Ruthie & Aaron checking out the new digs.  At least the small pen they are in for the time being.  Cathy said she'll probably let them out tomorrow to run around on the 2+ acres.  

Aaron meeting his new dog friend, at least I hope they will be friends.  Ruthie might have something to say about that, until she figures out the family logistics. 

When we loaded them this morning, Ruthie jumped right in the trailer, & Aaron was trying to figure out how to get up where momma was.  John put one of his front feet in the trailer, & when he started to put the other one up, Aaron figured it out & hopped right in.  

The trailer ride didn't seem to bother either of them at all.  They jumped out & started looking around.  Aaron is really a laid back little guy, when we got ready to load them, he was laying down.  I went over & mauled him trying to get him to stand up.  Wasn't interested.  So John went over & not only mauled him, but grabbed his legs & rolled him on his back.  Finally he decided we weren't going to leave him alone, so he got up.

I warned Cathy about his latest "fun" thing to do.  He likes to run up behind you & either butt you like a goat or act like he's going to bite you, either of which might be cute now, but not when he weighs 500 pounds.  So I told her about kicking back at him, like an equine would, to make him stop.  I've seen what he does to his momma, rearing up & biting her on the neck............not acceptable....!!!

Yesterday morning Pepper choked, we think on hay.  We worked with him for awhile & nothing was happening, so I called & the vet clinic said bring him in.  I had to take Mother into town for an appointment, so John took Pepper.  On the way into town, I stopped by the clinic to see how it was going.  Pepper was in the stocks, & John said when he got to the clinic, Pepper had his ears up, was licking his lips & was ready to get out of the trailer..........!!!! In other words the trailer ride had worked it's magic & he had cleared.  They still tubed him to make sure it was all gone, but he was fine. 

Seems to come around just like clockwork on a regular basis.  Actually around here, one day is pretty much like the other.  But Garfield is one of my "heros", & he's good at telling it like it is.......!!!

Looks like Ruthie & Aaron will be going to their foster home Thursday.  He'll have lots of room to run, & they will have a new friend, Breezy the horse.

The people want to adopt, but that's not going to happen until he is gelded.  He actually has something in his little "purse", but I can't tell if it is one or two somethings.....!!! He is just 5 weeks old tomorrow,  & the vet complained last time when she gelded Tucker at about 8 months old, said she had worked on bigger dogs....!!!  LOL  So we'll wait a couple of months & see how it goes.  If the weather starts getting warm & the flies come out, we'll have to go ahead & do it.

Our friends from Missouri are going to go with us to deliver them.  They come out here as "snowbirds" & over the years have gone on many adventures with us.  In fact they were with us on our first big rescue of 2 jennies with their babies about 6 or 7 years ago.  Every time they come out we usually find something to "entertain" them. 

Someone has been stripping the bark off the mesquite trees.  John came in this morning a pronounced Molly as the culprit.  He put chicken wire on some of the trees after he caught her, but she'll just move to others.  Mesquite are pretty tough & will give up a lot of bark before it kills them, but it makes the trees look like they've been chewed on, wonder why......????

I would imagine something has been missing from her diet, although we've had others that really liked to eat bark.  I might try adding some supplements to her feed & see if it makes a difference.

John has also noted that none of the equine like Jack.  If he comes into their space they leave.  He said Rusty the big white mule is the only one that even tolerates him.  I don't know why, I haven't seen him be obnoxious.  John said sometimes Molly doesn't even want to go into their pen at feeding time.

Yesterday she was trying to eat their mush from the end of the bunk, & of course couldn't reach it.  Jack stopped eating, went over & pushed her to the side of the bunk, so she could reach the mush.  That to me is unusual behavior in a good way, but obviously his good behavior isn't impressing the rest of the herd.

A couple of days ago when we drove in, EVERYBODY, & I do mean everybody was running, all over the place.  They weren't chasing anyone, it just looked like they all decided to run for awhile.  The mules were in it, Ruthie & Aaron, well actually BlackJack wasn't running, he was walking fast in the area.  I think he figured out if he stayed in an area walking around, they would eventually come back around, & he didn't have to waste all that energy.  BlackJack doesn't move around, unless he absolutely has to.

