KATIE'S HERE............!!

KATIE'S OPINION OF JENNY BEING LESS THAN WELCOMING

We picked Katie up today & got home just in time to feed.  John put everyone in their pens, so we could unload her without so much help.  When they see the stock trailer come in they all try to see what we brought home.   She is very sweet & halters & leads, which is great.  We didn't have a pen for her, & our corral panels are loaned out, so my brilliant idea was to put her in with Jenny, who is usually very sweet & docile.  Well, she turned into Miss "I don't want you in my pen" instantly.  Katie didn't seem particularly upset & is agile enough to stay out of Jenny's way.  So Quilla got moved out of the pen that Hanna, Daisy & Frijolita are in & is now eating out with Lucy & Buster.  Jenny got her unfriendly self moved in with the other girls, & now Katie has Jenny's pen all to herself.  We'll keep her in the pen until Saturday & let her out to roam around.  It seems like after they are out for the day, everyone forgets they are new & need to be put in their place. 

She's got some issues, a very thick cresty neck,  pones down her side & a bubble butt.  But other than that, she seems healthy, alert & doesn't seem to have any behavior issues.  I would imagine she has been eating alfalfa hay & more than she needed.  A couple of weeks of eating bermuda should have that neck softening & hopefully getting out & moving around will help with her weight. 

NEW GIRL TOMORROW

FREIGHT MULES

I know, I know, our limit is 20..............well Katie girl is coming tomorrow, which will make 23............!!!  The final word was John's although since he's having rotator cuff surgery the 11th of January, & will be out of commission for about 6 weeks, I'm not sure his vote should count.......!!!

Katie is at a feed store in a petting zoo type situation.  She is overweight, with a thick cresty neck, & in a small pen, so she's getting no exercise.  A woman got in touch with me & we went into to town yesterday to see for ourselves her conditions.  She's about 7 years old, & hasn't foundered yet, but judging from the setup it wouldn't be long if she stayed there.  The woman talked to the owner this morning & he is willing to give her the donkey, but the woman isn't in a position to take her.  Soooooooo...............!!!!  (G) 

Right now we have our extra corral panels loaned out.  They were just suppose to be gone for a few days, to move some cows, but they are still gone.  We aren't sure where we will put her just yet.  But we better figure it out by tomorrow........!!!!! 

BUSTER'S IN THE DOGHOUSE........!!!

This is usually how close to each other Lucy & Buster are.  He never leaves her side, but this morning John couldn't find him.  Lucy was here, following John around & talking to him.  But no Buster.  John got thru rounding everyone up & we were getting ready to go out & beat the bushes looking for him.  I looked across the wash & here comes Tula, Chester & good old Buster plodding along.  Tula is "entertaining" the boys & I guess Buster decided, he could take a little bit of time away from his Lucy girl & go for a little "tomcatting".

John put Tula & Chester in their pens, & I watched Lucy & Buster to see what would happen.  He walked over to Lucy, she turned around & walked away to the other side of the well house.  If you put human behavior traits on them, I would say she wasn't happy with his running around.  It's really funny, because she usually ignores him for the most part.  By the time we brought the hay, they were back together, so I guess all is forgiven.  It does make me wonder, if she was actually upset with him.  As I  observe donkeys, their behavior makes me think they are more aware & complicated animals than we give them credit for sometimes.

It was 16 degrees here this morning, I'm glad Pepper & Sha'ba had their blankets on.  They move much better in the morning if  they are blanketed. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE.........!!!!!!

 

We actually got a little rain last night, & at 4:30 this morning it tried to snow.  But by the time we got up you could hardly tell it.  It's suppose to be 22 degrees in Benson tonight, which means we will be in the low teens probably.  So Sha'ba & Pepper have their blankies & booties on, Pepper will just have to stay in  whether he likes it or not.  The girls will be staying in, so he'll have company.  

