Gus & Quilla are lucky to be in the Phoenix area I think.  This morning at 6:11am the thermometer outside the bedroom registered a balmy 24 degrees.....!!! It projects on the ceiling above the bed & now that I can see without my glasses I can find out these little tidbits of information without asking or putting on my glasses..........!!!  YUCK.......I think sometimes ignorance is bliss, who wants to get out of bed when it's that cold.  

Of course it starts warming as soon as the sun comes up, so by the time we were done with chores we started shedding clothes.  

Heard from Chantilly's new Mom.  They let Lily out of her pen the next morning & Marsha said there were no fireworks, no snarky faces, not even a pinned ear, so that's really good.  

I didn't realize they hadn't seen Chantilly's face, she had on a fly mask when they come to visit, & had her mask on when we delivered her.  Marsha said she's got a beautiful face & she does, very delicate with big brown eyes.  

The black & white blob standing by the goat pen is Levi.  Levi would like to get in the pen with the girl goats, but that's not going to happen right now, so he is in with the horses & donkeys in about a 3 acre pen.  Not that he goes anywhere except right by the "girl" pen, trying to figure out how to get in it.  From my point of view he needs "brain" surgery, but I think Marsha wants some little goats eventually. 

Marsha told us that he likes to go up to the horses & Lily & rub his horns on their legs & sometimes gets his horns around their legs, which gets everyone's attention.  

I guess he tried it on Chantilly, she spun around & sent him rolling about 2 or 3 rolls.  Thad just happened to be watching.  So far not only has he not tried it on Chantilly again, he's leaving the others alone too, so Marsha thinks maybe it was a good thing.  I'm sure Levi didn't think so......!!!! LOL

Saturday we went down to Tubac to an art festival.  A few weeks ago Leigh Morrison came out to take pictures of the donkeys to paint for the festival.  When we drove past where she was set up outside her studio painting, one of the first things we saw was Cisco on display, along with a lot of her other paintings.  How exciting is that...........!!!!!!  

We parked & came back to visit & look at all the paintings.  She took this painting of Frijolita out of the display & gave it to me.  As anyone that has been in my house knows, I'm about to run out of wall space, but managed to find a prominent place for it. 

I took her head shots pictures of some of the donkeys, didn't really know if she would be able to use them or not, but she thought they were great, & said to watch her web-site in the coming weeks.  

Today Dr. Megan came out to look at Jenny's foot.  She agreed that it isn't doing as well as it was last time she was here.  Too soft & mushy, where the abscess was, & has tracked up into the coronary band.  She says we need to figure out some way to dry it out.  I have been using Wonder Dust, which I don't like, it definitely isn't very drying.  She recommended Kopertox or Thrush XX by Farnam, which you paint on with a brush.  So we'll try that & see if it helps.  She wasn't too worried about the proud flesh.  The Wonder Dust has controlled it, but not got rid of it.

After the Vet left, we loaded Chantilly in the trailer & took off to deliver her to her new home.  Got there & they already had Lily in her small pen, so Chantilly could get use to the "lay of the land", so to speak without having Lily in her face.  They are going to keep Lily in over night & let her out in the morning.  The 2 horses just looked at her like, "Ye gads, there's another one".  Chantilly has been around horses before, so she just looked at them, went over, touched noses with one & went on about her business of checking everything out.

 Checking out the new place

 Guess what they are watching?

Comfortable enough to take time out for a dust bath

Poor Lily in her pen missing all the fun

Lily actually acted like she was afraid of Chantilly.  She looked at her & then tried to run around in the little pen, about 12' x 20'.  Chantilly basically just ignored her, so I don't think there will be any fireworks when they get together tomorrow morning.  

Win or lose, I'm REALLY glad the election is OVER......!!!! 

Can I keep him?

We're waiting for Courtney to show up to trim Gus & Jenny & it's after 6pm.  I don't know when she sleeps, & I'm pretty sure she never has time to wonder what she could be doing, because she is caught up with nothing to do............!!!! LOL

Jenny's foot is falling apart, I'm hoping that trimming it shorter will help take pressure off the hoof wall.  It has so many cracks in the hoof you can watch it squirm when she walks.  But walk she does, she hasn't given up & we won't either unless we have to.  She's still on antibiotics & there is a little drainage from the cracks.  The drainage is clear, which I hope is a good thing. 