I have a new pet..........  Yesterday there was a small wolf spider in one of the feed buckets.  I had a heck of a time getting him out & on the wall, he didn't want to get out.  This morning he was in another feed bucket, I assume he's trying to catch something to eat.  This time of year I would imagine pickings are pretty slim, & he looks like he could use a good meal.

I have a small insect habitat cage, so he has a new home for awhile.  John had seen a cricket in the well house a couple of days ago, but couldn't find him.  So when we go to Tucson tomorrow we'll get some crickets at PetSmart.  I'm not sure how often they eat, maybe they will know at the pet store.  

I'll keep him until it warms up & we start seeing bugs. 

Today we finally got out to visit Chester & his "herd".  This is John meeting everybody, as they try to figure out if he has any treats.  

Chester & Buster Brown went into a great home a couple of years ago, & about 7 months after they rehomed, they were running & playing & Buster literally dropped dead.  Had never been sick, needless to say everyone was shocked.  

Norton came to live with them within a week, & Macgyver & Kiwi joined the herd this fall.  

As you can see they are all very friendly & I think Chester remembered me.  Of course he was always very personable, & enjoys people, so maybe he was just being his friendly self.  

He's been under treatment for Valley Fever for almost a year.  It's not very common for equine to get it.  They had noticed he was lethargic & was limping pretty bad on the leg that had a bone infection when he was here that required surgery.  He was tested & that was the diagnosis.  They said he has really perked up & is usually in the middle of any & all boy wrestling & running.  Yesterday they had blood drawn to see if they can quit with the daily meds.

Tomorrow we will do a home study for Ruthie & Aaron.  He is such a little ham, there have been quite a few people come out just to see him.  And he has provided them with as much as entertainment as he can.  He's already learned to present himself for petting & cooing when anyone shows up.

Of course Jack & Molly the little mules have already learned the drill too, people show up, let's go see if there might be treats, or at least lots of petting. 

The heated Rubbermaid water tank is a big hit, when they come out of their pens after eating

This morning about 2:30 John said he was up & outside to see what the heck was going on.  I slept thru it, unless it comes thru the bedroom, I'm probably not going to care.  Good thing John hears all these things.  

He said he could hear Molly making the "alert" sound obviously mules make too.  Donkeys will make the hair stand up on the back of your head, when they "alert snort".  He could also hear the sound of thundering hooves.

When he got out there, he said Rusty, the 34 year old fool was running around, with the mini mules watching him & Molly alerting.  He said Rusty would stop & they'd all look to the south east for awhile.  All the other donkeys weren't in sight, probably over in Burroland.  The range cows roam around all the time, but they've all seen them many times, so who knows what was going on. 

Changed Mother's bandage for the first time this morning.  I know it had to hurt, but she was a good little trooper about it............this time.  I'm sure as time goes on her cooperation level might slip a little.  Of course the 1st time you have to figure out what you're doing & how to do it, so it takes more time & bumbling around.  Hopefully I'll get it down to a science after a few days. 

The little mules have settled in nicely.  We were told they were bonded & have to stay together.... hmmmm...........!  Don't think they got the memo.  We've seen this before, a couple of "bonded" animals come in & once they are here, it's like they don't know each other.  They do sort of stay within sight of each other, but Molly doesn't even want to go into the pen with Jack sometimes, & he doesn't care either.  If she tries to eat on the same side of the bunk as him, he pins his ears & makes ugly faces.  He's the one the woman said was so bonded, go figure. 

Took Mother to have 2 squamous cell cancers removed from her temple yesterday.  After the doctor was done, we had to wait until the lab made sure he had gotten all the cancer cells, so he wouldn't have to go in again.  It took a few hours of waiting, but at least he got it all & she didn't have to have more cutting done.  

It's going to take weeks to heal, it's an area about 4 inches long & 2 inches wide, thru all the layers of skin.  They could do plastic surgery with skin from her shoulder, & it would heal faster, but she opted to just let it heal as it is.  

It's still got a pressure bandage on until tomorrow, then the fun begins......daily dressing changes.  She's already said every day won't be necessary..........hope this doesn't turn into a power struggle....!!!

