TIS THE SEASON TO DOCTOR I GUESS......!!!

 WHICH IS WHY I DON'T RIDE ANYMORE......!!! 

I've got 3 in leggings or brown gauze bandages, and Boaz looks like he's been bathed in bright pink Thuja Zinc Oxide.  He's got "it" whatever "it" is.  He had a place on his shoulder yesterday, I globbed it up with zinc oxide and this morning it's dry..........but.........the hair has sloughed off.  That's one way to tell if you have it, the hair completely lets go.  I was rewrapping Quilla's legs and asked John to go down to Boaz and doctor him.  So he grabbed the zinc oxide and headed off to play nurse.  All of a sudden I hear yelling and all sorts of noise going on.  I yelled to see what was going on.  It seems Boaz prefers a more gentle touch, especially when dealing with his "boy parts" as John calls them.  Lysa is cleaning pens and we girls got quite a laugh out of the situation, John didn't think it was very funny, for some reason.  Boaz didn't kick AT John he just kicked, but it got John's attention. 

Pepper has a messed up eye.  He's had on a fly mask most of the time, so have no idea what's going on.  I washed it out and put some ointment in it yesterday and this morning it was dry but still closed.  I was going to use some penicillin (vet recommended in the past) 2cc's squirted in the eye, but discovered I don't have any.  I went thru all my goodies awhile back and threw out everything that was expired, I'm sure that's where it went.  

Gigi is finally letting John put her fly mask on and off standing in the corner where the squeeze is, but with it closed.  So she is accepting John actually standing in her space without a panel between them.  She's really walking good for her and her bulging shoulder doesn't seem to stick out as far as it did.  Tyler said it might have been broken at some time, I think it's deformed from walking oddly most if not all her life.  She will never walk "normal", but she certainly is walking a lot better than she was. 

NOT MUCH HAPPENING AROUND HERE, AND THAT'S A GOOD THING...........!!!!

ZEKE AND MIKE PENCIL DRAWING BY  LOCAL ARTIST, Clement Scott

I really like the boredom of one day being just like another.  We don't race tonight, so that cuts down on the kinetic frantic getting ready.  Actually John does all that getting ready stuff, I don't think he would trust me to do anything on the car, any more than I trust him in my kitchen.....!!!  LOL  We learned many years ago, to stay out of each others areas and to not try to work together.  We're still married and having fun, so it's worked.

Usually in the morning after we feed, I come in to take care of Mother and hide out while John and Lysa do the work......!!!!  This morning John was picking up poo, and I actually made the effort to go out and help him.  That's one thing we can do together, neither of us cares how it's done as long as it gets done.  The first thing I noticed was the flies and sun have gotten to Quilla's bare front legs.  As I moved along, picking up poo and refilling water buckets I checked out Cisco's sheath, just for fun....!!!  I've had him on Benedryl since January, hoping to get ahead of his allergies.  Well, obviously a fly has landed on his sheath in the last day or so, because he's managed to scrape it into a bloody wound.  Sigh....!!!    I was so hoping that we could keep it at bay without having to put Thuja Zinc Oxide on it every other day.  I'll have to keep an eye out on his legs, he gets sores on his legs with lots of serum oozing down the legs.  Makes a mess and is much easier to deal with if I catch it early.  

So while John continued picking up poo, I got my medical kit and headed out.  I doctored Quilla's leg and went ahead and wrapped both front legs.  Although only one was bloody, the other one wouldn't be far behind, I'm afraid.  

Over the years I've wrapped legs with just about everything.  Most things work, some are more labor intensive than others.  Since I put a bandage on the sore area, and wrapped that in brown gauze, I just went ahead and wrapped the other leg in brown gauze too.  If it holds up OK, I might try it on the others.  This morning he was trying to impress Coquette, with his manliness, so we'll see how well the gauze holds up under fire.  I know Boaz's doesn't hold up very well, when he's entertaining the girls.  The gauze would be great, it's lightweight and breathable, which would be nice when summer gets here.  

Wister and Ruger were also involved in the "orgy"...........!!!  Wister leads a very interesting life, one minute he's nursing off Ruthie, the next minute he's on Coquette, actually showing the others how it's done......!!!  Who knew, you would think getting gelded at age 4 months would curtail that behavior, guess not..!!!

Gigi is really walking good with her new shoe.  She seems to be comfortable and I never see her laying down, except when she's enjoying one of the sandy bathing areas.  I am really impressed with how she is doing.  Just wish both her and Rosie would be a little more cooperative.  John is putting on and taking off fly masks now.  Rosie will "allow" John to put on and take off without being in the redneck squeeze, but lets him know it isn't her idea. 

