GOOD NEWS.........!!

The jack has not gone back to the ranch, but has joined a neighbor's small herd of cows.  The man knows the donkey and knows the owner that is still in rehab.  He said he has an arena that has a loading chute attached and is willing to take care of him until plans can be made for his future.  Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue in Texas has been made aware of the situation and has agreed to come and get him, once he is contained, which it sounds like he is.  

Peaceful Valley has about 3000 donkeys in their system and lease farms and ranches in Texas to allow the unadoptable to run free, such as the old BLM jacks.  By letting them run free, they have a much healthier, more interesting life than if they were kept in pens.  They go to the leases every few months, run the donkeys thru a chute to check teeth, feet overall health, worming and vaccinations if needed.  I would imagine the jack will end up on one of these leases, we've seen a video taken a few months ago of him coming up to the video taker with a fence between them.  He was open, and curious and very interested in her and what she was doing.  

We've heard people have come in with horses and tried to catch him and the rancher where he is says he has become scared of all people.  I know when we drove on the property with our 2 trucks and trailers, he immediately started trying to scare us by snorting and we never got close enough to see a couple of sarcoids on his nose.  The video from a few months ago shows them very good.  We never got close enough to see any details, except he is black, has 4 legs and long ears......!!!  I hope this works out for him. 

Sunday we had 17 people come out to run with the donkeys.  It really went well, I think everyone had a good time including the donkeys.  They all seemed to enjoy getting out with the people and running.

This is a bunch of them headed out on the road that goes by our fence line out to the main road.  

Hill climbing 101.......seriously, does this look like fun?  Must be, they were all laughing and smiling.....!!

Linda said running in the washes gives your legs a work-out.  I'll take her word for it........!!!  LOL 

It's getting about time to get ready for the Tucson Rodeo Parade.  Today Dave and Georgette came out to try to figure out the logistics of not only that parade, but the parade in Tombstone a few weeks later.  Linda said we have a list of walkers for both parades for 12 donkeys.  Quite a few of them are from The Running Shop that put on both of the fun runs in Tucson.  John and I will be rooting from the sidelines.  Last year his hip gave out and this year I'm still limping from my shattered knee. Just got the brace off last week after 4 months and am now enjoying PT.  Actually enjoying is not the word I would use to describe PT.  When I had the brace on, it seemed like they were gentle and nice to me.  Now they've become very bossy and expect results............LOL  The moral to the story is.....be careful what you ask for, my main goal in life for the last few months was to get rid of that brace..........!!!!  I didn't know it was keeping them from torturing me........!!  LOL

John went to Tucson today and picked up the new car for this year.  Our son put the roll cage in it and did a good job as usual.  He was a federally certified welder for many years and knows what he's doing.  Sometimes he's so meticulous it drives me crazy, BUT, he's never had a roll cage fail, I never have to wonder about his welding.  

It's going to take a lot of work to get it race ready.  The motor is somewhere, a friend took it to a shop he recommended and I don't know where it is in the lineup of work to be done at the shop.  And of course there are a million and one little things to be done by John and our friend Larry.  Larry worked on my last race car and said he'd never work on another hornet.  There isn't much room in them and he's almost as old as we are.  He and John have both said they get in positions and a lot of times they don't know if they can get out of them without help.  

I'm rather anxious to find out if I can get in the window opening.  The door will be welded shut, so the only way in is the window opening.  If I get in the next obstacle will be can I use the clutch to shift gears.  Not a big deal if you start the race and don't have any yellow flags.  But if there are restarts or you spin out, there will be shifting to do.  Wish me luck.

THE JACK HASN'T COME HOME........

The woman that has been making sure he had water hasn't seen him, so he still out on the forest service land.  When we were there we saw cattle out there, so there is water available.  

These videos show as close as we ever got to him, except when he went to the trailer where the girls were. And then Lynn was the only one very close as he was trying to close the corral panel behind the jack.  That's when he jumped over one of the other corral panels they had set up as a chute and headed for forest service land.

Michele is still wanting to try to catch him if at all possible and is keeping in touch with the woman at the ranch, in case he comes back.