Got the race car back with the rebuilt engine & it runs pretty good.  John wants me to put some time on the motor before we take it out to the track.  Guess I'll be picking up the mail & have some fun at the same time for awhile.  We have a new neighbor in the area that has a little car of some kind that runs up & down the dirt road wide open.  I told John if the road was a little wider I'd see if he wanted to see just how good his little car is......!!!! As it is some of the mesquite trees are a little close & he might not want to take a chance on his street car "visiting" one.....!!!

It looks like Aaron & Ruthie will be going to a new home, if the home study goes well.  The people will be fostering them until we have him gelded, then they can adopt them.  

I will not let a jack go off the property without being gelded.  They have a mare that is by herself, so we'll try it this way.  Hopefully he'll drop soon & we can take him to the vet before fly season gets here.  

If I was Ruthie I'd already be tired of him, now that they are going out of the pens, he runs, & jumps on her all day long.  When we put them in the pen for the night, he basically collapses on the ground.  John was afraid there was something wrong with him, but as obnoxious as he is with momma, he seems to be just fine. 

This morning when we were feeding hay he was laying down when we came thru the pen with the golf cart.  John had to drive around him to get thru the next gate.  I stayed behind, got down on the ground with him & started "wallering" him, all over.  He didn't have a problem with it, & in fact seemed to enjoy me scratching an itch he was trying to nibble.  He's still a little bit touchy about picking up his feet, like a farrier would.  What's really weird is, he's better with his back feet than his front...........go figure......!!!
 

Tomorrow morning, very early, I am taking Mother into Tucson to have a couple of squamous cell cancers removed from her temple.  Her primary doctor took them off twice & they came back, so this time we'll see if an oncologist surgeon can make them go away.  We may be there all day depending on how many times they have to go back & cut more.  They want to get clean edges & said they might go back 3 or 4 times, so we might be there all day.  I'm taking one of my Elmer Kelton books to read.

I'm in the process of reading everything he wrote, which is going to take awhile.  Glad I found Abe Books on the internet.  I've bought most of his books, used, for a dollar.  Of course there's shipping, but it still makes for pretty cheap reading. 

EVERYONE OUT & ABOUT......!!!

This morning we had friends over to see the donkeys.  After they left, we got the pens cleaned, & let everyone out, except for Ruthie & Aaron.  Even the mini mules went out with the herd, since they were out all day yesterday anyway.  They are a hoot, every time they see you outside here they come to see if you "might" have a treat.  Molly especially looks like she's had too many treats in her life, she's a chunky little girl.  Jack is just about right, maybe a little heavy, it's hard to tell, they both are shaped exactly like Shetland ponies.  Jack has a chest that looks like he could haul a tank out of a mud hole.....!!!  I told John maybe it's time I learned to drive, get them a little wagon, with some eye catching harness........!!!!  Hmmmmm, they sure would be cute.  Right now they are busy, exploring & begging treats......!!!  Don't think work is in their vocabulary.

Everyone was suppose to disperse away from the pen area, so we could let Ruthie & monster out.  They dispersed, but as soon as Ruthie came out, they all came back to "see" him, which drives Ruthie absolutely crazy.  She's actually not as bad as she was, he got in one of the pens with Frijolita one time which Frijolita thought was interesting.  Ruthie was outside, read the situation, came in the gate, & just got between Aaron & Frijolita without having a hissy fit. 

One of the couples that was here this morning saw him a couple of days after he was born.  They said he's really grown, it's hard for us to tell since we see him day after day.  If we had a scale I would imagine he's at least 25 pounds heavier than he was when he was born.  That would be about a pound a day. 

Justin as usual, tried to chase him.  He did the same thing with Tucker when we first let him out.  Mocha was less of a "helicopter" mom, Ruthie let Justin know he better find something else to do in a hurry..........& he did. 

Today is going to be a busy day as far as lifestyle changes go.  Ruthie & Aaron are out while the pens are being cleaned this morning.  They'll go back in the pen, & Jack & Molly the little mini mules, will get to go out with the herd for the day.  If this all goes well, tomorrow will see everybody out at the same time.  Ruthie is pretty protective of him, but I've noticed he isn't the clinging type.  He likes to wander off away from her & just keeps going until something scares him.  Then he takes off running & bucking to momma, as fast as he can.  He was 3 weeks old yesterday, & should be OK, as long as he doesn't wander off from her & think he's lost.  

