THERE'S ALWAYS WORK TO BE DONE AROUND HERE.........!!!

Especially when the donkeys help.  The donkeys have now been in their pens a month.  They are bored and pretty sure they aren't being treated fairly.  I'm really surprised none of them have figured out how to escape, so far they haven't.

Rosie has always had an affinity for chewing wood, she doesn't crib wood, she eats it.  Recently we had noticed she was gnawing on Link and Turbo's shelter.  She can't chew on hers, it was replaced with metal siding.......because she had eaten most of the old one.

Gigi has learned from the master and she is now helping to destroy the shelters.  

At least they are reasonably tidy in their work.  You will notice there isn't a bunch of pieces laying around.  That's because they are eating what they chew off.   The reason there is metal sheeting on the bottom of the wall is because of earlier chewing. 

John didn't have any pipe laying around and with the 4x4 chewed in to, the roof on the shelter started sagging.  So this morning Suzanne and John scabbed in a 4x4 to keep the roof from collasping, until he can get some more pipe.  They covered the 4x4 with chicken wire to deter the girls, otherwise they would have probably started chewing on the new wood immediately.

One of the planned winter projects is to replace all the uprights in the shelters that are still wood.  A few of them have already been replaced with pipe, because of Rosie and a few of the others practicing beaver behavior.

Got a little bit of rain yesterday, but still not enough to get rid of the tasty beans.  There was a spot water had ran in an area where there were a lot of beans and pushed them into a low place, where  water obviously stood long enough to soak the beans.  I noticed this morning they were already starting to turn black.  But that is just one little low spot, they need to get wet and stay wet for a day or two.

Don't know if it is fall yet or not, but there is a noticeable difference in the amount of flies we have, and the cooler temperatures are really nice.  I raced Saturday night, I finished 5th in my heat and main event and it came home in one piece which is a good thing.  It's only got 2 more races hopefully it will stay together for them.  It's really tired, and certainly isn't going to have a good finish, unless all the other cars don't finish...........LOL  Actually our son won a race one time that way, everyone blew their motors, including Rod.......but.....his motor blew last, so he won. 

It got really cold and windy at the track, miserably cold.  I had my racing uniform which usually I complain about how hot it is...........not Saturday night.  Poor John, hadn't planned on such a weather change, so he dug thru the truck and found one of my jackets.  It was small on him, but he managed to squeeze into it......!! LOL   There were still people roaming around in shorts and t-shirts I know they had to be miserable.

Trip starts tomorrow, should be fun, I always enjoy road trips..............!!

UPDATE......!! 

New post after less than 12 hours, busy little helpers aren't they?  Quite frankly I didn't realize they could reach that high.........LOL  John and Suzanne cut some limbs after we got done with evening chores to see if that will keep them busy.  My guess is...........NO...........!!  Suzanne said she will probably put up the chicken wire, they ran out of time today and didn't realize just how important the wire is.........!!

COOLER DAYS..............YAY......!!

The last couple of days have raised the hope that fall is just around the corner.  The nights are cool enough we are opening the windows rather than use the Fujitsu.  Although our house is very energy efficient and we have no heating or cooling except for a little wood stove and some overhead fans.  

When my mother came to live with us there was no way we could keep her warm enough or cool enough without "real" climate control, in her bedroom, so we had one of the small ductless units made by Fujitsu put in.

I had my doubts about that little thing hanging on the wall, being able to keep the room comfortable for her, but I had to admit, it really did the job.

After she died, we moved back into what had been our bedroom and at first we didn't use the unit at all.  Then we started using it during the monsoon when the nights were really humid and the temperature wouldn't drop, just because it was there.