Hanna seemed to be just fine today.  I know that leg has to hurt, but she isn't favoring it at all.  This afternoon she was at the back yard gate, John uses to go out & feed the birds.  I swear she was trying to figure out how to get in the back yard, you could almost see the wheels turning in her head.  

Actually everyone seemed to get along just fine today, with Paladin in his pen.  Of course he wasn't happy, but the rest seemed to be just fine without his nonsense.   I put a halter on him this morning which doesn't seem to bother him at all.  I snapped on a lead, & tried to lead him...................hmmmm we might have to work on that a little bit.  His feet were firmly planted & he wasn't moving.  I tried tickling his ribs & found out he isn't ticklish, unfortunately..........!!!!  But he didn't try to get away, so I guess it was success in a very small way.  Something to work on I guess.  I need to work with Hanna too, she doesn't know anymore than he does.  Actually less, if she sees a halter in your hand, she takes off.  

SCARY DAY........!!!

GENERAL CUSTER & HIS MEN 1874

 

We had something happen today that absolutely scared the "bejeepers" out of both of us.  I was making some fudge & John hits the door yelling, "I need some help".  I had the good sense to set the pan off the fire, & ran out the door asking what was happening.  He said Hanna was hanging from a corral panel.  Good grief ...........we got to her & she was hanging from the top rail of the 5 foot panel with her left rear leg over the top of the rail, & the hoof caught behind the 2nd rail.  Her head & shoulders were laying on the ground.  I dropped down to her head & she was willing to lay, her eyes were quiet.  John said he was going to get the hack saw & pipe cutters to cut the pipe.  I stayed with her & she laid quietly until right before he got back, which was  probably less than 2 minutes although it seemed like forever.  When she started thrashing, I tried to hold down her neck, but she's very strong, even in such a grotesque position.

Once John got back it took him just a few seconds to cut thru the pipe on one end & twist it enough to release the hoof & she slid to the ground & just laid there.  Her hindquarters were up on the panel & John grabbed a hind leg & dragged her enough, so she could get her feet under her & up she jumped.  She was a little gimpy on that hind leg for awhile, but by feeding time, she wasn't even favoring it.

She had a wet slobbery place on her ear, & although we don't know for sure, John's guess is, Paladin got her cornered in the pen, & she climbed the panel & when she went over, her hoof got caught.  Sounds pausible to me, so we rounded him up & in the pen he went.  And we will probably stop trying to have them out together, he'll be in when they are out & visa versa since obviously they aren't always noisy when he's being a bad boy.  The dogs started barking their "something is wrong" bark, which is why John came to see what was going on.

John was suppose to have jury duty today, but they cancelled it.  Afterwards I started wondering if I had been here by myself, or even if John was by himself, how would we have handled it.  I honestly don't know what I would have done, I doubt if I would have thought of a hack saw.  And I'm sure she was calmer having someone with her, so it was really a 2 person operation.  And what if we hadn't been here?  The way her leg & foot were caught, I'm sure it could have broke if she had been there very long, thrashing around. 

It brought to mind how much responsibility it is to take care of these animals.  They rely on us to keep them safe.  I sat in the house afterwards & tried to think of what I would have done if I was here by myself, & still have not come up with a good answer. 

CHRISTMAS COMES EARLY

I know it probably doesn't look like much to most people, but to me it's wonderful.....another golf cart & also a little dump cart........!!! An ad on Craigslist caught my eye, & it turned out to be a gonga deal, the little cart is probably worth what we paid for both of them. It needs new batteries which is why it was so cheap, but even then it was a good deal. One of my other Christmas presents was having our son fix our poo cart. The metal had literally worn out. They don't make that cart anymore, so when Rod asked what I wanted for Christmas, I took into consideration he is a federally certified welder & asked for what I REALLY wanted......!!! Yesterday he & our grandson spent all afternoon thrashing around under an old van in a junk yard to get the steering box out. That's what John wanted for Christmas, a steering box that has less than 500,000 miles on it for the old van. We have found out that once you go over 400,000 miles the steering box starts to deteriorate, for some reason.....!! And they will even put it in, WHAT A DEAL......!!!