Gigi has to go in her squeeze.  She sees him coming and goes in the squeeze to wait for him.  We've tried closing the squeeze and hoping she would go stand "beside" outside it.  NOPE!  There has to be a corral panel between them, then she will just stand there and let him put on or take off.  

Neither one of these girls are afraid of us, but any interaction so far is on their terms.  If it's dark John can do just about anything with Rosie, in daylight, not going to happen. 

GIGI IS IMPROVING EVERYDAY........!!!

She will never  be perfect and she will always have to have regular trimming, but it looks like she might have a chance at a life without as much pain as she had.  She really looks forward to her little bute infused molasses treat twice a day.  She's figured out how to get it without trying to swallow the syringe.  That was really scary, she had her teeth clamped on the syringe and wasn't going to let go.  

We are separating them during the day, and it seems to be working out good.  Rosie only has bermuda to eat and she's actually eating some of it.  At night when they are together they get a mixture of alfalfa and bermuda.  I don't think there is a chance of Rosie not eating, she seems to know how to eat just fine.  I don't know exactly how long we will have to feed her alfalfa, to alleviate an occurrence of  hyperlipidemia.  I think as long as she continues to eat, she will be OK.  

We had a couple of women come out today to look at the mini mules.  One was originally looking for donkeys, her husband had donkeys when he was a kid and loves them.  So I don't know what she might end up with.  Molly really worked the woman, stayed right in her hip pocket.  If she doesn't take the mules, an excellent foster home turned up earlier this week, so either way it looks like they will be leaving.  We'll miss them, whoever ends up with them will have a lot of fun, I'm sure. 

Racing last night went very well from my point of view, I only finished 4th in the heat race, but I WON the main event.............. Yippee..........finally.....!!!  It was nice to be given 1st place last Saturday, but it's much better to actually win it.   John and the poor little Toyota finished last, that car is just too tired to be competitive.  He says he's having fun, so I guess that's what it's all about. 

We're coming down to the wire on this special event, if the cars stay together, we will race Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday late afternoon.  Three events in a row without a break.  There's no way we'd not be there, but we'll both be glad when it's over......!!  

The donkeys stayed in all day yesterday and Lysa doesn't pick up poo on Thursday, so John has been busy today and still isn't finished.  I hope he gets done before tomorrow.........!! LOL

FLY MASKS ARE DISAPPREARING FAST.....!!!

I had to get in touch with Renee at Colorful Equine and place an order.  It wasn't too bad until Boaz and Wister came home.  Since then fly masks are getting torn up and disappearing at a rapid rate.  And the ones that aren't disappearing have holes in them usually right over an eye of course......!!!  I think the last I heard John said there are at least 7 masks out there somewhere.

He actually spent most of Sunday walking all over back and forth in a grid looking for masks.  Didn't find one mask, which was really disappointing.  But the good thing is, John got a lot of exercise...!!!  Not sure he would agree. 

John picked up Penny's feet yesterday morning and she was a perfect lady.  Except for not picking up quickly everything else went well.  She did pick up, but hasn't learned that when you grip the fetlock you want to pick up.  Molly learned that so well, when I was treating her thrush, that little foot literally flew up, which was rather surprising the first time or two.  

Courtney is suppose to come out Thursday to do some trimming.  Tomorrow morning Lysa is going to pick up Penny's feet.  If that goes well, I guess we'll see how she does with Courtney and real hoof trimming.  She really does seem to want to cooperate and since we've been very careful to try to make her feel safe and comfortable around us, I hope that will all transfer to whoever is working with her. 

38 DEGREES, UGH....!!!!

Glad to see his donkeys are appreciated

Well I guess we should expect "cooler" weather since it is October, but I don't have to like it.  The days are almost perfect, but as soon as the sun goes down, it gets chilly in a hurry.  I'll be racing tonight and am seriously thinking of wearing long jons.  I would rather sweat than shiver.....!!! 