Didn't take long for us to get in the groove of sleeping in a controlled climate, summer or winter......LOL  We both would rather sleep with the windows open, BUT, obviously we aren't opposed to a little help from Fujitsu...........LOL

Yesterday there was nobody here in the afternoon, so when John and I left we closed the driveway gate, that has been open for days so the cows could come in and hopefully eat some mesquite beans.  We got back before Suzanne and when we pulled in the driveway, the first thing we noticed was a big black Angus cow inside the gate.  She was looking at us like, "who closed this gate".  We had no idea there was a cow in here when we left.  I hope she ate lots of beans while we were gone.

 We have noticed there aren't very many beans still in the trees, which is a good thing.  Unfortunately the ground is still covered with beans than aren't changing color very quickly.  Still haven't had enough rain to help break down the beans, so we're just in a waiting pattern for the foreseeable future.  I really hope by the time the donkeys return from Colorado in less than 3 weeks, the beans are no longer a problem, but I have my doubts, unless we get a lot of rain. 

We were suppose to take the new race car to the track last night for practice.  Since I hadn't driven it except around the driveway, we thought it might be a good idea to take it out on the main road and actually run it at speed. 

Good thing we did.  I took off and John was suppose to follow me in the pickup but never saw John.  Not too long into my run, it started pushing steam out of the overflow tube.  It never got hot, but obviously something wasn't right.  When I got on the straight run to the bridge, I wanted to see what it would do.  The speedometer doesn't work, which is one reason John was suppose to be with me, so we'd know how fast it was going.  It started cutting out and wouldn't run at high speed.  It was still steaming, so I went past the bridge to find a place to turn around. 

Came home, and John is nowhere to be found, so I decided he must have went north.  Sat out by the road to wait for him and he finally showed up.  He said he never saw me either, that he knew I went towards the bridge, but when he got to the bridge and didn't see me, he turned around and thought I'd went north instead.  No, I was past the bridge and around a curve waiting for him...........LOL

I told him about my problems and he thinks the fans aren't coming on soon enough, so he's going to hard wire them to come on with the ignition.  He also thinks what I thought was cutting out, probably is the rev limiter.  Most modern cars have limiters so you won't blow the motor by running it too hard.  I've never ran a car with a rev limiter, so I don't know how they act. 

I am suppose to race tonight, although it looks like it might rain.  We only have 3 more races this season. 

John and I will be leaving Tuesday for a family reunion in Indiana, not sure how long we'll be gone, we are driving.  Road trips are half the fun of going somewhere....!!!  LOL  Suzanne will take care of things, hopefully it won't be like the last time, when the roof leaked.  We are hoping for no problems for her, at least she won't have to round up the donkeys twice a day, since they are staying in their pens.

The excitement is building for the pack burro cross race in Superior the 12th of October.  Twenty per cent of the runners are coming from out of the state.  Suzanne, Lynn and Linda will be up there to help with last minute details for a couple of days prior, John and I will go up the day of the race.

 Levi and his new best friend Amy at the Victor pack burro race in Colorado

 Levi getting some nourishment for the race

ANOTHER BRILLIANT IDEA.........!!!

Well maybe brilliant is a little much.  We've had the gate into Burroland open for a couple of weeks, and some of the range cattle have actually gone in and came as far as the big wash.  That wash is actually on the 10 acres where the house and donkeys pens are.  We left the gate between Burroland and this side open just for fun.  

A couple of days ago our neighbor came thru the driveway gate and said there was cows out by the gate when she came in.  John decided to leave the big gate open to see if they would come in.  So far they haven't but I have started making sure the gate into the courtyard is closed just in case.  

John went out at bedtime to tell the donkeys good night last night.  He use to let them out, but since they aren't getting out of their pens because of the beans, he doesn't want them to miss out on getting their treats.  Casper the mini mule usually comes over to the gate, but was standing in the back of his pen.  John actually heard the rattlesnake that was in the front of the pen, for a change.  He hasn't heard a rattlesnake in years, but guess he was pretty close to this one. He backed off, the snake headed for Turbo and Link's pen, and Casper came trotting over to the gate to get his treat.

