LOOKS LIKE THE PARADE IS GETTING BIGGER FOR US

Just got a call from my good friend Georgette.  Georgette and I have taken a couple of trips together and are still friends, actually we had a lot of fun.......!!!  LOL  But we don't keep in touch very good and it's been months since we've talked.  I guess she read the blog about the parade, which pushed her into calling, because she wants to participate.

I asked her if she was bringing her own donkey.  She has one of ours named Sugar and Jacque (not sure how it's spelled)  Anyway her trailer isn't ready to go on a trip, so we started figuring out which one of ours would be good.  Since she is responsible for us having Quilla and he is pretty mellow, he got the nod.  A friend of hers had Quilla as a horse companion and the horse died.  He had not had any care for 9 years and was horribly overweight.  So Georgette intervened to have us take him.  

This is what his legs looked like when he came in from fly and sun damage.  The hair follicles have been so damaged they no longer produce hair, so his legs have bare places, that have to be wrapped most of the year.  It's a battle every year to keep his legs from looking like this again. 

This is Leddy going out for a practice and Quilla watching intently

But we plan on wrapping legs with green polo wraps, so he'll look just fine.  He's our "Marshmallow Man", very mellow, very expressive eyes, and uses his ears to communicate.  Of course we haven't discussed this change in plans with him, but I'm sure he'll do just fine.  Georgette plans on coming out maybe next week, to get involved and make sure Quilla is on board for adventure. 

Had some good friends Willie and Frances from Alaska out today to visit.  They usually visit every winter, when they escape Alaska winter to the "lower 48".  They said the day after they left Fairbanks the middle of January the temperature dropped to -45..............that's 45 below to those that have never experienced temperatures that low.  John was stationed at Eielson, AFB, in the Fairbanks area for 4 years and the winters do take some getting use to.  At the time we didn't think anything about it, you dress appropriately and hope your car doesn't quit on the side of the road.  We went out sledding down to about -20, but usually stayed indoors if it was colder than that.  

The military can really be cruel sometimes.  In January every year they would bring guys to Eielson for cold weather training from Puerto Rico........no kidding.....!!!  We could always spot those guys around the base, they issued them cold weather gear, and they'd have all of it on, they looked like the Pillsbury Doughboy.  One year one of them got sucked up into one of the hugh snow blower trucks.  The opening in the front was about 6 feet high and had a grinding shaft going around to pick up the snow and blow it to the side of the road.  The guy was overdressed walking in the road and probably never even heard the truck........!!!!

They use to load up bananas by the plane load and would drive a truck thru base housing handing out bananas to whoever wanted them.  That was quite a treat, because at that time, buying a banana in the store in January didn't happen and if it did, they were very expensive.  The base would load the planes when they went  back with salmon and king crab legs if they had them.... We really enjoyed Alaska, it was before the pipeline went thru in the 70's and it was still pretty wild and woolly.  We took my parents up there in 1990 and it had changed so much, most of the roads and places we knew, no longer existed and they had 4 lane highways.........Quite a change...!!

LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR..........!!!

     BOAZ HAS BEGGING DOWN TO AN ART..........THANKS SHANNON

I think spring is my favorite time of year, especially in the desert.  Some of the trees are budded and in Tucson flowers are blooming.  Of course if it's a mild winter, which this has been, the flowers usually bloom all winter.  Not here, though, we are still getting nights in the 20's.

I got my 1st shipment of fly predators from Spalding last week.  Usually they start hatching within a couple of days.  But it's been 5 or 6 days and so far there is less than a dozen, of the 10,000 suppose to be in the package.  I'm thinking they might have gotten too cold, somewhere on their trip, although they only come from Nevada.  At least that's the main address  This happened once before and they sent me another order.  I'll give them a few more days.  

