Against all odds, and I still think that a lot of the glory must go to Josie the cow, the little horse survived, and after a few days it's stomach went down, and we were all elated when it struggled onto it's thin little legs, and stood looking at us with large brown eyes, but the exertion was too much, and shivering, she lay down again. But it was a start, and from then on, with Sheila's wholesome milk, and a lot of love from us and Josie, she just got stronger and prettier by the day.
But she soon showed that she was not a girl to be messed with, and a wee mean streak also stuck its head out when she started menacing Sheila's other animals, chasing them away from their food, and then gulping it up! Charmaine aptly named her Skramunkel, that meaning little rascal, but the one being that the little horse adored was Josie, and between the two of them a strong bond grew, and that would prove to last forever!
When she got too much of a handful we decided that Skramunkel would come to me during the day, but would still sleep at Sheila's where she was under shelter. She was indeed very naughty, and would gallop up to me from behind, push her muzzle under my arm, gave a few kicks, and then ran away in front of me. While she was so small it was no problem, and the two of us had a good time together, and she became so used to the attention, that the moment I went into the house, she got terribly upset, and stood neighing at the safety doors when she could not see me, and I was sure that she would have come into the house with me if I would let her! We were used to put our coffee and stuff on the wall of Irma's stoep, but once Skramunkel had a taste of a cuppa forgotten there, she was always begging for some tea or coffee, and was always on the look-out in case there was something left for her!

It wasn't long before Sheila informed me that Skramunkel will have to come to me permanently, as she was really upsetting all her animals by chasing them around, and even trying to kick them if they stood up to her bullying. So she had to sleep under the stars, but as it was almost summer now, the nights were not too cold, but I felt sorry for the lonely little girlie.
Mr Rat in the meantime had apparently decided to either clean house, or get out, as one morning I found a whole load of his pilfered stash in front of the opening where I now knew he lived. I have been putting the rat trap right in front of this opening, and put the most rat delectable, or so I thought, food in, but this rodent was a wily old thing, and refused to be caught! But since Hendrix also knew where he lived, and stood barking in front of the opening for hours on end, and then Tembi joined in, and together they made such a racket, I think he must have taken good stock of the situation, and decided to move to quieter housing.
Even more stash was out the next morning, under which a blackened, very old avocado pip, a shriveled up naartjie, a half eaten apple, and a lot of acorns. I realized that my lodger were only busy at night, so I decided to leave the door open , and just lock the safety door so that he could move out as fast as possible, which he did, as there never was any sign of him living there again!