Pepper got down on his right side this afternoon for the first time in weeks.  John flipped him over on his left side & after a couple of minutes he popped up & took off.  He doesn't fight us anymore when we try to flip him, which really makes it a lot easier.  John was getting ready to leave for town, when I found him thank goodness.  I haven't tried to flip him by myself, not sure I can, don't want to try.  

We will be taking Chantilly to her new home next Tuesday.  We did a home study yesterday & it should be a good home, although Lilly her new best friend is quite precocious.  She's a little bit "in your face".  Chantilly is rather shy, so I hope Lilly isn't too much for her.  They'll have about 3 acres of desert brush to roam, with 2 mares.  Lilly had been real close to Sonny an old horse they had to put down a couple of weeks ago & she has been odd man out with the mares, they won't let her into the "inner" circle.  Lilly was running the fence chasing the dogs on the other side for fun when we were there.  Maybe Chantilly will have a calming effect on her..........!!!!!  LOL

Went down to Tombstone as planned to do some further planning with Teresa this afternoon.  I think Teresa knows everyone in town, as we walked up the street, she kept stopping to introduce me to someone.  She started to introduce me to one dirty looking "miner", & then said "oh you guys already know each other".  HUH?  Didn't look like anyone I knew, until he started talking about how well the donkeys were getting along.  He is Thelma's "Dad", but I had never seen him "dressed" for Tombstone before.  

He said they are getting along just fine, Eeyore is smitten with her & follows her everywhere.  They call her Roo, I think he said the name is from the movie with Eeyore in it, but I'm not sure.  To say I have been out of the movies for years & years is an understatement............!!!!  LOL  Especially cartoons, although I guess they don't call them cartoons anymore.  There I go, dating myself again.  

Where the donkeys, probably Cisco & Buddy Brat, will be on display is inside the wooden fence where they have the big shootout shows 3 times a day for half an hour.  Lots of shooting & screaming & shooting........!!!!  Teresa was worried about the loud noise.  Cisco had a guy shoot a rifle over his back in the Gundown movie a couple of years ago & didn't even flinch.  

When I got home I told John we were going to have to shoot off a gun probably the 16 gauge shotgun.  So after we got everyone in their pens, John first shot in between the 2 sets of pens.  The only one that freaked was Ruthie, she wasn't impressed at all.  Frijolita looked around like she was interested in what made the noise ears up & curious.  Unfortunately Frijolita does not "enjoy" people for the sake of people, only if they have treats.  Otherwise she would stand in the corner & just stare at them, wondering where the treats were. 

Then he went down by the minis, Cisco & Buddy.  As I thought, Cisco didn't even wiggle, Buddy kinda looked around, but no big deal.  

Then we went down by Chantilly, she's the only one in that row of pens that would even be a possibility to go.  Rusty & Jack are mules, Tula is wild as a March hare, & Gus is just getting over 3 different bacterial infections, so he's not going out where there might be some other kind of bacteria for him to catch.....!!!  I'd love to take him, he absolutely loves people, especially children, a perfect ambassador for donkeys,  but don't want to take a chance on him picking up something new.  

Wasn't no big deal for Chantilly either, but she can get a little nippy, especially if she thinks people should have treats & they don't.  She's such a pretty girl, & is looking for a Forever Home, but we'll probably leave her home. 

There is one tiny little glitch we hadn't planned on.  We have to be down to Fairbank for the start at 9am, which means we will have to start feeding about 5am probably.  The donkeys will not have time to finish eating, so we can let them out.  Lysa usually comes on Friday, which would work out just fine, she'd come, clean pens, & let everyone out before she left.  BUT, she told John today her & the family are planning on going to the Grand Canyon for the week-end & plan on leaving either Thur or Fri.........!!!!  I think we'll probably feed as planned, drive down to get there at  9am as planned, set the donkeys up as planned, but then one of us will come back home & let the donkeys out.  It won't take that long, but I hate to miss anything.  I had planned on going back & forth between walking with Zeke & Mike, & sitting at the table with the donkeys.  But with the change in plans, we'll just have to see how it works out. 

