A GOOD NIGHT OF RACING

 

This is BlackJack checking out my trophy.  Since my number is 21x we've got BlackJack Racing written across the trunk, so he's our mascot I guess.  John complained because the car wasn't clean.  But if a dirt track car is clean, it hasn't been racing...........!!!!! 

Brought it home in one piece, well except for a few "bruises" and one complaint from a competitor that something rough on my car, flattened her tire.  Hmmmm.............  John doesn't always get around to fixing torn metal, especially if it is in "important" areas on the car.  She was trying to nose her way underneath my car coming out of a turn and unfortunately for her, she wasn't far enough up on my car to be doing a "legal" pass and caught the rough edges around my rear tire.............Sorry.....!!!  LOL

We got to bed about 3am and of course the donkeys insist on a 7am wake up call for breakfast, so it's been a long day.  Courtney came out this afternoon and did feet on 15 different animals.  I can watch her work and my back just cringes.......!!!   She uses a rotary sander to trim their feet, which is much quicker than using nippers and a rasp..........as long as you know what you're doing.  But it's still a lot of bending over.  

We're going to bed early tonight, probably as soon as John lets the "fur kids" out after they finish their hay. 

I HATE SEWING.........!!!

I just spent a lifetime trying to sew a couple of fly masks.  OK, maybe not a lifetime, but a lot longer than someone that knows what they are doing and enjoys sewing would.  

Keeping Boaz's habromena damage at the corner of his mouth covered is getting to be a real challenge.  For quite awhile keeping fly masks on wasn't a problem.  But lately they've become the toy of choice for Ruger and Wister the 2 kids, and BlackJack has become very good at getting Boaz's off, usually to the detriment of the poor mask.  John has been looking for the last crusader that covers Boaz's "boo-boo" for the last 3 days and so far it hasn't showed up.  Sigh........!!!  

This morning, the mask Boaz had on was so stretched that the velcro no longer was holding it close to his face, sooooooooooo, time to go to plan B.  One good thing, in getting ready to sew the mask I had, I found another crusader I had forgotten about that needed a "little" work.  

I know I'm being silly, but those 3 areas of purple and sewing the velcro back on the orange mask probably took an hour of major crisis management on my part........!!! 

When I was a kid and spent 2 weeks every summer with an aunt and uncle in Coolidge, Texas, Dudda (my aunt's nickname for her first name of Douglas) she would always send me home with 2 new dresses she made for me.  No pattern, unless she needed something special, then she made a pattern out of newspaper.  It didn't take her anytime from cloth to dress and they always had extras, like pipping or decoration of some kind.  I remember covered buttons, which was really eye catching.  She also played the piano, could play anything by ear.  I never thought I'd like to sew, but that piano playing really caught my attention.  Than I found out you have to practice, so that pretty much ended the piano playing. 

I ordered some Polyglycan from Valley Vet last week.  It got here yesterday in a big box, (little 10mg vial) surrounded by freezer paks and big writing on the box to refrigerate immediately.  I opened it up and it was just a little cooler in the box than it was outside, outside being about 105 degrees.  I put it in the refrigerator and called Valley Vet.  They returned my call this morning.  The woman said they had gotten in touch with the company and they said as long as it wasn't amber color it should be OK.  It's not that easy to explain amber over the phone, I found out.  I finally said on a scale of 1-10 I would say it was about a 2, not clear like water, but a little bit of color  We decided it would probably be OK, or they would send me another one, if I sent this one back and I would have to request overnight delivery.  Not a problem but silly to send back and forth if it is OK.  About an hour later she called back again and said she and their vet had gone to the warehouse to look at their inventory of Polyglycan and it did have a little bit of color.  

I've done business with Valley Vet for years and they've always given good service.  But I was surprised that she took enough interest, to get the vet involved and go see if they could figure out what I was talking about.  Rather refreshing in this day and age of rather casual customer relations for many companies. 

SURE MAKES LIFE INTERESTING

Last night we were watching TV, well the TV was on, I was reading and John was checking his eyelids for leaks........!!!

Anyway I heard this weird noise, sounded like the water softener doing it's thing, or maybe the cicadas chirping, but not quite.  I got up and 3 of the indoor cats were looking out one of the windows thru the screen. As I got closer I could tell what the noise was, a very P.Oed rattlesnake.  Ran the cats off and grabbed the camera.  He was under one of the sotol grass bunches, almost against the house and letting everyone know he wasn't happy. That's OK, we weren't too thrilled with his visit either.  That's only the 2nd snake, 1st rattler this year. 