Had a woman here this morning from a magazine called Edible Baja Arizona.  I don't think I had heard of it before, although my friend Michelle, says it's available in Bisbee.  She is doing an article on things to do in Benson and choose us as one of the places to go.  She had never been around donkeys and they did their best to show her what wonderful representatives they are of the species.  She seemed to enjoy meeting them, so I hope it will be a favorable article........LOL

DOUG AND FRIENDS, I HAVE NO IDEA WHO'S BELLY IS THE FRAME........ANOTHER OF SHANNON'S PICS

We're all brain storming about the parade in Tombstone the 18th of March.  Jeanne is working on Leddy and Blackjack's costumes. I was suppose to figure out how to put the bow ties on Justin and Pepsi.  Those that know me probably are aware that I don't sew.  If something loses a button it generally is immediately removed from the wardrobe.........LOL

So the idea of me trying to put something together that would hold up for the complete parade probably isn't going to work out very well.  Linda has been talking to Jeanne and she has agreed to make collars for them........!!  Thank you Jeanne, this will be so much better, believe me........LOL  She's already got the blanket for BlackJack finished and it looks fabulous.  She even put shamrocks on it.

THIS IS JUSTIN DURING HIS FIRST "FITTING".......HE DOESN'T LOOK PLEASED.  

 John will be leading BlackJack and his costume came in this week.  John is such a good sport, he goes along with whatever we think up.  In this case Linda found this outfit and it really is funny...........!!!   I hope BlackJack likes it, or we might have a "rodeo" instead of a parade.......!!! 

LINDA ALWAYS HAS HER CAMERA READY.....!!

The rest of us will probably just have St. Paddy T-shirts on, don't want to distract from the main characters.   Once we get the costumes all figured out and fitted, we'll start taking them out as a group, dressed to see how it goes.  I don't think Leddy and BJ will be a problem, although BJ hasn't seen John's costume yet........!!!   Jeanne is still working on Leddy's rainbow and pot of gold and of course the hats and collars for Justin and Pepsi.  Those 2 "might" be a challenge, they really prefer to be "wild and free", we'll just have to see how it goes.

I do have some sad news to report.  I got a call from the Cochise County Health Dept to tell us the Wildlife Center euthanized the bobcat and it was in fact rabid.  The health dept was checking to see if any of us, were in direct contact with it, which none of us were.

From what I know about rabies, euthanizing is much better than dying from the disease.  One of my Mother's cousins died of rabies in the 1920's in Oklahoma.  She was 3 years old and they had a litter of puppies, she had been playing with.  She went into convulsions and they headed for town in a horse drawn wagon.  She was riding on her mother's lap, wrapped in a blanket.  By the time they got to town, she had chewed all the flesh off both shoulders.  What a horrible way to die, and what a horrible situation for the family.

PENNY IS "OUT AND ABOUT"

3 OF THE GIRLS, LITTLE LYNN, MISS PENNYPACKER AND COQUETTE

Thanks, Shannon for the picture

After breakfast yesterday morning, Penny got to go out after 5 days being incarcerated, from her point of view.  She's eating good for her, so I guess her mouth is feeling better. 

The first thing she tried to do was entice the boys into "bad" behavior.  John and I were in Tucson, but Linda said she was really putting a lot of effort into it.  Unfortunately none of the guys were interested, no matter how hard she tried.  Today she seems to have forgotten about it and is off with her BFF, Coquette in Burroland.  

Linda gave Gus a bath this afternoon after it warmed up from our 17* start this morning........ Thankfully as soon as the sun came up it started warming up pretty quickly.  Gus doesn't drop to pee, never has.  I asked Claire if she had ever seen him drop and she said she didn't think so.  I've said something to the vets and they said it isn't all that unusual.  He's the only one I've ever seen not drop.

Because he doesn't drop, when he pees, it sprays everywhere.  Years ago he developed horrible sores on his lower rear legs, the skin just sloughed off.  The vet did a scrapping and he had 3 different infections, one was staph.  

Until it got so cold John had been rinsing off his hind legs a couple of times a week, but it had been awhile and Gus' legs were looking pretty icky.  I think Gus actually enjoys getting a bath, unlike the others, so Linda offered to bath him.

I guess we're off and running on participating in the Tombstone parade the 18th of March.   Jeanne, a friend of Linda's came out yesterday and met the donkeys to get a plan for sewing.  She really enjoyed meeting the donkeys and said she was surprised at how different they are from horses.  Linda got a text from her today and she was at one of the Dollar stores, having fun picking up goodies.

Yesterday when John and I went to Tucson, we went to Party City.  I've never been in one, Linda said it would be overwhelming and it was.  I've never seen so much green stuff in one place in my life.....!!  LOL  I picked up a few things, but Linda and I are going in again Monday to shop.  She's more familiar with shopping than I am, and was disappointed she didn't get to go yesterday.