Poor Paladin is in the dog house again. He just can't help behaving like a jerk, from the girls point of view. Actually most of them have managed to discourage him, except for Frijolita. She is afraid of him, & rather than stand her ground & kick the snot out of him, she runs. Of course that makes it great fun to chase her, which he does with great enjoyment. Sooooo we're back to him being in at night, & during the day he can go out, until he starts acting rude. Yesterday John broke it up & ran Frijolita into her pen. I asked John how that was fair, Paladin acts like an idiot & she gets put in the pen. So today, if he can't behave, he'll go in his pen, if we can catch him. Actually he's pretty good to follow us...........but once he finds out he can't get out of the pen, he might choose not to play the game. He's such a sweet guy, to be such a jerk. Hopefully his hormones are dropping..................can't be too soon for everyone involved.

Pretty Hanna

John is still hauling skunks on a regular basis, one every morning. I have no idea how many he's hauled, nor do we know how many are probably repeat customers. Quite a few neighbors say they are having problems too, so I guess we just have a lot of skunks this year. I am really surprised John hasn't gotten sprayed although he did have one "poot" a little. It took almost a week & scrubbing with different potions to get the smell out of the bronco. Although he's pretty careful to keep the live trap covered with a blanket, they like to chew holes in the blanket if they can. John says when he can see their eyes thru the holes in the blanket, he knows they can see him, & it's time for a new blanket.

The last couple of days Paladin has been allowed out with the girls & we have been keeping an eye on him. He's been pretty good, although if we hear running, grunting, or anything else that sounds like trouble, we go see what's happening. All day yesterday we reacted & they always looked at us like we were nuts. Today we were gone all day & when we got home we saw dust flying. Paladin was chasing Daisy & Frijolita around & around, thru the pens & in general acting like a prepubescent brat. John yelled at him, which got his attention for about 5 seconds, after which it was great fun to really speed up to catch the girls again.

John dragged out the equalizer...........the bb gun. We hadn't tried it yet, although we had threatened him a time or two verbally. John ran out in front of him one time, shook the bb gun at him, & Paladin slammed on the brakes turned left & promptly ran into one of the upright posts on the feed room. He doesn't pay attention to where he's running a lot of the time. About this time, Daisy doubles back to run in front of him, so he could chase her again. Here we are trying to save her & she's egging him on............!!!! He's 2 1/2 & she's 23 or more, so we've been calling her "Cougar" Daisy, the older woman, younger man thing. When he took off after her, John popped his butt with the bb gun. He tucked his tail & kept running. John popped him again & the 3rd time he finally decided to stop & figure out what was going on, which gave me a chance to put Daisy in a pen. Frijolita had taken an opportunity to disappear, she really doesn't like him at all. But Daisy seems to, & she likes to run with Frijolita. I would imagine all Frijolita was trying to do was get away from both of them.

Hanna seems to be having fun running with the herd. She's usually close to Tula, but if John shows up she will follow him anywhere. We still haven't started working with her, although she does have something that will have to be corrected. If you are standing with a group of donkeys, & not paying attention to her, she will nudge you with her nose, & it isn't always gentle. Actually she will do it if you stop petting her too. It's cute...............but probably shouldn't be allowed. So starting tomorrow we will being discouraging such behavior. She's a smart girl, it probably won't take but a few times for her to figure out we don't want her doing that.

HANNA'S OUT & ABOUT.......!!!

This is Hanna headed out this morning for a day of exploration. She wasn't all that interested in the other donkeys this morning, although this afternoon when John had to go out & find her, she was hanging with Chester & Tula. When John found her, he told her to follow him, & she did, all the way to the pen, & in she went. She seems to be very mellow & should be easy to work with. We're still letting her get use to her new surroundings. Of course if she & the other girls got out today, that means Paladin had to stay in for the day. Boy was he upset this morning when he didn't get to go out, as usual. I worked with him a little bit to get his mind off of how mistreated he was. I put a halter on him & he didn't seem to care at all. That is a milestone, the next big deal will be learning to lead. After that, picking up feet & maybe a little clicker training for fun. Then he will ready to start looking for his new home.