He had a lump in the middle, maybe that's why we don't see the little Harris Antelope squirrels anymore.  This morning he was gone, but last night when John went out to let the donkeys out, he was a little more cautious than usual.....!!!! LOL

Yesterday evening John and I went down to the Oasis Exotic Bird Sanctuary.  They usually have potlucks when anyone has a birthday or are leaving.  They had one leaving and 3 birthdays, so it was quite an occasion.  On the way down we were bouncing along in the van (the last 5 miles isn't paved and can be quite exciting) and I turned to tell John something.  Saw something small, brown and fast run from under his chair to the chair behind his.  We've had trouble before with mice getting in the van if we park it down by the house which we have been doing lately.  We have no idea how they get in, but they do.  John forgot to set the live trap last night, but I noticed it's sitting on the courtyard for tonight. 

Doctoring is going well, fly masks, not so well.  I'm down to just doctoring Boaz and Cisco on a regular basis.  I have others that get a general look over every morning, just in case.  Rosie has been a little lame on one of her rear legs ever since Tyler was out to trim her and Gigi a few days ago.  He just trimmed Gigi and reset her shoe on her twisted foot.  She is actually walking better on that foot than the other one now, but Tyler isn't ready to see how she does without the shoe.  She wasn't real cooperative, she's a lightening fast kicker, doesn't try to actually nail you, but lets you know she's not happy.  Rosie was real good, but somewhere along the way her leg got tweeked or something.  She's getting better, but I hate to see them limp around. 

John goes out every morning after feeding to look for missing fly masks, and other assorted missing items, like knee pads, polo wraps, etc.  So far he's not finding as many as are getting lost. 

CROWDED IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE

If you would like to read a light reading book that will make you laugh out loud, this one will do it.  It is a collection of 1-3 page observations of Dr. Bo Brock, DVM who has a practice in Lamesa, Texas, hence the title, In The Middle of Nowhere.  West Texas has a lot of towns that would fit that description.  

Having a real hard time keeping Boaz's crusader mask on him to protect the corner of his mouth.  BlackJack is bound and determined to take it off anytime we find it and put it back on.  Wister does the same thing with his brother Ruger.  John has 3 fly masks, 1 crew sock and 1 polo wrap out there somewhere, he hasn't been able to find...........SIGH...!!! 

Ruger and Justin

Almost every morning for the last week or so, Justin and Ruger have been playing in the morning while waiting for the "lazy" people to come out and serve breakfast.  We know when they are playing, because Boofer, the neighbor dog that lives here instead of at home, starts rooting for one or the other.  Then our dogs Anubis and Nicki of course have to join in.  If we look out by the well house we can usually see dust flying as they play.  

This morning I went out with the camera to get some video.  It's really cute because Ruger is a standard and Justin is a mini.  Doesn't bother Justin in the least, he seems to think he's as big and tough as anyone........!!!

I tried to be as quiet as possible, but they kept going behind the well house and water storage tank.  So I had to go closer to my subjects.  Even though they were busy "fighting" they noticed I was there and of course quit to come see what I was doing, and if I might be handing out treats........!!!! BRATS!

RUSTY GOES TO THE DOCTOR..........!!!

A

Sunday Rusty started doing his mouth thing again.  He will go along for months and then stop eating, and spend lots of time "adjusting" his mouth from side to side.  I think he's even been to the vet for it before, well now he's been again.  He didn't eat Sunday, Monday or yesterday until suppertime, when he did eat some of his hay.  Also this morning.

I had already made an appointment for today and we decided it wouldn't hurt to have him looked over.  At age 35, he could have teeth falling out, turning sideways, who knows what.  He's really good about letting me prowl around in his mouth, but since I don't know what I'm looking for, I'd rather someone that knows what they are doing look.  

Nancy checked him over, he didn't seem to mind her manipulating his jaw, but she did find a few sharp points on his molars.  She said for his age his teeth are really in pretty good shape.  He's still got all of them and has an inch or so of teeth left so he's luckier than a lot of equine.  

So she ground off the sharp places and we called it done.  When we got home and he got out of the trailer yelling for Reba, and Ruger and Wister were trying their best to get "in" the trailer.  They think it's a big toy to jump in and out of I guess.   

TIME MARCHES ON......!!!