THIS IS GUS LEADING THE PARADE OVER FROM BURROLAND
THANKS SHANNON

Cisco seems to be walking as well as can be expected for him and his hoof isn't warm, I have no idea what it was, but it seems to have "fixed" itself.

Tomorrow will be the 1st practice at the asphalt track.  Lynn's car hasn't been on asphalt yet.  We want to know how it goes on asphalt, but Lynn is busy tomorrow. So John and I will tow both cars, they need to go thru tech, and it's been so long since I was on asphalt, I need to find out if I still remember what to do.........LOL

Unfortunately the dirt track is going thru some changes, with new promoters.  They say nothing will change, but that's not usually the case, people have different ideas.  I really hope they get it all figured out and we have a chance to race, even if it isn't very often.  I think they only have 4 more races planned for the Hornets. 

AND THE BEAT GOES ON........ (WHY WE'RE NEVER BORED....!! )

NIGEL LOOKING FORWARD TO STEAK..!!  THANKS, LINDA

Have you ever wondered when the merry-go-round was going to stop?  I've given up on that, might as well enjoy the ride I guess..........LOL

Miss PennyPacker is doing good, still in her pen until tomorrow after breakfast and her last penicillin shot.  She is such a pain to catch and work with, that we've left a halter on her.  There is no way I would let her out in the brush with a halter on, so she's had to stay in the pen.  Talk about a cranky girl.  During the day she has the run of all the pens on that side.  If she sees anyone out, she immediately runs to whichever pen is closest to the humans and starts pleading her case to get out.  

But she is eating well and seems to be healed from her dental appointment, John, Lynn and I will be almost as glad as she is when the shots, twice a day is over.  Actually she doesn't mind the shots, it was the banamine by mouth that caused her to have a hissy fit.

Lynn is strong enough to stay with her and hang onto the halter, until we can get a lead on her.  She hasn't had to have banamine for a couple of days, so it's been going better.  She'll let us walk up to her, pet her and usually get hold of the halter.  She'll even let you stand by her holding the halter without much fuss as long as you don't try to lead her or try to take charge, before someone shows up with a lead.

We were putting her in the redneck squeeze, but the last couple of times, she's let me give her the shot with Lynn holding her with the halter and lead.  The squeeze was absolutely vital when we were putting something in her mouth, for our safety.

Remember Casper the little hellion with attitude that is being fostered by our neighbors, because they have a fence like this rather than barbed wire?  Although he doesn't seem to care for other equine, he does like to visit thru the fence. Linda got this picture of Leddy and her 3 dogs checking up on the latest neighborhood gossip, I guess. 

Lynn has cleared out another ATV/Golf Cart path over here on the 10 acres, it even has a roundy-rounder, so you can go 3 different directions if you follow the circle.  We always enjoyed in Europe and the Middle East, having less traffic lights, with the circles the traffic kept moving.  Of course in the Middle East the traffic lights would have just been a suggestion for most of the people anyway.........LOL  They did really good in the traffic circles though, it was amazing. 

We've been trying to find a little ATV,  just my size, but so far Craigslist hasn't had it.  And I'm too cheap to buy a new one.........LOL  I want to get out and try out Lynn's trails.  It should be much easier to find wayward fly masks and polo wraps with the trails and an ATV.  Even if the missing items aren't in the path, the ATV will make me a little higher, so I can see farther.  Just got to find an ATV, before fly season.

Fly season must just be around the corner.  My 1st shipment of fly predators should be here Friday, poor little guys.  The days are nice and sunny, but the nights are still getting cold.  I guess they will burrow down in the poo pile, otherwise they'll be rather short lived, I'm afraid.

Now as to why we are never bored...........   Linda found out that Tombstone is having a St. Patrick's Day parade as a salute to the military and it's free to participate.  She's been looking for races or something to get Leddy out in public, and even though this isn't a race, I'm sure it will give him lots to look at..........!!!

Well you can't just take one donkey, so we decided to also take Justin, since he's been in "training" for racing.  Then we decided to also take BlackJack, since he's an old hand at this impressing people with how neat donkeys are.  So now how do we decorate them?  Linda's good at ideas, I'm mostly the nod my head in agreement type, artistic I'm not.

