Well I got a couple of surprises today.  This morning I was taking Lucy's boots off & as usual she wasn't lifting her feet without a tussle.  By this time she knows the drill, but still doesn't cooperate.  I'm of the "squeeze the tendon" until she gives up school of thought.  As I was squeezing she tried a new method of getting rid of me........walking away.  It would have only been an irritant, except I was in front of her.  She literally bowled me over, pulled a muscle in my back & landed me on my butt.  I swear when I was yelling & giving her what for, she just looked at me like, "don't blame me, if you don't have enough sense to stay out of the way".   Grrrrrrrr!  

When I went out this afternoon to start feeding, as I went out the door, I saw Sha'ba running as fast as he can, with Quilla trying to catch him.  WHAT WAS THAT...............??????  Sha'ba usually stays away from the other donkeys, & I've never seen Quilla move any faster than a walk for any reason.  I took off after Quilla with my sore back & bruised butt & he finally broke off the chase.  Then I chased him around & let him know in no uncertain terms that chasing Sha'ba is NEVER allowed, by anyone for any reason. Then I went to find Sha'ba, poor little guy.  He actually can run pretty good on his broken fetlock, but he doesn't need to get chased.  I put Sha'ba in his pen & headed for the feed room.  Quilla came up to me & acted like he was trying to make up with me.  He pushed his head against me & just stood there.  No one has ever even paid any attention to Sha'ba, so I'm going to be on guard for awhile to see if there is something going on.  

Still don't have the boots for Jenny, she's been walking lightly since Courtney trimmed her Monday.  Courtney keeps forgetting to order them.  Boots have really made a difference for Lucy, & I'm hoping they will help Jenny too.  

C.J. got trimmed Monday too & she is really walking much better, no limp at all.  She sure is a perky little thing, & Rusty is absolutely smitten with her.  If she is in her pen, he's standing by it.  If she is out, he is right by her side.  Poor Jack the other mule, has become the odd man out, his old buddy Rusty doesn't have time for him anymore now that he has his little girlfriend. 

OPEN HOUSE IS OVER FOR ANOTHER YEAR

This lady is about out of treats, anybody else out there got something?

Although we didn't have as many visitors as most years, I think everyone had a good time, including the donkeys of course.  The weather was wonderful, nice & sunny.  A lot of the visitors had been here before which is always fun, except when they ask where is "so & so" & they aren't here anymore.  But that means a new home for some donkeys, so that's a good thing.  

Quite a few "parents" of our "graduates" were here & helped out.  Katie/Maggie's savior & her husband came out from Tucson, & brought carrots, which of course was a big hit with the gang.  Had some people interested in maybe adding to their families, one nice woman has 40 acres.  Boy oh boy, does that make my little beady eyes light up, 40 acres would hold a lot of donkeys.......!!!!  (G)  She had been here last year & was talking about minis, because she had never had large animals & wanted to start small I guess.  But she's seriously thinking about standards, & I know of 2 jennies & also 2 geldings that need to be re-homed.  I was ready for her when she said, "but we don't have a trailer"..........we have a trailer 2 or even 4 donkeys would fit in nicely.......!!!  (G)  I had pictures of Flora & Fauna the 2 jennies, which of course I whipped out like a proud parent, & she was going home to talk to her husband.  

Re-homing directly from one home to another works out great for us, & anytime that is an option we will do whatever we can to make it happen.

Courtney is suppose to come out today, to work on C.J's little feet again.  It will take awhile to get them to where they need to be.  Regular trimmings will go a long way to making her more comfortable, although she seems to be walking much better already.   She goes out to run around with the others, although I don't think she's been over to Burroland yet.  She seems to just hang around the pen area.  The horses & mules have never been that interested in going on the other 20 acres, where as the donkeys can't wait to get over there.  If we forget to open the gate, you would think they were being horribly abused to hear them complain.  Usually old crippled Pepper is the 1st one to get over there, we haven't been able to figure out how he beats the others to the gate.  We also don't know what the big deal is, but that's where they want to be.  When we go over there they let us know we aren't welcome, they go on alert, snort & try to hide.  I guess it's their little plot of wild country. 

ONE DAY DOWN ONE DAY TO GO.........!!!

