Our local newspaper had a nice story yesterday about a donkey named Smoke. He was a malnourished little guy when he was befriended, and nursed back to health by, U.S. soldiers in Iraq. There is an effort underway now to bring Smoke to the U.S., where he would serve as a therapy animal for  families of military personnel who’ve been wounded or killed in battle.

As you might imagine, it costs a lot more to ship a donkey overseas than it does a dog or a cat. One of the new financial sponsors of the effort is the Lexington-based company Big Ass Fans (they make low-speed, high-volume fans, and their mascot is a donkey named Fanny).

You can read the newspaper story, and see a picture of Smoke, here: http://www.kentucky.com/2011/03/14/1670054/big-ass-fans-leads-effort-to-bring.html.

Smoke’s story reminded me of this funny Budweiser Clydesdale commercial from several years ago:

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And when I went over to YouTube to fetch the commercial, I found this clip about the Budweiser Clydesdales. I think this is from the Missouri State Fair.

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