HOME STUDY FOR SUGAR...!!!

We will be doing a home study for Sugar tomorrow. When someone is interested in adopting one of the donkeys, we always go visit the home before it's a done deal. If this home works out she will have 3 horses & Jacque the donkey to hang out with. We will keep her here until after the Open House, so she doesn't miss all the petting & treats given out by dozens of people.........!!!

RAIN..........????

We woke up to a sprinkle this morning. It wasn't much, but enough to get the "herd" going. Molly the mule was in the lead. She had quite a following, Shiloh, Belle, Tula, & Sugar were in hot pursuit, trying to catch her. Max the horse, was chortling & trying to figure out if something was chasing them. Jack the mule was just trying to stay out of the line of fire. Lucy, Buster & Chester were standing in the wash, as spectators, watching the show. What fun it is to watch them run & able to enjoy being free, without humans, telling them what to do, & where to do it. Of course right after the "races", we told them to go in their pens if they wanted breakfast, so it isn't a perfect world after all.......!!!!

CHESTER'S THE MAN......!!!

Well I guess Chester is getting settled into his new home OK. In fact he & Tula have become quite the "item" & stay together when they are out. Not sure that's a good idea, she usually leads whoever runs with her astray & tries to get them to run WILD.....or at least to stay over on the 20 acres we call Burroland, rather than come over to be fed, like a TAME donkey. They've stayed over there 2 mornings rather than come over with everyone else. John & I had to go over & round them up, or at least head them in the right direction & hope they went thru the gate. What's really odd is old Pepper is hanging with them also. Not sure what that is about, Tula has never paid any attention to him before. It's always interesting to what the dynamics of the "herd" are on a daily basis.

Chester of course is still crippled on his broken shoulder, but it doesn't slow him down much. When he runs, (yes he does run) he runs almost without a limp, which is really pretty to see. He doesn't seem to be in pain & I told John when he's running he probably doesn't have to think about his leg. I've been massaging the enlarged part of his leg between the shoulder & the knee every morning, & he really likes it. He will lower his head almost to the ground, & stand as long as I'll massage.

CASCABEL CHRISTMAS FAIR....!!!!

HEY! LET'S ALL HEAD TO THE CASCABEL CHRISTMAS FAIR..!!

The 27th annual Fair will be December 1 & 2 this year from 10-4 each day. Last year was the first time we had participated & everyone had a great time. So we're going to do it again this year. The donkeys will be thrilled, they always enjoy having people come to visit. And if there are LOTS of them, with cups of timothy pellets, that just makes it better from their point of view........!!!!

If anyone would like to volunteer to help during the Open House, we could sure use the help. Basically you would walk around, answer questions if asked, & make sure no gates get opened by mistake, or fingers get too far into eager donkey mouths.

GUS, WE HARDLY KNEW YE...............!!!

We picked Gus up yesterday at Arivaca & delivered him to Elfrieda today. For a donkey that has been running loose on a ranch the last few years, I must say, he has a wonderful personality & is a gentleman. Not thrilled about being in a trailer, but no one is perfect..........!!!!! Chili was so excited to see another donkey, he's been alone for almost a year. Neither one showed any aggression at all, started off exploring together, ignoring Lynda, her neighbors a friend from Bisbee, & us, like we didn't exist. Chili did come in right before we left, to get some apples from Lynda, but Gus continued to ignore us. I'm sure he'll catch onto the routine quickly, & will line up for his share of the apples & anything else offered, probably by tomorrow. Thanks to Susan & Tom for getting involved, when they found out Gus was thought of as a pest & was no longer welcome where he lived. He now has a friend & a Mom that will make sure he is loved & taken care of for the rest of his life. Gus on the left, Chili on the right surveying their domain.....!!

MIRAGE WENT HOME TODAY

After having 5 months of doing nothing but what he wanted to do, going into a small 2 horse trailer wasn't what he had planned for the day. He wasn't mean or anything, just didn't see a need to go in there. He finally did after Delford showed him it was the only place he could rest. If he was outside the trailer, his feet had to be moving. After awhile, that got old & he made the decision to hop in.