Yesterday Patti & I spent the day visiting with Claire up in Waddel, AZ, close to Phoenix. Started out early in the morning, & had to scrape ice off the windshield. This is NOT why I live in Arizona..........!!!

We had a great time visiting with Claire, her 2 horses & 2 donkeys. She adopted the 2 donkeys from a rescue about a year ago & knew at the time that Ruthie had really bad feet. Since then she has found out just how bad, & although Ruthie has a hard time moving around, she is alert & involved in what goes on around her. Eventually Claire will probably have to make a decision, but right now Ruthie is very loved & Claire will do whatever necessary to keep her comfortable as long as possible.

Ruthie & Claire

Gus is carrying some extra weight, she hasn't been able to get off of him. She knows how to feed the right way, so I would imagine he's like Buddy Brat, everything he eats turns to fat. Poor Buddy has been on a diet ever since he came here & still looks like an over stuffed sausage casing. And Gus looks like he has the same problem. She's going to have his thyroid checked to see if it's working properly. Buddy has been on thyroid meds for years, & I don't know if it's helped him or not. He's still "rotund" or worse.

Claire & Gus

In this picture she is showing us how Gus will lead with her putting her hand under his chin. Of course when she tried it, he wouldn't move. One thing you should never do with a donkey is say, "they will do ........... (fill in the blank)", because chances are they won't, especially if you are showing someone how obedient they are. Never works..........!!!!

EDDIE & THE CHRISTMAS PLAY

This was sent to one of the Donkey Groups I belong to. What a fun time was had by all I guess, it certainly made my day.
Tish

Just wanted to share the success of our participation in the Christmas play at our church.
Last Sunday we had been asked to bring Eddie our mammoth jack to church so that "Mary" could ride him to Bethlehem. The kids had prepared a cardboard set complete with the Bethlehem Inn, the stables and manger and off to the side a campfire where the shepherds would be visited by the angel. The plan was that mary would mount the donkey and Joseph would lead the donkey in the front door, down the aisle to the front where they would stop at the Bethlehem Inn. After being told the was "no room" at the inn, they would walk forward to the stables where Mary would dismount and she and Joseph would kneel by the manger. I would be waiting behind the set to lead Eddie around behind the set where we would wait for the end of the play for him to be in the pictures.

Everything was great but here are the minor flaws:
Flaw #1. I think everyone totally underestimated the height of a mammoth donkey. Poor Mary had to practically lay on him to get in the doorway.

Flaw #2. They also underestimated how long a donkey that big is. When he made a turn at the coffee pot, it looked like trying to turn an 18-wheeler into Sonic. He made it but it was sure a tight fit.

Flaw #3. Stopping this big donkey while wearing a "Joseph" costume that is dragging the ground can be a daunting task for an 11 year old boy and can make for some colorful language. Nuff said there.

Flaw# 4. Set design should take into account the size of the donkey you are "hiding" behind the Bethlehem Inn. He looked a bit like "DONKEYZILLA" towering behind the set.

Flaw #5. When they angels come to celebrate the birth of Jesus, they need to be told NOT to flap their gossamer wings directly behind donkeyzilla's butt. He didn't do anything but he tucked his tail and did a lot of ear switching that said he would rather that angel moved on to higher ground.

And last but not least,
When a play is done and you have a miniature cardboard city and a donkey the size of a sky scrapper, it might be wise to forgo the standing ovation and the band bursting into a rousing chorus of "joy to the world". That was a tense moment for sure. I paid Eddie lots of granola treats during the last 5 minutes.