Got a call from Mocha and Tucker's Mom yesterday.  They did live in Las Cruces, New Mexico, but have moved to Lordsburg, N.M. which is just about 60 miles from here.  January has never been here, said she plans on coming over to see our donkeys soon.  Of course we will go over as soon as we get a chance to see how much Tucker has grown.  She said they are spoiled rotten, which isn't a big surprise.  Tucker is 2 years old and still smaller than Mocha.  I don't know how much more he will grow, since he was premature he might always be small.  His daddy Beau, wasn't very big either.  They have the run of 62 acres of pecan orchards with great Pyrenees dogs as playmates and January to anticipate their every want or need...!!!! LIFE IS GOOD.......!!!!  LOL

We talked about not participating in the Open House this year, but have about decided to go ahead.  There's a lot of people that come back year after year and we hate to disappoint them.  We will need volunteers to help, Saturday and Sunday, December 7th and 8th, if anyone in the area would like to come out for a few hours to show people around.  If interested, let me know:  hiestand08@mtecom.net  This year if I can get the feed room cleaned up we're going to leave the dutch door open, so people can see the donkey's favorite room.  They all know where the "chow" comes from, if I have the door open, there are always heads inside watching me.  Max the big red horse was big enough he could take the lids off some of the cans, which added a sense of adventure to the whole operation.  

Penny did real good yesterday with her feet, I picked all 4 up and held them till I decided to put them down, while scraping with a hoof pick.  She was just fine.  I have been using a clicker and she really knows what that means, which helps I'm sure.  Tomorrow John is going to see if she is willing to let him pick up feet.  If that goes well , then we'll see if Lysa can pick them up Monday when she's here to clean pens.  Then the next barrier will be when Courtney comes to trim.  Will Penny let her pick up feet?  Guess we'll find out.....!!!

OFF WE GO ON AN ADVENTURE......!!!

Well tomorrow is going to start early......!!!  We are suppose to meet horse and/or stock trailers on the NW side of Tucson at 6:45 AM........!!!   Yes AM..........do you realize what time we will have to get up, to get everyone rounded up & fed, so we can spend about an hour on the road getting there?  I don't even know for sure where we're going, up by Phoenix maybe?  Kingman has the holding pens for Arizona, maybe we're going there.  If so, it's REALLY going to be a long day. 

The state of Arizona auctioned off a bunch of burros Monday, that had become wards of the state for one reason or another.  They said most of them had come across the border of Mexico & of course the state wants to get rid of them as soon as possible, so they don't have to invest any money in taking care of them.  

Karen at, Equine Voices got in touch with us & asked if we could help with moving some of the burros they bought at the auction.  We're suppose to haul 6 of them to Sonoita, which isn't too far from us, at least as the crow flies.......!! We are more than happy to help haul donkeys for someone else, because that doesn't add to our herd.....!!! 

Thank goodness Lysa will be here tomorrow morning to clean pens & she will let everyone out before she goes home.  I'll set Mother up with lots of junk food, so she'll be happy.  That's the 2 major things to be done, as hot as it's been lately, the donkeys will just go find a tree to stand under for the day.  I doubt that we'll get home very early, so their supper might be late.  That's always good for a bunch of grumpy donkeys, they've never figured out, it is in their best interest to not try to make us pay for being late.  Their best option would be to go in their pens immediately, when they see us drive in the driveway.........but that's not what happens.  They would rather mill around in a disorganized mess, pretending like they have no idea where their pen is.  

Sunday we had Jamie Williams a Tucson photographer out to take pictures.  We were in the middle of rounding up donkeys when she & Charlie showed up.  Everyone did pretty good except for Molly & Jack the mini mules.  They had not a clue as to where they were suppose to be, they spent 30 minutes milling around in the way of getting everyone else in their pens.  That's John job to get them in the pens, so I stayed out of it, until they were the only ones left.  I got the bat, a little saddle whip with a flat popper on the end of it.  Came out of the feed room, swung that bat a couple of times to whistle thru the air, & off them went at high speed, bucking a kicking like crazy.  It's amazing, they went right into their pen.  I've told John that it's much easier to make them do what they are suppose to do, than to wait for them to do it.  They have no concept of time & really don't care if you do......!!!! LOL

STILL DOCTORING THE GIRLS

Lysa & John, Penny in the "squeeze" & her best friend Coquette "helping"......!!!

Every morning we doctor.  Coquette has some sort of "thing" on her face.  All the hair is gone & it itches, at least she rubs it, which of course if she opens it the flies love....!!!  I found one of Cisco's old crusader masks, had to sew it back together, but it covers the lower part of her face so the flies can't get to her, even if it is open.  SHE HATES IT...!!!  Keeps shaking her head & trying to rub it off.  "Going to be a LONG summer, I guess".....!!!!  Hopefully she'll get over it soon.  