 

Tomorrow we are suppose to go to a meeting in Tombstone about have burro races there next fall.  They are going to need a lot of volunteers to make this happen.  Unfortunately in these types of situations, a few people usually end up doing all the work, hopefully they will be able to get enough hard working people together to make it happen.

Sunday a group of the runners that ran with the donkeys last week-end are coming out to play with the donkeys out here.  Some of them might want to walk donkeys in the Tucson Rodeo parade next month.  John and I probably won't be walking, and we plan on taking twice as many donkeys as we had last year.  Our daughter-in-law, who is a horse person, has even signed up.

I got my brace off this week...........Yippee......!!  For some reason, I thought once the brace was off the leg would be good.  The knee is stiff from non-use and only has about 70% motion backwards.  But I am still going to physical therapy and will be for awhile, so hopefully it will loosen up with pain and torture.......LOL

Our son called this week and FINALLY said the roll cage is in and the car is about ready to come out here for John to work his magic.  Well, it isn't magic, but there's a lot of stuff to be done between now and March 9th when I'm suppose to race.  The motor is in the shop, it had a blown head gasket when we got it and hopefully that's all, I haven't heard.  Also haven't heard when it will be done.....!

 John's been putting the least wrecked car from last year back together, just in case.  I have always raced for points and to miss the 1st race of the season would be a disaster from my point of view.  So he's going to duck tape that car back together to hopefully stay together.   I don't think it will be competitive, but it will keep me in the points race for the season.  The best case scenario would be to have the new car ready to race, but it never hurts to have a plan B.

It's really been cold here in the mornings for about the last week or so, which makes for grumpy donkeys in the morning until the sun gets up.  The guys always set them up to eat in the sun which helps.  The afternoons are warm and sunny I've even seen a few flies, so I'm putting out a fly trap today. 

Link, Linda and Lynn's year old "baby" mammoth is going thru a growth spurt right now.  They think he is going to be bigger than his half brother Turbo, his legs are longer and his back is at least as tall as Turbo.  Mammoths grow until they are 5 or 6 years old, so he's still got a lot of time to get a lot taller.......!!!

 Link getting measured yesterday, Turbo watching

 

CAN'T ALWAYS WIN, I GUESS.......

The Donkeys and Donuts Fun Run Saturday was a lot of fun.  When we got to the park about 8:30 the people were already gathering ready to run at 9AM.

Signing up to run with the donkeys

We had all speeds for people and donkeys.  Some were walkers, some were joggers and some were runners.  Actually 3 of the donkeys got away from their partners for a short time, but they didn't go far by themselves.  Unlike a horse that was running loose in the park without a rider.  We don't know if the horse saw all those long ears and panicked or if he and his rider had parted company earlier, never did find out.  

Sugar and Jacque had not been off their property for years and were quite intimidated when they first got there and were thrown in with our herd.  Their answer to the problem was to jump in our trailer and look around.  It didn't take them long to decide to come out and become one of the group.  They really seemed to enjoy all the excitement once they figured out no one was going to hurt them.

All in all a good time was had by all. everyone had a smile on their face and are already talking about having another fun run.  Some of them are coming out next Sunday to practice with the donkeys on some of the trails out here around our property/ 

Leigh Anne shared this video of her friend Indy running Jasmine.  Leigh Anne and Jasmine walk the Arizona Trails every summer and Jasmine is quite the little ambassador for donkeys.  When people see her on the trail she is so cute with her little pack saddle, of course they want to see her and it gives Leigh Anne a chance to tell people about these amazing creatures.

Sunday was going to be a long day.  We were suppose to pick up a jack that has been running on about 75 acres and deliver him to Lucky A Rescue in Alpine, AZ.  As luck would have it, Michele from Lucky A was going to be in the Scottsdale area over the week-end, and said she would bring her trailer, which saved us a lot of driving.  She also asked if we could pick up a mini mule on the way, so that was the plan.

