BANQUET OVER, ON TO BIGGER AND BETTER THINGS

The banquet was pretty good, nice steak dinner, and then on to the important stuff, like handing out plaques and money and everyone congratulating everyone else.  Of course some of them weren't speaking to each other at the end of the season, but I guess time heals old wounds and "there's always next year" to "get" them.  

Before we left for the banquet John let all the kids out that were thru eating, which was about half of them.  When we came home, we left the courtyard gate open on the way into the house.  I went down to fill Mother in on all the happenings and show her my plaque, and when I came back, John was standing in the great room, commenting on the fact I had left the gate open.  Really.............how did he know?  Perhaps because there were mini donkeys and mules roaming around in this forbidden area.  I opened the door and suggested they vacate the area, which they all did quite nicely.  Someone did leave a message concerning my narrow mindedness I guess.  

 

Didn't see the culprit, although when I opened the door, Jack the mini mule was standing in the neighborhood, and he's real easy to blame......!!!  LOL

BlackJack was one of those left in because he wasn't done eating in the afternoon.  John had left BJ's pen unlatched, so he could push it open.  Usually if nothing is happening and he is stuck in the pen, he will start banging on the corral panels hard enough to move them and the thought was once he figured out it was moving he would continue to bang until he could get out.  

That didn't happen, instead of banging on the corral panels he decided to dig a hole to China.  This morning when John was filling the cavern in with a rake he noticed this:

 Not the ballpoint pen, but the pot shard.  We've found them before on the property, even found a corn grinding rock called a metate when they were digging the laterals years ago. One time we found a shard as big as a hand that had been charred, probably was a cooking pot . 

Did find out the track plans to have the Hornets race for 6 race days in January.  They are having big money races for the Modifieds and Late Models two week-ends in a row.  They use us for cheap filler, so the "real" racers have time to work on their cars if needed.  

We have a slight problem, my car is laying in pieces in a friend's garage.  Had to pull the motor and transmission to get to the differential to lock it.  John and I have been discussing this ever since we found out last night.  His answer was to run the Toyota, you know the slug he drove the last race night and I lapped him......!!! LOL  

I go out every race to win, not to "have fun", which is what John said I would have.  DON'T THINK SO....!!!   

In 52 years I have learned, if I dig in for my position for awhile, and then give up, I usually get my way.  So now John is talking about trying to get the Kia back together by January 11th, and he said if he did, then he'd take the Tojo and race it.  Guess he didn't mind me lapping him while he was "having fun"......!!!!  We'll see, besides the locking and getting it back together, the front end needs some beefing up before I go back on the track.  The fan shroud is pushed back into the radiator from contact with assorted items, like cars and tractor tires and one more "contact" would probably get the radiator.  That will take some engineering and welding, which John can't do, so we'll have to beg time and effort from guys trying to get their cars ready.   We'll see how it goes.........!!

Had fun at Mike & Zeke's annual walk-a-thon for charity.  This year they walked for Care for the Horses in Sierra Vista & for us.  I actually walked the 1st 4 miles along with Ann Jost the founder of Care for the Horses, as the horse riders left us behind.  Zeke stayed with us though, I guess our pace was pretty close to donkey speed.  

He did have an affinity for the goodies growing along the side of the trail, going from side to side to try to snatch a mouthful.  I looked back one time, & Mike had dismounted & just turned Zeke loose.  Zeke was having a great time, wandering & eating, didn't seem to bother him, that we were getting farther & farther ahead of him.  Mike finally climbed aboard again, & actually for the final few miles, Zeke stayed up with the horses.  For a donkey he has a pretty fast walk............if he wants to.  

Tonight is my last night of racing.  For some reason the "powers to be"  seem to love to "mess" with the Hornet races.  They have made us run the opposite direction, which is really interesting.  Last race night we race half the main event one direction & halfway thru, they stopped us & had us run the other way.  Actually I didn't finish the race, my motor said, "I'm done", right after they stopped us to make us go the "wrong" way. 

Tonight they are adding laps to the main event, so instead of running 15 laps we'll be running 25.  And they are going to invert the field by points.  What that means is the higher you are in the points the farther back you will start the race.  Oh! goodie this should be interesting, I am in 5th place for points, so I will start in the 3rd row from the back, with the hotshots all behind me.  John said to let them pass me, & then get on their bumper & let them make a path thru the other cars.  Sounds great in theory.........BUT........sometimes those "paths" close up real quick, or 2 or 3 cars try to fit into 1 space.  I just hope I can finish, & hopefully have a decent finish.  I'll be driving the poor little underpowered Toyota from last year.  John hasn't started working on the Kia motor yet, so it's me & the Toyota.  Wish me luck............!!!!

