Jackie & John

When I talked to Laura, she filled me in on what has been going on with Jackie the last few months.  He's had quite a time, hoof puncture, abscess, then foundered on the opposite foot, & now he's "blessed" with a nasal discharge that isn't getting any better. 

Poor guy, he just looked miserable.  We talked about what he's fed & general care & maintenance.  Unfortunately where they live, makes where we live look like the inner city.....!!!!  That means there is one vet within 60 miles & not that many trimmers either.  

Laura, Tio, John, & Jackie

The vet is suppose to come out next week & do some tests to hopefully figure out what is going on & what to do to help him be more comfortable.

We might have to put Daisy & Frijolita moving farther into the boonies on hold for awhile.  At least until his infection is cleared up.  Since both of them have health problems, Frijolita is Insulin Resistant & is also a little pig when it comes to eating, so she has to be fed by herself.  Daisy of course has Cushings, so we'll have to make sure their needs are taken care of.  SIGH...!!!!

I think we're finally turning the corner on winter weather.  Last night was 18 degrees, but the weatherman "promises", 80 degrees by the week-end.  Hope he's right. 

Ruthie is such a pretty girl & a good momma too...!!

The weatherman says, Tucson has had their last night below freezing.  We'll see if he's right for a change.  We usually run about 10 degrees cooler than Tucson, so that would put us in the 20's, which is better than the 18 it was this morning..!!!

Made an appointment to get Boaz's knee looked at again.  It's been debrided or scraped 3 times I think.  It is so close to being healed, but just won't finish the job, & now has developed a small lump on the edge........proud flesh?  Doesn't really look like it, so it's time to have someone look at it again.  I was hoping it would be healed by fly season, but I've already received my first batch of predator wasps from Spalding.  Poor little things, I doubt that any of them survived their outing into the cruel cold world.  That's OK, flies haven't been a problem yet, although I doubt they've all frozen, unfortunately.  

Looks like a couple of the girls will be going out to a new home soon.  

Daisy & Frijolita have both been here for years.  They are bonded, at least Daisy is bonded with Frijolita.  They are going to a home that already has 2 boys in it, one of which is Jacko, one of our alumni.  Daisy has Cushings disease & has to have daily medication, which Laura is willing to furnish.  Laura's animals are her "kids", so this will be a good "forever" home for these girls.

I don't know what Tula will do, the girls are the main members of her herd.  We have talked for years about Tula going to Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue, in Texas.  Mark has leases, that are monitored daily, but allow the donkeys access to hundreds of acres of freedom.  They are rounded up periodically for worming, vaccinations, & general check-up & then can return to their freedom.

Tula has been here about 8 years, & still has a fear of people.  We can put a fly mask on her & work with her somewhat in her pen.  BUT, it is always on her terms.  Emotionally she will never accept people into her life unless she has to.

Being in a "wild" setting would be the best possible life for her.  PVDR has different leases, some for geldings, some for old jacks off the BLM range, & some are for unadoptable jennies, which would work out very well for her.  Mark said bring her whenever we want to.  We'll see how she does after the 2 girls leave.  If she misses them, we'll probably go ahead & take her to Texas, so she can be part of a herd. 

Not sure what is going on with the "fur" kids, but most of them if not all of them are eating cholla.....!!!!  I have seen them eat just about everything else including prickly pear, but CHOLLA...........!!!!!  UGH! 

Every time I try to take a video of them eating it, they look at me like, "what are you looking at?" & quit.  This morning Ruthie was eating cholla & Wister was gnawing on a mesquite limb.  Maybe he's working his way up to cholla. 

Practice last night went pretty good, although I did manage to wreck one of the other cars.  It was one of those racing deals, but is rather silly, when you are practicing & not actually racing.  

GOOD MORNING...........!!!

This is what the courtyard looked like this morning.  Like I told John at least it's a pretty snow.  The sun is out & it will all be gone before noon I would imagine.  

LOOKING ACROSS THE WASH

SOME OF THE PENS

MOLLY ISN'T HAPPY

We're suppose to go to practice tonight with the race car.  I've been checking the track's web-site to see if they are going to cancel, but so far, so good I guess.  I'm going to dress warm......!!!

 

Tried to snow this morning, didn't get much accomplished except to irritate the donkeys.  

At one time the minis & Wister were standing in a shelter with Ruthie having to stand outside in the nasty weather.  At least they are making use to the shelters, it's discouraging that most of the pens have shelters & they usually ignore them.  Guess some of them have figured out it's nicer to be dry than wet.  

Now that the chickens are all gone, & we don't worry about the skunks being here, it seems we have become the place to hang out now.  The other night John was weighing hay for the next morning & heard a squeak, like a bird.  He looked around & instead of a bird, it was a little skunk, standing about 4 feet from John stomping it's feet & squeaking.  Guess it didn't appreciate the light & noise.  John said it finally turned around & headed for the back wall of the barn rather indigently.  I would imagine it lives in there.  