A few nights ago 3 of the 4 house cats were lined up at the patio door to the courtyard.  I turned on the light and sure enough there was a rattlesnake, coiled up like he was set for the night.  We shined a flashlight on him a couple of times and then he was gone.  John was getting ready to go out for bedtime check of the donkeys, so it was really important to know where the snake went.  Since the way to the pens is thru the courtyard,  John decided to wait a few minutes to give the snake a chance to get somewhere else.

Sure enough the cats went to the back porch as a group, and I heard the rattling, at least we assume it was the same snake.  John didn't see any when he went out later.

We've had 5 donkeys bitten by rattlesnakes over the years and everyone of them was bitten in September.  It's when the snakes are getting ready to hibernate and I guess they spend more time out hunting and get caught away from their usual den or resting spot.

Minda and her friend Stacey got out to see the donkeys as planned a couple of days ago.  Mindy always enjoys the donkeys when she's here and I think Stacey might be a new recruit to donkeys too.  

Stacey visiting with her favorite, Mariah..... Tula watching in the background.

 

Mindy with the mini girls, Lynn and Cheyenne

Stacey with the girls

  

BlackJack getting some ear rubs from Staey

 

Stacey thought Nigel was pretty cool too.  Nigel has never met a stranger

 THANKS FOR THE PICTURES MINDY, SEE YOU AT SUPERIOR

 

 Our neighbor Jorja is taking care of another neighbor's chickens for 10 days while they go on vacation.  They only have a few chickens and big feeders and waterers, so she only goes over every 3rd day.  She comes over here to pick up poo every morning, John takes her over in the golf cart so she doesn't have to walk. 

 John and Suzanne went down to reconnoiter the feeding routine right after the neighbors left.  John is a city boy and although we had chickens years ago and even roosters, he's not really aware of rooster behavior.  He is now, but he wasn't a few days ago.  LOL

These 2 strangers had the audacity to open the gate and walk into the chicken pen without the rooster's permission.  He flogged John with his spurs and drew blood on John's legs before John knew what was going on.  Suzanne called Jorja, and when Jorja called me, she was laughing so hard she couldn't hardly talk.  Of course I was laughing too, the picture of a man getting beaten to death by a rooster, struck me as hilarious. 

Suzanne brought John home I doctored his wounds and a plan of attack was planned to the next day when Jorja would be part of the team. 

From the story they told it's too bad someone wasn't there with a camera.  Jorja went in ready for battle, John said she had a big heavy stick and when the rooster came at her she whacked him pretty good.  He backed off and came at her again and John said she swung her "bat" took his legs right from under him and he went bouncing to the other side of the pen.  I asked John if the rooster was OK, and he said he was walking around just fine when they left, although on the other side of the pen. 

This morning was feeding time again, so off John and Jorja went.  They came back laughing like hyenas.  They came in the gate, the rooster gathered his girls in the far corner of the pen and got in the middle of them, hiding I guess.  Just stood there and watched John and Jorja, actually I'm sure he was watching Jorja more than John because he knew he could take John...........LOL 

WE ARE SWIMMING IN BEANS.................

Well, that might be a little bit over the top, but we sure have a bunch of them.  Under the trees is like a blanket of beans.  And forget my grand idea of taking the fatties out if and when the forecasted rain turn the beans black and inedible.

Yesterday Suzanne took Mariah, out on a walk.  Suzanne said Mariah came out of her pen, her head went down and Suzanne almost couldn't get her back in the pen.  She was determined to eat those beans.  SIGH!  If she was being a pig, I'm pretty sure Jasper, Rosie and Bella would be the same.  Of course if we don't get the promised rain, it doesn't matter anyway.   I guess Cisco is just more picky about what he eats.  

We did get a quarter inch of rain yesterday afternoon, but the beans need to stay wet for an extended amount of time and 1/4 inch won't do it, unfortunately the sun came out immediately after the rain and dried everything up.  

