IT'S NOT GETTING ANY COOLER.......!!!

June is NOT my favorite month in the desert..!!  We're starting to get a few clouds & the humidity is starting to inch up, but so far no rain.  The usual 1st rain of the monsoon is July 4th, so we'll see.

When we did round up yesterday afternoon, Buddy Brat & Pancho were play fighting over by the chicken pen.  First thing I noticed was Pancho didn't have his fly mask.  Looks like Buddy is up to his old tricks, he has always thought fly masks are toys & it looks like he hasn't forgotten.  Pancho seemed to be a willing partner, but neither of them were interested in helping me find the silly thing.  When we got done feeding we started looking for it, just what we wanted to do in the heat.  Did find it though.  We still have 3 fly masks & a Jenny boot out there somewhere we can't find.  When we find one it's more exciting than an Easter egg hunt........!!!  Doesn't take a whole lot to amuse us sometimes...........!!!

BlackJack & Buddy Brat 2001

Not much new with the donkeys, when it's this hot, they hunker down someplace & don't move around much.  Doctoring is at a minimum, which is good.  Boaz's knee is still not healed, but I think the proud flesh is gone.  I've just been putting tunja zinc oxide on it everyday  & the scab area is slowly getting smaller.  He's such a good boy, but I seriously doubt that anyone would ever adopt him.  He will always have that area on his knee & it will always have to be watched & treated.  

Chester's mom came out yesterday morning & groomed on Ruthie & Ruger.  Ruger is finally losing his baby hair &  it had matted on his belly, so Linda worked on him with curry comb & scissors.  She got most of them out, said she'll be coming out again.  She's thinking of adding Ruthie & Ruger to her family.  They have acres of mesquite brush, 2 horses, Chester & Norton & it would be a great home.  They adopted Chester & Buster last year & sweet Buster dropped dead while playing.  They added Norton to the family, but like a lot of people that get donkeys for the 1st time, the more the merrier, Linda loves her donkeys.  We'll see if it works out.  

Jenny is keeping her boot on pretty good this time.  The Hoof Wrap seems to be a great product..............except for one small problem. The various areas of Vel-Cro aren't long enough or wide enough for the amount of wrapping & bandages on her foot.  I did sew a couple strips of Vel-Cro on the one she is wearing now,  & she hasn't lost it since, so maybe I'm onto something.

Yesterday afternoon I took little Skeeke squirrel into the Tucson Wildlife Center.  He was lively & perky & all that, but I just don't think he was thriving.  And if his little bum foot doesn't get to where he can use it more, he will have to stay in sanctuary.  They are diggers, & in the wild he would need to be able to use both front feet effectively.

Skeeke in my tomato patch on the courtyard

They have quite an operation, I guess they take in anything wild, they had a baby bobcat, 3 tiny baby bats, a couple of baby hummingbirds, javelina, racoons, quite a few different type of hawks & falcons.  They also have a roadrunner that lives on the property.  One of the women was giving me a short tour & here come the roadrunner.  She went in & got a couple of dead mice out of the refrigerator, threw them to him one at a time, & he gulped them down.  She said he expects to be fed when he sees people.  I guess he's decided this is pretty easy living, much easier than chasing lizards..........!!!

WE'RE HAVING FUN NOW........!!!!

You know the old saying, "I'm so busy I don't know if I found a rope or lost my horse".......well I about there I think..........!!!! LOL

Let's see where to start.........  I called Mocha & Tucker's new Mom this morning.  They are fine, have become the center of attention & spend their time standing by the bedroom window probably looking in, wondering where why someone doesn't come out & entertain them.  January said the geese even like them.  She said Tucker is mouthing her sleeve to get her attention.  I told her when he did that here he got his nose popped.  She told me how cute it is, so I would imagine he's gotten his "last" nose popping for awhile........!!!!  

Patti gave me some ideas of supplements that might help Chester be more comfortable with his osteoarthritis we can try.  I also have some Move-Ease that I'm not using, I'm going to give it to Linda to try first.  If that works, great, it's really pretty cheap. If it doesn't work, we'll try some of Patti's ideas.  If that doesn't work, there is always CosequinASU.  It's good stuff, but a little pricey.  I've been using it for Pepper (cracked hip & blown knee), & Cisco (roping donkey in a roping school), & they are both doing real good & have been for quite sometime.

Jenny lost a brand new Hoof Wrap Boot & we can't find it.  We've actually been pretty lucky at finding her boots, they seem to come off when she rolls around in a dust bathing area.  John saw the direction she came from & when he looked at the Gorilla Tape boot, he said it wasn't hardly dirty & had no scuffing at all.  Common sense would say it should be not too far from where John 1st saw her coming in.  We've both looked & haven't found it.  Wish it had been the old one she's been wearing rather than a 2 day old one. 

Last night when I fed Skeeke, I noticed he wasn't using his right front foot.  I have no idea what happened to it.  They grasp food with their little hands, so he's at a definite disadvantage right now for eating solid food.  He's really gotten into eating his formula & takes more each feeding, which I assume is a good thing.  He's also quite lively, even with a bum hand like, hanging onto a tiny fragile little greased pig.........!!!   Vic our neighbor said he might have got it caught somewhere in the cage or even in the terry cloth towel I had in there.  I never thought about him getting a nail caught in the towel.  Got rid of the towel & am now using some of John's t-shirts I've been trying to get him to throw away for a long time.  Seems if I say anything, they all are his favorites............!!! I sure hope the little guy gets OK.