I don't know if it is fungal or bacteria or what, lice, mange, I mean there are a lot of things it could be.  They all look about alike to me unless there is habronema, they seem to be my speciality...!!! Got rid of the ones on Penny's face & in her eye & so far no new eruptions, now that she is wearing a fly mask.  Hopefully that's the end of that.....!!  The whole side of her face is bald probably from years of habronema sores all summer, but at least she doesn't have to put up with the itching now.  

They are settling down, Penny hasn't let loose with one of her "famous" kicks since Tyler was here.  When we have her in the squeeze, I desensitize her legs with a rope, nothing dramatic just wrap it around & pull it back & forth.  She's doing real good, seems to accept it.  Of course I haven't tried anything horrifying like using the rope to pick up a foot, or trying to pick one up by hand.  I also haven't tried working with her outside the squeeze, not too thrilled with the idea of her being in a position of being able to swing that loaded end around at will........!!!!  LOL

Suppose to have a group of teenagers come out next week to groom.  They are in some kind of "keep the kids entertained for the summer" program at Ft. Huachuca, down by Sierra Vista.  There will be almost enough for each one to have a donkey to groom, which will be great for the donkeys.  Most of them still have winter hair hanging on.  

Everyone else seems to be doing good right now.  Courtney is coming out this week-end to trim Gus & whoever else needs it.  Gus is the only one we have right now that needs regular trimming.  I offered to haul him to her somewhere, but she wants to look the others over to make sure they are self trimming properly. 

MY COMPUTER AND I ARE BACK.....!!

 

Don't expect much from me for a day or two.  The man brought my computer back with a new hard drive installed, plugged it in & left.  I haven't thrown anything yet, but that could definitely be a possibility.  What has really got me going is I can't get my e-mail account to dump my e-mail into Microsoft Live Mail, like it is suppose to do.  Not sure who owns the problem, I can get to my mail, just not with one click.........yet.........!!!

 

One thing about it, the hard drive is nice and clean, almost spotless, which I guess is a good thing.  But I sure do miss all my old one click stops.  OK, enough whining, poor John is going to have to hear enough of that, over the next few days. 

 

All the "fur" kids seem to be doing just fine.  A few already have their fly masks on.  Even though it's been fairly cool the last few days, the ones that don't have good immune systems attract the more hardy flies, flying around.  Lysa found wigglers in the Rubbermaid 50 gallon water tank yesterday.  I wouldn't think it was mosquitos, but whatever they are, will get dumped just as soon as the kids  drink the water down, probably tomorrow. 

 

Although I usually don't do a name change when new ones come in unless it is something that I just can't live with, Red does have a new more appropriate name.  Nothing wrong with Red, but it just didn't seem to have a lot of thought put into it.  We're calling her Reba now.  If you follow country music you will know why.  If not, that's OK, it's a good name for her anyway. 

 

When we first let Red out yesterday

 

More of the parade

 

 

I tried to add these videos to yesterday's blog, BUT, for over a week Blogspot has had a problem, & adding a new post or like yesterday adding a video doesn't always work.  I've had to change from Mozilla Firefox to Internet Exployer to even be able to add a new post.  People all over the world are screaming like banchees, FIX IT...........but so far not much is happening.  Since it doesn't cost anything to use Blogspot, I guess we shouldn't complain.  But once you get use to something being there, it's rather grating not to have it. 

 

 

Red seems to be fitting in nicely, even if Rusty doesn't seem to realize she is here as his new friend.  She hangs out in the middle of the donkey herd & moves when they move.  Last night she came in limping on front let.  I wanted to make sure she didn't have a rock caught or something.  She picked her foot up nicely, no problem.  Her owner said she was OK with her fronts but not with the backs, so I'm glad that's true.....!!! LOL  Didn't find anything. 

 

This morning John wasn't available to help doctor, so Lysa got to help.  We did Cheyenne first, tying her with her butt in the corner worked out much better, although she still didn't give up without a fight.  But Lysa was up to the task.

 

I didn't know how Molly would react to someone other than John giving her cookies in exchange for her picking up her feet.  Not a problem, I don't think she'd care if it was Jack the Ripper, as long as the cookies kept coming.  She sure does pack poo & whatever, in the "caverns" along each side of her frogs, which of course would hold in any moisture.  So I think it will be important to pick her feet out on a regular basis.  Hopefully with regular trimming Courtney can get her feet more "normal".   

