THE GIRL'S ARE BACK......!!

The girls have been in foster care for about 3 or 4 years.  We were hoping it was a permanent home, but like a lot of relationships these days, the couple split the blanket.  So they are back looking for a new home.  

I must say they are in excellent condition, they've had very good care and were well loved.  

Selena is on the left and Falena is on the right.  We think they might be mother and daughter, but don't know for sure.  

It's been a long time since I got a call from someone actually wanting 2 donkeys, they usually just want one, which we won't do.  

Heard from Sarah yesterday about Ruger and Wister.  She said they are really enjoying the boys, but they still haven't warmed up to the 2 little girls, even if they are outside the fence with a treat.  SIGH!  They really want it to work and I hope it does, it would be a great home for them.  She also thinks Ruger is gaining weight.  We are going into Tucson today, so will stop by and have a look.  They do have quite a bit of grass in an area of over an acre.  She isn't even feeding hay at all.  She is pleased the ground squirrels are not as prevalent.  The pasture area looked almost like a prairie dog village, but not as large holes and piles of dirt.  She said now she only sees a couple a day, where it use to be like Grand Central Station at go  home time.  They obviously don't like the new neighbor's hooves running around on their roof.....!!!  LOL

POKOT, KENYA MILK HAULING DONKEYS

 The information below is from this blog, I check it everyday, it always has interesting pictures.  http://old-photos.blogspot.com/

Below is an amazing picture from a remote region of Kenya known as Pokot. In Pokot the Donkey is still King of the Road. This region is known for milk productions and all the little farmers and families have a milk cow or two. The interesting thing is that they milk their cows, load the milk onto their donkey, and then the donkey walks to milk to the dairy on his own. He goes right to where he is supposed to, and waits in line till he is unloaded and then walks home. We also see that people will take their donkey to a water hole, load him with water, and then the donkey will walk the water home on his own, and just stand by the house waiting for someone to unload him. Really amazing. The picture below shows the donkey's going on their own to deliver the milk to the dairy.

SURVIVED THE WEDDING RECEPTION...........YEAH.!!

Well, the big day was yesterday and even though it was hotter than Hades, everyone seemed to have a good time.  We had a jumping castle for the kids, which was a big hit.

John said he looked one time and JR was jumping in the castle.  John said everytime he came down kids flew up in the air.  Sorry I missed it. 

Here is the decorations over the cake table.  Amy and Morgan outdid themselves, they transformed a movie site saloon, into a decorated place for a reception.  Really looked nice.  

This is Hunter, our great grandson, trying to figure out what he wants to eat off his plate

Our son, Rod all dressed up.  That lasted a couple of hours and all of a sudden he showed up in sweats and t-shirt, his usual attire.  Most of us, opted for comfort from the beginning.  That's one of Jay's old cars I think it's a 1931 Dodge, but not sure.  

Ever since Saddik came to stay with us, we've worked to keep him from following us off the property.  He's good about not following the car or Doug's motorcycle.  But I guess he heard either our voices or all of the voices and decided to come to the reception.  We tried to discourage him, but he would just go hide for awhile until no one was paying attention and he'd show up.  He's very smart, he already knows I'm the mean one, so he pretty much stayed out of my way.  LOL

A good picture of JR and Becky with JR SMILING......!!  This is some sort of miracle, someone must have tickled him or something.  His usual pictures are "no smile".  I don't know why, the rest of us usually grin like idiots.....!  Becky always takes a nice picture.  

It's a little blurry, I forgot my camera was on close range, but I couldn't not show this.  We can't figure out if John is the lion from the Wizard of OZ or if he is just having a bad hair day.  This was one of the decorations and we talked him into putting it on his head.  Surprisingly he did it......!!!

By the time everyone left and we cleaned up it was getting close to 7pm, which is about 2 hours late to feed donkeys.  They were in the driveway when we got home, I swear with reproachful looks on their faces..........well I couldn't really see thru their fly masks, but they looked like they thought they were getting mistreated.  Once they were fed they were happy again, so I guess we are forgiven. 