All in all, everyone agreed that he just made the play. He was such a sport. He even let Me use the shop vac on him to clean him up before the big day. In fact the only thing that he really made a face at was the smallest of the three kings who had a shiny crown and sequined vest. He didn't like the looks of all that glitter and kept giving Me a look that said, "he doesn't have to stand by Me, right?"

We all agreed that you could never ask a horse to do all that he did. Lots of pictures were taken and he gave every child a ride after they were done. BTW, not a pile left at the church in or out. He waited til he got back in the trailer like a good boy.
Kim- Texas
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

HANNA HAS ARRIVED.......!!!

Hmmm.....nothing like being the new kid on the block, especially when you arrive about suppertime.

Needless to say she was very interesting to the gang. She hasn't seen a donkey in 2 years, so I think she was rather overwhelmed by all the braying & attention.

When we went to pick her up, she was in a large area & we found out although she will follow people around, she is afraid of ropes. John backed up into a corner, she was willing to walk behind the trailer, which basically trapped her in the corner. But she wasn't willing to "hop" into the trailer. It took about an hour to finally get her in. We did find out she isn't a kicker, which is always good to know.

She's really quite friendly with people, but not sure if she wants to buddy buddy with them. That's OK, we'll give her a few days to figure out her new lifestyle. She's a very pretty girl, I'll get a picture of her soon. Right now she is in with the other jennies, during the day & by herself at night when the girls go out. Paladin is still acting like a stupid little teenager. Jenny is finally walking without limping, but we don't want to put her out with Mr. Busy Body again. So he's hanging around the "girl's" pen yelling & prancing around to show them how wonderful he is. All the girl's are in except Tula, she seems to be able to put him in his place & keep him there.

Since Lucy is in with the girls we have to figure out what to do with Buster. He was running himself crazy trying to "protect" her from Paladin. The 1st couple of days we put Buster in with the girls. But this morning I put him out. So far he seems OK with that, he's just hanging around the pen & lunging at Paladin if he gets close. Pepper is still in with the girls, he was a little slow this morning. I'll have to go check on him, & see if he is ready to go out. He's been a little pokey the last few days. He's eating real good for him, but just seems to be a little off. Hope he's OK, at his age of 35+ he doesn't need any problems.

QUILLA, QUILLA, QUILLA...........!!

John came in this morning soon after going out to round up the gang. I hate to hear the door open, because I know it isn't going to be good. He said he needed my help to get a can off Quilla's foot. Whew! could have been worse..............!!!! So out we go, you would think that Quilla would want it off............but NO, NO, NO. Cooperation was not forthcoming, we finally had to tie him up. John got tin snips to try to cut it off, but we were afraid since he wasn't being helpful, a jagged edge might cut him. So I threatened him with death if he moved & John started pulling & prying till he finally got it off. How do they do things like this? And where did he get it? John said probably out of the burn pit. That seems to be a favorite "shopping" place for donkeys. As to the "how" I have no idea, he had to lift his leg high enough to get it in the can & then step down just right to make it stay on.

Pepper showing off his Whinny Warmers to Jenny

I found out about these leggings off one of the Yahoo groups & it sounded like something that might be good for Pepper & Sha'ba. When I ordered the company wrote back & said they were sending some extras, hopefully Pepper wouldn't mind them being pink. I told them he had enough "MOXY" to pull off wearing pink, in fact he has too much moxy for his own good sometimes.

The people that have the warmers have just been great & if you ever thought you might need some leggings get in touch with them. http://www.whinnywarmers.com/ They also have Summer Whinney socks for summer sores & protection from flies. I got a pair to use on Quilla starting next spring, to see if we can keep his leg sores under control. As cooperative as he was this morning with the tin can, I'm really looking forward to the fun & adventure of putting extremely long socks on him.

For once I had a camera in my hand when someone brayed. When Quilla brays he brays for a long time. I had my camera turned on, so when he started, I switched to video & had time to catch some of it. I love to hear them bray, the louder & longer the better.