I doubt that I'm going to be very "talkative" the next few days.  John left for Indiana yesterday afternoon, so it's just me until Friday afternoon.  Explaining this lack of personnel to the donkeys hasn't gone well so far.  John just lets them wander in at feeding time.  I think they should show up, get in their pens & wait for me to show up with the piece of carrot.  It usually takes me 2 or 3 days to get my point across, since John is coming home Friday, it won't be worth it for me to have a tantrum over going in pens..............SIGH.......!!!!  I started at 4:30 last night got in the house at 8:15............!!  This morning went about the same but Lysa was here to help & pick up poo, so it only took about 3 hours........!!! LOL  Usually tomorrow wouldn't be a regular day for Lysa, but she's going to come in the morning anyway, bless her heart.  

What really gets me going, for instance, this morning when I got up there were donkeys & mules everywhere around the house.  I went out to feed the birds & got brayed at, & once they saw movement at the house, they started moving closer.  LIFE IS GOOD.....!!!  Went out to the feed room, had to work my way thru the gaggle of equine, went in to cut up carrots, came out & there wasn't a donkey or mule in sight.  WHERE DID THEY GO..........????  I didn't really have time to go looking for them, so I fed the chickens & mixed up the feed.  They finally started wandering in, well except for Ruger, Ruthie & Boaz, they come in like they are escaping from a fire & get right in your face, they haven't trampled me yet, but the thought has crossed my mind........!!!  Actually they are very good, about slamming on the brakes before they bowl you over..........!!! LOL

We have a new visitor, Eeyore came in Sunday.  He was a rescue last year up in Phoenix & our neighbor's offered to take him.  But they are moving to Colorado, this summer & right now are visiting family in Ohio.  It's easier to take care of him here than have to go to their place, so he "visiting".  We haven't talked about if he is going to go back home until they move or not, we'll just have to see how it goes.  

He's blind in one eye & about 32 years old.  He's a typical mule I guess.  If they don't know you, you have no right to touch, look or talk to them.  He won't take treats, in fact he hasn't eaten enough to keep a bird alive since he's been here.  Vic said he goes thru spells of not eating.  Usually I'd let him out on the property & he could eat wild food if he wanted to.  But until John gets back he'll stay in a pen.  Vic said the only way he can catch him if he's out is to rope him..........!!!  I'm not a roper, so for now he'll stay in a pen.  I even bought a bale of alfalfa yesterday to entice him.  He just looked at me like he knew what bribery is, & isn't going to play the game.........!!!! 

Unfortunately, the race track has more problems than just the ones we saw last Saturday I guess.  As of now, they have closed down the track for the rest of the year.  They are blaming the racers for not appreciating having a local track to race at.  I would imagine once the manager left last week, they didn't have the people to keep it operating.  We heard that a lot of the workers left when he left.  Dang......... I was in 5th place for end of the year points in the Hornet division.  My goal this year was to finish better than last year's 6th place finish.  Guess I did that, but I really expected a little longer season........!!!

Talked to our son last night & we'll be going up to ET Raceway the 26th of May, with his Super Stock.  A couple of the other local racers are going too, so it should be fun.  Just wish it was closer, it's 200 miles up there, which makes for a long night.  Rod said he could build me a Bomber if I wanted to race up there.  I told him by the time we rushed around & fed the donkeys, drove 200 miles, raced, drove 200 miles home & fed donkeys after a couple of hours sleep, I probably wouldn't be having much fun.........!!!  They don't race the Hornets, so it would either be Bombers, which basically is knock out the glass & put in a couple of pipe bars in the driver's door.  Or Dirt Dolls, which is like Powder Puff, in Bombers.  I think I'll pass, if we can keep Rod's car competitive for the season up there, that will be good. 

UPDATE......!!!

Vet clinic called this morning, said Jenny's still getting stronger, that it only takes one person to help her get her rear end up under her now.  So she's still not "on her own" yet...........SIGH.....!!!  But we'll take what we can get.  She said they go out & get her up during the day a few times.  So we probably aren't going to be going up to get her until later in the week.  

I finally got a picture of Boaz's leg this morning.  It's much better than it was, but I don't see it getting completely well without the vet scraping it down some more.  It's just too thick.  

Racing went pretty good last night.  Finished 2nd in the heat race & 7th in the main event.  Brought the car home in one piece, so that makes John happy.......!!! LOL

Also brought home a rather oversized end of the year trophy for last year.  I finished in 6th place in the Hornet class & this trophy is about 4 foot tall......!!!   Absolutely the biggest most useless piece of "memorabilia" I've ever had the pleasure of possessing.  Have no idea what the 1st place one looks like, but I bet it was BIG.......!!! 

There was a big mess at the end of the year, the promoter got locked out of the track, & it's all new people now.  I guess he left the trophies & the new people just got around to handing them out.  Too bad they didn't have access to the end of the year point fund money, he absconded with. 

Any ideas on what to use it for?