We had been told the jack was unhandled but friendly and it sounded like it was going to be difficult to pen him in a small area to corral him and get him in the stock trailer, so our answer to the problem and to take Frijolita and Coquette with us as bait.  They are pretty girls and he's been a lonely bachelor for about 3 years, since the rest of his herd were taken away.  At the time, they couldn't catch him with the others, so they left him there.  Lynn and Linda took the girls in their trailer and we planned on getting him in our trailer for the trip north.  The owner has some health problems and the neighbors have been making sure the jack had water and throwing hay to him for weeks.  Michele at Lucky A had agreed to take him if someone could haul him and we said we would.

When we drove in with the neighbor he was standing up on a hill above the road and started snorting at us immediately.  We went down by the barn area where the water is and set up the trailer with the girls in it and used corral panels we brought to make a funnel into the trailer.

I'm still wearing a brace, so I'm not very useful, so I just tried to stay out of the way as Linda, Lynn and John spread out to get him down in that area. 

He was moving  most of the time and there was no way a human could get close to him.  He is absolutely gorgeous and is a really fast runner.   I don't think cowboys on horseback would be able to catch him if that became an option.

 After running him around for awhile, he zeroed in on the girls in the trailer and headed that direction.  He actually jumped in the trailer with the girls.  The middle gate was closed, the girls were behind the gate, so he couldn't actually get to them.

I wish I had thought to video what happened next.  Actually before he went up there he had tried to go thru the fence in a corner, where the neighbor said he had escaped before.  The fence needs some work and he got tangled up in the barbed wired and had to work to get out of it.

He literally ran into the trailer, with the middle gate closed he only had about 8 feet of forward space, which means he crashed into the middle gate.  Just about the time he crashed Lynn managed to get to the back of the trailer, just as the jack lunged out and saw Lynn.  He leaped to the right into a corral panel, leaped over it.........almost.  Got tangled up in the corral panel as Lynn was trying to get a corral panel over the opening into the area.  When the jack leaped over the panel, he also leaped over Lynn's head.  He finally got untangled from the corral panel, which he bent and took off again.  He headed for a perimeter gate, pushed it out of the way and was on forest service land that covers who knows how big an area.  The neighbor said he's been out there before until he decided to come back.

 The only good thing about the whole situation is, he didn't break a leg or his neck.  He's only about 4 years old, but has been alone most of his life.  Not only is he not socialized with people, he's not socialized with other donkeys.   He's relied on himself for most of his life and when I called Michele to tell her we couldn't get him, I told her my suggestion would be to dart him like a wild animal, which he really is.  She is still trying to come up with a way to get him, I wish her luck, hopefully she will figure out something that works.

Lynn and Linda headed home with the girls and we headed north to pick up the little mini mule.  Judy had him all ready to go when we got there, so we loaded him up and headed to Scottsdale.  We stopped to get gas and I offered him a carrot, he took the 1st piece but when I offered him another one, he acted like I was trying to poison him and wouldn't take it, wouldn't even look at me.  ............typical mini mule behavior I guess.  They seem to dance to their own music, especially if they have been passed around and haven't bonded with a special person.


I almost forgot to take a picture of him.  I took this one when I was trying to give him a carrot and he was ignoring me, obviously there was something out the back of the trailer, more interesting than me trying to bribe him with a treat.

It was dark when we dropped him off.  Wish it had been daylight, Michele's friend has 9 donkeys and they all came to greet us and check out the trailer.  We didn't get home until almost 11pm, so we had a long day, I just wish we could have gotten the jack.  But I'm not sure what he would do if we had gotten him in a trailer, he definitely does not want to be trapped.

DONKEYS AND DONUTS TOMORROW

Lots of people interested in running with the donkeys, so it should be a lot of fun.  The donkeys seem to really enjoy the attention and getting out to see something different and a lot of the people have never been around donkeys before, so it's a win win for everyone...!!

Come out, even if you don't run, it will be a lot of fun to watch.  Everyone had a great time at the Burros and Burritos run in November.

If Leddy only knew.....!!

Well, there is some new entertainment being planned for the future.  It involves this wagon and another little cart that is just about Casper the mini mule's size....  Leddy was helping Lynn unload the wagon, if he only knew what is in store for the future.

Nosy bunch aren't they?

 Still have to find harness and figure out how to paint the wagon.  Our neighbor called it a hillbilly wagon, so don't know if it can be made into a "silk" purse.  It looks like a farm wagon to me, which would go good with a donkey pulling it. 