Georgette & I will head out in the morning for Colorado & a visit with Kathy Dean at Longhopes.  Should be fun, but I hate leaving John with all the chores.  Right now we are having a heatwave, my back porch thermometer says 108.9 right now, & the sun isn't even shining.

This morning Lysa & I did "doctoring", so she can do it while I'm gone on the days she is here.  The flies are trying to eat the donkeys alive, especially the ones with immune system problems, which is about 5 of them.  Two of them have socks on their legs, & 2 of them have floppy material hanging down from velcro strips above their knees.  We'll see which one does the best job.  Chantilly is doing OK without having to be "dressed".  They are all getting Vitamin E, biotin, & Flaxseed oil, but right now I don't think anything is going to stop the flies.  I put a couple of new fly traps out last night about 2 hours before dark, & by chore time this morning there was about 1/2 inch of little bodies floating in the liquid.  Hopefully by now they are stuffed with the little monsters.  We catch about 40 pounds of flies a year, figuring each trap catches about a pound.  That's a lot of flies that are not reproducing more flies, at least I hope so.....!! 

Haven't heard how Honcho & Simmons, (probably now known as Cisco) are settling in.  I'm sure they are doing just fine, both of them are pretty easy going & not drama queens.  If John doesn't hear anything by the time I get back I'll have to give them a call.  

I hope it's cooler in Colorado......!!!!!

This morning was ..........interesting..........!!!!  As usual on race night we got to bed about 3am.  Woke up at 7 which is about an hour later than John usually hops out of bed.  I'm not really a morning person & hopping out of bed, does not appeal to me.  I like to gently "mosy" out of bed over a  1/2 hour or so.  But I sacrificed this morning because we were late.  

John goes out before I do, to start the round-up.  When I went out he was mumbling to himself.  It seems when he went out most if not all of them were out by the pens.  Tula took one look at him, & headed for Burroland, with a trail of her loyal followers right behind her.  There are always a few that are devoted to the idea of getting fed in their pens, but the rest of them were gone.  

Lately this has been a daily routine, the bean season makes them forget they are "domesticated" animals.  And yesterday rather than put up with their nonsense when we wanted to round them up a couple of hours early, so we could go racing, we just left them in the pens after breakfast.  Hmmmmmm..........I'm sure this morning was payback for them being so mistreated.

I grabbed a whip, (they make a swishing noise that the donkeys hate) & took off.  They weren't hard to find, because Chantilly brayed & gave away their hideout.  Tula is the only one I go after, get her going & the rest will follow.  A couple of "swishes" with the whip in the air, & a "rawhide yell or two", & the stampede was well under way.  John said he never saw Frijolita move that fast.  BlackJack was running & kicking to the side.  It's always amazing how they come over here in a panic & as soon as they get close to the pens, it's back to standing around like they have no clue what they are suppose to do...........!!!  Boaz did a couple of laps around the pens, & Simmons decided he didn't want to be herded, but he'd follow John into the pen.  It is always fun to watch their thought process, no matter how irritating it can be..............!!!  

I forgot we were suppose to do a home study today with Cindy & Tom.  Tom called & asked if we were coming.  It's not the first time I've got my schedule messed up, but I certainly hope it is the last.  Too much going on in too many different directions I guess.  We'll try for next Sunday, I circled it on my calendar in bright orange, so hopefully I won't forget again.  

John took my race car to a friend to "fix" before next Saturday.  The track was real slick last night, & brakes were rather optional, since they didn't stop the cars because of the wet track.  They threw the yellow flag, everyone was trying to slow down, actually some of them managed.  Unfortunately for the rest of us, it turned into a crash fest, brakes on, sliding into the car in front of you, & the guy behind you sliding into you.  The guy in front of me has a high back & my front is low, so I telescoped under his trunk.  My car was making "fan hitting" noises, but was still moving, so I continued, until it got too hot from the radiator being damaged, & the computer shut the engine off.  The front got a little bit "mushed" & needs to be straightened, so they can get the radiator out & put in a new one.  Will is good at straightening, & said he'd do it, which is great.  John's real good at body work, but when it gets into frame & braces, it takes the right tools. 

