodorant was either. She wore skimpy little tank tops, cut off jeans, and cowboy boots. No bra. Sweet as can be, but uh, pretty country? They had teen boys, that I would hear screaming at one another during the day. They had like 12 dogs, who somehow never came over to my property (Thank God! Kooter would have had a fit, and that would not have been pretty!). They had ducks, but after a few weeks, their pond dried up, and the ducks flew over to one of my ponds. The wife sunbathed in a large water trough that the horses and donkeys drank out of.

They lived in a rundown trailer. It was a mess. The roof was covered in old tires. The porch had little twinkle lights all over it, but the steps were all broken. They pulled up the siding near the bottom of the trailer, so the dogs had somewhere 'dry and shady' to sleep. And they never put their trash out to the curb. It was behind the trailer, in this little shed thing that was barely standing. They told me the AC quit working, so they had the windows and door open all hours of the day and night. I could hear everything. And sometimes the donkeys went in the trailer. I kid you not. I don't think I have photographic proof, and now the thing doesn't exist, so, you'll just have to trust me on this one. More on this trailer later.

For now, let me tell you about the animals. There were 4 or 5 horses, and 4 donkeys. The horses were gorgeous, and all females. They were constantly fighting to be the alpha female, but they were so sweet and kind-hearted to my girl and I (once she was born).

The lone male donkey was named Paco. And he answered to it. And he was the horniest donkey I've ever seen. He was kicked many times by all the females, because he just couldn't take 'no' for an answer. But he was sweet.

Here's an interesting fact about donkeys: They don't like to be alone. They are social creatures, and they look for affection and companionship. If they don't get it, they bray. A lot. And since none of the females were interested in him, alllll we heard was braying. At noon. At 6pm. At 2am. At 6am. I used to actually open the door and tell him to shut up. It was pitiful.

A few times a week, I walked across the road to their property line. I brought apples, carrots, and sometimes parsley. They bit each other to get to me. They let me pet them, kiss their noses, and brush their manes. They even let my girl put her little fist in their noses, on more than one occasion.

Over time, these neighbors got weirder. They sorta disappeared. They would seemingly be gone for days or weeks at a time, and then show up at 3am, stomping, slamming car doors, yelling, whistling to their remaining animals. The dogs all wandered off, or died; I'm not sure. The trailer was near the end of my house where my bedroom was, and it became common for me to be wide awake, listening to them in the middle of the night.

During this time, the animals got thin. Really thin. Painfully so. Hipbones and collarbones showing. They ate every square inch of hay, grass, and even weeds on the 10 or so acres they had. Sometimes I would drive by on my way home from work, and find that someone had dropped off some hay. More times than not, though, they went hungry. So hungry, in fact, that they started eating their own crap. That's a very bad sign, let me tell you.

I began buying bags of apples and carrots on a daily basis. I also bought a salt block, and small square bales of hay, which I threw over the fence. One of the horses broke her leg, and it became infected. People started slowing down as they drove by, to check out the animals.

I realized that I could not save these animals. I called the ASPCA.