We have at least 2 that seem to live in the back yard or real close to it.  They show up every evening for supper I.E. cat food put out for the outdoor cats.  One night John looked out & a skunk was eating out of one bowl & Hobo out of the other, so I assume they have all come to some sort of agreement about living & eating arrangements.  

Unfortunately we have at least 2 different types of skunks, a hooded & a striped on the back porch & they DO NOT get along.  One night they had a stand off of sorts.  By morning most of the smell had dissipated thank goodness. 

This morning I looked out & Wister & Ruthie were under the big mesquite tree.  He was mouthing like he had something caught.  So I went out to see what was going on.  He had a couple of big cactus thorns caught between his tongue & the roof of his mouth, poor little man.  He's been handled so much, he stood pretty good for me to open his mouth & pull them out.  Guess he'd been trying to eat them, silly boy.  

He sure is an independent little devil.  Usually they stick pretty close to momma,  I know Tucker was pretty much a momma's boy.  But Wister doesn't seem to care whether Ruthie is close to him or not, unless he gets hungry or thirsty. He won't be 2 months old until next Monday.

Everyone else seems to be doing good.  Cheyenne is still quidding her hay, but seems to be feeling perkier, now that she is also getting mush & some whole oats.  Dr. Voss said something about she might have some TMJ.  I guess it's possible although, since she's never been worked & I doubt had a bit in her little mouth, I can't imagine what would have caused it.  As long as she can eat mush & gain back some of her weight I won't worry about it.  She isn't quidding as much as she was before Dr. Voss floated her teeth, so maybe with time it will get better.  

THEY'RE BACK.............!!!!

 Daisy & Frijolita in the background, welcoming Ruthie & "monster man" home.

 

Ruthie hopped right in the trailer when we picked them up, & Wister (last name change, I hope) tried, but John had to help him by putting his front feet up in the trailer.  He hasn't learned how to jump up yet I guess.  

Cathy said she enjoyed having them that it was a fun experience.  But if she is a horse person, she'll probably be much happier long term with a horse.  Hope she finds one soon, Breezy was a little upset when we left, she needs a buddy.

He looks like he's grown a lot, John said a foot, but I think that might be a little bit of a stretch.  When we got home, since they had been here before, John just let them come out of the trailer on their own.  BIG MISTAKE........!!!!!  I was in  the house, looked out & there are animals running everywhere, dust flying & I even saw John running in the herd.  Hmmmmm...!!!!  Didn't look like a welcoming party, so I went out to see what was going on.  It seems like Jack the mini mule thought Wister would be fun to chase & once the race started, EVERYBODY joined in.  What a mess......... even old Rusty the big mule was participating & really enjoying it, bucking, rearing,  & yelling.  I ran out in front of him to aim him in a different direction & he reared, nostrils flaring & off he went.  Silly old fool, running up & down the banks of the wash just having a great time.  I went after him again to get him into his pen, & about that time Ruthie & Wister headed towards the pens where John was.  Ruthie saw John in the pens & aimed for him.  He closed the gate & that was the end of that. At least I hope today is a little more calm.

Steve is here today to help John redo the pens, so we'll have room for everyone.  Right now we're good, but when Quilla & Gus come back we'll need 2 more pens.  What really needs to be done, especially the pens on the east side is to take all the pens down & start over.  There was some thought put into the pens on the west, but the east side started as an emergency pen & as time went on, got cobbled together as more pens were needed.

The trip to Gilbert yesterday with Cisco & Cheyenne went well.  Steve a volunteer that's been helping John do some repairs around here went with us for the adventure.  

We were afraid Cisco had something going on with his neck I.E. throat caused by him being a roping donkey in his "former" life, but they had him swallow barium & took x-rays all the way to his stomach.  He has no damage to his neck we could see...........BUT..........his back teeth the grinding ones, on the bottom are worn out to the gumline, in other words he's out of having the ability to grind his hay at the age of 21.  He's already eating mush for most of his calories, so I'll just make sure he always gets plenty, every meal.  We were really glad to find out there isn't anything wrong with his neck.

Cheyenne had hooks on her rear teeth sharp enough to cut the inside of her mouth, her tongue & even the roof of her mouth.  So she got a dental float.  Unfortunately her happy shot wore off before they got done, & she had Steve & 2 vets off the ground more than once.  She may be little, but she is determined.  Wish I had the video camera with me, it was something to see. 

It is really frustrating that they both had teeth problems.  Both had been seen by different vets within the last few months.  Although Cisco got his teeth floated, we were not told that he didn't have any teeth left in the back.  We were told by another vet that Cheyenne had some rough places on her teeth, but not bad enough to float.  I sometimes think vets don't like to work on mini mouths.  Granted it isn't as easy as a larger animal, but I would rather them tell me that & than to not tell me what the problem is. 

Had to drive home in a snow storm, big fluffy wet flakes.  People in Arizona don't always know how to drive in snow, so it's a big worry, especially when you're pulling a trailer with animals in it.  But we managed to get home without getting caught up in someone else's "adventure".