WHO KNEW.......!!

I learn something new every day, hopefully it is something useful.  Not always, but if not, at least it's something that I had no clue about before.  

The well guy is here right now, pulling the pump & dropping dry ice down the well.  I guess he put chemicals in first & then added dry ice which is suppose to make the water boil so the chemicals get pushed around & hopefully clean out the perforations that let the water in.  I guess between rust & calicum, not much water is getting in, at least that's what we're hoping.

Sunday we picked up the water wagon from Jon & Linda's.  John kept saying bowser & I finally figured out he was talking about the water wagon.  I try to keep things simple, & figured this was a "technical" term the Air Force came up with.  John still likes to use all that military jargon if he can.  Imagine my surprise when I did a search & found out it's a common term, I just never had heard it before.  The internet is such a wealth of information, even if some of it has to be taken with a grain of salt.  So now I have a new word to try to dump into a conversation, I have a feeling it "ain't" going to be easy........!!! LOL

Yesterday John went to have his eyes checked.  He's been having light shows & eclipses in his eyes & thought it was time to see what was going on.  He started to tell the technician about them & the guy started telling John what he was seeing, when it happens.  Even showed him pictures.  Has anyone ever heard of ocular migraines?  We sure hadn't. There's not much treatment if any for it, you just live with it I guess.

We changed Jenny's foot bandage this morning.  The hot weather is making her foot sweat which makes the bandages damp.  I'd love put some Vet Powder all over her foot to help keep it dry.  Last week it was really soggy & gunky, I cleaned it up & we let her foot air dry for about an hour before rebandaging it.  I did put a little Vet Powder around the coronet, & it looks a lot drier & tighter, if that makes sense.  So I figure it might be good on the whole foot.  Just called the vet clinic to see what they think.  By the way, when we had Jenny in the changing room, i.e. garage, Pancho waited patiently for her to come outside.  That's the first time one of the boys has actually waited for her.  She certainly has a following, most of the boys seem to think she's just what they want............!!!

Last night John noticed Chantilly was still limping a little bit on her right front.  She came here in January & we've never "messed" with her much.  She had learned to stay away from people by hiding behind Zorro & Rambo.  She come a long ways, insists we pet her when we feed & will come up to us anyplace on the property.  But none of that halter & picking up feet stuff.  John came in the feed room & said she let him pick up her foot & he could see the ouside was about an inch higher than the inside & the bar was way too long.  Don't know if that's the problem, but figured it wouldn't hurt to trim it off if we could.  We got it done, with a few abortive attempts, but she let John hold the foot up & me gnaw at it with my compound nippers .  It wasn't pretty, but at least the foot is level now.  Haven't noticed how she's walking today.

Boaz has a problem with habronema like Cisco, but he doesn't seem to be allergic to them.  He's had a place on his chest that today finally opened up & I can see them in there.  It's just a sore & not inflamed like Cisco would be.  So I slathered on some Ivermectin wormer, which should kill the little devils.  Still doctoring his knee, & the actual scab is still getting smaller. 

Probably doesn't look like it, but this is actually a bandage changing room.  See the supplies sitting on the hood of last year's race car?  Jenny is tied to the roll cage of the car, to make sure she doesn't try to wander off.  

She was a very good girl today, when Courtney trimmed her foot & we rebandaged the foot.  Of course she was getting a treat about every 15 seconds which probably helped.   Everything looks as good as can be expected, except for the heel bulbs.  They were bloody when we brought her home from the clinic.  They aren't bloody now but they are raw & probably bother her more than the re-section areas. 

She has to be bandaged so no dirt gets into the open areas, but we decided to try using less bandages, & hopefully the heel bulbs might get a chance to dry out.  Won't know until we change the bandage Monday.  She hasn't worn thru the bandages at all, so we'll see how it goes.  She's on soft dirt & straw, & we'll watch to make sure the bandages don't come loose. 

Courtney said the front of her foot is probably going to fall off.  The side groove in the picture moves if she puts pressure on the front of the foot.  Just another "opportunity to excel", I guess.  Courtney seems to think the open area will probably never cover with hoof material, the tissue will eventually become hardened somewhat like a callus.  If that happens I would imagine she will always have to wear a boot of some kind to protect it.  