The weather was almost perfect today.........once the early morning chill was gone.  It was so cold I couldn't get my fingers to work, when I was trying to hang signs on the pens.  We fed everyone in the pen they would be in for the day, which was a shock to Daisy.  She wasn't expecting Quilla to be "dining" in HER pen & let us know it.  She also let him know it, every time he moved she'd pin her ears & dare him to move again.  She is really not going to change her mind about him, & we've never been able to figure out what he did to make her dislike him so much.  I always thought they would make a cute couple, but guess not............!!!!

For some reason  having signs on the pens isn't allowed, we all spent a lot of time today, replacing signs that got pulled down.  One we didn't find at all, we figure Pepsi must have ate it.

The volunteers were great, came early & stayed late.  C.J. finally got the cornstarch combed out of her hair.  I never got a chance to groom her, but Terry brought her grooming tools & did C.J. & quite a few of the others.  She use to come out quite often & groom, but her little family of donkeys, mules & pot bellied pigs, not to mention chickens, ducks & geese, more than keeps her busy these days.  Glad she had a chance to come out, we hadn't seen her in a long time. 

Mae brought enough food to feed an Army or two right down to the pickles, & napkins.  She had never been out here, although 3 of her donkeys have been here, Paladin, Lupe & Chico.  Paladin & Chico, were both gelded here because Mae lives so far out in the boonies, it's almost impossible to get a vet to come out to her place. 

I think this is Georgette's 3rd Open House.  She almost knows as much about the donkeys as we do.  She's Sha'ba's godmother & brought him some treats as his Christmas present.  Of course he also got choked on some timothy pellets, while she was here, so she got to help get him cleared.  I really didn't think they could get enough pellets with people feeding them by hand, but he managed somehow. 

John had left a soda sitting in the golf cart, while he showed some folks around.  It was nice & warm today, & when he tried to take a drink of his soda there were 2 bees in the can & one of them bit him on the lip.  OUCH!  I ran out to the feed room & got some of the donkey's Benedryl & gave him 3 & then pulled out the stinger.  His lip isn't sore & hardly swelled at all, but he's got the heebie-jeebies & can't sit still tonight.  Hope it wears off before bedtime, or he might not get much sleep tonight.  When he was taking chemo a few years ago they gave him benedryl as a pre-med & he had the same reaction, but we forgot about that in the rush of trying to do something before his lip swelled up.  

The weather is suppose to be warm & sunny tomorrow, so hopefully we'll have lots of visitors, which always makes the donkeys happy. 

OPEN HOUSE TOMORROW

Boy, we're about as busy as a 3 legged cat in a cat box......!!!!!  I know, not a politically correct "saying", but it's been around longer than me, & for some reason I always thought it was funny.......!!!  This year we got one of those shade thingies that are suppose to go up in seconds.............yes......seconds.  

This afternoon we thought we should try to put it up to make sure it was possible.  I'm sure after you do it a time or two, it gets easier.  BUT, the 1st time was not quick & easy.  In fact it brought out all the reasons John & I have managed to be married almost 50 years.  Because we "NEVER ever ever" try to work together.......ever....!!!  To say we approach a project from totally different directions is an understatement.  So when we do have to work together it can get dicey.  About 1/2 hour, a lot of direction reading, a lot of head shaking,  "discussion",  & voile', we got the darn thing up, on the courtyard.  It would be nice if we could put it up & leave it up overnight out where we will set up the tables.  But as we were wrestling with it, the donkeys were outside the gate, taking everything they could find out of the golf cart.  I can imagine what it would look like after a night of fun & games.  So we'll have to put it up & take it down overnight.  Of course once it's up it's 10 x 10, & can't be moved.  So we had to take it down to manageable size to move outside in the morning.  And we are still talking to each other.......... (G)

We've heard from a couple of the volunteers, letting us know they will be here, so that's good.  The weather is suppose to be nice & sunny, so hopefully a lot of people will stop by & visit with the donkeys.  They have to stay in their pens for the day, & usually start yelling before the people start showing up.  But once the people get here, & start walking around with cups of timothy pellets, it's SHOWTIME..................!!!!   The donkeys all have their own ways of getting the people's attention, it's fun to watch them..........if we have time. 

GETTING READY FOR THE OPEN HOUSE

 This is what happens when you sleep around....!

