NATIONAL NEWS

CNN had a couple of minutes of coverage of burro pack racing in Colorado and Pepsi and Justin both had a few seconds of fame.....!!  Pepsi and his partner are close to the end of the video, where they are talking about donkeys balking at the finish line.  Guess who is highlighted in such behavior?  A few seconds later Justin and Linda are running beside a larger donkey.  Linda has on blue and striped knee socks.  Some of the other donkeys were in that race too, but I haven't been able to pick them out. 

They raced the last race of the season yesterday, but I haven't heard yet how they did.  They stayed overnight, so everyone could rest up before heading for home.  Linda always writes up a play by play account of the races, which is great for us.  We get all the color and adventure, without all that running stuff........LOL  The last I heard from her they were on the road, I'm sure as soon as she gets a chance, she'll bring us up to date.    

They've even found time to takes the dogs out for some fun time in the mountains.  

What a neat picture of Lennon and Lola

Wonder how long it took to get them all on the rock.....!!

Mountain stream.........bet it was COLD......!!

Best dressed dogs on the mountain

Saddik doesn't seem to be a very good swimmer, I've never seen a dog swim like this......!!

Hauling water is great fun, they get to ride in the back of the truck

It really isn't much cooler in this part of Arizona, but I'm seeing a difference in the amount of doctoring I'm having to do.  Boaz is really the only one I have to doctor on a daily basis.  I have 2 or 3 others that I check every day, but they usually don't need anything.  

Casper is settled in and and acts like he never left, begs for treats and yells whenever he sees anyone that looks like they might be carrying animal crackers.  I'm trying something new with him......clicker training. First thing I noticed is........even though he is smart as a whip, he doesn't "get it" as quick as the donkeys.  It could have to do with his distrust of people, although I have never tricked him or mistreated him in any way, he likes to be in control of what is going on. 

All the donkeys have figured it out usually within a few minutes.  I've worked with him every day since we picked him up and this morning was the 1st morning he kind of got the idea that touching the target, makes a noise happen, that leads to my hand holding a treat.  The clicker noise has been making him spook and it makes it hard to give him the treat, when he's on the other side of the pen. 

This morning he finally just pulled back at the noise and then cautiously came back to take the treat.  I only did it 3 times and quit.  Anxious to see how he does in the morning after a day and night of thinking about it. 

I raced last night, does this give you an idea of what a night I had.  We ran 2 main events and the first one was such a crash fest, they called the race after 10 laps instead of the 20 laps we were suppose to race.  LOL

As usual I was in the middle of a lot of the "entertainment"

 My fender and front bumper cover are sticking out of the back window of the car.  This was caused by the same guy that wrecked the other Neon......!!  Then he had the audacity to come over after the race and apologize, said he got hit in the back and pushed into me.  For once my camera was working and when we watched the video this morning, no one pushed him, until his first contact with the rear of my car.  He climbed over my fender and knocked the bumper cover loose on the left side.  We had just started the race, everyone was bunched up, so I ended up like a ping pong ball, till everyone could get away from me. 

The bumper cover was still attached on the right side, dragging on the ground and surprise, surprise the race director allowed me to continue, told me if it fell off I'd be disqualified.  It did fall off and another surprise, all he did was put me in the back of the field and let me finish the race. 

The fender was still attached, sticking straight up in the air, so between races the guys took it off, it was rubbing on the tire. 

This actually is the right front tire on the other side and what it looked like after the 2nd race.  Everyone was amazed that it didn't blow out, which probably would have sent me into the wall.  No one knows what caused it to fail, although one of the guys said he wouldn't run as much air as John puts in them. 

I managed to finish 5th in the 1st race and 6th in the 2nd one, so hopefully I will keep my 4th place for end of the year points.  Won't know until the standings are posted later this week.  Only have 2 more races this season, then it will be time to start getting ready for next season which will start about the end of February.