STAYING BUSY...........!!!

 It's not as busy around here as it is going to get by the end of the month.  Lynn and Linda will be headed for California later this month and will be gone until a couple of days after Christmas.  Doug will be moving out the end of November, so it will be just John and I for awhile.  Everyone is worried that we can't do it, but we've done it before.  Granted we were younger and less beat up, but it will kinda be fun to get back to doing it ourselves, we'll have more time with the donkeys.  And our neighbor Jorja picks up poo 4 days a week, so we won't have to do that every day. 
    
Of course the donkeys will miss out on race training with Lynn and Linda.  They've taken just about everyone out except the ones with leg or feet issues.  Next week-end they will be participating in a 5K fun run with The Running Shop in Tucson.  I will be staying home because Tyler is coming to do feet, I didn't want to put off getting Rambo and Big Gus' feet taken care of, besides I wouldn't be much help anyway, with my little friend, "Bracey". 

 

  John is going and will set up a petting pen, for after the run.  The Running Shop is really interested in combining a future race with the burros, so this is a way of getting people interested in the idea.

Rambo has been out and about with the herd the last couple of mornings for an hour or so.  So far there has been a lot of chasing and yelling and kicking and not by him.....!! LOL  The girls are behaving like sluts although all Tula wants is to be left alone.  Some of the geldings seem to think Rambo needs to be put in his place.  Turbo, mini Justin, Casper the mini mule and I'm not sure who else are being very mean to him and he's taking it, so far no attacking on his part.  He could squash the minis by stepping on them, but they don't seem to see the problem....!!

We haven't left him without supervision yet, although that's the only way the herd dynamics will change to a routine.  Letting him out for awhile, just makes the next time he's out a new learning experience. 

I've been trying to add a video of little Levi's fat pockets bouncing along as he was out for a run, but haven't been able to get it downloaded.  

Finally, got it.  This is Levi on his 1st outing.

Buddy Brat on his 1st run, they both did really good as far as I know neither of them have ever ran on a lead.

Here's a couple of pictures Linda took recently around here.

This is one of the roadrunners coming back to check their nest.  We read that they come back and use the same nest next year, so maybe he was just checking to see how it was doing. 

John with a praying mantis.  We usually don't see them in the summer, but in the fall we see quite a few. I don't think they survive the cold weather.

RAMBO'S NOT A STUD, JUST RUDE.......!!!

Blood work came back with testosterone at gelding levels for Rambo, so no excuse for his bullying behavior except lack of manners. He's still getting out for an hour or so in the morning, while the others are eating.  This morning, he was wooing Tula and trying to fight with Loki Joe thru the corral panels.  

As of this morning, the plan of attack is, whenever he is acting like a jerk, whoever can get to him, will threaten to kill him for about 3 seconds.  He's actually good with people, picks up all 4 feet to clean them, and is fairly co-operative in a pushy sort of way, so he's not dangerous or anything like that.

John and I talked about using the bb gun to pop him on the butt and we still might do that if we can't get him to show some manners.  But for now we'll just divert his attention when he's being a bully. 

Big Gus isn't a problem, he goes around and visits with the others, this morning he and Casper were trying to bite each other thru the panels.  Casper does not know he is small.  

Big Gus does know where the feed room is and has no problem getting on the porch, sticking his head in the dutch door and waiting for something to happen.  

We've talked about letting Rambo out in the morning with all the donkeys, it's probably going to be a disaster, he's been easy to get back in his pen, so hopefully if it goes bad, there will be enough people to distract him and get him back in the pen.  

I finally figured out how to find Linda's pictures and videos with the new computer, I was getting behind on sharing.  The ones of Bella's proud flesh removal are a little raw, but it's interesting from the point of view that she had a happy shot and that's all, no deadening of the area.  Proud flesh has no nerve source, so as long as there is no cutting into healthy tissue, she just stood there and bled.  Proud flesh has a healthy blood supply, which is probably why it can double in size overnight sometimes.  

 

  
Poor girl had 2 places, one on each side of her hind legs, have no idea why.  They are gone now but unfortunately proud flesh has a high return rate, so we may be fighting it for awhile.  

Thanks for the pictures Linda..!!

RAMBO IS APTLY NAMED........