She also trimmed Gus, she said his frogs had grown like crazy, hopefully that's why he's been a little ouchy the last couple of days.  

Rusty the white mule has been off his feed since yesterday morning.  If he doesn't perk up by morning, I'll call & see if Nancy can see him tomorrow.  The last time he did this, she said she felt something when she did a rectal that didn't feel right.  I hope he doesn't have a tumor or something like that.  

Everyone else seems to be doing good.  It's finally fly mask season for everyone, so every morning fly masks on, just before dark, take them off.  Chantilly will now let us take the mask off without going into the little squeeze.  She's not thrilled about it, but does stand "almost" still. 

Not a very good picture but I was in a hurry this morning.  Maybe I'll get a better one next time.  

So this is what we are dealing with.  I thought it didn't go so far up, but it looks like they opened the hoof right below the coronet, which means it will take probably about a year to grow out.  I'm feeding her Biotin to help with hoof growth, but don't think it makes it grow much faster.  The hole in the bottom of her sole is about the size of my thumb & goes all the way thru to this hole.  YUCK! 

It only took us about an hour today, so we're getting a little better.  Jenny wasn't very cooperative as usual, so I gave her a bare minimum dose of ACE. I think next time I'll use a little more........LOL

The good news is, when we took the wrappings off, the foot was drier than it was Monday.  And the bulbs of her heel weren't any worse & were fairly dry, so hopefully the worse is over.  I hope she doesn't get any proud flesh, I'm packing the holes with gauze to try to prevent that happening.

Today was the first day for everyone getting a fly mask, well everyone except Chantilly.  Chantilly hasn't decided to let us do whatever we want with her.  She enjoys head rubs & wither scratches & listens attentively when you talk to her.  She also has learned that people on tours have treats, & she willingly participates.  But we haven't moved on to things like halter, leads & fly masks just yet.  Don't think she's quite ready for that.

John is going to build one of our little squeezes, using a corral panel in a corner to put her in & put the mask on her.  I'm sure once she finds out the flies can't get in her eyes she probably will decide that it isn't so bad after all.  She's very gentle so our main concern is not to scare her, we aren't worried that she will kick or run over us or anything like that. 

John goes into Tucson tomorrow for an angiogram.  I have to have him to the hospital at 6am......!!!  I'll take him in, come back & feed & then go back & wait for them to get done with him.  This is a new experience so we're not really sure of what's going to be happening. Vic is going to feed in the evening, which will really help since we aren't really sure how long it will take.  I guess afterwards he has to lay perfectly still for awhile to give a clot time to harden where they run the "roto rooter" into the artery. 

Haven't heard form the vet clinic about Jenny today.  They usually call in the afternoon, although they said they'd call if she got up, so I assume she hasn't.  

Tucker is doing just fine after his traumatic day yesterday.  He was laying down a little more than usual, but when I let him & Mocha out this morning he took off as usual.  I checked him, much to his disgust, & everything seems to be just fine, no drainage or swelling. 

Today is the 1st race day of the season, so Burroland is closed.  I looked over there & almost everyone was milling around trying to figure out why they couldn't go over there.  When John rounds them up at 2pm to feed, it's much easier if they are all over here on this side.  

LOADED UP & READY TO GO......!!!

Since everyone was so upset I took a bottle of fruit flavored Tums out to the feed room porch & sat down.  Didn't take long for the observant ones to figure out there was treats being offered.  Ended up with Chantilly, Rusty, Gus, Mocha, Justin, Tucker, & Daisy.  Some of them had never had Tums but decided real quickly that they were worth pushing others out of the way.  Gus even put his front feet up on the porch & started making ugly faces at Tucker, shaking his head & putting his ears back.  Maybe because of being with Quilla all winter up at Claire's he seems more assertive.  I don't know, but he is definitely more involved with the other donkeys, even if it is in a negative way sometimes.......!!! LOL

Courtney is trying to get a day to come out & trim those that need it & reacquaint with Gus' feet.  She's also talking about bringing Martha out to do some massage work on Gus.  She thinks he might have some alignment issues, if he does Martha should be able to find them. 