We went over to our good friends Dave and Georgette to pick up the wagons and to visit with Jacque and Sugar.  Sugar is one of our alumni, they adopted her about 11-12 years ago.  She was less than a year old and we got her from a roper that had bought her at auction and decided he didn't want her after all.  She still had the auction tag glued on her butt.  

Sugar and Linda getting to know each other

Dave and Georgette had a wonderful home for their animals, but they've never had a job.  Lynn and Linda were curious if Sugar and Jacque would run, so they haltered them, took off and found out they are naturals, they loved it.   Maybe in the future Georgette will bring them out for some of the races.

Sugar was ready to go again.....!!

READY FOR SPRING........!!!

I think we're all ready for spring.  We've gotten enough rain and snow that the ground is saturated and it isn't getting very warm during the day to dry the ground.  I know we will appreciate the moisture later, we've been in drought conditions for years, so it is welcomed, BUT a little sunshine wouldn't hurt...!!!  

John and I managed to make it  to the big dirt races Friday night in the Phoenix area.  We dressed for cold and were very glad we did.  The Wild West Shootout is one of the few races this early in the season for late models and modified and draws drivers from all over the country including Canada.  They had 147 cars sign in Friday night and really put on a great show, lots of action and a well organized program that moved fast. We were going to try to go back up today for the finale tonight, but we both decided that we'd rather rest up.  LOL

Went to our end of the year banquet last night for Tucson Speedway. 

Unfortunately I still have on my brace for at least another couple of weeks.  A lot of people asked if I was going to race again.  Still plan on making the first race the 9th of March, hopefully the car will be ready by then.  If not, John has plans to get the old car glued together enough to get on the track and at least stay in the points race.  We'll see how it goes it seems like time is really flying by and March will be here before we know it.

Lynn and Linda went to a "people" race this morning in Tucson.  They said there were lots of runners, maybe 100s, they haven't found out yet where they placed.   Some of the runners that want to run with the donkeys were running and I guess are all ready for next Saturday's Donkeys and Donuts run in Tucson.

It looks like there will be 12 donkeys for the run, although Lynn and BlackJack might also go, in case someone would like to walk a donkey.  Yesterday I think we saw BJ actually running for the 1st time in history.  Rambo was being a jerk and chasing BJ.  BJ was running and kicking Rambo, which didn't deter him at all.  BJ is a "mosey" type of guy, he usually doesn't waste energy unless he has to.  Rambo finally found something else to do, today he is being obnoxious again.  We really don't know why he is so aggressive, everyone is making sure to let him know that type of behavior isn't allowed.  He seems to realize we don't want him chasing the other donkeys and it usually deters him for the moment, but within a day or two, he's at it again.

Linda took this picture of BlackJack showing Jasper and Leddy how to dig up cactus to eat,  At different times of the year they eat cactus, other times they eat greasewood "ie"  creosote bush.  

Here's a good picture of Link and Linda during the snowstorm a few days ago.  

Leo and Leddy in the mirror trying to beg goodies from Lynn and Linda

Thanks for the pictures, Linda.........!!!

SNEAKY LITTLE GUY IS AT IT AGAIN.........!!!

John took the neighbor her mail this afternoon and discovered tiny little footprints outside our fence headed for her place............hmmm.........wonder who they belong to?  The general consensus points to :  

Casper, the cute little white mini mule hanging out with his bigger buddies in this picture.  Which is where we thought he was spending all his time.  Obviously he is still sneaking out or at least occasionally trying it out.  SIGH!  What a brat he is, which is why we all think he is so cute.  Watching his mind work is a lot of fun, but I don't want to have to start worrying about where he's going.  

A few days ago, Lynn and Linda decided to halter Levi and Bella and introduce them to Burroland.  They have never shown any interest in going anywhere out of the pen area, except closer to the hay barn.  

The plan was to take them over to the far side of Burroland, take off the halters and let them find their way back and on the way maybe they would find something interesting enough to want to go over there again.  

Got them over there, took off the halters, Lynn and Linda headed back and I guess the "fur" kids almost beat them back to "civilization".........LOL  

Where are we going?