Delford is a mule trainer & of course we had to show him Molly. He worked with her a little bit, & she thought that was great. She's just like a piece of clay, everything is fun & interesting. Hope she keeps that attitude, she'll make someone a great saddle mule someday.

We had a tour group this afternoon, & also John's cousin Gene & a friend came by on a road trip. They will leave in the morning, & we'll probably leave about the same time to go pick up Gus in Arivaca.

We kept the equines in their pens, because of the tour. Then we decided to leave them in the pens, so we could feed early, & then go into Benson to eat supper. It has not been quiet around here, they have yelled & screamed & generally let us know we forgot to let them out & need to fix this problem. They like to get fed early, so that should soothe them a little bit.......!!!!

GETTING READY FOR GUS

Cisco is checking out the temporary pen we're setting up for Gus. We actually might not need it, we pick him up Sunday. But Mirage's Mom called today & is suppose to pick him up Saturday. If she does, then Gus could go in Mirage's pen overnight. We'll be taking him to his new home in Elfrieda Monday. He won't hardly be here long enough to meet everybody.

JACK & TIO

THANKS, LAURA FOR THE PICTURE OF YOUR BOYS....!

This is a picture of Jack in his new home, with his new best friend Tio. Obviously there is something of interest to the left. I guess he's went thru a few name changes, all revolving around Jack in some way, & has settled right into his new life. I love it when they get a great new home........!!!!

This Sunday we will pick up Gus, & deliver him to his new home Monday. Susan sent this picture, taken when she & Tom went out to visit Gus a few months ago. He's a good sized boy & should make a good friend for Chili. He's had no donkeys around him for a few years, but both of them have pretty mellow personalities, as far as I know, so they should get along just fine. Linda doesn't have a extra pen to separate them till they get to know each other, so we will stick around for a couple of hours & make sure Chili doesn't think he has to protect his "turf".

WALKABOUT TOUR....BUCKEYE ARIZONA...........!!!!

Got back from the Clinton Anderson Walkabout Tour last night. Really had a great time, didn't even mind sleeping in the van, which actually turned out very comfortable. I've never seen such a place as Empty Acres. I guess I need to get out in the "real" world more.............!!!!! Next week they are having a Horse Festival up there, & are expecting over 20,000 people for the 3 day event.

The clinic started at 8am sharp on Saturday. There was around 3,000 people there to watch. You can tell from the round pen, that the covered arena is pretty big. By 6pm the bleachers were getting hard. Sunday morning 8am, we started again & the bleachers hadn't gotten any softer overnight. I left at 4pm to get home at a decent hour & the clinic was still going on.

I'm really glad I got to go, & will try to go again, if he comes back to Arizona. Unfortunately most of the training he does, probably wouldn't work with donkeys, but it was really interesting anyway. To watch him take an unbroke 2 year old, like the one in the picture & have a saddle & rider on him in less than 2 hours, is amazing to me.

John did great while I was gone, everyone got along just fine. In fact they didn't even acknowledge I'd been gone, when I went out this morning. But he did tell me the same thing I always tell him when he comes home, "chores sure go faster with two than it does with one".................!!!!

Did a home study today. Chili has been by himself, since his friend Hillary died from colic a few months ago. He has been very lonely & depressed. His Mom got in touch with us a few weeks ago, & I knew of a big black donkey running on a ranch that had been getting into the flower gardens & had basically worn out his welcome. So we will be moving Gus from the ranch in a week or so. We'll bring him here for a few days, & then take him to his new home, which is 33 acres & a pond...!!!! Lucky boy!

Tomorrow I will be leaving John with chores over the week-end while I go to the Clinton Anderson Clinic up at Buckeye. Should be very interesting & hopefully I'll learn something I can use with the long ears. Hope John survives the experience, it's been a long time since I left him with the whole mess.