MUST BE THE DOG DAZE OF SUMMER

Not much going on right now.  Because of all the rain there is all sorts of little green things trying to come up.  The mules and donkeys are having a field day and consequently coming in at feeding time and eating what is offered isn't really very high on their radar.  So John has been cutting back on their hay.  This morning they were all out here waiting impatiently for something to happen.  He must have it just about right.......LOL 

Of course the next "crisis" will be all the green mesquite beans hanging on the trees getting ripe and starting to fall.  We'll miss old Pepper, I swear he could hear a bean hit the ground at 100 feet, and off he'd "gimp: to get to it before someone else did.  His legs might have been shot, but his hearing was excellent......!!!

Some of them will probably end up being in the pens 24/7 until the bulk of the beans are gone, which is usually the end of September.  Poor little Buddy Brat always ends up in the pens and I have a feeling Rosie and Coquette will have to go in too.  We'll start out keeping all of them on the 10 acres and only letting them over in Burroland for a couple of hours a day.  Hopefully that will work out and we won't have to pen anyone up.

This week-end we are having a belated reception for our grandson J.R. and his wife Becky.  They got married a year ago at the court house, so everyone got cheated out of a wedding.  We told them we'd have a reception for them and J.R. said he wanted to have it out here at Gammon's Gulch.  When we came back from Saudi in 1990 he was about 4 years old and spent time out here helping grandpa.   Jay let us stay up at the movie site for 3 months until John got the garage built, so we could live in it.  It was like camping out with a roof, and I guess J.R. remembers it fondly. Not sure Becky's family will appreciate a reception held out in the boonies, but they are coming.........LOL  They requested a jumping castle, so the kids wouldn't get bored............  HUH......??  With all this dirt and rocks to throw, maybe even a snake or two to chase.....sounds like kid heaven to me.........LOL  But we rented a castle anyway.

I'm getting lazy in my old age, there was a time when I would have catered the whole mess.  In fact I did when our son and Lisa got married about 20 years ago.  I am making a few things for the snacks, but having a Bar-B-Que place do the dinner.  They cater some of the jeep tours John has worked on and he really liked their food.

Wish me luck for survival.........!!!  LOL

PREMARIN AND PMU MARES

I have just added an article to the New Stuff on the right, about this horrible industry.  Imagine spending your life in a stall, standing, wearing a urine collector all the time, and being kept dehydrated, so the urine is concentrated.

Besides being a cruel industry, it also has another negative within the health industry.  Some of you  know I was diagnosed with ovarian, stage 3 cancer in 2001, after being on Premarin for 10 years after a complete hysterectomy.  I was put on Premarin the day after surgery, and unfortunately for the next 10 years I was getting double doses of hormones.  My doctor for some strange reason, did not remove ovaries, although the surgical report said they were removed and biopsied.  Obviously I beat the odds, but we'll never know for sure if doubling up the hormones was the cause or not. 

In the last few years Premarin has been linked to cancer, which has decimated the PMU industry, which is a good thing............BUT......... I'm sure if there is any way to make a living out of the misery of any animal, man will figure out how to do it.  Compassion is so badly needed in humanity, in so many areas.  Very sad........!!

WE WERE GETTING WORRIED

WHERE'S THE CARROTS, TYPICAL DONKEY BEHAVIOR IF THEY THINK THERE IS FOOD INVOLVED

Hadn't heard from the boys new family and was beginning to wonder if I should call them.  Sarah called this morning and it sounds like the boys are having a great time.  They've been doing their entertaining play fighting every afternoon.  She said she's afraid they might be getting too much green grass, so I suggested, putting them in the barn area for part of the day if it becomes a problem.  She also asked how much quality time, petting, grooming, etc they got here.  I told her with as many as we have, they were lucky to get a "lick and a promise".  She said they push each other to get in position to get brushed, and  she wanted to make sure they weren't being neglected. I'm sure they are soaking up all the attention they can get, that's the donkey way........!!