A friend of Linda's is coming over tomorrow to see about sewing blankets for Leddy and BJ.  Leddy will be 1st in line, and his blanket will probably have a rainbow and a pot of gold on it.  Then Justin will be following him, dressed as a leprechaun.  Well you can't just have one leprechaun, so Pepsi has been added to the party.  So 2 little leprechauns will be following the pot of gold.  BlackJack will be following with a St. Patrick's themed blanket, with Forever Home Donkey Rescue on it.  At least that's the plan at this time, we'll see what the seamstress comes up with.

A good friend of Lynn and Linda's is coming down from Colorado for a few days and was suppose to get here on the 19th of March.  The parade is on the 18th, so now he is going to come in early.  He's an older man and wants to participate in the fun, so now there will be a golf cart all gussied up, leading the donkey rescue part of the parade.  So now we've got to figure out how to decorate the golf cart.  Thanks goodness we have 2 golf carts, otherwise we'd have to decorate the cart after chores that morning, and I'm sure we'll have enough to do without that.

The last couple of days Cisco has been limping on his right front.  Hoof is a little warm, doesn't bother him to poke and prod it.  His legs are so arthritic, that was my first thought, but doesn't look like it.  Could be an abscess I guess, just have to watch him.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Cisco, from a few years ago.  He still loves to eat cactus at certain times of the year.  We can tell when he's been "snacking" when we put our hands on his face.........OUCH.......!!

PENNY IS HOME

We drove up yesterday, and picked her up.  

Look at the set of those ears, she's ready to go somewhere else........!!!   I guess her opinion of the medical profession isn't very good.......!!!  LOL  She hopped in and we headed home.........in the rain.  

Arizonians for the most part are not good drivers when it's rainy.  You have at least  2 groups, the ones that have never heard of hydroplaning and drive as usual, which is 10-15 miles over the posted speed limit.  Then you have the others that got caught out in it, otherwise they would be at home curled up with a good book.  They are driving 10-15 miles under the speed limit.  And of course the truckers driving as usual, which is not a problem, they should know what they are doing, BUT, they throw a lot of water up in the air, which seems to panic the ones that should be home reading.  

It wouldn't be so nerve wracking, except when hauling animals.  You can't stop quickly, without taking a chance on them losing their balance.  John is always alert when hauling, but in inclement weather he doesn't relax at all.  He says he's more tired after a drive from Phoenix, than if he'd worked a full day.  But he's never had one fall, although a few close calls, thanks to other drivers.  

For the next 3 days, she gets Banamine twice a day by mouth for pain.  She also gets penicillin shots  twice a day for 5 days, because of all the infection around the 4 teeth they pulled.   

I think you could give her shots all day long and she wouldn't even flinch.  Sticking something in her mouth is another thing.  Let me put it this way, it's going to be a LONG 3 days.......!!!   LOL  

She's going to be staying in her pen until we're done with shots, so we will take this opportunity to feed her an extra meal at bedtime.  She seems to really be enjoying her mush, so I assume her mouth is feeling much better, without those teeth.  

 

This is the 4 culprits that caused all the fuss, the black hole is a cavity

None of them are even 2 inches long.  Equine teeth start out about 4 inches long and push out as they age, get ground off and eventually fall out because of a lack of root to hold them in.  They all had less than 1/2 inch of root left, so even if they hadn't been causing problems, they probably wouldn't have hung on much longer. 

I had to soak them in bleach water overnight, the smell was really bad.  Thank goodness the clinic put them in a sealed plastic bag.....!!!  LOL

I'm going to have to get a bigger "treasure" box for these beauties.  I have a collection of medical parts from donkeys, including an eye lash from Buddy Brat that is about 5-6 inches long.  It had encapsulated into a tumor under his eye, Fred the pot bellied pig's tusks, and a couple of roosters spurs.  No room left for Penny's teeth, so I'll have to find something bigger.  

UPDATE

Rough crowd wanting to know where their supper is, BlackJack, Boaz, Leddy, Frijolita, and Tula in the back.  The rest of them were on the other side, probably

 

Dr. Voss called this morning after they did Penny's teeth.  They had to pull 3 loose ones on one side in the back and 1 on the other side, poor girl.  I asked him how many she had left and she now has 4 total in the back.  She likes her mush so I assume it won't be a big problem with those teeth gone and she should be a lot more comfortable. 