So far, so good

Hmmm.......never been here before...........!!!

Now what?

Oh no, you're not leaving us here all alone......!!!  We'll just go home with you......!!!

 

This is more like it......!!!

Always stay within sight of important areas.....such as the porch of the feed room......!!

I would imagine they have always been in a pen of some kind, and have never been able to just go where they want in a larger area.  I'm sure we've had other donkeys that had probably always been in pens too, but were curious enough to go off exploring when given the chance.  Not these two, not the least big interested in the "big" world........!!!  LOL

Levi was one of the 13 donkeys that participated in the Burros and Burrito fun run they had a few weeks ago and he did just fine.  He was just one of the donkeys without any drama or anything like he was uncomfortable being out of his element.  Maybe being with people makes a difference, they both are very easy to work with, so I would imagine being with people makes them more comfortable if out of their normal life style.  

Maybe someday they will get curious about the big world out there, but don't think it's going to happen anytime soon.........!!!

I HATE SNOW..............!! LOL

It's been here for 3 days, even though the weather has started warming up and the afternoons are sunny and nice.  But if I look out the windows I see SNOW in the shadows.  It's already sunny today, so by this afternoon most of it will probably be gone.  YEA.....!!  

All of us have the ickies, probably some kind of head cold.  John started it, shared it with Lynn, then I got it.  By this time Linda was headed for town to get fighting power.  She also got a flu shot while she was in town.  She talked to the pharmacist and I think got everything the pharmacist recommended.........!!  Well, all that diligence didn't work for her, now she's got it.  John and I have been loading up on all the vitamin C, cough drops, orange juice.  I hope it's helping because we're all miserable and I'd hate to think it could be worse.........LOL

John and I were suppose to go up to ET Raceway at Apache Junction for the Wild West Shootout (on dirt) this week-end........but we chickened out.  When the weather is cold, there is nothing worse than sitting up in bleachers and we're miserable enough.  They will be racing next week-end, so hopefully we'll make it then.  We'll go up Friday, come back Saturday for the banquet, I've got to get my 5th place end of the year trophy.  Then we'll drive back up for the final race Sunday. I think last year the winner on Sunday got $14,000, I would imagine it will be more this year.  Of course when they interviewed him, he said it was already spent, he blew his motor on the last lap, poor guy. A lot of the drivers are coming in from cold country, South Dakota, Michigan, Canada, they will probably think the weather is just fine.......!!  UGH!

So for the most part we have just been doing what we have to do to take care of the donkeys.  

Does this look like "sunny" Arizona?  I think not....!!

Turbo and Link heading out in the snow

Big Gus doesn't let inclement weather interfere with his begging

The 19th of January is going to be another Donkey run in conjunction with the Running Shop in Tucson.  They have really gotten behind the idea of people running with the donkeys. 

Unfortunately within a few hours of putting the ad on Facebook they had to put up this ad:

I didn't get to go to the last run, but should be able to make this one.  I'm not going to be very useful, but I'll get to participate in all the excitement.  Hope it doesn't get too exciting, from what I was told the donkeys all did really well last time and seemed to enjoy the adventure.  There is some talk of taking Rambo, which ought to liven up the fun.  LOL    It seems like about once a month he acts like a jerk chasing the girls with a vengeance.  Which makes me think it's hormonal even if his testosterone levels are low, which proves he is a gelding.  When I talk to Dr. Jeremy next time, I'll ask him if they have a shot he could take to hopefully mellow out his hormones.  Or maybe after all he's just a jerk......!!  If he went Lynn would probably have to be in charge of him, we couldn't put him with people that aren't familiar with equine.  And he can get pretty pushy if he gets excited.

Don't know yet when they will be coming out here to meet all the donkeys. Some of ours can't travel or run, so the people will get to meet them too.  I know a couple of other donkeys that are probably going to come out then also. 

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH............

OK, we've had our winter between Christmas and New Year's........time for spring....!!!  LOL  This is what greeted us this morning, after rain starting at bedtime last night. 

Wasn't much, but there was enough Linda could make a snowball to throw at Lynn

Don't think you can see it, but there is snow falling in this video, unless you enlarge it.

