GOOD GRIEF, WHAT NEXT........????

John is back in the hospital.  Saturday Lynn, Linda and John helped friends Indy and Jerome "murder" their oleander that had been on their property probably 60 years.  The reason...???..... they are about to become new donkey parents and oleander is one of those plants that is highly toxic to equine.  Actually it is toxic to all animals including people.  Just a leaf or two can be deadly.  

This is what the 14 (I think it was 14) oleander looked like when we got there. 

Jerome had done a lot of preparation, with the chain saw.  That oleander is going DOWN........!!!  LOL

If nothing else Indy is determined......LOL

While everyone else was murdering the oleanders I took our truck to get new tires put on the front.  Coming back from Tucson the other day I was driving and I told John it was really loose and driving weird.  He had a new tie rod to put on it and the tires were wearing because of that and a few other things in the front end.  Got home and John found a bulge and belt separating.  .......!!!

Some of you know I generally take speed limits as an unappreciated suggestion, so as usual I was "driving up on the wheel" as they say in racing.  If that front tire had blown we might have went for a wild ride....!!  At least there wasn't a wall to run into..........LOL  

This is the 1st swipe with the backhoe

While I was gone they all were really having to work to get the roots out of the ground.  John's little tractor had to huff and puff and a few times the front wheels were off the ground.   Indy and Linda were dragging and stacking.  Lynn and Jerome were working with axes, a chain saw and a digging bar.

And muscle power......!!

Jasmine came by to give her stamp of approval on all the work being done

Lunch break Leigh Anne and John are talking and you can see what I'm doing.....LOL  Indy had quite a "spread" for us to eat.

Leigh Anne and Jasmine have walked probably hundreds of miles on the Arizona Trail over the years and Jasmine is quite the  ambassador for burros.  She carries all the equipment and supplies on her little pack saddle & they will stay out for days, camping out.  . 

In case you've never seen a spadefoot toad up close.......!!!  We also found a couple of night snakes, they look like earthworms and they sure can wiggle, very hard to hang onto, but Indy and I managed to get them relocated.

The root system is deep and sturdy....

Didn't look quite this good when we left, but I think Indy and Jerome got out there Saturday morning and leveled it out. 

 

More dump runs, I think Indy said they had made 13 trips with the limbs and all the above ground growth.  Most of this is roots. 

As soon as the fencing gets put up, the donkeys will move in.  Indy and Jerome have ran with some of our donkeys.  In fact Jerome won the fun race at Empire Ranch a few weeks ago, with Sugar.  Sugar is one of our alumni and seems to love to run.  

Now to answer the "what next" question in the headline.  John is back in the hospital. Saturday morning when he got up, his hands looked like baseball mitts, they were so swollen.  All day, he was pretty lethargic, we thought maybe it was because he worked on the tractor all day Friday.  But as the day wore on, his temperature started rising.  So off to the emergency room we went.  I wonder if they give frequent user awards for patients that keep coming back?  They decided to send him to one of the hospitals in Tucson.  Being sent to another hospital isn't as easy as it sounds I guess.  They made that decision about 9pm and the ambulance didn't haul him until about 1am.  I made a joke that I guess someone had to die for a bed to open up, I don't think the nurse thought it was funny.........LOL

I went in to see him today and he's doing much better, although they did a test and he has some sort of bacteria in his GI system that is getting stronger antibiotics.  And it is highly contagious, so all the medical personnel have to put on gowns when they work with him.  I didn't have to gown, so we decided it's because they go from patient to patient. 

They also think he might have some dead tissue in the wound on his leg.  I don't think so, the wound is dry and healing, but then again I didn't go to medical school, so I think they have decided to clean it out tomorrow........lucky John.....!! 

Lynn, Linda and Suzanne have been keeping the home fires burning, as in taking care of the donkeys and giving tours.  I guess we've been discovered, we've been having tours almost every day and some days two or three.  Suzanne made up a facebook page for the rescue, I don't know if that is generating traffic or not.  We love for people to come out and learn about the donkeys.  People really seem to have a good time with the donkeys, and the donkeys have learned to be "cute", they love attention.  

Grooming has stopped for awhile.  Last year a couple of the donkeys had what you might call "spring crud".  The hair would fall out and leave bald spots, that eventually would hair over.  Grooming is one of the things that gets lost in the day to day happenings.  But this year Suzanne and Linda started coming out almost every day to groom on the donkeys.  They even brought a couple of their friends out to groom, Sandee and Bonnie.  First Boaz had some bald spots, then Rambo and pretty soon a lot of them were having the problem. The only thing we could figure out was, grooming was passing whatever it is around, so then they kept grooming, but carried a bucket of bleach water to drop the brushes in between donkeys.  

It was still showing up, so for now, grooming has been postponed.   Whenever they come out, they take some of the donkeys out for a walk, which is fun too.  The other day Suzanne went out with them, walking Levi.  She said they were walking along having a good time and all of a sudden Levi slammed on the brakes and backed up.  There was a pile of rocks with some dried grass and Suzanne said she saw something that could be a snake, but she didn't investigate any further..........LOL  So Levi is her hero these days. 