Diega was euthanized this morning.  At least she is free of pain now.

3 degrees this morning, I am losing my sense of humor...........!!!!!  Poor John is the one that gets to contend with the results of all this cold.  So far no major pipes busted, although we lost about 500 gallons of water Saturday when we went to pick up Jack & Molly & one of the pipes over at the chicken pen thawed out & burst while we were gone.

Haven't gone out yet this morning, I waited until it "warmed" up to 4 degrees before I even crawled out of bed.  

UPDATE:
Tonight John says he WILL turn on the light in the well house, rather than debate the subject & decide not to, as he did last night.....!!!!

What fun to do chores when there is mush to prepare, to be served warm, & you have no water, hot or not......!!!!

Thank goodness for cooking stove & microwave & the dog's water, we managed to get enough water & get it heated, that the gang probably didn't even notice a difference.  Although it did take us longer to get it fixed, which of course they did notice, & let us know.

Jack & Molly are little food freaks, & we have now heard their voices.  Jack sounds like a pig grunting, & Molly sounds like someone strangling a cat, a rather high pitched desperate cat...........good grief this will take some getting use to I think........!!!!  It's a wonder the others didn't stampede when Molly hit those high notes......!!! 

Today has been "interesting", so far.  It was 9 degrees this morning, so I guess you could say, we are having a warming trend....!!!  Unfortunately the water buckets didn't reflect this "heat" wave & were iced over with ice thick enough John had a hard time breaking it with his trusty "ice breaker".  

We needed to have Buddy Brat to the vet to have a little probable sarcoid taken off his sheath, by 10:30, so there wasn't a lot of time for John to play with ice.  He made sure Ruthie & the little mules had water & figured the others could get a drink from the 2 heated tanks when they went out after breakfast.

Rusty is almost back to normal, so he didn't have to go see the vet.  He still needed to take some Tucoprim this morning & rather than relax & enjoy it (mixed with applesauce) he tried to throw a mule fit.  Caught John flat footed, & we almost had a train wreck.  One thing about Rusty, when he misbehaves, if you get in his face, he will usually give up gracefully.  So I got in his face, & he decided it wasn't worth the tantrum, except for a little head pulling away.  A couple of jerks on his gums with my thumb & he decided the head pulling wasn't working out so well either, so we managed to get done what needed to be done.  Wish I was bigger or he was littler.  (G)  Can't wait for tomorrow morning for the continuing saga........!!!

Buddy hopped in the trailer & off we went.  Got to the vet, she checked him over & brought out this oversized ball point pen thingie.  I've had things burnt off with liquid nitrogen before, with a thermos & cue tip I think, it's been awhile.  This little thing has a 1 use cartridge of liquid nitrogen in the handle, with a tip that can change size depending on the size of whatever you are freezing.  His little growth wasn't very big, so it didn't take much, which was great.  

While we were there I had her check a little tumor below one of his eyes, that had developed over the last year.  About the size of a pea, seemed loose, like it might be encapsulated, not attached to anything.  Everyone thought it would be a good idea to take it out, since he was already there.  Dr. Megan thought it might be a thorn or something rather than a "real" tumor.  

She cut thru on the bottom & a big mushy thorn materialized.  Pulled it out & there was still something there.  She started pulling on it & this wad of "hair" came out.  As she cleaned it up & sutured it the vet tech cleaned up the wad.

This is the "hair", when the tech stretched it out it was about 10 inches long.  The general consensus is, it's an eye lash that went crazy & continued to grow even though there was no place for it to go.  I guess it got trapped in the wound made by the thorn someway.  Whoever heard of a 10 inch long eyelash............????

There have been larvae in the Rubbermaid water tank & we all had been wondering what they were.  There are some water bugs of some type, look like Daphnia, but who knows, thought it might be some of their "children".  Yesterday John found quite a few mosquito dead in the water.  Not a good time of year to be hatching out & going thru your life cycle if you are a mosquito.  The water was warm, but once they become adult mosquito, it looks like they didn't even make it out of the water.  Too bad.........!!!!! 