When Rambo was here years ago, he was not very disciplined.  He was hard on the boys and chased the girls, so I found a foster home for him with gelding horses and Big Gus.  They appreciated his quirky nature and adopted him.  

Fast forward about 6 years and he's back...!!  I have a feeling if we were letting him out with the other donkeys he would still  be "hard on the boys and chasing the girls".......!!!  He's very vocal and very aggressive with the corral panels, Lynn has been putting in T-posts to keep hm from pushing them around and possibly knocking them over.  Donkeys are usually not fence challengers, so our fences and pens aren't very sturdy, at least by his standards.  

Rosie and Rambo seem to have quite a thing for each other.  Linda has been letting him out for an hour or so in the morning after hay is put out for everyone else, to give him a chance to run off some of his high energy.  We aren't brave enough to let him out with the herd yet.  He spends quite a bit of time by Rosie's pen, and she is more than willing to play the game. 

 

John said we should change her name to Violet.  When he was in the Air Force he worked in electronics on the aircraft, and they had a saying to remember the color bands on the  capacitors and resisters and he's never forgotten it.  "Bad boys rape our young girls, but Violet gives willingly"  The first letter of each word, designates a color.  Not very politically correct in this day and age, but very memorable to young men in the military, I guess.  Sounds like Rosie, if she could get out of the pen.......LOL 

Dr. Jeremy was out a couple of days ago to check out the 4 new ones, and see if Linda needed to do anything else for Boaz.  He's been getting better after a summer of his shoulder, chest and sheath being doctored daily and the cooler weather is helping, but he's still not healed.  Dr. Jeremy thinks he is healed enough to not doctor for a few days to see how he does, so that's what Linda is doing now.  

He also checked Bella's eyes.  One morning when everyone went out for morning chores this is what her eyes looked like.  They looked much better when Dr. Jeremy was here, and he told Linda to continue with what she was doing.  Actually Linda said this was after she had already been doctoring Bella a day or so. 

Linda said she is a joy to work with, she puts her head on Linda's shoulder to get antibiotic squeezed in her eye.   Her and Levi are really nice well behaved donkeys.

Dr. Jeremy also cut both of her areas of proud flesh off.  Linda took pictures of the surgery, but hasn't downloaded them yet.  Both areas were on a stem, rather than being close to the body, and we talked about using a goat castration ring to cut off the blood supply, so the proud flesh would eventually fall off.  Cutting them off will be quicker and hopefully we can keep them from growing back.  Proud flesh can really be hard to get rid of unfortunately.

Rambo had blood drawn to check his testosterone level.  We need to find out if he has been proud cut, or if he is just undisciplined.  Undisciplined would be a training problem, proud cut would entail hauling him to the clinic in Gilbert for corrective surgery of a partial gelding in his past.  I'm sure that type of surgery is not easy.

Years ago I was told that Big Gus had a heart murmur.  Dr. Jeremy checked his heart and said he has PDA, which I've never heard of.  It doesn't bother him, although it might if he worked hard.  As far as I know he has never been anything except a pet or companion.

Then he looked at their nasty feet.............good news.......!!  He didn't find any canker, the crumbly popcorn like stuff was probably overgrown sole, there's about an inch of old dead sole on Big Gus' front feet.  John and Lynn spread new gravel in his pen yesterday, Dr. Jeremy thought it might help to break up the sole, so it can fall off on itr's own.  Tyler is coming the 17th, but in the meantime, their feet are getting sprayed with bleach water every day to hold the thrush at bay.  Tyler will go in and trim their feet, but in the meantime we don't want them to get worse.  They don't smell like they did and Big Gus isn't limping and laying down like he was thank goodness.

Me, I'm still in a relationship with my brace and walker, still not helping with chores.  Not ready to take a chance on getting knocked down.

WOW.........WE'RE HAVING FUN NOW.........!!!

It's been interesting around here the last couple of days.  We took Don and Bill to their new home a couple of days ago.  They had been boarding here for almost 2 years while their family built a new home and it finally got finished.