I hope I'm not getting paranoid, but Saturday night at the races I wasn't feeling the love from management......!!!! LOL  When I got there I looked around for the meeting we were suppose to have to tell me what a horrible person I am.  Couldn't find anything, although the manager did wave to me from across the pits.  

So I headed out, on an apology tour of the pits, to explain my position especially after seeing the 2nd video, which shows the car coming across the track in front of me, and leaving me no place to go.  Did all my "bowing and scraping" and got ready to do it again.......!!!! LOL  Well maybe not, exactly.  

When we run the heat race, if you finish 3rd or better, you draw a numbered poker chip for your starting position in the main.  I finished 3rd, (can we say, conservative driving.......LOL) and drew #5 to start.  When I checked the line-up board my car number wasn't even up there but the # 5 was.  We don't even have a # 5 Hornet.  So I told the girls they changed it and when I drove to staging, the guy kept trying to put me in the back, even showed me the line-up sheet with # 5 in 5th position.  Explained it and he saw the problem.  Went out on the track and the next thing I know they are telling the car behind me to get in front of me.  She went up there, the race started and she and I finished 1st and 2nd.  Needless to say, I protested.  Got about half an apology, but of course it's like referee calls, you can't take it back.  In the last 2 races I've lost about12-13 possible points, because of bad calls.  They are going to be hard to make up, but I'll try. 

Everybody seems to be doing pretty good, no new problems, just dealing with the old ones.  I had said something to Kathy Dean at Longhopes Donkey Shelter in Colorado about using polo wraps on legs.  This week she sent me a box with quite a few polo wraps, she said they were laying around and they don't use them much.  She also sent some new long crew socks.  I told her they won't know what to do with new socks, I always use John and the neighbor's worn out ones to cover their legs.......!!!   LOL  Kathy has an outstanding rescue and sanctuary.  I think she probably does more with a dollar than any other rescue in the country. 

A couple of days ago, when John went out in the afternoon to round up, Pepper was down in the big wash.  He had been down, in the afternoon sun for quite awhile and was over heated, almost panting.  Didn't know if we'd be able to get him up or not, rolled him over and while he didn't pop right up, he got up pretty quick.  I told John to bring him to one of the water hoses under a tree.  It took awhile for him to get there, his poor old crippled legs take awhile to start working again.  I started hosing him down, usually he hates water, but there was a nice breeze coming thru and he stood really still, so I guess he liked it.  Then I used a scraper to get the excess water off him.  When you hose a hot equine down, you don't leave the water on them, because their body heat, heats up the water and defeats the purpose of hosing them down.  If they are really in stress, you can also use alcohol or witch hazel, which is suppose to cool them off quicker, I've never had to do that, so can't say. 

OK, WE'RE ALL TIRED OF HOT NOW..........!!!

 Farmer plowing with primitive plow near Jerusalem 1935

This is the weather I warn John about in the winter when he's whining about being cold.  Right now the humidity is going up, hopefully the beginning of the monsoon season, which generally starts around this time.  We actually had a few drops of rain a couple of days ago.  Now we just have the humidity........!!!!  

We 're suppose to have some teenagers come out this afternoon from an organization in Benson to groom.  They are suppose to be here from 3-5..............hmmmm.......... that is the hottest part of the day and these are city kids.  Doubt there will be much grooming done unfortunately, because some of them, like BlackJack, Cisco, Coquette and a couple of others really need to get rid of the extra hair they are carrying around. 

I'm happy to report that Boaz's habronema damage on the side of his mouth is finally healing.  Getting the crusader masks with the long nose piece made all the difference in the world, by keeping the flies from reinfesting the area.  

Earlier this week we took Pepper into the vet to see why he had swelling under his eye.  I thought he might need to have the duct that runs from the eye to the nose flushed, except the eye wasn't watering a lot.  She said she thought it was probably just habronema, she found a little spot I'd missed.  When that happened I have no idea he wears a mask 24/7.  She said worm him once a week for the duration.  I figured if it was good for him it would be good for my other 2 compromised guys, so Cisco and Boaz will both get wormed once a week too.  I even got some apple flavored wormer, if this is going to be regular thing, might as well make it taste a little better.  None of them like the cheap stuff I usually use..............!!!!  LOL

Today is John's birthday......!!!  We don't do much celebrating, figure we're lucky to make it this far, that's celebrating enough............LOL  We were going to try to go out for dinner, but with the kids coming we'll wait.  We could go Sunday for Father's Day or wait until next Tuesday, which will be our 53rd wedding anniversary.  Ah! decisions, decisions......!!!  We'll probably do it when it works in, we've found out if we make plans, something usually happens.  It's better to just change our clothes after chores and head for town......!!! 

