CONTINUING MONSOON

Yesterday morning when we got up, it was really cloudy & looked like it was going to rain. I got the idea of covering Trudy's wrapped foot with a plastic shopping bag. I don't want to cover her foot with something that is going to make the foot sweat & stay moist. That could cause all sorts of problems she doesn't need. The bags you get at the grocery store, don't seem to be as air tight as a regular plastic bag or being wrapped up in duct tape might be. So we gathered our supplies & started putting a bag on her foot.

It started raining like pouring cats out of a bag, with lightening of course. Within a few minutes water started running thru the pens ankle deep. The pens are set up in an old wash that hasn't ran since 1983 & in 1990 we had a dike built at the east end. But when we get a gully washer, just the amount of water, starts trailing thru the old memories of the wash. Within 5 minutes the big wash started running bank to bank, which means someone east of us had gotten a lot of rain before us. John ran to check on the dike, came back & said we've got to move her, it's going to come over the rip-rap, which is tons of huge boulders on the face of the dike. He let the minis, & the 4 donkeys in the "fat" farm out, so they could go to higher ground. Everyone else was already out, as we hadn't started penning them for the morning feeding. By the time we got a halter, lead & had figured out how to get this very crippled donkey to high ground, the big wash had stabilized at bank to bank, & the rain started to slack off. John used a shovel to divert the water, away from Trudy's shelter, so she would at least have a place to stand out of the water. Within 45 minutes the water was gone, I could even cross the big wash, to feed the chickens & guineas. Unless you have seen a desert monsoon rain & watched a wash run, you have no idea of how quick, & dangerous a situation it can be. I'm just glad we didn't have to move her. And I'm happy to report that last night when we changed her leg wrap, the Wal-Mart bag had done it's job & her foot wasn't wet.

This morning we pounced on Trudy when she was laying down to clean the 3 feet that are out in the wet weather. I cleaned the front one & found a little bit of thrush a couple of days ago. At least I think it's thrush, it could just be smelly feet.......!!!! Tea tree oil never hurt anything, so I slathered it on all 3 feet. It didn't hurt at all, but she did not appreciate this insult to her body & I got kicked in the process. She may be old, & crippled, but she's not going to give up without a fight.

We have an appointment tomorrow at the Equine Centre in Gilbert to have her deep flexor tendon cut. I hope we can get her in the trailer, she can make the trip, & the surgery goes well. We will leave her there at least overnight, or longer if necessary.

Heard that Remington is starting to warm up to his new family finally. The pen he was in was large enough that he probably figured he didn't have to be sociable if he didn't want to. He must be getting lonesome....!!!

Haven't heard out Tula & Terry are doing. Don't know if Terry ever got Tula back in her pen or not. She wasn't in any hurry because of all the rain. Pens have a tendency to get "icky" when there is lots of rain. Hooves seem to keep all the dirt & gravel mixed up with the water, so it stays sloppy even after a few days of sunshine.