Mindy is coming out with a friend today to visit the donkeys.  She's been coming to see the donkeys a few times each year the last 3 or 4 years.  She's got donkey fever...........LOL  She's also going to be volunteering in Superior for the 1st Burro Cross, October 12th.  This race has really seemed to catch the imagination of people, it sounds like it is going to be a big success.  If it is, I would imagine other small mining towns will want to join in the fun, in the future.  Colorado has 8 races a year and I'm sure Arizona can come up with that many.

Yesterday Lynn and Linda and some of our donkeys raced in Victor, CO.  

                                                               Victor, Colorado 6 SEPT 2019 

This is a nice video on the race.  At the start Buttercup the little mini that won the triple crown last month started out in front.  Later on there is video of her along the trail and then coming into the finish first.  Linda said she broke a record but didn't say what for.  Probably quickest finish in history, her little feet sure keep moving.

UPDATE:  Linda saw my blog message and gave us the rest of the story.  Little bitty Buttercup finished the race at Victor about 5 minutes faster than the old record, which was probably set by a standard donkey.  

STILL NO RAIN FOR US........!!!

The weather people insist on a daily basis, that there will be rain.  Actually areas around us have been getting some rain, but not us.  Next week they are forecasting 40% chance of rain 4 days in a row.  Hmmmm.........we'll see.  

My car did pretty good Saturday night, I ran 2 main events and finished 4th in both of them.  Brought the car home in one piece, which always makes John happy. 

This picture was taken just before what could have been a big mess. 

 Jennifer was passing me, our front fenders touched.

 She started across in front of me, I hit the brakes, she got straightened out and on around the track we went.  I've raced with her since she was about 12 or 13 years old and she's got a lot of hours working out of situations like that.  Good thing, I've already totaled another car of hers this year.  Not my fault, but I'm glad she knew the right thing to do.

Cisco got another bath yesterday for his flaky skin.  The 1st bath seemed to help with the flakes, especially on his back and topline.  But there's areas on his neck, that I'm probably not soaking as good, that are still flaky.  Let's face it, backs are much easier to soak than necks.  No hanging shreds of flaky skin this morning, so I guess it's getting better.  

I don't think getting a bath is Cisco's favorite thing, although as hot as it is these days, I would think it would feel good.  I know I don't mind getting wet, when I bath him. 

I did make an observation, when I was leading him from his pen to where I bath him.  There's some big mesquite trees along the way and when I walked him under them the first time, I almost had to drag him.  His head went down and he started scarfing up beans.  That's only been a few days ago, but this time, he smelled them and only picked up 3 or 4 before I got him to leave them.

My theory is they are starting to not be good to eat because of the sun and what little rain and humidity we've had.  I would imagine the few he ate might have been some that had fallen off the trees in the last couple of days, and hadn't had time to start deteriorating.  Cisco isn't a real good study food isn't life and death to him, like it is to Mariah, Rosie, Jasper and a few of the others.

So, as I said earlier we're suppose to have a good chance of rain early next week.  If we get some rain, and a few more days for the beans to hopefully get less appetizing, we will take the 3 "piggies" mentioned above out on leads and see how they react to the beans on the ground.

If they can take them or leave them, rather than put their heads down and try to vacuum every bean they see, maybe we could start letting everyone out for an hour or so, before evening feeding.   The lack of exercise is starting to be noticeable for Gigi and Bella especially.  Gigi has probably been crippled since birth and has to wear a special shoe.  She does pretty good when she's out and getting exercise.

Bella is taking steroid shots, because she has a hard time getting up after she's laid down, she sits up like a dog and heaves herself up, sometimes it takes her 2 or 3 heaves before she makes it.  Without the shots she lays down a lot and doesn't go far from the pen area.  With the shot, she gets perky and moves all over the place.  Unfortunately the particular steroid she is getting is really hard on the liver, so she is also getting milk thistle everyday to hopefully counteract some of the possible liver damage.