Bijou was out all day yesterday.  After watching him for awhile, we've come to the conclusion that he has probably always been in a pen of some kind.  He had no idea of what to do, with all that freedom.  He stood around the pens for awhile, went in one & laid down & finally in the afternoon started following some of the donkeys around.  John had to put a halter on him to get him back in his pen.  He was down in the far corner of the property, when all the others heard the dinner bell & headed back to the pens.  I'm sure after a couple of days, he'll figure it out.  

John put everyone in their pens, before he went to get the little guy.  All of a sudden Frijolita, Chantilly, & Jenny "discovered" him.  He had been in a pen beside Jenny for over 2 days, he had been out with them all day, & for some reason those 3 zeroed in on the fact that.........."he ain't like us"....!!!  It was like he had grown another head or something, absolute panic on their part.  John thought Chantilly was going to try to jump out of her pen again, & Jenny actually ran, even though she is almost 3 legged lame because of abscesses in her left rear hoof.  Since her pen was closest to him, she wouldn't even go near the pen, ears up & totally locked in on this hairy little thing with no ears.  It took almost half an hour to entice her into the pen & I tried putting her hay where she couldn't see him.  But noooooooo, she had to be able to stare at him while she ate.  

The whole time all this nonsense is going on, he is busy doing little horse stuff, like eating & ignoring the big silly girls.  So far this morning everything seems to be OK, but we kept him in his pen overnight. Hopefully when he goes out today they will accept the idea that he is part of the herd, even though he looks a little funny.  

So far Rusty hasn't really paid much attention to him.  SIGH!

BIJOU IS OUT & ABOUT..........!!!

He went out this morning right after everyone else.  We should have waited a little while to let him out, everyone was "running" the pens to find little scrapes of hay, & weren't the least bit interested in him, including Rusty.  I saw him later on & he was up visiting with Tucker & Mocha, everyone else had disappeared.  

John said Rusty probably thinks he isn't going to be here very long like the other 2, so why develop a friendship.  I'm sure they will find each other eventually, but I certainly thought Rusty would be right with Bijou as soon as he was out of the pen.  

I cleaned out the foot he was limping on & the poor little guy doesn't have any frog at all.  We're going to haul him, when we take Mocha & Tucker in Friday to see Dr. Shamis.  On the way home, we will meet Courtney on the east side of Tucson & get his little feet trimmed.  

Last night Chantilly must have gotten scared by something.  She slammed into one of the corral panels in her pen, moved it enough that John couldn't open the gate, without pushing it out of the way.  This morning she has a "boo-boo" in the middle of her nose.  Can't imagine what scared her, she can see for a long way & I'm sure her hearing is excellent.  So John had to redo the pen this morning to straighten it out.  I'd like to get all the pens straightened out, they passed "not" square a long time ago.  Which is why I really like them for pens, they have a lot of give when something happens, like last night. 

Still working on Boaz's proud flesh or sarcoid on his knee.  The Wonder Dust is working on it, but I'm pretty sure she will have to cut what's left off. 

 A REAL COWBOY HAS NO FEAR

Courtney is suppose to come today to trim everyone else.  Boaz seems to be doing just fine, doesn't seem to be sore or anything.  Donkeys are some of the toughest animals on the planet I think.  His feet sure look a lot better than they did, I hope they will grow out good & no more cracks.  

Chantilly has taken up with the "jenny" herd led by Miss Tula, & doesn't seem to miss Zorro at all.  I'm glad she is finding a niche, she is so shy I was afraid without Zorro she might go off in a corner somewhere.  But she seems to be doing just fine.  

Tucker will be 5 months old the 6th of Feb & has started challenging Boaz, when Boaz brays.  I don't know what he is saying, but he better be careful, one of these days he'll be out of the pen, (I hope) so he better not be telling Boaz he's going to whip his ass.....!!! LOL

We're thinking about getting in touch with Dr. Shamis about Tucker.  It would be closer than taking him to the Equine Clinic in Gilbert & he's been to their clinic twice, so they know him.  If he checks out OK, we want to leave him for a couple of days to see if he can eat hay without choking.  That way if he does choke, he's where they can work with him.  Out here we don't have access to emergency vet care like we did before our mobile vet left last month.  Still talking about it.  I had been putting it off, hoping that he would drop & we could have him gelded at the same time.  But so far his little "purse" is empty, absolutely nothing in it.  SIGH!