He said they only had about 1/2 inch of root, that was pitted, and had calcium buildup on them, not to mention leftovers from what she has eaten recently.  Of course that had all fermented, which is why her breath wasn't very inviting.  I checked her mouth yesterday morning, really didn't go inside, just gave her an animal cracker and made sure my hand touch her lip.  The smell stayed with me all day, thru 3 or 4 washings.  UGH!  

So we'll leave right after chores in the morning to go pick her up.  Linda said Coquette wasn't very happy yesterday, so she'll be thrilled to have her BFF back.

NOT BORED YET......!!

Well the last few days have been........interesting to say the least.  Got a call from Ed at the local feed store and he said he had a man standing by him that was looking for his 2 dogs...!!  Talked to Kyle and he came out that afternoon and picked up Roo and Lennie the 2 wanderers.  They actually had been on the other side of the San Pedro river bed when they disappeared, so they went quite aways in about 1 1/2 hours in the timeline of them disappearing and Lynn and Linda picking them up on this side.  He said Lennie is the problem child, as cattle dogs they are suppose to work cattle.  I guess Lennie is more of the lay on the bed type of guy, so Kyle said he's looking for a home for him.  Lynn's ears perked up even though they have 3 medium size dogs traveling with them in the RV.  We discouraged him until Kyle had left, and we don't have a phone number for him.  But Lynn went to the feed store to see if Ed did, so this story hasn't ended yet.  Ed didn't have a phone number, BUT we'll see how determined Lynn is.  Actually Linda is the one with the problem.....!!  LOL

 Headed for the truck to go home

Penny of colic surgery fame last summer, started not eating very well, a few days ago.  She usually really enjoys her mush and eats her hay pretty good, but she was just picking and yesterday morning wasn't interested in eating at all.  

She is a problem to work with in the field, and rather than call out Dr. Jeremy when the only help he would have would be us, we decided to just cut to the chase and take her up to the Equine Surgical Center in Gilbert, up by Phoenix  Called and they said bring her up, so we loaded her and headed out.  We always get a 1pm appointment because it takes 3 hours plus to get there.  

She has had a broken jaw so her teeth are wonky and don't match like they should.  Blood work was perfect, no temp, everything looked good, so they zeroed in on the mouth.  Had to almost knock her out on her feet, poor Jennifer the tech was literally holding her up.  Jennifer has been there 18 years and loves donkeys, so we've gotten to know her over the years.  She now does mostly desk work, her back is giving out.  So she's in there holding up a drunk donkey......!!  

Dr. Voss found 2 loose teeth and probably because of her jaw teeth that are to the gum on one side and horribly overgrown on the other.  Two teeth in the back have no teeth above them to grind, so they are way too long and are hitting the roof of her mouth.  

Going back to working on her in the field, she has had regular dental care for years, BUT, she's difficult, donkeys have small mouths, etc, in other words she hasn't had a real good "look and fix".  So today they are going to gas her, put her on her back and do a good job.  Pull the 2 loose ones, cut the 2 long ones down to size and try to straighten up the ones that are angled from gum to high on the other side.  She's not going to have many teeth left in the back at this rate.  But she does like her mush, so it probably won't be much of a problem for her. We also think she might be older than our guesstimate of 20, it's really hard to tell when the teeth are such a mess.  And even then you can ask 5 experts about older equine's age by teeth and get 5 different answers.  We'll probably pick her up tomorrow.

Night before last at feeding time, Linda came in with news, that there was a bobcat in the feed room.  She said she opened the door and he went in.  Thank goodness the dogs weren't in there too.  John got a crate and set it up at the doggy door.  Doug got a trash can lid and headed into the feed room, with his "shield".  It actually went really well, considering.  It seemed to have a hurt rear leg, so it wasn't in 100% bobcat mode I guess.  

Here's John with his little buddy

I called the Tucson Wildlife Center, and was told they can't take in wildlife without notifying Fish and Game.  Of course it was after hours, so after waiting for a couple of hours, the Wildlife center called back and said bring him in, they'd deal with Fish and Game later.  