When we came home from the vet, all the jennies were running like crazy west of the pens.  When we left this morning Lysa hadn't got here yet to clean the pens.  I guess she left one of the gates open, because Ruthie & Aaron were out in "public".  The jennies weren't trying to hurt him or anything, but Ruthie was really trying to protect him, & everyone was acting like idiots.  John got a treat & Ruthie was more than willing to follow him back to the pens, & of course the mean "wittle" kid trotted along with her.  

He will be 3 weeks old tomorrow, I had said we'd let him out at 4 weeks, but might go ahead & let him out when we are here to make sure there are no problems.  We'll be letting the mini mules out soon too.  Probably won't let everyone out at the same time for the first time, that might get a little exciting.....!!!

THESE ARE MY PEOPLE

That could be my Grandad Bolton from the pointy work shoes to the tobacco tag hanging out of his pocket.  Although my Dad didn't go off to school, he went into the Army Air Corp during WWII, I would imagine this scene has played over & over again in the "fly over" country of rural America over the years.  Good independent people that "used up, wore out, made do, or did without".  Norman Rockwell, really knew how to "catch" the "good old days" & bring back wonderful memories.

Jack & Molly seem to be just fine with their lifestyle change.  They watch everything going on, eat what is offered & don't seem worried about anything at all.  

Of course this morning it was 6....yes..........6 fricking degrees........!!!!  Poor John was having to break ice on a dozen buckets in the pens.  Everyone has access to 2 heated water tanks when they are out of the pens, but John is a stickler for them being able to drink when they are in their pens eating.  Of course Ruthie, Aaron, Jack & Molly are penned 24/7.  Ruthie has a heated bucket, but the mules don't.  Hopefully it will warm up enough today, so their water doesn't refreeze.  

We won't be home until about dark.  Would you believe we are going racing.....!!!!  Of course these special events have to be planned a year in advance.  The weather in Arizona is usually much nicer than in the rest of the country & drivers from all over including Canada come down here for a Winter Series of racing & some warmth & sunshine.  Well, the sun is shining, but I hope it gets warmer than the 36 degrees on the thermometer, or we'll freeze our fannies off.  John's going in the pits to help a friend with his factory stock car, but Larry's wife & sister in law will be freezing in the bleachers with me.  Thank goodness the Hornets aren't racing until the end of February, hopefully by then Mother Nature will have settled down to typical SE Arizona winter weather. 

Rusty seems to be on the mend, although he still isn't eating his warm soaked mush.  Eating most of his hay though.  He was standing by the little mule pen this morning when John went out to do round-up, so hopefully when we let them out in a day or so, they will become a "mule" herd & Rusty will have some buddies again. 

THEY ARE HERE.......!!!!

May I introduce Jack on the left & Molly on the right?

Guess no one spent a lot of time naming them, huh?  I was a little leery, the woman really didn't give me a lot of information, so my first thought was......they are going to be untrained & little monsters.

But they lead well, hopped into the trailer after looking it over & so far have been very well behaved.  

They are about the same height as the minis, but are much stockier built, would imagine their mommas were Shetland ponies.  I've seen better feet, but have also seen worse.  Just had a quick look at their feet, Molly looks like she might have foundered in the past, & Jack looks clubbed on the right front.  Not sure how much of that is trimming or lack thereof.  They were trimmed last week, but with out of control feet, it can take more than one trimming to get where they need to be.  

They were met by a bunch of eyes, staring at them thru the corral panels.  Almost everyone was in the area & of course had to look & gawk.  John brought some hay down for them, & that was much more interesting than putting up with the nosy neighbors.  

These halters have been on them a long time, John had to work to get them off.  They don't seem to mind being handled, so I don't know why they left the halters on them all the time.  

Rusty is feeling better today, although still not up to speed.  He did come over & check the "newbies" out.