Unfortunately most medicines we use have side effects and it's amazing how cavalier doctors are about handing out prescriptions.  John takes quite a few prescriptions  and recently he was having problems with low blood pressure.  A friend told us to check www.drugs.com, a website where you can list all your medications and it will tell you which ones get along with each other and which ones don't.  Boy that was an eye opener, he was taking 3 different meds for high blood pressure, which he doesn't have.  But the meds are for his heart.  I seriously doubt that his body looks at his meds and thinks, this isn't really for high blood pressure.  He checked with his heart doctor and they cut down on those meds and he's feeling much better.  If you are taking more than one prescription drug, go into that web-site and see if your meds are compatible. 

CAR IS READY TO GO........

The 2nd fuel pump came in, John put it in.  The difference between 10 pounds of fuel pressure and 50 pounds is really noticeable..........!!!!  I think a lot of the problems I've had on the track lately probably could be blamed on the fuel pressure.  Guess I'll find out tonight.

Poor Cisco has skin problems every summer, not always the same.  This year instead of having bloody open sores, we've been dealing with what I thought was dry skin.  When I'd brush him all this flaky stuff larger than dandruff would fly everywhere.  Yesterday I gave him a bath in special shampoo and this is what he looked like after his bath.  The 2 light colored areas are sunlight or something else.  I brushed and rinsed and rinsed some more and brushed some more until I figured out I wasn't going to get rid of it in one bath.  The flakes in his mane (yes, unlike most donkeys he actually has a long mane rather than an upright roached mane)  just kept coming out the more I brushed.  The lines in the bottom right hand corner are actually pieces of skin.  I assume these larger pieces are what it looks like under his hair and they get broke up into the smaller pieces.

This morning he's got a larger area of larger pieces of dried skin.  You can pull them off an inch or larger pieces.  There is no sores, or scabs, he's just sloughing off the top layer of his skin, it's very thin, I'm assuming it is the top layer of the epidermis named the stratum corneum.  Who knew there was 5 layers of epidermis.........???   I sure didn't.  If my teachers had taught things like that I might have been a better student.  LOL 

BEAN UPDATE REPORT

It doesn't look like they are going anywhere for awhile.  We did open the gate into Burroland that comes off the road, so if the cows would like to go in they can.  I don't know why they would, there are beans laying along all the roads, anywhere there are mesquite trees, which is EVERYWHERE.

WELL, IT DID RAIN YESTERDAY........

Actually it was a decent little rain in the afternoon, cooled everything off, and it seemed like it was enough to wet the beans and hopefully start them on their "trip" to become black and inedible for donkeys.  But no........within minutes of the rain quitting, the sun came out bright and hot, the humidity must have been close to 100% and within 1/2 hour you couldn't hardly tell it had rained.  This has been the weirdest monsoon we've ever had since we've been here.  This week is suppose to be over 100* in Tucson every day, this time of year the temperatures should be heading for the low 90s by now.  

I guess the fire in the Little Rincons is out.  There was a facebook page to keep everyone up to date on how it was going.  It hasn't been updated since the 22nd and we haven't seen any smoke, so I guess that's it.  Yesterday John was under my race car and he heard 2 large claps of thunder that he said was REALLY close.  He said it really got his attention, so he squirmed out (he hates my little cars, there's no room for wiggling) and came in the house and just beat the rain starting.  

The reason he was under there is, the fuel pump had lost pressure it would still run, but had no power at all.  He spent a lot of time under there while I was gone to Benson yesterday.  When I came home he said the remanufactured fuel pump he just bought had less pressure than the one he took off.  So he had to take it off again, and O'Reilly's is suppose to get a replacement in today.  I hope so, I'm suppose to race Saturday night and we have 2 main events to run in one night.  This car is such a basket case he keeps threatening me with parking it and racing the freshly built Cavalier.  I just want to finish this season, hopefully in 5th place.  I don't want to bring the Cavalier out and get it wrecked, then it wouldn't be pretty to start out next season.  The car I was driving when I smashed my knee was 21 laps into it's 3rd race, so we didn't get much mileage out of it at all.......!!!  LOL