He wasn't very happy and let us know it.  Linda, John and I made the trip, and he snarled and lunged at the cage the whole time.  They have a very deep growl that will raise hair on your neck, especially if they are in a crate behind the seat, and are clawing at the cage. 

The woman that took him in said he didn't look right to her and that he smelled like a skunk.  I thought he smelled like a tomcat.  Hopefully the day crew people know about bobcats.

John asked if I was going to call, I told him I'm afraid they will tell me they euthanized him, so I haven't called yet.  Of course if he had rabies, euthanizing him would be the best thing for him, that is a horrible death from what I have read.  Unfortunately there is no test for rabies, except quarantine and I don't know if they would make that effort. 

So yesterday morning before we left for Gilbert with Penny, a guy from Fish and Game called and asked if we still had the bobcat.  I commented on the fact that we had tried to get in touch with them, but they didn't return our calls and the Wildlife Center decided to have us bring him in and deal with the bureaucracy later.

I'm getting to the point of, if it's a government organization with bureaucrats, I don't even want to deal with them.  In their zeal to keep their job and retirement, they have to justify the job and more and more it seems they just get more and more rules and regulations to push paper.  The plight of the mustangs/burro program under the BLM is absolutely destroying the wild herds, as they round them up and put them in holding pens.  Don't know how I jumped to BLM from Fish and Game, but a bureaucrat is a bureaucrat as far as I am concerned..........LOL

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

 QUILLA SAYS HI, ALTHOUGH I'M NOT SURE WHAT PART THE TONGUE PLAYS
                       THANKS, LINDA                                  

Linda went around yesterday with her camera and head pieces for Valentine's day.  I think she has decorations for every holiday.  Her dogs know the drill, they see her coming, they sit down and wait...!!  I think St. Patrick's Day will be next.

She found out some of the donkeys are OK with it, others, not so much.  She said she is going to make a list of the cooperative ones for the future....!!! LOL

John and I usually don't celebrate holidays, but with Lynn and Linda around, especially Linda we've kinda joined in.  We're going to grill steaks out this afternoon, then we'll do chores and after chores we'll do fruit fondue for dessert.  I made a chocolate sauce and caramel sauce yesterday to heat in my fondue pots to dip the fruit in. That will be about the extent of our celebration.........!!!

The last couple of days have been wet and chilly, which doesn't bode well for arthritic donkeys.  We have 3 or 4 that are older and when the weather gets like this, they don't move around very much.  Actually Gigi had been improving after her tantrum when Tyler was here to trim her feet, but this has set her back.  The weatherman says it will be moving out this afternoon, hopefully it will.  

We still have the 2 happy wanderers here.  We've been calling them Duke and Buck.  I put an ad up at the local post office and Linda put an ad in the local buy, sell, trade paper that comes out tomorrow.  If we don't hear anything by Thursday, we'll take them into the vet and see if they are chipped.  I doubt it, they act like friendly farm dogs.  Lynn and Linda put leads on them to put them in the truck, and Linda said she doesn't think they've ever had a lead on before.  They're friendly with man or beast.......well Buck the red one has buggered up his nose, where he sticks it thru the chain link trying to bite a donkey, usually Quilla.  Actually Quilla isn't the only one that trolls the fence, but when we hear the dogs all barking like crazy, it's either one or some of the donkeys, playing, "I'm out here and you aren't".  That consists of just standing by the fence with their heads down.  For some reason that really gets the dogs going.  Seems like if the dogs quit trying to "attack" and go lay down, then the donkeys will run up and down the fence to get them going again.  I'd think all that barking would hurt their ears, but they seem to think it's entertaining......!!!

IS IT SPRING YET..........????

Must be getting close, the last few days have been Chamber of Commerce weather, not too cold, not too hot........just right....!!!  Unfortunately a few days like this and the flies will come out in force.  I got notification from Spalding that my first batch of predator wasp eggs is in the mail, so they must keep a pretty close eye on the weather.

This is Lynn and Linda's donkey Leddy learning new skills.  I wasn't aware that we needed a bell ringer, but I guess you never know when his "skill" might be needed.  Thanks for the video Linda. 