 

Got a call yesterday from a man interested in the 2 mini mules.  Said he was in his 70's, liked to train the little ones to pull carts & wagons & give kids rides for free, not as a business.  Hmmmmm, call me cautious, but I didn't get a warm fuzzy feeling talking to him.  I told him we required him to come out for a visit, which he said he lived too far away.  Hmmmmm.........then I told him we did a home study & he said thanks & hung up.  Still don't know, but my antenna was twitching.  Jack needs a job, but not that bad.  

De-worming Day!

Well, we've had a fun filled morning.  Today was worming day..well for everyone except Rusty the white mule, & Tula the Wild Child.  They will be wormed later in their feed, because it's not possible to worm either of them with a tube wormer...trust me.......!!!  

I got on my smock with big pockets, filled the pockets with wormers & away we went.  John follows behind me with cookies, so it's not a big deal.  At least that's what I thought until I got to Gus.......!!!  He smelled that wormer & became a Dr. Jekyll......!!!   Talk about shocked...!!!  Gus is about the most mellow laid back guy you could ever meet, but there was no way he was going to just stand there & be so ABUSED.....!!!!  John got the halter & lead & we finally had to tie him up & even then it was a hassle.  Surprised me, most of the guys just stand there at liberty & it's over in a second.  

Headed on down the line to the minis.........hmm........Pepsi is a good boy the other 3 not so much.  Lysa got here to clean pens just about that time, which was good, because the halter John was carrying was too big for a mini & he's never learned how to make a halter out of a lead.  We got Lynn first, not too bad, Cheyenne was pretty good once we got her, Justin.........not what he had planned today.  Lysa finally got the "lead halter" on him & he took off like a race horse.  Lysa isn't one to give up, she hung on, managed to jump over one of the hay feeders that was in the way, but he finally got away.  She got him again & this time we had him in a corner.  One thing about donkeys they know when the "jig is up", he just stood there like it was his idea........!!!!!!  LOL

We saved the best for last, Jack & Molly the mini mules.  We figured they would be a real rodeo.  I think Lysa was disappointed, I know I was shocked.  She put the lead halter on them & they both were really good.  In fact Jack kept getting in our faces to see if we had more...........well I think he was really after the mandatory follow up cookie. 

I was hoping our new banner would show up better & you can't hardly see little Buddy Brat peeking around the right side of the banner.  I would imagine he was looking for more people to come by to pet & feed him timothy pellets.  It didn't take him & Pepsi very long to figure out the "drill", people come by, gush & make over them, do some petting, feed some pellets, maybe do some more petting.  Pepsi even ended up with lipstick on his nose......!!!!  

He also turn into a "attention" monster.   He decided that all the attention should be his, & let Buddy know this was HIS show & Buddy could stand over there & be quiet.  Of course we let Pepsi know that his behavior was unacceptable & made sure Buddy got his share of attention.

This morning was crisis management as usual, when we have to haul donkeys someplace early.  Lysa was coming to clean pens this morning, but we needed to feed before we left.  We finally decided that we'd load the boys, & John haul them to the Rummage Sale, while I fed.  I followed later in the van.

Let me say that donkeys have a way of ruining the "best laid plans of mice & men".  Buddy went in the trailer like a veteran.  Pepsi hasn't been in a trailer for almost 6 years, & decided he wasn't going.  We figured he's a mini, how much trouble can he be?  Quite a bit, actually.......!!!!!  We found out you can get 3 legs off the ground & still not get him in the trailer.  We also found out that he is a kicker under the right circumstances, & this seemed to be them.  He doesn't just kick once, he kicks like a machine gun.  Good Grief............!!!!  We finally got the front feet in the trailer, I looped a rope around one hind foot, & managed to get it on the trailer floor more or less.  Then John literally dragged him into the trailer by 2 ropes, one on either side of the trailer.  The one leg on the ground he wasn't willing to lift, until the last instant & it got scraped up a little.  

When he got there, John said he hopped out of the trailer, walked like a little trooper to the pen, John opened it, & "NOPE, not going in there".  John said 2 guys saw the problem, came over & literally picked him up & threw him in the pen.  I asked if John told them he might kicked, said he didn't have a chance, Pepsi was already in the pen.   Thank goodness he isn't a mammoth..........LOL

We wondered how it would go when we got ready to come home.  Just about like it went in the morning, until 2 women & a man helped.  They even knew what they were doing, so it went pretty good.  John said when he got them home & opened the back of the trailer, there was no problem with them getting out, guess there's "no place like home"............!!!!  