This morning we insulted him by giving him some Tucoprim & also then cleaned his goopy eyes.  He always has gunk in his eyes, but right now, they are really nasty.  You would have thought we were trying to put acid in his eyes, he didn't pitch a holy fit, but close.  Then he "discovered" the rag was not only wet, but warm.............!!!!  It's really hard to keep being P.O'ed when someone is washing your dirty eyes with a nice warm rag.  He ended up standing with his eyes closed, enjoying the moment while we pretended not to notice.  Mules can be such funny characters.

Well, the vet just left.  Rusty the mule had been acting a little lethargic the last 3 days or so.  Usually he is a food hog, but the last few days he just picked or didn't bother even eating. 

Tonight when John went out to round everyone up, Rusty was standing in the wash, had heavy "goop" in both eyes, & wasn't interested in moving.  Of course it's Friday, & it was at closing time for the vet, but I called & they were still there &  Dr. Megan said she'd come out.  

She checked him all over & thinks he might pneumonia, at least he had some harsh sounds in his lungs.  Of course at age 34 he could have just about anything.  So he got a shot of Banamine, & also some Tucoprim.  We'll watch him over the week-end & if he isn't getting better, we'll haul him in Monday morning when we take Buddy Brat in for his sarcoid removal on his sheath for blood work & possible IV if he gets dehydrated.  

These guys sure like to keep us on our toes..........!!!

We're going to pick up the 2 mini mules tomorrow, hopefully that will go well.  Boaz has already been moved out of his pen, so they can have it.  It's a larger pen & since there are two of them, we thought they should have it.  Boaz doesn't care, as long as he gets fed. 

We were told the grandkids rode them, but they have halters on, which sounds like they might be hard to catch.  A lot of times kids can do just about anything with equine, but let an adult try to do something with them, & they can be as wild as March hares.  Guess we'll find out.  

OMG, MINI MULES......????

 
This should be interesting..........Their 89 year old owner was killed in a tractor accident a few months ago, & the family hasn't been able to find anyone to buy them.  So they want to turn them over to us.  I guess the little mules are the last of the animals, & the only hold up to the daughters getting back to their lives.  One daughter called again today & I said we would take them, so the ball is in their court at this time. 

Hopefully Rusty will like them & visa versa.  Otherwise it might get real interesting around here.  They might be smaller, but at least they'll outnumber him.  Haven't seen them, have no clue how "mini" they are, age or anything, do know one is a molly & one a john.  

I finally found a halter to fit Aaron.  Got a large mini halter & it was "way" too big.  Traded it for the smallest one the feed store had, & it fits pretty good.  He's such a wiggle worm I figured we'd have a wrestling match, but he actually was a good little boy.  I watched him for awhile & except for shaking his head a little bit he didn't seem to care, so I took it off.  The next thing will be to snap a lead on it & see how that goes.  First I'll let him lead me around & then I'll see if we can go where I want to go. 

Our last lone chicken went to the Oasis Exotic Bird Sanctuary to be with their chickens. John checked on her today & they said she is getting along with the chickens just fine............but the ducks & turkeys are being mean.....!!!  One of those turkeys is named Tish I hope she isn't one of mean ones.  LOL 

John is still hauling little mice from the garage to the chicken pen on a regular basis, about 3 or 4 a week.  He's afraid they won't have anything to eat over there, so he's going to take grain over for them a couple of times a week.  Of course now there isn't a place to get rid of my kitchen scraps.  But the ravens have always "helped" the chickens with garbage disposal, so we will continue to take the scraps over there.  Hey, it's winter not a good time to be finding a new food source.......maybe this summer.....!  If we don't remember to pick up the outdoor cat food in the evening we also get to feed the skunks, had 2 last night one a hooded & the other one not......!!!!  Almost had a fight on our back porch, lots of foot stomping & tail raising.  Didn't mind the stomping, but that tail raising is a little scary.  They need to come at different times if they can't get along......!!

A woman that had been out before brought her mother out a couple of days ago.  They "made" over the donkeys did some grooming & took some pictures.  In fact I used a picture she took of John & I to replace the profile picture in the sidebar.  It didn't show my wrinkles, so I thought it would be a good trade out.....!!!