This is the boys checking out their new pen.  You might notice there isn't a thing in it to eat, so they will only have access to whatever Ginger feeds them.  They may end up losing some weight after all......!!!  LOL  For right now they are in a pretty good sized pen area, and the long term plan is to fence in the acreage and let them have the run of 2 or 3 acres, I forgot how many acres they have. 

On the way home we picked up Big Gus aka B.G. and Rambo aka Beau from the rescue where their owner left them, rather than returning them to us as the adoption contract required.  We noticed a lot of flies on B.G's front legs and a couple of sores.  He also smelled really bad, so we got them in the trailer and headed home.

Lynn and Linda worked with them yesterday, checking their feet and both of them have pretty bad thrush and B.G. also seems to have canker.  I have never even seen a case of canker. It's one of those diseases that has almost been wiped out, in modern times, by good hygiene. 

I got in touch with Tyler and he will come out as soon as he gets a chance to see what can be done for the boys.  It will probably be a long term project.  B.G. is limping pretty bad on his left front, which is where they saw the canker goop.  Thrush usually isn't crippling, but from what I've read canker is. 

We knew from when B.G. was here before he is a gate opener, found out yesterday that Beau also has the touch.  He was out and about, being chased by little Justin.  Justin better be careful, Beau can be a handful.  John and Linda got him in BlackJack's pen and Linda put a halter on him and led him back to his pen.  She said she could feel the strength in him, just in that short walk.

Dr. Jeremy is coming out as soon as he gets a chance to check out the new kids and a couple of other ones, like Boaz that is still having problems with summer sores even though the nights are getting down in the low 40s.  While he is here, I'm going to see if he can run a testosterone test on Boaz to see if he in fact a gelding, rather than a proud cut jack.  His behavior seems aggressive for a donkey gelding.  If his testosterone level is higher than it should be, I don't know if anything could be done to fix the problem. 

Found out tonight Lynn caught Casper outside the fence a few days ago.  Lynn said he called to Casper and he came back inside the fence.  So we don't know if the little devil is sneaking out on a regular basis or not.  He does seem to be a free independent spirit........!!!  LOL

Lately when Casper gets out of his pen, he usually goes over by Loki Joe's pen and waits for him to get out.  So I assumed they had become "buds"..........guess not, at least I don't think Loki is capable of going under the fence like Casper does. 

This is Justin, Leddy and Leo, telling Lynn how hungry they are at the feed room door.  This was the first day I went out with the donkeys.  They wouldn't hurt me on purpose, but with my leg tied up in the brace, I couldn't move fast enough to get out of their way.  You can tell I have no treats, but they are pretty sure Lynn has some, it's just a matter of getting him to let go of them.........!!!  I was pretty safe sitting on the bench and they know I don't usually carry treats, so they pretty much ignored me.......!! 

BIG CHANGES GOING ON.......!!!

Looks like Bill and Don will be going home next week.  They have been here while their family built a new home.  We're going to miss them, they've become part of the herd and are both really nice boys.  Bill unfortunately came in chubby and will be leaving chubby.  He's been on a starvation diet almost from the day he got here, but there is obviously enough browse on the property to supplement what we feed him.  Don is still a little plump, but he really looks pretty good.

DON IS IN FRONT, the quick way to tell them apart is he has an upright mane and Bill has a actual mane that falls over.

We will take them home next Tuesday.  On the way home, we will stop by D-S Rescue in Tucson and pick up Big Gus and Rambo.  Rambo's name was changed to Beau, but I am going to reserve judgment until I see if he has mellowed.  He had an aggressive personality, but I'm hoping with the passage of time he has forgot about all that macho stuff.

So we will take 2 home and bring 2 home.  Won't change our numbers, which is a good thing, we don't have any extra pens right now.........!!!!   LOL

At one time, the 4 minis were in one pen.  Then Cheyenne developed a problem with her jaw and had to be fed by herself.   Split a corner off their pen for her and that worked for a few years.  We found out that Pepsi was more of a food hog than we knew, so he needed a pen of his very own, so his food intake could be watched.  Justin and Pepsi went to Colorado this summer, so Lynn had been eating by herself.  We thought that we might as well continue feeding her without Justin, so the original pen is now divided into 4 pens.  Don't think we can sub-divide it anymore.........!!!!  LOL

The guys could build more pens if needed, but what we have now works for the amount of donkeys we have.  Hopefully we won't have an emergency anytime soon.