It got down to 20 degrees last night. I hadn't put a blanket on Sha'ba & Pepper, it wasn't suppose to get that cold. Pepper was roaming around this morning, so I guess he didn't really need it. They both have good winter coats & I hate to interfere with their natural ability to keep themselves warm.

This morning when Paladin got out he decided it was time to chase Daisy, since Frijolita was in the pen. John heard the commotion & went to see what was going on. By the time he got to where they were, Tula was kicking the snot out of Paladin. John said everytime he'd try an end run on Tula to get to Daisy, Tula would get between them & kick him at the first opportunity. He finally decided that wasn't much fun, & tried to get to Lucy. Needless to say that didn't work very well at all. Buster will not let him anywhere near his Lucy girl & started chasing Paladin everytime he even looked Lucy's way. He's going to think we aren't very friendly around here. This afternoon everything has been nice & quiet, they are down under the trees west of the house. We're still leaving Jenny & Frijolita in during the day, at least for awhile. Maybe if Tula & Buster "educate" him enough he'll start to behave himself & we'll get back to normal.

TRIM DAY TODAY........!!!

Courtney came out today to trim & Martha came with her to massage Chester. I didn't know if Jenny would be able to stand on her gimpy rear leg to be trimmed, but she did real good. Courtney said to quit the bute & see if she does OK. If she does, then it might be time to let her out to roam around, at least when Paladin is in his pen. We are still keeping him in the pen at night & the girls get out, then they stay in during the day while he is out. It seems to be working out OK, although they whine about it. Pepper has been staying in with Jenny at night & helping her eat her extra hay. He doesn't push to get out, so I guess he likes having his big girl to himself. Martha use to massage Max, so since he wasn't here I asked if she could massage Pepper, even though he has almost no muscles. I don't think he moved an inch while she was working on him & if she stepped away from him, he'd step with her. She got a big kick out of the way he behaved. When he got tired of it, he turned around & walked away. Of course by that time she had been working on him for about 30 minutes...........!!

Gus was a big pill. His feet didn't need any trimming, but he sure wanted to be at the head of the line for attention, even nipped at Courtney because she wasn't paying attention to him exclusively. He got a lot more attention from her than he expected for that little mistake & finally backed off a little...........!!!

Martha was quite impressed with how much Chester's leg has improved, although he has some real tender places up in the shoulder area. He walks with almost no limp at all, most of the time. After she left, John was rounding them up over in Burroland. Once he found them, as far away from the gate as they could possibly get, he yelled at them to "GIT" & they got. He said Chester took off running & bucking & was leading the race at high speed. I bet he was something to watch before he got hurt & wasn't treated.

Before Courtney left to trim some horses north of us, she put a soaking boot on Jenny with collodial silver in it. She almost didn't get it on. Well neither John or I can get it off, so thankfully she left her truck here. She doesn't like to drive the unpaved part of the road, so Sue came down & picked her up. She's got to come back & pick up her truck, so hopefully she'll be able to get the darn thing off. I don't know if there is a technique or if we're just too weak..........probably a little of both. :-(

OPEN HOUSE

Flagstaff, Arizona 1899

Well we survived the Open House again this year. Actually it went real well, we had plenty of volunteers both days, & even though we didn't have as many people as last year, everyone seemed to have a good time.

Of course the donkeys had a great time, once they figured out what was going on. Paladin was a little confused at all these people walking around & throwing pellets in his pans. He's still working on learning to take food from your hand, so we put up signs to that effect & put pans all around the edge of his pen, so they could feed him if they wanted to.

Someone fed someone pretty good, we went thru over 50 pounds of timothy pellets in the 2 days. But when it came time for the evening feeding the donkeys acted like they were starving to death. BRATS.............!!!