 Boaz has learned to stick his tongue out for attention

Daisy has learned to just look appealing with big sad hungry eyes

 The mean "wittle" kid has decided to grab pant legs

     We are working on discouraging such behavior.  Hope it goes better than discouraging kicking up of heels when close to people has been going.  He's usually moving so fast, I don't think he even knows we're not happy. Probably really doesn't care much either.

Thanks, Luna

Unfortunately Diega will not be coming to stay with us after all.  Her x-rays are really bad.  I don't know a whole lot about all the nuances of reading x-rays of the interior of hooves, but even I was shocked when I saw this.  

This is not a hoof that can be rehabilitated, & the other one looks about the same.  I have had 3 farriers/trimmers look at the x-rays & they are all in agreement that there is nothing that can be done to help these feet long term.  She's only 2 1/2 years old & would continue growing & gaining weight for a couple more years.  Those feet don't need more weight to carry.

So sad, I was told Diega & her mother came into Hacienda de los Milagros from a home that not only allowed feet like this to exist, but they were both very emaciated.  Nothing was done at Milagros except to turn her out to walk around I guess.  She has never had a chance.........!!! What is so frustrating, if she was born with "funny" feet a few weeks of splints could have made all the difference in the world.  Sometimes the best thing we can do is to set them free from pain, I hope her caretakers will do this last thing for her. 

Diega is getting x-rays tomorrow on her nasty feet.  I hope there isn't too much rotation & demineralization of the coffin bone.  She is only 2 1/2 years old, I'd like to think she hasn't had time to get a lot of damage.  Unfortunately it can happen pretty quickly though.  

Cheyenne managed to have at least a short visit with a skunk last night.  Whew!  I don't think she got sprayed, wasn't quite strong enough........BUT........it was strong enough for me.  

One of the little suckers is living under the container up by the garage.  I went in the container this morning for the 1st time in ages, & "noticed" the smell.  Asked John if he knew there was a skunk up there & he said it had been there for awhile.....!!!!  Really......????  Of course trying to remove it permanently, probably wouldn't work out too well, they have a way of not going along with the program.  Years ago one got in the garage, we had heard you could run them off by turning on lights.  John turned on all the lights in the garage & left the big door open.  Waited a little while, went back up there, & the skunk was frolicking & cavorting around having a great time in the "bright" lights.  When he saw us, instead of running out the door, he went under John's roll around tool box.  John left the door open all night & the next morning the skunk was gone.  I guess we should be glad he didn't find a good spot for a nest & just stay.  

Tried to take a video of Aaron doing his thing this morning.  Donkeys seem to have an inbred way of knowing when you want to take a picture or video.  Whatever they were doing that was so cute, comes to a complete halt.  

We had no chasing of the golf cart, or the poo rake, which has also become interesting.  

I need to work on having a better ending to my videos. 

Aaron is in love with the golf cart.  We drive thru the pens on the west side to deliver the hay.  He meets it at the gate coming in, runs around it & checks out all the "parts" while it's in the pen sitting still.  On the way out gate #2 we really have to be careful, he is so quick & doesn't seem to see anything wrong with standing between the golf cart & wagon.  

He's also got running past & kicking up his heels down to a science.  So far he's usually far enough away that it isn't a problem, he really isn't kicking at us, but I'm sure those little hooves would hurt if they connected.  

He came into the world head shy for some reason.  Loves to be rubbed & scratched all over, pick up feet no problem, ears are good, inside the ears GREAT......but the face is pretty much off limits.  My foal halter went with Tucker when he & Mocha went to their forever home, so I'll have to get another one when we go to town.  Maybe haltering & learning to lead will make a difference.  Although we have noticed that he is pretty opinionated about anything he doesn't want to do.  If you try to hold him still, that left rear hoof starts kicking pretty quick. 

Everyone else seems to be doing good, we'll have our first tour of the new year today.  It's some friends with visiting family, which we get a lot of this time of year.  

Haven't heard anymore about Diega the last couple of days.  Cindy is working on getting x-rays of her feet & since I haven't heard anything, I assume they won't be bringing her this week. 

SUGAR "HELPING" JOHN WITH THE TRACTOR A FEW YEARS AGO

I guess baby donkeys are mechanic "wanna a be's"