Turbo is a grown up now.  This is a friend of Lynn and Linda's in Colorado officially riding Turbo.  Lynn has always leaped on him bareback and he could care less but he's never been ridden with equipment.  Eric hurt something, knee, back, one of those important areas that probably needs to be in good shape if you're going to pack burro race.  So since he's going to be laid up for awhile they've traded donkeys I guess until racing season is over.  Turbo will get saddle training and Eric's donkey will still get to race.  Those ears are up and Turbo looks like he's having a good time. 

This is Levi before and after.  On the left is how he looked when he hadn't been with us very long.  You could have put a dinner service for 4 on his back and it wouldn't have fell off.   He had been on a diet, but when they left for Colorado he was still obese.  We were afraid he wouldn't pass the vet check when they had the fun run at Empire Ranch in the spring.  He passed the check, but the vet did write OBESE on his paperwork.  Fast forward a few months to a trip to Colorado running around on 40 acres with the herd, and going out for runs, I'm not sure if he has actually ran in a race.  He was suppose to run at Fairplay when John and I went up to watch, but he was a little "off" that day and didn't make the cut.  It's amazing, he doesn't look like the same donkey.  I'm sure he feels better and hopefully he'll get a chance to race and show off his new figure.  

Thanks for the pictures Linda

TIS THE SEASON

Fire season that is.  Yesterday afternoon we had some lightening in the area, with a few sprinkles.  When I say a few, I'm being generous.  Anyway last night just before dark we noticed wisps of smoke, west of us in a valley in the Little Rincons.  The Rincons are closer to Tucson and the little Rincons on our side of the Rincons.  We watched it for awhile and when it got dark you could see the flames pretty good.  Suzanne took this picture later and it was really getting bright.  

We can smell the smoke, so it will be interesting to see what it looks like after dark tonight.  It's not even interesting enough to make the local news.  They've got quite a few fires all over Arizona that are bigger.  I would imagine if the wind changed directions and it headed for Tucson, they'd get a little more excited.  

Well, the donkeys so far are not having as big a fit as we expected about having to stay in their pens, all the time.  They will try to get out the gate if you don't pay attention, but for the most part they are behaving themselves.   

This morning Suzanne made a list of areas in the pen that need attention, such as broken welds on some of the corral panels and boards that need to be replaced or tightened in the shelters.  Tanya that works at the Oasis Exotic Bird Sanctuary a few years ago, did some welding on the pens for us and has offered to do it again.  Some of the pipe that's been in touch with the ground has rusted or rotted, not sure which, but is no longer pipe, so as soon as we can find some pipe, she'll start on fixing them.  John has already started fixing some of the little things this afternoon, wow, if I'd known all it took was a list, I could have made one a long time ago................LOL  

Well, it looks like 2 of our kids won't be coming back from Colorado.  Pepsi and Coquette have found their forever homes, with new families.  The woman that is getting Pepsi, has wanted him since last year and they both sound like they will be great homes with people that appreciate how special they are.  

This is how Coquette was walking when she came here 6 years ago, now she's a pack burro runner.

This is Coquette with Penny her best friend ever since she's been here.  They had drifted away from being together all the time, and this summer has proven Coquette doesn't require Penny to be in her life.  She will have a horse and a boyfriend of her own kind.  She kinda likes the boys so maybe he will be her new best friend........LOL

This is Pepsi a few years ago, contemplating whether it's worth it or not to come on the courtyard and listen to us yell and scream.

YESTERDAY WAS DENTAL DAY.......

At least for Cheyenne, Cisco, Lynn and Casper the mini mule.  Originally Big Gus was suppose to go,but since he got tubed a few days ago I figured he wouldn't appreciate having his mouth messed with.  Although he's back to eating normal it could still be a little tender.  