Sunday I got a phone call in the morning from some friends that haven't been here for 6 years. It didn't seem like that long, but they said that's how long it had been. So they came out & helped too. They'll be here about a month, hopefully we'll have time to do something interesting. Last time they were here, they went on a 4 donkey rescue, I think they went with us to pick up hay & corral panels & all sorts of "interesting" adventures. Hopefully the weather will get a little better. Right now we are not having typical desert weather for this time of year. They left lousy weather in Missouri, & it looks like they brought it with them...........!!!

We got a call last night about a little jenny named Hannah. She has been by herself for the last couple of years. A couple of weeks ago the family got a new puppy that chased her thru a fence while they were at work. Now she won't have anything to do with the people. I think she blames them for not protecting her from danger & now is afraid. Will says she just stands in the corner & won't come out except to eat. I said something to him a week ago about taking her if he wanted us to. The family has decided to let us take her. This puts us 2 donkeys over our self imposed limit. But we might have a home for Hannah & Frijolita with Jacko who left here a couple of years ago, & his friend Tio on 40 acres. That would be a nice little herd, & I'm sure would help Hannah feel safer. We are going to pick her up this week-end & give her some time in our herd to start feeling safe again. So hopefully she won't be here very long.

Today John was going to be working outside all day & wanted to let Paladin out to see if he would behave himself. He did pretty good, although he started chasing Frijolita until she decided she wanted to be in her pen. All the other jennies hold their own with him, although Jenny is still lame. We don't know for sure what happened, but feel sure he was involved. We'll probably keep him in his pen at night, then during the day, we'll keep Frijolita in her pen & let him out, when we can watch him. Buster & Quilla pretty much clean his clock & he decides to go somewhere else.

This morning I put a halter up over his nose. I've been putting halter training off, since I didn't know how sore his tree collision made his nose. He didn't seem to think it was a threat, so next time I'll pull it up farther. He's really easy to work with.

Tomorrow is the Open House, we're as ready as we're going to get. Still have some corral panels to put up for a pen for Buster & Lucy. We were going to put them in with Quilla & Frijolita, but decided it would be better for them to be in a pen of their own. That way there won't be 4 of them competing for attention.

Yesterday Jenny came in 3 legged lame on a hind leg. It seems to be the fetlock, it's not swollen or warm, but she doesn't want it messed with. I would imagine she stepped in a hole or stepped wrong. We kept her in last night, much to her disgust, this morning she wasn't much better, so she stayed in. Tonight she is still in, & Pepper is with her wearing his blanket & boots. It's suppose to be in the teens tonight, which means we will probably be down around 10, we're always colder than they predict.

And Paladin has just about lost his running with the herd privileges. He's been chasing the girls, Frijolita doesn't want him anywhere near her. He might be responsible for Jenny getting hurt, because it seems like there's a lot of running & chasing going on every day. This morning he came in with a bloody nose, don't know if it's from the last time he ran into a tree limb or a new crash. Quilla seems to be able to keep up with him, & gives as good as he gets. But we're afraid someone is going to get hurt worse. So for the time being he will have to stay in the pens, when everyone else is out, which is all the time except when they are eating. I've tried to explain to him that his behavior is not acceptable, but he seems to think he's a party animal. I'll be glad when his testosterone level drops to a manageable level...........!!!! (G)

Our movie making is over as of this afternoon. We took BlackJack & Frijolita up this morning at 10am & noticed right away that no one else was in the town. They were all down in the wash filming some chase & fight scenes. The one thing I've learned about movie making is............. being given a starting time is only a suggestion, the chances are it will be hours or the next day before they get around to you. They finally got to the street scenes about 2pm.

Frijolita was willing to lead over to the movie site this morning, until she saw all the new & different stuff, people & noises. So John walked her around & showed her everything. After a couple of trips around the town, she settled down. The miner didn't lead her down the street, he just stood by the donkeys & petted them, when they were filming. They were just background for a guy leading 2 horses in with dead bodies hanging across the saddles. Those poor guys were in fact alive, what a way to get into the movies.......!!! Frijolita wasn't too impressed with 3 horses walking back & forth behind her, but she didn't freak, which was a definite possibility.