Courtney came yesterday and trimmed feet..........lots of feet.  I went to town with John, so I wasn't here, but Linda said everyone was good, even Levi and Bella.  Courtney uses power tools, and that can be quite an experience if they've never had a power trim.  She let them watch her work on some of the other donkeys and Linda said they were pretty good.  Linda is having to treat Levi for habronema sores on his sheath.  SIGH........!!!  Right now she is putting Ivermectin wormer on every morning, until the sores start healing.  As long as there are larvae in the sores they will not heal.  Get rid of the larvae and then doctor.  She's also putting meat tenderizer on Bella's proud flesh, but so far not much difference.  We don't know if she's doing it right or not, haven't been able to find instructions on how much to use or how thick a paste to make it.

Once the 2 new boys are here, I will call Dr. Jeremy and have him come out to check all 4 of the newbies out to make sure they are healthy or at least fairly healthy.  Might as well, have a baseline to start with.

Casper sneaking up on Linda.  This is a break thru with him, he's usually trying to keep away from people.

He likes Linda......!!!  LOL

LYNN AND LINDA MADE IT IN.............!!!!

They rolled in this afternoon after an uneventful trip, which is the best kind.......!!!  Bella and Levi introduced themselves and Bella took advantage of the courtyard gate being opened to investigate as much as she could before Lynn showed her a soda can, which got her attention and she followed him out.  They are both really easy to work with and are willing to go along with whatever you want them to do. 

Deer and wild turkey in Colorado

Lynn's mom sent homemade cookies and banana bread..........YUM..........that's the first thing John checked out, when he got home from the race track.  Our friend Larry went for practice this afternoon and John didn't want to miss anything.  No homemade goodies for John since I've been laid up, so he was really interested and pronounced the cookies excellent, haven't cut the banana bread yet.  Thank you Glenda..........  And Terry, Larry's wife sent cookies home with John, I could get use to this.........LOL

John said the race director has a knee that looks a lot like my knee.  He use to race and I guess was in a wreck that damaged the kneecap and they used a tendon to hold it in place, just like they did with me.  Must be a fix that works good.  I hope so, my knees have been my best joints for quite awhile, all the other joints are squeaky and creaky........!!

Linda came in prepared with meat tenderizer to use on Bella's proud flesh, so guess treatment will start pretty quick.

Where there is a golf cart, there are probably treats

 

There's got to be treats in here someplace, maybe Lola the dog has them...!!

  

BELLA AND LEVI ARE OUT AND ABOUT

They got to go out yesterday morning after breakfast, had their hour or so by themselves, the others went out and no fireworks or anything.  Well Link goosed Bella a couple of times and she let him know she wasn't that kind of girl and he found something else to do.  All in all a very easy introduction to the herd.  They spent most of the day by themselves exploring the 10 acres.  I think John is going to open Burroland today, so they'll get to explore some more.  

Doug took the pictures, said it was mostly butt shots, because they were so busy checking out all the new stuff to look at, smell and eat.  

Bella and John getting acquainted

Levi headed out for fun and adventure

They are both carrying a lot of extra weight

Last night for roundup, not only did they go into the pen with no drama, it was a different pen than they had been in.  John put them in BlackJack's pen so they would have a shelter.  He threw up a shelter in their pen Tuesday and decided to switch them last night.  John said there was no problem at all and this morning after being out all night, they were standing in the new pen this morning when Doug went out to do round-up.  They will make someone wonderful additions to their family, when we get the weight off and also get Bella's proud flesh/sarcoids taken care of.  This could be a long process, it took 3 years to finally get rid of Boaz's  big area on his knee and the scar tissue continues to be problem in the summer.  

Linda has been in touch with Dr. Jeremy and he recommends trying the meat tenderizer treatment first. As you can tell from this link, treating proud flesh is all over the page on what is the best treatment.  Everyone has their favorite treatment that never fails.  I always keep in the back of my mind that in spite of what we do to animals and put them thru, they probably would get better without our intervention......for most things.  Proud flesh has it's own rules and doesn't fit into any square as far as treatment is concerned.  Both of Bella's areas are pretty big unfortunately and I'm not going to be much help for awhile.  So I guess Linda will be learning new skills............LOL 

Speaking of...........Lynn and Linda are suppose to be packing this morning, and heading south as soon as they get everything loaded.  Last I heard the list was rather long......!!!  They don't plan on driving thru, so will probably get in tomorrow morning early, after resting for a couple of hours in New Mexico. 