Yesterday Frijolita showed up with a dried muddy place on a front leg.  I tried to wash it off, but the dirt and blood was so dried and caked, I finally globbed a bunch of Vaseline on it, covered it with a gauze pad and vet wrapped it.  My guess was a cactus wound, but when I cleaned it up this morning, thanks to the Vaseline soaking, my first thought was snake bite.  It looked just exactly like the 2 canon bone, aka shin bone dry bites we've had over the years.  But when I got it cleaned up, there is only one hole.  So I'm back to my cactus diagnosis. I wouldn't be surprised if the snakes are starting to move around, hopefully the donkeys will be careful, usually fall has been our worst time for snake bites, actually I think they all were in September.

LINDA CAUGHT ME PLAYING WITH THE MINIS.  PEPSI IS BEHIND ME AND I THINK THAT IS CHEYENNE IN FRONT.......  THANK GOODNESS SHE DIDN'T GET A PICTURE OF ME TRYING TO GET UP OFF THE GROUND......!!  I USED CHEYENNE AS A "CRUTCH" AND SHE STOOD THERE LIKE A ROCK...!!

This is Lynn trying to enjoy the great outdoors on his porch.  Unfortunately he has "guests" that are looking for cookies.........LOL  Linda always has her camera with her.....!!

Yesterday Lynn and Linda went to the Wheel of Fortune "cattle call" in Tucson.  They said it was a lot of fun, lots of people showed up.  They didn't make it to the stage, so they went back again today, hopefully there wasn't as many people.

When they came in last night, Linda came in and said there were 2 dogs in the feed room.  Their 3 dogs were in with Saddik for the day and Doug had taken Saddik  into his RV at 7pm, so I was a little confused.  And they had moved their 3 dogs to their RV.

She said when they were driving in about 7 miles down the road, when they came upon 2 dogs in the dark, which isn't good.  They were friendly, so it wasn't any surprise that they got loaded up and brought home......!!!   LOL

 You will notice other dogs in the picture.  I took these this morning at feeding time, when Saddik, Lola, Lennon and Lucy were all in the feed room with these two.  In other words 6 dogs, Linda and I in a room about 9 foot square.  They all actually get along really good, but the floor was pretty full.  No collars or anything.  This morning when Lynn and Linda headed out for Wheel of Fortune, they stopped in the area where they found them and asked, but no one was missing them, so we'll have to make up some flyers.
 

 

John finally got the motor and transmission in my new dirt car.  He's still got about a month to finish it, so he should get it done.  Next race will be on the asphalt the 4th of March I think.  That will start the pavement season and will be Lynn's first run on asphalt.  We have a practice before, so he can get an idea of what it's like.  It's quite a bit different than dirt, but he seems to be a real quick learner, so I think he'll do just fine.  

LOTS OF PROJECTS GOING ON RIGHT NOW

 Justin in training and everyone else coming along for the adventure

Very little gets done around here without "help".  They remind me of cats, anything going on or anything new on the property, gets their full attention, until they ALL check it out. 

LYNN IS TRYING TO WORK ON HIS QUAD AND PEPSI IS "HELPING", WHICH OF COURSE MAKES THE PROJECT TAKE MUCH LONGER, THAN IT WOULD "WITHOUT" HIS "HELP".  

We've all learned to work around our helpers, otherwise we'd never get anything done.  This morning Lynn was digging a trench in the pens on the west side.  We've used hoses ran along side the pens for years to fill the water buckets.  Last year Lynn, ran water to each pen on the east side, so this year he's completing the job on the west side.  

He said Pepsi checked out the trench, jumped over it, which is not something they all would do.  I guess you never know when a snake or some type of monster might be in that trench and jump up to grab a donkey......!!!   Lynn said when Pepsi got thru checking everything out, he peed in the trench.  We're trying to figure out just exactly what that means.........LOL

Some friends of Lynn and Linda came out a couple of times on their way to Florida.  They had a lot of fun with the donkeys and as usual the donkeys did their best to be entertaining.  BlackJack is always available for letting kids sit on him for pictures.  He was raised with a little boy and probably would let kids ride on him, but we've never let anyone try.  

Years ago a church got in touch with us, for a donkey to use in a Christmas play.  They wanted Mary to ride in on a donkey.  I told them we'd get back with them and we started trying to figure out who would be the best candidate.  We decided on Cisco, I got on his back, he took 2 steps and locked up big time.  I don't think anyone had ever been on his back in his life and he wasn't interested in learning to be ridden, so no one went to the Christmas show unfortunately.  