John had to go to Tucson today, so when it came time to come home, I had 2 donkeys, a big bucket of hay, a pack saddle & a golf cart to get home. I brought Frijolita home first, brought the golf cart back to the movie site, led BlackJack home, walked back loaded up the golf cart & came home........!!! Whew! Like one of the women said, that was doing fun things like sweeping the dirt street, so tennis shoe tracks wouldn't show......or taking down a perfectly good sign on a building to put up another perfectly good sign, "I will never look at a movie again, without thinking how much hard work there is in the background". She also said something about the wrong people getting the Oscars...........!!! (G)

Of course during all of this we had a crisis, the refrigerator in the feed room decided to become a very good freezer, rather than a refrigerator freezer combination. The crisis isn't so much that the refrigerator croaked, it's a 1968 model, so it was overdue. The problem is to find one that is the same size or smaller. I really hate to pay for a new refrigerator, but the chances of finding a used 10 cu ft one probably isn't very good, especially if we want it anytime soon.

We've about ran out of time to get ready for the Open House this week-end. We're down to tomorrow to get ready, so if it doesn't get done tomorrow, I guess it won't get done. Oh! well I guess the sun will rise anyway, so no big deal.

Yesterday John & I took turns all day long babysitting our little stars. By this time they had become pretty resigned to their fate & even Buddy was a lot quieter. They stood in the same position, just in case the camera shot scenes in their vicinity. They actually did do some shooting & in fact shot a rifle over Cisco's back. John said he didn't seem very upset about it.

When it came time to come home, John had 2 donkeys & 1 golf cart to get home. He decided to try "ponying" both of them off the golf cart. He tied them to the back, drove slow & said they followed along like they had done it before. It started getting dark before they got to the big scene, with horses running around & guy's jumping on them right by the donkeys..........sooooo.......they had to go back this morning. And today they also needed another donkey that looked different than those two. So it was BlackJack's turn to be a star.

This morning we took BlackJack over. He was suppose to have a pack saddle on, but the guy that was suppose to show us how to put it on wasn't there, so we just tied BJ to a hitching post, & put the saddle on the boardwalk. He stood there all day long, while they filmed up & down the street. This afternoon we had to bring Buddy & Cisco back over for the final shoot up by the mine. The one horse that was suppose to come running down the hill, when his owner whistled, so the guy could leap on his back & ride off, has probably never seen a donkey before. He wasn't impressed, spun around & took off up a very steep hill. Of course by this time Buddy & Cisco have decided they don't think much of him either & are bouncing around like jumping beans. Perhaps they all should have been formally introduced, rather than just throwing them together & hoping for the best. They finally moved Cisco farther away from the trail, & then shot scenes with the horse at different places along the trail. Of course everytime they turned him loose to answer the whistle he took off like a race horse. They finally called down to the town to have an EMT come up just in case they needed one. One guy was laying beside the trail, he was suppose to be dead. One time the horse actually jumped over the guy...........!!!! A horse won't step on a person if they can help it, but who wants to test that theory?

Destiny, the girl that helps with chores & I brought Cisco & Buddy home when they were finished, while BlackJack & John stayed for street scenes. I was trying to change halters & was just about halfway between the 2 halters when a couple of horses & riders came trotting by. Cisco decided he was going home, & took off. One of the guys on the horses said Cisco was hiding over in the mesquite. I said he's not hiding, he knows that's where the gate is. Sure enough when we got over there he was ready to go in.

The schedule for tomorrow is, BlackJack has to go back for his street scenes & "Oh by the way, do we have a different looking donkey for a miner to lead down the street"? We've about ran out of any that look good & also lead, but we'll try Frijolita, at least she leads.

I hope tomorrow is the last day of movie making for us. That will leave just Friday to get ready for the Open House, Saturday & Sunday. It's been really interesting to watch how they do things, I'll probably never be able to watch a movie again, without trying to figure out how they put it together.