They still aren't thrilled with the little girls.  Hopefully they will get use to them being small, quick, and high pitched loud little voices.  I'm sure they will eventually.  

The area they are in is one of the real horsey areas of Tucson, they are surrounded by horses and of course, lots of people ride their horses down the road in front of their place.  I asked if there had been any "problems" with horses seeing the donkeys.  She said she had seen a couple of horses do a little side step, their rider wasn't expecting, when they saw the donkeys for the 1st time..........LOL  

This is our son's new race car.  I personally don't know what was wrong with the old one, but for some reason right now a lot of the racers are playing "musical cars", buying, selling, and trading.  

This is the car he sold.  He promises me the "new" car will end up orange and white, with blue.  Not sure how that blue will work out.  I personally think this one is prettier, BUT, the new one has lots of  hidden bells and whistles and has won a lot of races.  I guess "pretty" doesn't count as much as what's under the hood and in the suspension sometimes. 

John went in Sunday to write a check and we got a call later that night from Rod that Will had sent him a picture of the check...............after it went thru the washing machine in his pant pocket..........LOL  So we had to go in again yesterday and write another check.  I wrote this one, hope it makes it to the bank this time. 

THE BOYS HAVE BEEN DELIVERED

 Here are the boys, with Sarah and Eric, getting to know each other.  The boys had already figured out that was grass under their feet, and saw no reason to waste time getting acquainted with new people.  So they were a little bull headed about being cooperative.  I thought at one time Sarah was going to go skiing if she didn't let go of Ruger's lead, but he finally settled down enough to let us lead him around.  Wister was a little more cooperative, but not much.  These two boys have never been on grass in their lives, and seemed to think they better eat all they could while it was available.These guys have never gone hungry, so I hope they will just eat what they need.  It isn't seeded pasture, so it's not really lush thank goodness.

This is Peyton looking on.  She's a little fast moving and of course has a high pitched voice, but I think once they get use to her, it will be fine.  Ruger was a little less forgiving that Wister, but they both did pretty good.   Her little sister is a little over a year old, and was taking a nap I guess.  So that will be another little person to get use to........LOL

I took this right before we left, you can tell they were very upset at us leaving them there........NOT! 

The momma fly catcher has been taking care of the baby.  When we left this morning it was raining really hard and Amy was cleaning pens.  When we got home this afternoon, she had put a bucket over the nest basket sitting on Pancho's flat shelter roof on it's side.  The momma was having a fit because she wouldn't go in the nest, so John removed it.  The little bird was quite lively and skittered away from John twice before he could get it back in the "nest".  Came in the house and when he went out later, the little bird was gone.  It wasn't close to feathered out, so it didn't hop out and get in the tree.  We think it probably got out of the nest like it did with John and when it got to the edge of the roof, fell on the ground.  Saddik was running around waiting for his supper and we think he got the baby.   

I feel terrible, the momma had adjusted to it being in the basket and she has been calling and calling.  We looked all around just to make sure, but it's not on the ground anywhere.  I know percentage wise a lot of baby birds get lost every year, but I wish it hadn't happened on our watch.   

HEAT AND HUMIDITY, A LOVELY COMBINATION.......!!

This is without a doubt the worst video I've ever taken, not the subject matter, but where did all that color come from?  YUCK, I couldn't do a take over, so here it is.......!! 

We will be taking Ruger and Wister to their new home tomorrow, they will be going as fosters, but I think it will become permanent.  You couldn't ask for 2 more well behaved young donkeys, they are curious and love to "help" when you are trying to do something outside.  I'm sure they will get a lot of attention with this young family, which will really bring out their personalities.  