MADDIE & ZORRO ARE HOME..............!!!

We delivered them this afternoon, let them out of the trailer, & they disappeared into the brush, well they did after Zorro had a dust bath in the powder dust that covers most of the open area.  He thought that was great.  Maddie was too busy running around trying to see everything.  

THIS IS WHAT MOST OF THE 20 ACRES LOOKS LIKE, THEY'LL HAVE TO MAKE TRAILS THRU IT.  

Bill got some hay pellets. to "chum" them in with.  We also took him a bell to use to call them in.  He has a bale of hay, but I seriously doubt that he'll need to feed them.  Maddie hit the ground with her head down chomping away.  It's all native grass which shouldn't be really high in sugar & starch.  Once they are there for awhile, they should eat more like a "wild" burro would & hopefully won't gain weight, they are both in pretty good shape right now. 

 

On the way home Bill called our cell phone to ask a couple of questions.  I asked if he'd seen them, & he said they kept coming thru the area by the house, & in fact Maddie was licking his arm, even as we spoke.  She really picked him out when he was here last week, followed him all over the place, & tried to put her head on his shoulder.  

Remember I said the road into their place was like a tank proving grounds?  We checked the distance & the time today.  It took us 15 minutes to go 1.4 miles, which works out to about 6mph.  I don't recall us going that fast.........!!!!  LOL  At least we got the donkeys there without bouncing them around.  

I was worried about how Chantilly would take Zorro not being here.  She was pretty much bonded with him, although he didn't seem to return the thought.  She came in with Tula's gang tonight, followed John into her pen, & seems to be just fine.  Donkeys are "in the moment" animals, so they don't carry a lot of memory baggage around with them, at least that's what the experts say.  But I would imagine they would recognize each other if they met again, I don't really know for sure.  I know Ruger was very glad to see his momma Ruthie after being separated a week.  And Ruthie latched onto her little boy & is busy mothering him & making sure the other donkeys don't get too close to him.  He's about a year old & almost as big as she is, but I guess she's still going to take care of him.  

Tomorrow morning we'll be taking Boaz into the vet clinic.  Courtney will meet us there, we'll get him sedated, so she can work on his nasty front feet.  They are cracked & split with quite a bit of damage to the coronets.  I hope it isn't permanent, but it looks pretty bad.  I'll probably have the vet look at his sarcoid on his leg & see what she thinks.  I think most vets inject chemo drugs into the sarcoid to get rid of them.  That can be quite expensive.  There are a lot of old time home remedies too.  It actually is smaller than it was when he came.  A lot of times sarcoids will disappear spontaneously, the general opinion is, the immune system goes into hypermode & attacks them.  If that is true, I think when he was gelded the 23rd of Dec, & he developed swelling on his belly, his immune system went after the infection from the gelding, & took a swipe at the sarcoid.  Two times after he came here the whole thing turned into a bloody mess & shrank in size.  But once I started giving him Tucoprim for the belly infection, we didn't see any more changes in the saracoid............SIGH.......!!!!!!!  

Ruger is a momma's boy.  He loves his momma & she wants to be with him.  In fact she spent the night in his pen.  Boaz has slowed down quite a bit from chasing the girls, so we're going to try letting EVERYONE out today.  John will close the gate to Burroland, so they have to stay close to the pen area, in case it goes wrong.  Hopefully Boaz will leave Zorro alone & everyone can be out to roam around.  I think Ruger will stay with momma.

Yesterday morning John went over to Burroland to stir up some donkeys since no one seemed interested in coming in for breakfast.  He found the whole bunch together & told Tula to get in her pen, which gets her moving.  She took off running with the herd trailing behind.............including Pepper........!!!  John said he was actually running, although he was going more sideways than straight.  There are times when he can't hardly move, & it's been years since we saw him run.  This morning he almost knocked Dave down when he went in Pepper's pen to pick up poo.  Dave hasn't been around long enough to remember when we use to call Pepper "Bulldozer".......!!!  So I assume he is feeling pretty good.