Next Saturday & Sunday will be our  Open House in conjunction with the 30th annual  Cascabel Christmas Fair.  So this week will be a busy one getting ready.  I certainly hope the weather gets better by then.  It's been cold & windy the last few days.  The weatherman says it should be in the 70's, so we'll see if he knows what he's talking about.  

This morning I decided to try the foaming waterless bath for C.J.  You are suppose to spray it on, pat it in, & "voila"  clean animal.  NOT..........!!!!!!  I couldn't tell it did anything except make her hair wet, it certainly didn't clean her dirty white hair.  So I decided to fall back on an old trick my Daddy used with the show dogs.  He actually normally used talcum powder to keep the light colored dogs from getting dirty or staining their hair.  He raised & showed cocker spaniels & all that hair could really get messy in the kennel or when they were traveling to shows in a crate.  In a pinch he would use cornstarch.  I figured it couldn't hurt, so I took handfuls of cornstarch & rubbed it into her white areas.  I haven't brushed it out yet, but she certainly is looking whiter.  I've got to get some more cornstarch before I can do all of her.  But I envision her being bright & shiny by Saturday.  Some of the others that are light colored, Quilla, Lucy, & Rusty, could use a little touch-up too.  Probably ought to buy 3 or 4 boxes of cornstarch tomorrow when we go to town. 

THE TIMES THAT TRY MEN'S (OR MY) SOULS

Well, this has been an interesting week or so.  I have managed to squirm out of doing Thanksgiving dinner for years, although I always had to listen to John whine about not having leftovers, when we'd eat out or at someone's home.  This year I didn't squirm hard enough I guess.  So I started gathering up my supplies, & getting organized & was really doing pretty good considering how long it had been since I planned a feast.  So 4 days before the big day, the hot water heater for the kitchen went out.  We use the instant demand heaters & they really are great..............but not when they go out & you would like to replace it immediately.  If it's propane, no one has them available without ordering them.  Since it would have to be ordered anyway, I went online & ordered one quite a bit cheaper.  But there was no way to get it before Thanksgiving.............sigh! 

One of my grandmothers use to do it without running water or electricity  after raising 7 kids on the farm, so I figured I should be able to survive the experience.  At least I had running water.................!!! (G)  It turned out just fine, although it's been awhile since I washed dishes by hand too.  Or heated water on the stove to wash "said" dishes. 

The heater still isn't here, but they e-mailed that it's on it's way.  John has messed with these flash heaters enough, that he probably knows more about one than a plumber would, so as soon as it gets here, he'll install it, & we'll have hot water in the kitchen again........!!!! YIPPEE!! 

Today we went to the stock car races.  It's been pretty cool around here, 14 degrees this morning, thank goodness they decided to have the races in the afternoon, so it wasn't quite so cold.  But we knew we wouldn't get home until after dark.  Sure enough, we came in after dark & the gang was waiting in a group by the feed room.  We ran in the house, changed clothes & I headed out to the feed room first.  Opened the door, flipped on the light switch and...................no lights.........!!!!  Just what we needed with a herd of hungry donkeys, mules & one little bitty mini horse past ready to eat.  So I got a flashlight & started getting everyone where they needed to be & getting feed ready, while John tried to answer the $64 question........WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LIGHTS?  Not sure how it worked out that way, but it took John almost the exact time to find & fix as it did for me to feed.........!!! Hmmmmm!  He found a melted wire in one of the junction boxes..........which brings up another question..........what caused it to melt?  Don't know that yet, but he did run a new wire & the lights & frig are working.  We race again tomorrow, & since he has the wire running on top of the ground I assume I'll be feeding again in the morning while he does a more permanent fix.  

C.J. the mini horse was limping when she came in tonight.  I checked her feet & they weren't warm, so hopefully it's nothing serious.  Got her blood work back & she is not insulin resistant, & her test for Cushings came back a little high but within normal range.  That's good news, she's got enough problems with her feet from being chronically foundered for a long time. 

 

C.J. IS OUT & ABOUT..........!!

C.J. is on a little hill, so she doesn't look as small as she is compared to Rusty.  When I let her out, she immediately started eating mesquite leaves & whatever else is available.  It only took Rusty a minute or so to figure out she was out & catch up. 