We're taking Cisco to an equine dentist tomorrow.  He's been acting a little off lately & eating real slow.  I checked his mouth & didn't find anything, but I'd like someone that knows what they're doing look.  Yesterday afternoon I noticed a bunch of flies, around one of his ears.  I got a flashlight & looked inside........YUCK!  He had a big raw strip about an inch wide that is about 5 inches long.  At the bottom of it is a place that was gooey & slimy.  I've never seen anything like that.  So far I've sprayed the inside of his ear 3 times with Vetericyn.  The difference is amazing, the gooey spot is dry & the red raw strip is scabbed over.  Thank goodness he is very docile, spraying liquid into their ears usually isn't a real big hit.  He lets us know he isn't thrilled, but at least he doesn't try to hurt us..........!!! 

Ed Shieffelin Monument

 Tombstone, Arizona

Another picture from the Mike & Zeke Walk-a-thon last Friday.  

All the feedback sounds like everyone had a great time & are already planning for next year.  Mike & Teresa want this to become an annual event to raise money for good causes, & the interest to have it continue seems to be high.  So mark your calendar for next year in October to join in the fun.

I managed to hang onto my 5th place finish for end of the year points with the race car, Saturday night.  I stayed out of trouble, well for the most part.  The car started over heating the last few laps & when I pulled into the pits, John wanted to know who I ran into with the front of the car, that was now squashed against the radiator, which is why it was getting hot, couldn't get enough air to cool the motor.  

I have no idea who I hit, I was too busy trying to stay out of trouble.  Guess I didn't try hard enough............. !!!!!  LOL  Someone usually puts videos of the races on U-tube, so maybe we will get a chance to answer John's curiosity.  

I've been using Equaide on Jenny's foot for the proud flesh.  Sunday I was really impressed with how much of the proud flesh literally crumbled off her hoof.  Monday morning a lot more came off.  Although I still don't have a scapel, John does have a real sharp box knife.  I decided to try to clean it up & get rid of some of the cracks & crevices, get it a little smoother & more even.  I was doing great, it was looking nice & smooth, except for a rough spot over to the side.  Took a swipe at it with the box knife, & blood started spurting out like if you have a small hole in a garden hose.  

Pressure will usually stop it, but your victim has to be willing to stand still & quit wiggling, which Jenny usually isn't willing to do.  After a few minutes of wrestling with her, I had Lysa go get the Wonder Dust. It works great, as a blood coagulate, & it didn't take long for it to do the job.  This morning John cleaned it up & used the Equaide again.  

The reason John was doctoring this morning is, I was in getting a new lens put in one eye, so he & Lysa were doing chores.  They said it might take a week for the eye to stabilize, without some blurring.  So far I've noticed that colors are much brighter & everything looks very clean with sharp edges.  I've also noticed a halo around lights at night, hopefully that won't be permanent. 

 

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......!!!!!

CLIPPING MISS DAISY

This morning I was petting Daisy & noticed she had lots of mats in her armpits & also the hair was sweat stiff.  This spring I was going to body clip her, but the Donkey Yahoo group had a pro-con discussion about whether to clip or not to clip.  Although the consensus was, God intended them to have hair to insulate from the desert heat, she does have Cushings & is on 3mg of Pergolide a day, so her hair growth isn't exactly "normal".  

One reason I'd put off clipping is I didn't know if my hands & wrists would take it.  A broken thumb, broken wrist & metatarsal bone in one hand & an eroding cyst in the other wrist, cuts into my style............!!!  But I decided to give it a try wearing my splints.  

This is what I had to work with, a very hairy girl.  Daisy's former owner gave me a big set of clippers made by Oster Stewart, I think you could clip a Yak with them, no problem.  But they are big & heavy.

It really went much better than I thought it would.  She's a good girl, she stood real still, maybe it felt good to get all of this off:

My hands held up real well, didn't have any problems & this is the finished product.

I didn't clip her legs, no sense in giving the flies a head start in gnawing their way to bare skin.

Lysa was here cleaning pens, in fact she was my back up in case I couldn't finish clipping Daisy.  She said we should try clipping BlackJack.  I told her if she wanted to, by all means have at it..............BUT........that I didn't think BJ would like it.  And when he doesn't like something he has a way of letting you know.  I remember him throwing himself on the ground in a temper fit one time because we had the audacity to want to trim his feet.  He's self trimmed his feet ever since.  I would imagine he would let me pick his feet up now without having a tantrum, but clippers.........????   Maybe not........!!! 