UPDATE:  So much for letting everyone out together.  John let Zorro & Chantilly out so they could get away from the pens.  He said when he let Boaz out, it took him a couple of minutes to find Zorro & start biting & chasing him.  Zorro ran behind John & Boaz slowed down enough to pay attention to John & followed him into a pen.............BIG MISTAKE, on his part.  He's still in a pen, we're waiting to see if Zorro will go over to Burroland, which is now open.  If he does then Mr. HotShot can be out over here in the pen area.  If not he may stay in a pen all day.

 BOYS & MULES WORKING THE MINES

Well, we're trying something new today.  Boaz is just too rough on Zorro.  Zorro is pretty young & although he hasn't been gelded very long, he's been gelded longer than Boaz.  Boaz sees him as a threat & has been chewing on Zorro's neck until it looks like a science project.  Yesterday Zorro & Chantilly stayed in the pens for the day.  i got the brilliant idea that if Boaz & the herd went over to Burroland, I could shut the gate & let the kids out on the 10 acres.  

So that's what we're doing today.  Should work out just fine, we'll put the kids in their pen before we let the others come back over here.  Almost had a problem, I went over to make sure where they were, & Ruthie followed me back to the gate.  I guess she thought I wanted her to follow me.  I had to push her to get her out of the gate, so I could close it.  

Tomorrow we're going to pick up Boaz & Ruthie's son.  We were suppose to pick him up the 1st time, but the owner wanted to keep him even though we explained donkeys need to be with other donkeys.  He called & said he had changed his mind.  

Now we will really be over full, not even counting the ones farmed out to foster homes, as the web-site now reflects.  Hope everyone doesn't come back at the same time, or John will get to build some more pens.  Right now there aren't very many people looking for donkeys, I'm sure the price of hay has a lot to do with that.  Chantilly & Zorro are bonded, gorgeous & ready to go...........to the right home.  

Heard from Amy about Rambo.  They haven't put a halter on him, because he has a wound under his jaw where he probably had a too small halter on for too long.  He also has a permanent ridge across his nose.  But she said they've done about everything else & he's cooperative & enjoy the attention.  What a difference from the hormonal brat he was here.  I asked her if she thought someone traded donkeys on us during the trip to deliver him to her?  LOL  What a difference not having girls around has made in his behavior.  She said he's easier to work with than Gus.  I can believe that, I remember Gus as having a lot of attitude & definite opinions on what he would allow or not. 

JUST WHAT WE NEED.............!!!!

 RAMBO

I think Zorro & Rambo haven't been gelded very long.  This morning Jenny "discovered" them & worked all her wiles before we finally put a halter on her & dragged her to her pen.  Rambo has been upset every since & trying to get out of their pen.  So far pawing, braying & shaking the gate.  I hope he doesn't try to climb out like Beau did in September.   I'd go ahead & let him out, make Jenny happy...........but........he's aggressive enough I'm afraid someone like Pepper or Jack might get hurt if they couldn't move out of his way fast enough.  So we'll have to figure out a plan, the longer he stays in the pen without exercise, the more agitated he'll probably get..........SIGH!  Zorro was interested, but not quite as silly.  

We've been separating Chantilly from them at feeding time.  With this latest turn of events, if they have all been together since before the boys were gelded, she might be PG.

Got an e-mail this morning from a woman with a young family & a jack.  They got him from ropers & he was in bad shape.  Now that he's feeling better he's acting like a jack, up to & including going after her young son.  They want him gone now.....!!!  And we are over full & can't take him.  Life would be so much easier for everyone involved if people would get these guys gelded as soon as they have anything to geld. 

BEEN WORKING ON NAMES..........!!!

CHANTILLY

Chantilly is a shy little girl, & seems to have developed a method of hiding behind the boys.  We are probably going to put her in a pen by herself, at least part of the time, so she can learn to take care of herself. 

 ZORRO & RAMBO

The boys don't know what the word shy means & Rambo is a "gate worker"........!!!  I was hoping when Thelma went to her new home, we'd get a break from having to keep the gates double locked, but guess NOT.....!!!!  In fact if you look at his lip in this picture it isn't just hanging on the bottom of his face, it's being "busy"...............!!!

Already have a call in to get their feet trimmed.