  

We're not exactly sure what Cheyenne was trying to do to Ted, but he was a good sport about it.....!!!  

Lynn has made a 7/10's of a mile trail over on Burroland that is wide enough for a golf cart or his quad.  It's really going to be neat, especially when looking for donkeys, fly masks or leggings.  We can drive around and see much more than stumbling thru the mesquite like we've always done before.  

He's taken everyone for rides and it's pretty exciting, in some areas, the mesquite are "real" close, so you better be paying attention....!!!  His best time is 1.46 minutes, which is an average of 17mph.  That might not sound very fast, but believe me, things zip past pretty quick on a lot of the trail and some of the turns are pretty tight.  

So now I'm in the market for a small quad so I can be lazy and ride instead of walking or stumbling over rocks and dead limbs the donkeys have pulled off the trees.  We found one on Craigslist in Tucson, but it was too big.  Years ago John bought me a Big Bear, and big was right, my little legs could just barely reach the pegs and it wasn't very comfortable for me to wrestle.  Hopefully we can find one that's my size.....!!! 

Linda took all the pictures this time, except for the quad picture, which was about 10 years ago.  We traded it for a retired U-haul car trailer, that we use to take my Hornets to the track.  Hope the people that traded got as much use out of it, as we have out of the trailer.  It was a couple and she was quite a bit taller and heavier than I am, so she probably didn't have a problem with it.  

It's starting to warm up at night, so we're probably going into spring, although it will be awhile before the mesquite trees bud.  That's when spring starts according to the old timers.  

We've also got a crew putting a new roof on the garage, and carport.  The shingles don't hold up well out here in the desert sun, so we've decided to put on a metal roof.  Metal roofs are really good in the desert and we don't want to have to do it again in a few years, although the shingles lasted about 25 years, so I guess we really shouldn't complain too much.........!! 

BOAZ GIVING A RASPBERRY

Boaz has figured out that if he does "cute" things with his tongue and lips that people ooh and ahh and he gets treats.  So he is usually more than willing to play the game.  Looks like he could use a shave........LOL

This morning Tyler came to do Gigi and Penny's feet.  Gigi wears a shoe on one front foot 100% of the time, or the foot will turn under. Both of them have opinions on getting their feet done, and generally their opinion has nothing to do with Tyler's opinion on what he is going to do with their feet.

This morning it was almost like they had gotten together and decided to be as bad as they could be.  Gigi fought until she was on the ground, with Tyler's helper kneed down on her neck.  Not the best way to shoe an animal I'm sure, but he got it done.

THANKS LINDA FOR THIS EMBARRASSING PICTURE OF GIGI...!!

This is what a pouting donkey looks like.  When he was done with her and we all stepped back she refused to get up.  I guess she figured if she just laid there and ignored us, it didn't happen.  They can be so much fun to watch sometimes.  She finally made the effort to get up and went as far away from us in her pen as she could get and gave us the evil eye. 

So we move on to Penny.  She seemed to be of the same mind set as Gigi, Finally got her in the redneck squeeze so we could get a halter on her.

These two are never easy, but today they seemed to be particularly obnoxious. Soooooo............

Tyler knows a guy that can build stocks. https://www.cuteness.com/article/build-horseshoeing-stocks
 He's going to get the guy's phone number and see what he says.  He's made stocks for a couple of oxen our family doctor has, so donkeys should be a piece of cake.  I know one thing horse stocks don't work really well for donkeys, because of the size difference.

We're going to the races tonight at the asphalt track, to hopefully watch our son Rod, race his modified.  I don't know what it is about racers, but a lot of them seem to have no problem ignoring the car until a day or two before the races and then think their devotion to getting the car ready and staying up until all hours of the night turning wrenches, etc is fun.  John always started working of the car on Monday and in those days we raced every week-end.  Now we're lucky to get to race every month.

Lynn is going to try the asphalt, the 4th of March.  He might like it more than I do, we'll have a practice the end of February, so he'll get to feel it out before jumping out there in the "battle".  He's got a competitive nature, so he'll probably do good, at least I hope so.