This morning Doug came in with a handful of foam, that use to be part of one of the seat cushions on the golf cart.  It seems Saddik is continuing a long tradition the donkeys started years ago of seeing if the seats taste good.  Usually the donkeys just take one bite, but he obviously was having fun.  Doug just left for town to get some gorilla tape.  

Yesterday morning Amy and her son Joseph were here cleaning pens and found a baby bird on the ground.  They put it in a box on top of Pancho's shelter and later I changed it to a small basket with some hay in it.  It's starting to feather out, with lots of skin still showing, so it's still very helpless.  At first we thought it was a sparrow, because lots of sparrows hang out in the cat claw tree above the area.  But the birds hanging around it are a type of flycatcher.  It's still alive this morning, so they have to be taking care of it.  We're staying away and observing from afar.  Hope it makes it.  

I had a visitor on the back porch this morning. 

Not sure what kind, looks like a coach whip by shape.  They come in various colors, but haven't ever seen one this color with stripes.  That is a 3 foot opening in the door, and his tail is as long as the edge of the picture, very long and not very big around.  He's still on the porch behind a piece of plywood leaned up against the wall.  There might be a small problem, if he plans on staying there all day.  Julius, the outdoor cat usually spends his afternoons behind that plywood.  I don't think they would probably co-habitate.  Not sure that's a word, but I don't think they are going to do it........LOL 

THE BOYS ARE GOING HOME.........I HOPE

RUGER, WISTER, AND MOMMA RUTHIE IN THEIR "STARVING" MODE

Well, I survived the races Saturday night, that's about all I can say........LOL  It started trying to rain just as we went out for our main event, which is a new experience.  Rain on dirt just adds to the fun, rain on asphalt..........not so much.......!!!!  

 We only ran 11 laps because it started raining enough to be a problem, so they called it.  In the meantime I actually got to race in the dirt a little bit.  One of the other drivers rooted me in the rear coming out of a corner and we both went in the infield.  I kept on going, and came back up on the track, probably dragging grass and dirt with me.......LOL  It drove a little weird for a lap or so, till the dirt all fell off.  Because they called the race, I didn't have a chance to catch up, so I finished 12th.......but at least I finished.  

Yesterday we did a home study for Wister and Ruger.  It's in Tucson, just down the road from one of the big Vet clinics.  In fact it's the one that gelded Wister, when he was 4 months old.  I think it is going to be a great home for these two boys.  It's a young couple with 2 cute little girls, one is about 4 the other is a little over one.  They have about 4 acres of pasture and their property backs up against one of the large washes.  Really a nice place, when we drove up John asked if he could stay instead of the boys.  They want to lead them on walks in the wash and teach them to pack.  Of course the girls want to learn to ride them, the little one Hee Haws if you ask her what sound a donkey makes.  They are going in as fosters, but it should work out.  I've been wondering why I couldn't find a Forever Home for them, maybe this is why, the right one just hadn't shown up.  

MORE RAIN..........YIPPEE......!!!

Somali Wild Asses

We had a real gully washer yesterday afternoon.  Got 1 1/4 inch of rain out of it and the big wash ran bank to bank.  The "A" team, Tula and her little band happened to be on the other side of the wash, which caused all sorts of crisis until it went down.  Thankfully it was almost down by feeding time, except for a few puddles that had to be avoided if at all possible.  Today doesn't look very promising.

Got the results of Saddik's test for Valley Fever, he's positive, so we're waiting for the compounding company to send the Fluconazole to the vet's office, so I can get him started on it.  He's already on Doxycycline and has been for over a week.  From what the clinic said he will stay on both drugs for the foreseeable future.

Finally heard back from the track, they have changed the rules, so we can run camber.  John has been busy as a bee, up in the garage getting it ready for Saturday night.  I am not delusional enough to think they change the rule for me, the other 3 tires that shredded that night on 3 other cars, probably had more to do with it.  But whatever the reason, I will be racing Saturday night.  Hope it's a good night and I stay out of trouble..........LOL