We were suppose to walk in the Helldorado parade in Tombstone Sunday.  But I wasn't going to be able to walk.  They said something about tying me on Turbo so I could participate.  I don't think so......!!!  LOL  Plan B was for me to be parked on the street so I could watch.  But I think they've decided to not go this time.   Maybe next year. 

CASPER, CASPER, CASPER..........!!!!

 

We have no idea what goes on in his little busy brain and probably never will.  Yesterday Doug caught him outside the perimeter fence on the east side of the big main wash, headed east towards Gammons Gulch........!!!  Doug yelled at him and he came back inside the fence.  So he is getting out, we just don't know when and how often.......!!!  And seems aware that getting caught ruins the adventure..........LOL  

I wish I didn't have to worry about him, he seems to know where he lives and what time to show up for meals.  But I worry because we are close to the main road and I'm afraid he might get hit or cause an accident.  Such an independent little guy, but we need to figure out someway to outsmart him.  Not sure that's possible, as mere human beings....!!  Too bad we only have barbed wire perimeter fencing, instead of field fence.  Even if we had field fence, there is still the areas where the fencing crosses the wash that would be almost impossible to make "Casper" proof.

Another little quirk he has that drives Doug crazy is, he will not go in his pen until every donkey is in theirs.  He does have a helpful side, which I'm sure if he knew it was helpful he wouldn't do it.  When John goes over in Burroland to do round-up, Casper will lead him to where the donkeys are.  

I went to the surgeon yesterday to see how my knee is doing.  They took x-rays, seemed pleased with the results and said I have to wear the brace for 6 more weeks.  Something about the quad muscles in my thigh, would pull the surgical area apart if I started "using" the knee.  

It was good to get out, although dragging a leg around and using a walker is a downer. Even got to go out for lunch, which is always fun.  

I'd like to ride around in the golf cart tomorrow and familiarize myself with the donkeys.  I haven't seen them except out the windows for a couple of weeks.  John stays pretty busy "stomping out forest fires", so I haven't added to his work load by asking to go on a joy ride.  I'll see how the day goes tomorrow.  

Well the name changes have been made.  Miss Jingles is now Bella, that's a nice girly name.  What is really weird is I told Linda we had came up with that name, and she said she had been making a list and the 1st name she wrote down was........Bella.  Meant to be I guess.  

John came up with the name Levi for Nephi, it's a good name and hopefully we can remember it.  They will get to go out and join the herd today.  John will let them out for an hour or so before the others are let out after breakfast.  That way they can get some idea of what the 10 acres looks like, before having to face the gauntlet of a nosy herd.  

John had an interesting occurrence a couple of days ago.  One of the girls, I think he said Tula was cycling, which of course livens up the herd and gets some of the boys that have memories of earlier times, really going.  About half of them join in the fun and games, which means there is a lot of running and yelling, pushing and shouting going on.  It can get lively, especially if the girls aren't the least bit interested.  So you have the guys running around trying to make sure they are at the front of the line with the girl of their dreams trying to get away from them, and kicking the fire out of them, if necessary.

I'm not sure what John was trying to do, but for some reason he ended up close to Tula and he said the next thing he knew Loki was on his back with his hooves over John's shoulder.  It just lasted a split second, not sure if John broke up the "love triangle" or if Loki noticed that this wasn't working, but John wasn't happy........!!!    Tula was probably laughing at the spectacle.........!!  And I'm really sorry I missed it.......LOL

RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY...........!!!