NOT GETTING ANY COOLER.........!!!

John got a "kitchen pass" to go to the asphalt track tonight.  This will be the last race night for a friend of ours, and I guess the track is going to acknowledge him during intermission.  I don't like asphalt anyway, so I stayed home, rather than get a sitter for Mother.  John can tell me about it when he gets home.  

When the track opens up again in July, our son should have his modified up and running.  The dirt track only has the Super Stocks running about 5 times this year.  That isn't enough to make it worthwhile to have a car.  Rod plans on running the dirt when they race, but in between he's going over to the "dark" side........!!!  LOL  He's ran a modified before but it was on dirt, I'm sure it's a lot different, guess he'll find out.  

We finally saw 2 different videos of the races last Saturday night to see what all the hullabaloo was about.  One of the young kids got 2 fingers broke, when he and I went into the infield and he hit a tractor tire.  I'm sure the ones yelling for my blood won't care, but he lost control on the top side of the track and when he came back down on the track, he was broadside in front of me.  I had nowhere to go.  I don't know if they've seen the videos, probably aren't interested, they "know" what happened........sigh..!!  The lack of power steering,  kept me to the outside of the track for the rest of the race, because it wasn't controllable, going into the turns.  The other incident on the last lap had a truck coming out of turn 4 right in front of me.  That's not a place drivers usually slow down, so I closed on her real quick.  When I tried to go inside of her, the lack of power steering raised it's ugly head and tried to shoot me towards the outside edge of the track.  Unfortunately she was already in that area.   So she went flying off the track, in a hurry.  There is suppose to be a meeting, before next week's race for everyone to have their say.  That should be fun, guess I'll find out, since I'm the guest of honor........!!!  LOL 

Everyone seems to be doing pretty good right now.  When it's this hot they don't do much except find shade and stay there.  John said some of them came up to the garage this afternoon to see if he was doing anything interesting.  He said they didn't stay long, so I guess they weren't impressed. 

I will be letting them out tonight since John isn't here, which they aren't going to like.  John gives them treats when he lets them out.  I think getting out should be treat enough, so no treats.........!!!  I have to move really quick though, because they turn into a vicious mob, when no treats are forthcoming......!!! Well maybe not vicious, but they can get pushy. 

GUESS I HAVE A NEW OCCURANCE TO ADD TO MY ACCOMPLISHED BUCKET LIST

Not exactly sure I ever wanted to do it, but I got disqualified last night for rough driving.  I'm waiting to see the video, to see how bad I was........!!! LOL  Afterwards I talked to the race director and the general manager, which was not very informative.  One told me the other one was in charge, the other one told me the other one made the decision.  And no specifics..........!!!!  Grrrrrrr........!!!!  

I was too tired to really pitch a fit.  On the 2nd lap, someone ran me off the track and I lost my power steering.  It was like driving a very uncooperative Mac Truck.  If I'd known they were going to DQ me I would have not hung on for 18 more laps.  When I came in and John figured out what the problem was I asked him why it was so hard to drive.  I drove it for 3 years without power steering, but he said the rack and pinon for power steering is different and almost impossible to steer.  No kidding, I figured that out real quick..........!!!! LOL

Got home and John went out to let the fur kids out.  He came back in too quickly and said he needed help with Pepper.  It seems Pepper had laid down on his right side in his pen and had gotten cast, which means he got his legs under the corral panels and was trapped.  We had to take the panel down, he laid there for awhile and clambered to his feet.  Ended up with rub spots on all his boney spots on that side, poor old guy.   But he headed out into the night like he had somewhere important to go.  John said this morning he was using his head at a weapon, guess John wasn't doing something right, so I guess he suffered no permanent ill effects. 

IS IT HOT ENOUGH FOR YOU.......???  We are starting off June above 100 degrees, so far they are saying it might cool off a few degrees later this week.  June is usually our hottest month, so it's not a big surprise.  The donkeys for the most part take it in stride, they find trees to stand under and wait for it to cool off.  They aren't very cooperative when it's hot, if they've found a relatively cool spot to hang out, it's almost impossible to get them to move.  

Except for Wister and Ruger, the 2 youngsters.  I looked out a couple of days ago in the heat of the afternoon and they were playing "you chase me and I'll chase you".  I didn't think it would last very long, but they chased around for 5 or 10 minutes, silly boys.......!!!