JACK TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THE HECK SHE IS DOING

None of the donkeys have paid any attention to her since she's been out, although BlackJack did appreciate her pen being open, so he could see if she had any leftovers.  She actually isn't a beet pulp type of gal, at least not yet, so there was enough to make him happy.  

The joints in her hind legs are real loose, they wobble when she walks.  Hopefully by getting her feet trimmed on a regular basis, & maybe not having foundering episodes, she can roam around & get some strength in those joints.  Don't know if it will help or not. 

It sounds like the boys are doing good in their new home.  One of the dogs got in with them again.  I guess Buddy spooked, but Honcho went after the dog, which managed to get away.  They have strung chicken wire around the bottom of the pen, so the dogs can't just waltz in at will.  Once the donkeys know the dogs are "family" members they should get along.  I guess there is a neighbor dog that thinks he lives there, he & Honcho have already smelled noses, so that should be OK too.  

C.J. is still doing good, it's probably about time to let her out of the pen.  Maybe this afternoon an hour or two before time to feed.  Rusty the mule is still hanging around her pen, so I would imagine once she's out he will go wherever she goes.  The donkeys haven't paid much attention to her, now that she isn't getting alfalfa hay.......!!!  (G)  Haven't heard from Courtney about coming out as soon as she can to trim some more.  Since C.J. did so well with the first trim, I'm anxious to see how she does with some more backing up of those nasty toes.  

I got some dry shampoo to "spiffy" her up a little before the Open House.............hopefully I'll have time.  She's a little black & white pinto & the white isn't white anymore.  I've never used it before, but it's too cold to bathe her, at least I think so.  

Poor Cisco, is rather lost without Buddy.  Cisco has always been somewhat of a loner, he was a roping donkey & was shut down when we got him.  He & Buddy ate in the same area, & usually came in together.  But they didn't groom each other or really didn't "hang" together.  Cisco is now  eating in Buddy's pen .  The first time John tried to put him in there, you could read his body language.  He knew that wasn't his pen & didn't want to go in it.  But I think he is enjoying eating without having to contend with BlackJack.  BlackJack can be a obnoxious boob when he wants to be, which is quite often. 

BUDDY BRAT & HONCHO CHECKING OUT THE NEW DIGS

 

We hauled Honcho & Buddy to their new home this afternoon.  They will have goats, dogs & 3 little girls to entertain them.  Not to mention about 4 acres of desert grass & brush to eat.  Buddy has such a problem with his weight I hope he doesn't go overboard on eating.  We told the people they might not even have to feed them for awhile with all the good stuff they will have access to.  One of the dogs got in the pen while we were talking, & Honcho preceded to show his stuff.  They managed to get the dog out before it got real nasty.  They want the donkeys to keep the coyotes away from their chickens, & they probably will.  But they will have to be introduced to the dogs & learn to recognize them as family members.  

 

For some reason when John was rounding up to feed, Nicki went out of the feed room.  John said he was acting like something was after him, & he flew out the door.  Usually we just call him back & he runs back in.  Unfortunately for him BlackJack was standing on the porch.  John said he almost "met his maker", BJ got him down, but before he could roll him, Nicki got loose & flew in the door, John had open.  The problem with our dogs & donkeys is they have all teased & threatened each other thru the fence.  Anubis the other dog is a runner, so we couldn't let them out anyway because of the free range cattle.  Certainly don't need dogs chasing cattle.  

 

Had a call about a group wanting a donkey to carry "Mary" in their Christmas pageant.  We thought about it & decided Cisco would probably be the only one that might be able to do it.  So this afternoon John haltered him up, & I got a step ladder to get on him.  I miss the good old days when I use to grab mane & throw my leg over.  Of course that's been over 50 years ago.................!!!!  (G)  So I toddled up the ladder & climbed aboard.  He actually didn't really do much, he let John lead him about 10 feet & locked up.  Wouldn't move....when I was a kid I use to kick with great vigor, but I certainly wasn't going to kick him to get him to move.  I did manage to get off without using the ladder, of course he's built pretty close to the ground.  So I e-mailed the lady that I didn't think we had anyone that they could use.   He'd probably be OK in a manger scene situation, but they want to do a parade with Mary riding, & I don't think that would happen.