We got an inch of rain last night.  When Jenny came in this morning she was limping on her bandaged foot.  My assumption was it got wet & maybe the front piece had came off.  After everyone was fed we took her up to the garage, i.e. bandage changing room to look.  The piece hadn't come off, & it was not WET, but was very dampish.  The 3rd layer of bandaging is a baby diaper, which can probably hole a gallon of water.  Well maybe not quite that much, but they do hold a lot.  Her foot was definitely damp & "gooey".   So we set up a fan to blow on it & left it open for about an hour.  We had taken her breakfast hay up, so she could munch while we changed the bandage.  We found out that in the garage she only eats animal crackers, preferably after every move we make, hay wasn't an option..............!!!

I stayed with her while John cleaned pens.  Usually Lysa is here on Wednesday mornings to clean pens.  She lives on the other side of the San Pedro river & when she called this morning she said the river was running about 4 feet deep.  I told her just to put on her bathing suit & swim, but she didn't seem to think she wanted to do that........!!! LOL  

Do you think Jenny would stand still?  Of course not, she couldn't understand why nothing was going on, usually we take the bandage off, & put the new one on, we don't waste her valuable time standing around doing nothing.  

I found something I don't like.  The coronet is very soft & is loose in a place about 2 inches long.  She acted like it might be sore.  I haven't been putting anything on her foot, but decided since it was soft & smelled like stinky feet, after I cleaned it up I put some powdered zinc oxide on it.  She's good to go until Monday unless we get some more rain.  Hopefully it will be nice & dry then.  

Benson cancelled their fireworks for tonight because of no rain.  Thought the rain might change their minds, so I called the fire department & they said still a no go.  So we might go over to Willcox, they said their program is still on.  Benson is a bunch of wooses I think..............!!!

NOTHING LIKE COMPLICATING MY LIFE....!!

Yesterday morning I noticed Julius, one of the outdoor cats was stalking something in the back yard.  I went out, yelled, "no birds", I don't bother to see if that is in fact what they are after.  I just teach all cats to run like hell when I yell "no birds".  

Anyway went out & there was a little baby rock squirrel by the back wall.  It was very lethargic, growled a little but other than that just laid there.  I yelled for John to bring a cage.  Put it in the cage, came back in the house & when I checked on him, he was gone.  Guess the openings in the cage were larger than we thought, or he was smaller.  

Looked out & Julius is after something on the porch........guess who?  I picked him up, no growl this time.  I got a syringe of water & he latched onto that like he was really thirsty.  

Right now he is living in a small hav-a-heart trap, on a towel, in our bathroom.  Our house has an open floor plan & 4 cats...............do you see a problem?  I had him with me at the computer yesterday afternoon until Moogee "discovered" him. 

He prefers cow's milk with karo over kitten formula, & has fleas.  Ugh!  John went to town yesterday & when he called asked if I wanted him to get some flea powder?  John is a wonderful person in a lot of ways, but sometimes his animal knowledge gets short circuited.  Of course my knowledge is rather dated sometimes, they might have a flea powder now you can use on "nestlings", but I don't know of any.  So far I've "captured" 3, & haven't seen any "cavorting" since yesterday afternoon.  Maybe they are gone, I hope so, I hate fleas.  

Over the last few days we had found 2 other little guys.  Lysa found one out by the pens & I put it down a squirrrel hole, close to where she found it.  The other one John found dead about 60 feet from where the other one was.  

We're thinking the mother probably got killed, (snake?)  & they were close enough to coming out of the nest to make the effort.  Wish I had known when Lysa found the first one, I would have fed it too.  

Have no idea how long he'll have to be fed.  We'll be hauling Mocha & Tucker to Las Cruces this afternoon, I guess he'll be going with us, so I can feed him every couple of hours or so. 

John wants to name him Pascagula, have no idea how to spell it & neither does my spell checker.  Anyway Ray Stevens sang a song about the Mississippi Squirrel Revival, in Pascagula, Mississippi a LONG time ago.  I told John if we name it that, it will have to have a nickname, Pasca or Gula.  I'm not going to try to say the whole thing on a regular basis. 

Called for an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon this morning.  Since I'm already in their system, I didn't have to do the primary care dog & pony show.......!!!   Suppose to see him tomorrow afternoon.  Sure hope it's just a quick look, cast & me out the door.  

Yesterday it was about 100 degrees here & felt every degree, like sticking your head in an oven.  The hay barn is open in the front which means the further back in it you go, the more stagnant the air is & it just sits there & heats up, ALL DAY LONG.  