This morning I got a call from Ruthie & Ote's new Mom.  She said she has decided that she would rather have a horse as a companion for her mare, so we will go pick them up Thursday.   It sounded like they were getting along just fine & the mare enjoyed having them.  But maybe this is best, John will be happy, he's been grumpy every since the baby left.

We already had our pens figured out for when Gus & Quilla come back probably in March.  So now we've got to find one more pen for Jack & Molly, the mini mules.  John thinks he has it figured out, so we'll see. 

Heard from Cathy again.  She said everything is still going well with Breezy the horse, Ruthie & Otey.  In fact Breezy has decided that she needs to protect them from horses being ridden by the property.   Otey & Shasta the dog are becoming friends, which is a good thing.  He's actually young enough & has never had anything bad happen to him, so anything & everything is just "hunky dory", from his point of view.  

Going racing tonight.  So far the high for the day is 53 degrees, it was snowing this morning  all around us & the wind is trying to become a hurricane I think.  What a "wonderful" night to go racing.  Since I'm not going in the pits, I told John I might chicken out & go up in the VIP suite.  It's all enclosed, rather than having to sit on the bleachers with the wind circling you as the sun goes down & it gets colder.  Believe me, I've done that a lot over the years.......!!!!! 

DON-KEY OTEY

Looks like a name change in in order for our little guy.  Cathy thinks they are going to call him Don-key Otey, Otey for short.  I don't think he cares as long as someone pays attention to him.  I told her donkeys are real good at clicker training, & since he's pretty much of a clean slate, she could probably get him to do just about anything, once he figures out the game. 

Not much going on around here for a change, everyone is behaving themselves, & except for Cisco & Cheyenne, everyone else seems to be just fine, except for the usual maladies.  We have an appointment for Monday the 11th to take them up to the clinic in Gilbert to see if they can figure out why they both are having trouble eating.  

So I'll talk about other "important" things. 

John took pictures of me with the race car this morning.  It's certainly not pristine looking, he took the pictures from the best side...!!! LOL  

He plans on putting new fenders on it this week, I don't know why.  So he can yell at me when I come in with them wadded up I guess........!!! My first race is the 23rd of Feb, but our son is racing his Super Stock this Saturday.   Our grandson, hasn't got his Super Stock ready to race, I think the motor is still out of it, along with a few other things that need to be fixed.  I know Rod is taking J.R's radiator for this week-end because his has a hole in it.  Don't know if J.R. will race this year or not, A couple of years ago, he didn't get to race because he didn't have a job & we decided, no job, no racing.  This year he has a job, but hasn't got the car ready, so who knows.  I like to see all the cars on the track.  

The other important thing is...........has anyone ever tried using homemade laundry soap?  A neighbor moved a few months ago, & gave me some she  made, she said it was great.  Well I'm a convert, I've never liked detergents & I really don't like how much they cost.  If you do a internet search on homemade laundry soap, there are zillions of recipes & I doubt if enough to do a load of laundry costs 10 cents.  The bar of Fels Naptha cost 97 cents & that's enough to do 6 gallons of soap.  A box of Borax & Washing Soda don't cost very much & it only takes 1 cup of each to make 2 gallons of soap.  The clothes come out soft & whites are whites.  Now if they would just fold themselves, I'd be happy.........!!!!

Just talked to Cathy & she said Ruthie & Aaron are doing great.  Said things couldn't be better.  Breezy the horse has been with them,  Aaron follows her around too & Ruthie doesn't seem to care.  Shasta the dog has been in to visit & that went fine too.  So all in all it sounds like everyone is happy.

I had warned her about his running up behind you & she said she really appreciated the head's up, because he's been "practicing" his "style" on them.  He's going to think all people are grumpy, but this is something that has to be stopped as soon as possible.  Right now he weighs less than 100 pounds, but even at that, those little hooves would hurt, & later on as he grows it would be harder to break.  She said he seems to be getting the idea, so hopefully he will find something else to do, that isn't quite as dangerous. 

I'm going to call the clinic up at Gilbert tomorrow to get an appointment for Cheyenne & Cisco.  Both of them eat like something is wrong.  They've both had their mouths checked & teeth floated.  Cisco was losing weight until I started giving him enough mush so hay isn't a big player.  Cheyenne has lost weight also.  Yesterday we moved her into Pepsi's pen so she can eat by herself, & Pepsi got thrown out with Justin & Lynn.  Pepsi had always eaten by himself, the few times we tried putting all 4 minis together to eat, the other 3 pushed him out.  But he's either gotten more assertive or they've gotten tired of the game, because they don't seem to care now.  She seems to enjoy her mush, but it takes much longer for her to eat it, & if she tries to eat hay, she quids most of it.

So we'll try to take both of them up to the clinic next week & see if they have any ideas.  I'm sure they will, we haven't stumped them yet, & we've taken them some "unusual" cases.