Gandolf Worked Hard to Always Be With The Family

Gandolf was a glutton for attention and jealous that Sussi and the cats were allowed in the house and he was not. He did everything he could to try and find a way to get in. When the kids would go out to feed him and play with him, when Sinai and I would go out to be with him, he was always right behind us as we opened the glass doors to come back into the house. A few times he actually succeeded and there we were, with a two and a half year old donkey standing in our living room / dining room. It made us realize how very big he was.

Then one of us got the bright idea to pull the tress doors shut so we could have air and light, but not have to worry he would come through the screens. Well that was almost as smart. Gandolf finally solved the problem of not being included in the family gatherings INSIDE the house by trying to poke his head through the plastic tressim ... and broke enough of them in the process to be able to get his head in, like a window.

Sussi generally kept him company at these times. There are no words describe our reaction the day he did this, but suffice to say it was a memorable experience. 

A Team Effort for Lag B'Omer 2006

Gandolf schlepped, Sinai and Avi led, and Sussie came along while they all took the spruce branches down to the wadi for the evening's festive bonfire.......... 

Amazing Graze

Zalmy riding Gandolf, with Goldy, Estee and Sussi along for company. They used to go out to the wadi after school every afternoon so Gandolf could get a little grazing in .......... 

Goodbye Gandolf

Gandolf is gone.

His mitzvot, however, will not be forgotten.

He came to us on Israel Independence Day, and on Lag B'Omer he schlepped the spruce tree branches for our Lag B'Omer bonfire down to the desert for us.

Two days later, when I took him to the wadi for a bite to eat (he loves to graze), the sun sank beneath the hills and the breeze became a wind. I knew it was time to go home and walked up to Gandolf, reaching for his lead rope. But he wasn't ready to leave yet, and so he moved away from me. The more I followed, the more he led.

And then he began to make a break for it, and headed down the rocky slope.

I could not keep up, and he headed toward the river bed where green shrubs still grow, far below the ridge where we usually sit and watch the hills. It was treacherous going and when I realized I could not get down there to catch him, I began to climb back up in the fast-fading light.

It was no good and I slipped and fell halfway down the hill, bouncing on sharp flint outcrops along the way. It hurt and I realized I somehow had to find a way back. I was foolishly alone and had forgotten my cell phone. Sussie was already heading down toward Gandolf, pacing him and trying to herd him back home. It didn't work and they stayed together for a while....

I climbed slowly, painfully up the slope and made it back home, panting and upset. Sussie had stayed in the wadi and I told my husband and daughter what had happened. By the time they got me into bed and themselves back down to the wadi, it was dark and Gandolf was gone.

Sussie came home an hour later, without him.

Goldy and I got up early the next morning to search the wadi, looking for him. We didn't find him.

So I know he is gone. We will miss him. I hope he finds his way back home to his Bedouin family and avoids the people who beat him up. I hope he finds food and water. I hope he survives.

Gandolf

Before Sinai got home, we had all decided to call him Jonny (except for Zalmy who wanted to call him Black Socks). All, meaning me and Lily and Goldy. But then Sinai came home and after the shock wore off, he wanted to call him Silver, from the Lone Ranger series. I said no. He didn't look like a Silver, "Hi Ho!" notwithstanding. Then Sinai wanted to call him "Trigger" (I am sure you are getting the drift..... unless you are too young, in which case -- it is from an old TV series whose star was called "Roy Rogers"). I didn't like that one either. Then we thought about Pokey. Then Pookie. And then at last.... Poogy. But he has not remained Poogy. After two Shabbat dinners, the new name is Gandolf. Dontcha just love 'im?

You know, some days are just more special than others.

Take Israel Independence Day, for example. Fireworks begin the evening before, and it just snowballs from there – even here in the Negev.

Our family went with our friends, the Mouallems (you know, Becky’s “parents”) to a barbecue picnic at the nearby reservoir just outside the Yattir forest, a ways up the road from Tel Arad.

It was wonderful. There was a moonwalk for the kids on the other side of the “lake”, music (which of course made no sense, it being sefira, the period in which the Jews made their way from Egypt to the Holy Land – we don’t listen to music)…

And later we went to visit Avi’s friend Avshalom, who lives in an abandoned transit camp called Machane Yattir, where he grew up. He has about an acre of land, two dozen chickens, half a dozen ducks and geese, a dog, several cats, a handful of goats and some sheep. He is an artist, of course. He works in wood.