This isn't a normal time of year for rain around here, but we are getting it.  The ground is saturated and it continues to rain.  So now there is puddles everywhere.  Casper has been staying in his pen at night, we figured having hours to figure out how to escape might not be a good idea.  But his pen is really wet, standing water everywhere except in his shelter.  Tonight John let him out, so he can choose where he wants to go.  I hope it's within the boundaries of the perimeter fence.......!!  LOL

The 2 new ones are settled in and BlackJack gave up his pen and shelter, at least for a few days until we let them out with the herd.  BJ could care less about HIS pen and HIS bunk, as long as he gets fed, just put him somewhere.  Over the years when we need a pen, he always volunteers.....!!!  LOL

We usually give newbies 2 or 3 days in a pen, so everyone can come and stare at them without confrontation.  They are very gentle so I don't expect any problems when they go out.  The jenny's name is Jingles and her son's name is Nephi an old name from the book of Mormon.  I usually don't change names, but I'm thinking about it for these two.  The jenny is such a dainty girl with big beautiful eyes, she needs a girly name.  So far none of us can remember the gelding's name, so we might need to find a name for him that is easier to remember.  

Doug took pictures for me this morning, since I'm not very mobile.

They are very friendly, although the gelding did not load well.  John said he has never had one sit down to keep from going in the trailer.  Once he sat on the ground, I guess there wasn't anyway to get a butt strap about his fanny, so he pretty much was in control.  The man showed up about that time and they finally got him up and in the trailer.  John said the jenny loaded just fine. 

She knows how to beg....!!!  LOL

This is one of her sarcoids at least I think that's what it is.  She has another one in the very same spot on the other hind leg. 

 Sarcoids

I will get in touch with Dr. Jeremy later this week, and see what he thinks needs to be done.  Sarcoids can get real angry sometimes if you try to remove them. 

Heard from Linda, it's getting colder in Colorado and Lynn is still out on the mountain chasing elk.  Linda sent me the coordinates of where he is, I went in on Google Earth and he was up on a ridge line with lots of trees and scenery.   I doubt if there is another human being within 50 miles.  The only saving grace I could see was, there wasn't any snow in the area.  Of course that could change pretty quickly. 

IT WAS JOHN'S IDEA...........!!!!

Got a call from a woman this week.  She has been taking care of 2 donkeys for a elderly man who's wife had died.  He was in hospice and recently died and she was looking for a place for the 2 donkeys since the son just wanted to get rid of them.  

We are full and I'm not in a position right now, to add to the work load, since all I'm doing is taking up space for awhile.  So I told her I'd call her back.  John has this "what's one more attitude" and figured out a pen area almost before I told him what was going on.........!!!  

They were suppose to be minis, but John went to see them this morning and they are small standards.  Well small might not be a good description, they are both obese at ages 3 and 8, mother and son.  Anyway he made arrangements to pick them up Sunday afternoon, so guess our little family is growing again.  

John said they are friendly, pick up their feet, so should be easy to work with.  They are going on a diet that's for sure.  

This is the gelding, the woman told John their names, but he forgot it by the time he got home.

 

This is the jenny, they aren't overly obese, necks aren't big, so we'll work at getting some of the weight off them.  She also has a probable sarcoid on the front of her right rear leg.  

 

We'll probably wait until Big Gus and Rambo get here to call Dr. Jeremy to come out and do check-ups on everyone.  I'm pretty sure the boys haven't had vet care and these two have been in limbo for quite sometime.  

Everything with moving the boys hinges on when Lynn and Linda get back and Ginger is ready for her boys to go to her new home.  We'll deliver Bill and Don to her place about half way to Phoenix and pick up Big Gus and Rambo on the way back thru Tucson.  At least that is the plan..........!!! LOL

We had drizzle almost all night last night and as you can see from the pictures, it continued into the morning.  John said the jenny wasn't the least bit interested in coming out of the shelter to greet him.  Can't blame her, that's one reason John didn't pick them up today, the pen they are going in doesn't have a shelter.  Hopefully our rain will be over by Sunday. 

I'm looking forward to my appointment with the surgeon next Wed, maybe I will find out what they did and how long I will be recuperating.  We are getting pretty good at unwrapping and re-wrapping, the brace thingy was rather daunting to deal with the first couple of times, but it's not bad once you deal with it.  Walking with it isn't quite as easy........!!! LOL

Lynn and Linda report that it is COLD in Colorado.......well duh.!!!  Lynn has a plan to camp out on the mountain, that is expecting 20 inches of snow and temps in the teens.......!!!  Haven't heard if that's going to happen or not.