It looks like my Mother will be moving out of her house & coming out here to stay for the duration.  The last few months she has been getting frail & probably should have come out earlier.  But there is nothing wrong with her opinion & what she wants to do, so we had to wait until it was her decision.  This morning she said it's time.  Our house is more eclectic than comfortable for someone that needs everything to be easy.  Bathrooms are on 3 different levels & the only one on the bedroom level is about 20 feet away from the bed.  John & I had already talked about maybe getting a compost toilet, we'll just have to see how it goes.  She told me awhile back she wouldn't come out here because I'm too bossy...........hmmmmm.........should be "interesting" to say the least.  

Yesterday I told John I needed to go to Tucson & try to find the formula for Skeeke.  Since it was Sunday I called around to different pet stores & was amazed that they had it.  Guess just because I haven't heard of it, doesn't mean it isn't available.  

The 1st store I went to only had it in a very large can & it isn't cheap.  So I decided to try another store & did find a smaller container.  He's just a little bitty squirrel, it would take a lot of squirrels to use that much.  

Got it home mixed it up & he turned his nose up at it.....!!!!  Ungrateful little beastie, tried him again before bed, & he just turned his head away.  After I went to bed I came up with a brilliant idea.  When I carefully measured out the powder it was packed in the spoon.  I had noticed it was rather thick, much thicker than Mother's milk would be.  So I got out of bed, made a new batch, after fluffing up the powder before measuring.  Seemed to make all the difference, he's eating it just fine now.  According to the information I got off the internet regular tree squirrels will eat formula to the age of 10 weeks, don't know about rock squirrels, but would imagine it's about the same.  Using the chart for tree squirrels, he seems to be about 6 weeks old. 

I e-mailed the Arizona Desert Museum to see if they could help.  Got back an e-mail 2 days later, telling me it's illegal to keep a wild animal, to turn it over to a wildlife rehabilitator.  Great idea, unfortunately the rehabilitator didn't call back, so we'll just press on like we know what we're doing.  

He's a little watermelon freak, loves the stuff.  Cucumber, a big no, carrot on a scale of 1 to 10, maybe a 4.  Necterine, mmmm  not a biggie.  Soaked dry cat food, pretty good.  I'm not sure if cat food is OK, so not feeding it anymore.

We got up early this morning to feed & hit the road to Gilbert.  Linda & John got here with Chester, just as we got thru feeding, so we loaded him, got Jenny loaded, &  hit the road.

They made the trip just fine, so did Skeeke had to take him so I could feed him every 4 hours.  They thought Jenny is doing just fine.  Dr. Voss cut off some of the excess hoof & rebandaged her foot.  I was anxious to see how the "real" experts do the bandaging, found out not much different than I do, although I did pick up a couple of good ideas.  They were quite impressed with our Gorilla Tape, as opposed to duct tape to make a boot for the bottom of her foot, although they did agree that it's harder to work with & much stickier.  I try to not let it get too hot, but I think it was probably 110 up there this afternoon, so it was pretty sticky.  

Dr. Voss trimming Jenny's foot, not sure what John is doing

The main thing we have to look for is the square opening in the front of her hoof collapsing as the hoof grows out.  If that happens we'll have to take her back up for them to put a metal bridge across the opening to stabilize it. 

Then it was Chester's turn.  About 5-6 years ago he had surgery on an infection in his elbow area.  Linda wanted to know what the problem was since he's started limping lately.  They x-rayed & found osteoarthritis with some bone spurring going on.  Recommended a good joint supplement.  Might have to try a few before finding the best one for him.  But Linda is a "helicopter Mom", so she'll keep looking until she finds what works for him.

Haven't heard how Mocha & Tucker are doing, guess I'll call tomorrow.  

YESTERDAY FIRST DAY OF MONSOON, TODAY OUR FIRST RAIN

 Checking out the courtyard & my tomatoes...!!

We had clouds this morning & a few minutes ago we got the first rain of the monsoon season.  It lasted about 5 minutes & was enough to "connect the dots" on the courtyard, but that's about all.  Heard from Patti & our son, they live on opposite sides of Tucson & both were getting hail.  Glad we didn't get any.  

When I was a kid in west Texas we had the mother of all hail storms one summer.  When I hear people talk about softball size hail, I know what they are talking about.  Talk about destructive........!!!!!   Cars, roofs, windows, you name it got destroyed.  My stepmother had a big old Chrysler New Yorker, & she drove it to a gas station with an awning, which saved it from getting dimples all over it.  

At that time my Dad had his own sign company.  For the next few months he was so busy he couldn't keep up, & of course couldn't find enough people willing to work.  He did a lot of neon signs, which were quite popular then.  Of course the hail destroyed probably every neon sign in Odessa, Texas & the businesses wanted theirs fixed, NOW.........!!! 

When it was all over Daddy decided he didn't want to do signs anymore & went into commercial painting, hospitals, businesses, shopping centers, which he did until he retired.  Still stayed busy, but people didn't get so excited about walls as they did about signs, which was a good thing.  

Have a call in to a wild life rehabilitator.   Patti sent me info about feeding baby squirrels & one of the first things is, DON'T FEED THEM COW'S MILK, or nuts & seeds.  We haven't been doing nuts & seeds, but I am feeding him cow's milk.  I guess too little calcium is a big problem with these little guys.  I've never heard of Esbilac powder before, but I guess that is the primary replacement food for baby squirrels.  That & monkey chow, who would think that...!!!

Our son is racing tonight, so we won't be here, unless she calls soon.  I'm getting ready to go out & feed, but I'll check the messages before I leave.  I was trying to figure out how to take Skeeke (I won the naming contest), but will feed him before we leave, & when we get home.