So he dropped off the list and we added Casper.  They all loaded easily, which is always a good thing.  Got there and started with Casper.  He was really a good boy to work with, I was amazed.  He had a lot of tartar buildup on his teeth that Dr. Debra popped off.  

Lynn was a pretty good girl, another one with lots of tartar, Dr. Debra said too many animal crackers

Cheyenne on the other hand was an absolute brat, rearing up with her front legs, squirmy, wiggly, and when Dr. Debra tried to put the mouth speculum in her mouth so she could examine Cheyenne, she clamped her mouth shut on the speculum and no one was strong enough to make her open it. Finally Dr. Debra shook her jaw from side to side and she relented enough to open her mouth one click.  She even kicked at poor Lynn and all Lynn was doing was standing within Cheyenne's line of sight.  

 

 Suzanne got a workout, she volunteered to hold them and I let her...........LOL  John helped to hold Cheyenne and it took both of them to "almost" control her.  They used their bodies to squeeze her up against the corral panels, or attempted to.  She's short and determined and was really hard to contain, she absolutely did not plan on a trip to the dentist that day...........!!  She never offered to kick people, just poor Lynn, but she missed.............!!

Casper got to eat some green grass after being such a good boy.

 

Cisco was a good boy, but he always is.  Doesn't matter what is happening, he's willing to go along with it. 

THEY ARE OFFICIALLY ON HOUSE ARREST FOR THE DURATION............!!!!

This is going to get ugly I'm afraid.  Today I decided to lower their timeout to two hours a day, out at 3pm, in at 5pm.  They weren't too bad about coming in, which was a surprise.  BUT......Penny came in choked.  We've been working with her for the last 3 hours and I think she is cleared, but she is so stoic, even more so than the other donkeys and they are bad enough.  

I've been in touch with Dr. Jeremy, he's actually treating a colic right now.  She brayed at me and I asked him is they can bray when they are choked and he said they can.....!!  I was hoping that was a good sign.

Whether she clears on her own or not, they have got to stay in, otherwise we are just playing Russian Roulette.  Big Gus has been in his pen the last four days and has started trying to get the gate off it's hinges.  Today Casper was trying to take his pen apart.  Our corrals are not very sturdy, but it's never been a problem because they are usually only in to eat.  After being in there a day or two full time, I have a feeling they all will get a little creative.

So John and Suzanne are going to start trying to outwit the donkeys.  John's got some T-posts to pound in the ground beside the corral panels and make it more difficult for the donkeys to scoot the panels around .  Some of them know how to play with the chains, so we'll probably have to get some more clips to hopefully keep them from opening the gates.

Tomorrow we are suppose to take 4 of the donkeys, well 3 donkeys and Casper the mini mule monster to get their teeth looked at and maybe floated.  We were suppose to take Big Gus, but since he just got tubed and all that a few days ago, he got removed from the list and we put Cheyenne in his place.  Dr. Debra use to practice down here, she moved north of Phoenix a few years ago, but still comes down here once a month to do teeth.

Last month one of the local papers did an article about my racing.  I got a call from one of the churches to come and talk at one of their potlucks they have each month and they said bring John along.  So this afternoon John and I got to be local celebrities.

I'm not a public speaker although I can talk and talk and talk as anyone that knows me personally will attest to...........LOL  I made a few notes, made up a storyboard with pictures of racing and also of the rescue and off we went.

Had no idea what to expect, but they all were so welcoming and gracious and seemed to enjoy my little talk.  But first we got to enjoy the potluck, and what a spread they had, everything was delicious and plenty of it.  I guess they do this once a month and they all seem to be excellent cooks. 

YUM..........!!

Lots of people there, all these chairs were filled

 John said I did good, they laughed in the right places and asked quite a few questions, so I guess it was a success.  One of the men asked if I would talk at a potluck for a club he belongs to later this month, I figured why not, I could get use to these potlucks..........!!!  LOL  He's suppose to get in touch with me.