   

Guess this would be classified as a "dusting", it was almost too warm and I'm really surprised that it made it to late morning

 

The cactus and agave will appreciate the extra little drink

The dogs of course think it's great, especially Lennon and Lola.  Lucy is "mature" and she prefers her creature comforts like heat and a soft bed.  Saddik is kind of a wimp when it comes to cold weather.  I can sympathize with his position.  He's got really short hair, no undercoat at all and if he does go out when it's nasty, doesn't stay long. 

I have to brag on every donkey and even Casper the mini mule............!!!  Courtney came yesterday to trim everyone that needed it.  Linda got out the halters and leads and they went to the west end to start with Rambo.  He had to be drugged when Tyler did him right after we brought him home.  They were trying to put him in the stocks and he didn't seem to think he wanted to go, was pretty adamant about it and Dr. Jeremy gave him a happy shot.  

So the preparations for battle were ready.  Courtney said she would do Boaz first and let Rambo see that it didn't hurt and Boaz got lots of cookies.  Finished with Boaz, went into Rambo's pen and they decided to "try" Rambo without a halter or lead............ he did it like a pro, didn't fuss about anything she did.  Of course Lynn was shoving cookies in his mouth, so he didn't have time to think about what was happening to his feet.  

So up the line Courtney went doing her thing, got to Loki and I said he'll have a halter.  I got out voted for trying without.........he did just fine.  Next was Big Gus, who came in with really bad thrush.  Courtney said his legs are really stiff and swollen and he might have DSLD.  I have never dealt with DSLD, reading up on it, donkeys aren't mentioned, but I did notice when we picked him up his fetlocks were dropped.  Dr. Jeremy said that moving around out here over rocks  gullies and washes might strengthened them and I do think they look less dropped.  He was a little touchy about picking up his feet, but he didn't fight and Courtney said it's probably hard for him to stand on 3 feet.  But no halter.......!!

 Leddy has a reputation for trying to kill a guy that thinks he's a donkey trainer.  When Lynn and Linda got Leddy he wasn't the least big interested in having his back legs messed with.  There was a clinic and Leddy was to be used to show how to pick up reluctant back feet.  Didn't happen.  I guess he and the guy came to an agreement in front of an audience that the guy would leave Leddy's feet, front and back alone and Leddy would let him live.......!!!  LOL  Leddy is the most laid back, mellow donkey you would ever want to meet, so Lynn and Linda were quite surprised, guess the trainer was too........LOL  When they brought Leddy down here and Courtney was going to do him they told her about his blow up.  He was haltered that time, but no blow up, same thing, Courtney let him watch the others before she did him.  Courtney uses power tools, which is an added possible problem, but hasn't been.  This time........no halter........!!! 

Courtney thinks Leo doesn't like her.  She doesn't understand Leo doesn't like most of us.........LOL  He looks at us like we're bugs under a microscope, most of the time.  He stood like a champ, no problem at all.  

Levi was to be the next problem child, he can be squirmy if he doesn't want to do something.  He was being squirmy and the halter was getting close to his eye, so Lynn took the halter off, held him around the neck and gave him lots of cookies.  That was the 3rd time Courtney has done him and he did better without the halter and Lynn holding him than with the halter.  

Last but not least was Jasper and Casper.  Jasper has had some ouchy feet the last few days, probably from the cold and rain and now snow.  Linda is putting boots on him today to see if it makes him more comfortable.  They put one on him last night and let's say it wasn't a big hit, in fact he was trying to chew it off.  I assume he's never had anything on his foot before.  

Casper the mini mule has actually been doing really good lately.  As far as we know he hasn't gone outside the perimeter fence in a long time.  He usually hangs with Turbo and Link, Linda says he doesn't know he is little and thinks they are his kind of guys.  Yesterday we had 3 tours here all about the same time.  Some of the kids started trying to catch Casper.  I didn't see it, but was told, Casper was running just enough to stay out of reach and I guess he was really exercising the kids.  John said he'd look over his shoulder to see how close they were.  I guess he was playing a game because he could have taken off at any time and hid, but he didn't.   He was also done without a halter.  

So all in all, everyone behaved themselves, got their feet done and got lots of cookies............!!! LOL