John & I put our heads together & Jenny now has not only a fan aimed towards where she lays down, but also has misters running along one side.  

We didn't know about the misters, since donkeys usually don't like water or wet, but she figured out real quick that it was cool to stand there even if it does get her a little wet.  

Unfortunately right now no mister.  We just got back from town & the well has shut down.  One of John's "lovely" jerry rigged hose connections, disconnected & drained the tank.  In the process it either over loaded the surface pump & it shut itself off, or it burnt out.  Either way, we're waiting for the well guy to call us back & see if he can come out & "fix" it.  So right now she just has the fan, but it's a little cooler today, so she seems comfortable.

This morning was bandage changing day.  I ACEd her about half an hour before we wanted to start.  Getting her from the hay barn into the garage wasn't real easy when the time came.  Not sure the problem wasn't just Jenny being Jenny, but next time we're thinking about putting her in the garage & then ACEing her.  

Lysa was great help, since I have hand problems & John isn't suppose to lift more than 8 pounds right now, she did the heavy lifting, when Jenny didn't want to raise her foot.  Her foot looked good, except the heel bulb is still raw, but actually looks better than it did, so I guess we're making progress. 

John just came in & said he was working on the golf cart, it just died.  See why we're never bored.........!!!! LOL  This actually is golf cart #2, #1 "croaked" a few days ago & is still awaiting John's attention.  This is why we have 3 golf carts, chores would really be "chores" without a golf cart...........!!!  We've managed to find 2 electric golf carts really cheap because they needed batteries.  People almost give them away, because they know people won't pay what they are worth, if they need batteries.  Keeping 3 of them going keeps John busy in his "spare" time..! LOL

THIS IS GETTING OLD............!!!

Went racing last night.  Brought the car home in one piece, well the right front fender is a little "mussed", guy in front of me didn't GO when the flagman dropped the green flag & I did.......!!!!!  I almost missed him, but if I had gone to the left anymore the guy beside me would have really been unhappy.............!!!  LOL

Somewhere in the battle I broke my hand I think.  Actually I'm getting pretty good at diagnosing broken bones.......!!!  Same hand I broke the thumb on, but higher up.  So I iced it, wrapped it up when I got home, & will call the doctor tomorrow I guess.  

The way doctoring is done now, drives me crazy.  You can't go to the doctor, get an x-ray & get a cast put on.  No, no, no.....!!!!!   Have to make an appointment with your primary care manager, go see a PA (I'm not even sure what my actual doctor looks like.)  She does a lot of writing, gives a prescription to go over to the hospital & get an x-ray.  At least that's a walk-in.  Someone reads it, & pronounces it broke.  Back to the PA to get a referral to the Orthopedic clinic in Tucson, which won't see you unless someone else has already said, you aren't going to waste their time by not actually having something they need to see.  If you're lucky the next day is "Break" day, which is a walk in for broken bones..... well if you can walk, otherwise they have wheelchairs.  Otherwise you get an appointment depending on your level of breakage I guess.  See the big doctor for about 5 minutes, he disappears, someone comes in sticks a color wheel in your face & asks which color you want, then spends maybe 5 minutes slapping on a cast & out the door you go.  I'm sure they can treat a horde of people this way, but jeesh.........!!!!  I'm not looking forward to seeing the same hand doctor in Tucson again.  He seemed to think the broken thumb in October was funny, probably because of my age & how I did it.  This should send him over the edge.......!!!

John is ordering me a steering wheel today, that is solid in the middle, no place to stick your thumb or hand or whatever I stuck thru the wheel this time.  Our son had said they are harder to grip, but at this rate, harder to grip doesn't sound so bad after all.........!!! LOL 

The donkeys were glad to see us when we got home.  Vic & Lora had fed them, but they were still in their pens.  We are really going to miss Vic & Lora when they move to Colorado in June.  I keep hoping they will change their minds, but probably not, a lot of their family live up there.  

Jenny seems to be doing good, not sure how her bandage change will go tomorrow.  John still can't lift more than 8 pounds until Wednesday because of his angiogram Friday.  Believe me, Jenny can make her foot weight a lot more than 8 pounds when she wants to.  And now I'm "wounded" which is really bad because John doesn't do doctoring, even in good times.  Lysa cleans pens on Mondays & I had already told her I'd probably need her to help me doctor Jenny because of John's limitations.  So this should be fun.......NOT!