EVERY DAY IS BETTER FOR GIGI..........!!!

 

This morning when I went out with her bute/molasses in a syringe, John was busy elsewhere so I decided to give it to her myself.  I did that once before with no problem.  Well, times have changed and she is feeling well enough to not only keep her butt turned to me, no matter how or where I moved, but threw a healthy kick my way as a warning.  Hmmmm..........this is the type of behavior we have come to expect from Rosie, but up to now Gigi had been pretty mellow.  Just couldn't work with her at all, I finally just stood and told her if she wanted that "yummy" stuff, she'd have to come get it.  It was a long process, but she got her bute.  

Courtney and Martha are coming out next week for trims and Martha will give Gigi a massage at least that is the plan.  With this personality change it might get interesting.  Our corral panels are still loaned out till at least the end of the month, so Doug had offered some he isn't using.  Guess we'll take him up on the offer, if nothing else we'll need to build a "redneck" squeeze to corral these girls in.  

Rosie is doing pretty good on changing over to Bermuda hay.  Yesterday morning when John went out to round them up, he heard a lot of noise coming from the hay barn area.  When he investigated he found BlackJack and Boaz had tore down the gate.  That isn't as bad as it sounds, the bottom rail had rusted out and is one of those "round to it" projects, that John hadn't gotten around to yet.  That is part of the gate frame that keeps it square, and they figured out if they pushed on it, it would bend. 

A bunch of donkeys were still outside because they couldn't figure out how to get around BJ and Boaz to get to the primary objective which was.............. the alfalfa for the girls.....!!!  So John had to run the boys out, and temporarily fix it so they couldn't get in there again.  So far so good, hopefully John can get it fixed as soon as our "RACING WEEK FROM HELL" is over. 

This racing 6 nights in 10 days isn't that easy.  Last night was a little rough.  We had 12 cars which is more than any other night.  John and the Toyota got used as a target by one of the cars and got pushed head on into another car.  I had ran my heat race and was in the pits.  Here he came with one of the front fenders sticking straight out from the car.  I thought it was funny, him..........not so much......!!! LOL  John ripped the fender off, and ran the main without it.  He's not even going to try to fix it, in fact we left it at the track.  We brought the Kia home, so he could check it over and reattach the back bumper, poor little Toyota isn't even worth checking over I guess...........!!!!  I finished 4th, after following and bumping one of the other cars.  Her car and my car are pretty evenly matched, so whichever one is in front of the other usually stays there.  This morning John said the whole front bumper was covered with pink paint.  I spent the whole race playing with her rear bumper, so I wasn't surprised.......!!!  Guess I need to quit playing and get serious, I never did get around her......SIGH! 

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............!!!!

VET WAS OUT THIS MORNING

This is what Jenny's foot looks like when it bleeds

I figured Dr. Megan might as well come out & see what she thinks of Jenny's foot & see if there is something else we should be doing.  I sure like having a mobile vet in the neighborhood again...........!!!!

She was pleased with the hoof growth at the coronet, it is coming in smooth & hard.  Of course right below it is where the abscess popped a few weeks ago & it is squishy & icky.  But like she said & I had already thought of, if it's open that a good thing, as long as there is any foreign "stuff" in there.  She said to continue giving her SMZ & soaking a couple of times a week.  So I guess I wouldn't have needed her to come out, except she did take x-rays to compare with the ones taken up at Gilbert, when Jenny was up there in April.  It will be good to know what's going on in there for sure..........as long as it's improvement, don't want to hear anything else.  

All in all a good experience & Jenny actually was a good girl, raised her foot when needed & didn't try to lean on the Vet. Wasn't real happy with the x-ray business, but I have seen her worse.  According to the clinic at Gilbert she not only kicked but actually landed a good one on one of the techs.  I've never seen her kick, although she will lean on you or use her head to slam you up against a wall or corral panel, if given the opportunity. 

Dr. Megan said the bleeding is probably because there is so much blood in the area of the new granulation tissue, that it doesn't take much to make it bleed like crazy.  At least I think that's what she said, I need to get a tape recorder, I sometimes think I forget more than I remember, when someone tells me something........!!!

We only have one more night of racing the 13th of October.  Unfortunately last Saturday night I blew another motor.  We're beginning to think Kia Sephias don't have the endurance a Toyota Tercel has......although it is faster...!!!! LOL  So John went to the guy that had borrowed the Toyota & got it back.  That was the deal originally, he could borrow it, but if I needed it to race for points I'd take it back.  He had wrecked it a few weeks ago, & it was sitting in a shop with money owed on it, so he didn't fight too hard.  He had painted it blue & yellow (UGH), so John is busy getting it ready to paint.  Stopped on the way home from picking it up & got about a dozen cans of spray paint...........!!! LOL

BEFORE

AFTER, I hope......Hard to believe it's the same car....!  This is from last year. 

He is going to "try" rebuilding one of the Kia motors.  He's a Chevy man, could rebuild a Chevy with his eyes closed I think...........BUT..........according to him, there is a lot of difference between a Chevy & a 4 cylinder overhead cam motor.  I'm sure he'll figure it out, & there's some guys around that should be able to help him, if he gets stuck.