FINALLY STARTING TO FEEL LIKE SPRING 24/7

The nights are staying in the 30's and 40's, so I would imagine it won't be long before we'll be complaining because it HOT....!!! Just can't please us I guess.  

Our plan on keeping Turbo in for a couple of days didn't happen.  The 2nd night when John and Linda were letting everyone but him out at bedtime, he decided he wasn't staying in a pen by himself all night again, and tried to climb out of the pen.  That was scary enough, that the gate was immediately opened and we took a chance on letting him out, in the dark for the night.  I don't know if any of us slept well, but the next morning, when we looked out he was with the herd.  WHEW...!!  He's always lived in a pen, rather than free ranging and our property is pretty rough with washes and lots of rocks, so we were glad to see him all in one piece the next morning.

Here he is visiting with Pepsi, actually Pepsi isn't Turbo's biggest problem, Justin the other mini seems to think he is responsible for putting the new guy in his place, no matter how big he is.  Turbo just ignores him......!!!  

Lynn took him out for some trail time and said he almost had to hold him back, which is a good thing if you are going to be racing with him.  As long as Turbo realizes there is a limit to human speed....LOL  Lynn is an endurance runner, so they should be a good match.

Visiting with Casper during a run

Of course as a burro pack racer he will have to wear a 33 pound pack.  So might as well start that training too.  

He doesn't look impressed with learning new skills

Leddy has to learn too, since he'll be running with Linda when they race - THANKS FOR ALL THE PICTURES LINDA

This week-end was our 1st race of the season at the asphalt track.  Did pretty good, I was leading the heat race and halfway thru the last lap, my car jumped out of gear.  Needless to say the guy behind me was thrilled.....!!!  LOL  I managed to finish 2nd, which gave me a good position to start the main.  

The main was a pretty good race, well once we contended with the guy that blew his motor and laid down a stream of oil ALL around the track.  I saw it and managed to "slippery" thru.  A couple of the guys weren't so lucky and got into the wall.  

When it was all said and done, at the finish line I needed a longer front fender by about 2 feet.......had to settle for 2nd.......!!  But that is my best finish on asphalt, so I really can't complain.

This was earlier in the race, with the guy that won.  We were trading positions back and forth for 5 or 6 laps, so it was a lot of fun.  Just wish he hadn't been in front when the checker flag dropped...!!  LOL

THE FAMILY IS GROWING...........!!!

A couple of nights ago I was trolling thru Craigslist and saw an ad for a nice looking donkey up in the Phoenix area, 3 years old, athletic, gentle, no bite or kick.  Of course I shared this info with Lynn and Linda, since they have been looking for a brother or sister for Leddy, that would be a good racing partner for Lynn.  Linda has already spoken for Leddy as her racing buddy.  

To make a long story short, they went up yesterday to "look".  Of course they took their trailer, which means they brought Turbo home.  

NOT SURE HE WANTS TO COME OUT YET

He had only been trailered once before, so all this traveling to a new place with new people was different, but he seemed to handle it just fine.  He's really mellow and one of the first things Lynn and Linda noticed was how strong he is.  He's not full grown yet, but donkeys are about twice as strong as a comparable sized horse or pony.  He is a mammoth, close to 14 hands high and might grow a little more before he's 5 years old.  So he's probably about as strong as a 1500 pound horse.

The woman they bought him from, also has his mother, grandmother and they saw pictures of his daddy Diesel, and a video of Diesel barrel racing.  Well, barrel racing didn't really seem to be his style, it was at a show and the announcer kept talking about how tucked his tail was.  His heart didn't seem to be in it......!!! LOL  

YEA!  he made it out of the trailer.....!!

VISITING WITH TULA

VISITING WITH BOAZ ON THE OTHER SIDE.......TURBO MAKES OUR DONKEYS LOOK "DAINTY"

Don't know for sure but he looks like a perfect example of a Catalan donkey from Spain.  Our Jenny girl had the same look.  She is the only mammoth we've ever had, all of the others have been either minis or standards.

We'll keep him in the pens for a couple of days, until he gets comfortable with his new surroundings, before we let him out to roam and mingle with the herd.  Lynn is planning on getting right into race training.  The 1st race up in Colorado is the 25th of May I think, and they want to be ready, this will be the 1st race for all of them.  Lynn's also talked about renting a donkey for that race.  They actually have donkeys to rent that are old hands at racing for people that don't have a donkey of their own.  That might be a good idea, at least someone would know what was going on..........LOL

Just saw some pictures of Leddy and BlackJack's costumes for the St. Patrick's day parade in Tombstone, the 18th of March, they are really going to be spiffy looking.  Jeanne is doing a great job.  She's suppose to come out sometime next week, to do a fitting, looking forward to that.