The last few days have been messed up. The weather people kept saying it was going to rain Wednesday night, Thursday morning, and we finally made the decision to cancel walking in the Tucson Rodeo Parade with the donkeys. Hated to do it, and disappoint so many people, but canceling seemed to be the right thing to do.
Of course it didn't rain Wednesday night, nor was it raining Thursday morning, but it was windy and cold for the parade. We watched it on TV and most of the people were bundled up. But no rain, by this time the weather people had changed their forecast to rain in the afternoon. I guess you just keep changing the forecast until you get it right.......!!!
It started raining Thursday night after we went to bed. It rained off and on all night, and just before morning chores, it started snowing and has snowed all day, big fluffy flakes. But it is above freezing so we aren't getting any accumulation. They are still forecasting warmer weather next week, so I guess that is what we have to look forward to. A lot of places in Arizona are getting lots of snow and it is accumulating. One place up north got over 3 feet of snow in 24 hours. Needless to say, this is NOT normal weather for this part of the country.
Being raised in the midwest, we are getting a kick out of how disruptive even the threat of snow is to desert people. They have got roads closed and wrecks everywhere else. This morning we had some people from Utah call to come out and see the donkeys, didn't bother them at all.....!! John did the tour, didn't bother him either he was raised in Indiana..........!! LOL
John and I did get to go to USA Raceway the local dirt track for their debut race under new owners last week-end. It was a big show of mostly out of town racers from all over the country and Canada. We've heard they are going to have 4 or 5 of these type of shows a year and not bother with local racing programs each week. That's a big disappointment for many local racers that love dirt racing, me included. They put on a good program, so we'll all hope they don't forget about us locals and maybe decide it would be worthwhile to have local racing after all.
We might get to see some more dirt racing next week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for World of Outlaws and NASCAR K&N Pro Series. We've planned on going, but nothing is ever written in stone around here. So until we are actually on the road, we don't know for sure.
The donkeys are not enjoying the rain and snow. They really don't like to be wet. This morning Linda and John were trying to figure out how to get everyone under shelter for breakfast. There are 4 pens without a shelter, although Lynn has been working on a shelter that will take care of 2 of those pens. They managed to move donkeys around but Big Gus ended up not only without a shelter, but without a pen. His pen is a nice size for 2 donkeys, so he got thrown out.....!!
They got the idea to see if he would follow them up to the carport and eat up there. A lot of the donkeys will not flex, they know their pen, they know where they are fed in their pen and that's the way it is. Not him, he followed along and seemed to think it was a great idea......!!
He has such a fun personality, if you appreciate it. He almost went into a foster home, but John, Lynn and Linda had a fit when they found out the plan. He has become the ambassador for the rescue or at least he thinks he is. When people come out to see the donkeys, he greets them, shows them around and makes sure they go away thinking donkeys are the most friendly animal on the planet. So they said he can't go anywhere. When we give a tour we usually ask the people who their favorite donkey is and I guess lately Big Gus is getting most of the votes.
He's always preferred horses to donkeys, and lately he's taken a liking to Casper the little mini mule. Almost every morning they play fight, Big Gus has to get down on his knees and Casper has to rear up to get hold of Big Gus' neck, but they make it work. And I think Casper is now staying on the property, rather than sneaking under the perimeter fence. Maybe he likes his big buddy.
Linda took this picture, she takes almost all the pictures. I don't know exactly what was happening, but my guess is this might have been when the women came out and walked with some of the donkeys down the road and these wanted to go also. Usually when someone is out with the donkeys, there is a line of donkeys on this side of the fence, walking with them........
This is a surprise. Linda asked if I knew who this was and I didn't. It's Buddy Brat.........!!! When Buddy came here almost 20 years ago, he was a nosy, curious, busy little guy and got in a lot of trouble, hence the name Brat........
A few years ago he went out with a family. He has always had a weight problem and they promised they would follow instructions on how to feed him. A couple of years later the donkey that had been adopted with him, killed a goat and the people wanted both of them gone, immediately. We were shocked to see how much weight he had gained and also how much his personality had changed. He had always loved being around people, but when he came back he could care less about people and this is the 1st time in a long time I've seen him actually interact with someone, in this case Linda. He usually stands off and just watches what's going on. So hopefully he's decided to start interacting with people again.
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