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

PAST TIME TO UPDATE I GUESS...........!!!

At least that what a good friend told me.  Said if I didn't update I would be hearing from people wondering why not........!!!  LOL

John is out of the hospital and is suppose to sit around with his foot level or above his heart, like in a recliner.  Sitting is not what he usually does.  Unfortunately if he doesn't he gets swelling all the way up to his thigh.  He has been tested and has no blood clots in his leg which was a big worry.  None of his "cultures" have grown any weird little critters either, so that's good too.  

He will be going to the wound clinic in our local hospital for the foreseeable future 3 times a week for wound cleaning and dressing.  I am doing it the rest of the time, usually at least twice a day.

The white area around the edge is a gauze material used for packing wounds so they heal from the inside out. 

 
Today we had to go to one of the hospitals in Tucson for an arterial doppler test to check for clots in his arteries.  I think they have done about all the tests known to man now, so about all that's left is healing which will probably take 6-8 weeks.

I raced Saturday night at John's insistence.  He actually got out of the hospital about 4:30 Sat afternoon, but Larry and I left about 1pm, so we were already at the track.  Linda picked John up brought him home and Lynn had said if John really wanted to come out he'd bring him.  When I talked to John he decided not to come out. which was a smart decision I think.

It was NOT a good night.  I finished 5th in the heat race and did not finish the main event.  There was a wreck in front of me and I had no place to go when the car came out of the infield backwards up towards the outside wall of the track.  I was already there, so it was a little bit messy.

Video of wreck

If you go down to the 1st video on Tim's facebook page he did a video of the wreck out the back of his car.  I'm the little orange fendered, black hood way back behind the gaggle around Tim.  I wasn't far enough back to avoid hitting the #57 unfortunately.  That car is totaled, but I've heard they have stripped all the good stuff off it and will probably have a new one out there for our next race the end of April.

My car looked worse than it is, John said another fender and bumper and some of the metal braces under the hood will need to be straightened or replaced.  This car has been badly wrecked twice, if he gets it fixed this time, I don't think it will survive another wreck.  John says he will fix it 1st and then try to get the Cavalier ready for the end of April, that way if the Cavalier doesn't get finished, I'll still have the Neon as a backup.  I'm not off to a very good start this season I hope my luck changes pretty quick.

We've got a problem with the donkeys and by the time we figured out what might be causing it quite a few were involved.  This is the 1st year the donkeys have been getting groomed on a regular basis, like almost everyday.  Suzanne and Linda P have been coming out for weeks to groom.  Suzanne is now living out here, so Sandee had been coming out with Linda P.  It started with Rambo losing patches of hair.  Then it started one some of the others, now there is 8 of them with it, whatever "it" is.  We think it is something that is being shared with the brushes, so a couple of days ago they started carrying a bucket with bleach water in it and the brushes go in there after each donkey is groomed.  Not sure it's doing any good, Buddy presented with a bald spot today.  Linda and Suzanne bathed 7 donkeys today which is a record, I think.........!!

We've never had a designated Facebook page for the rescue, but that is about to change.  It's nice to have people around that are computer literate........!!!   LOL  Not sure when the big day is to have it operational, but I will post it on the blog, when the bugs are worked out.

Some more pictures from the Tombstone parade........

   

This is Quilla, he stepped on a rock or something and started limping real bad just as the parade started.  So he didn't finish the parade.  He was really difficult to pull out, he wanted to stay with the other donkeys.  He's done quite a few parades here and in Colorado and loves the attention. 

This is one of our two Rosie the Riveters, with Linda our WWII nurse and Pepsi of course

This is little Cheyenne, as the Red Baron from WWI, complete with leather helmet and goggles.  Linda has a knack for finding weird stuff........LOL

Lynn and Linda stopped in front of the judge's stand and portrayed the famous kiss in Time's Square at the end of WWII.  As they say, "the crowd went wild".......!!!  LOL

TIME TO MAKE LEMONADE ............

Earlier in the month John was unloading my race car off the trailer and it tried to self unload.  He tried to stop it and got caught between the car and the trailer. I wrote about it earlier this month.  Yesterday afternoon he said he felt cold, no one else was cold and he started shaking.  I took his blood pressure and it was all over the place.

So off we went to the local hospital.  After a few hours in the emergency room, they admitted him. About a week or so ago, a couple of areas opened up and looked pretty nasty.  He has surface varicose veins and we figured they got damaged by the car.  He was running a temperature and the big worry is infection or bacteria in the blood stream.  So they started him on antibiotics IV.

Thank goodness Lynn, Linda and Suzanne are here, they have been taking care of the animals, while I entertain him in the hospital.  I had physical therapy today for my knee, while I was gone the doctor came in and they've decide he has a hematoma or a captured area of blood in his leg and they are culturing blood to also check for bacteria in the bloodstream, which might take a few days.  My first thought was they would drain it, that's what they usually do for animals that have one.  I was surprised when they brought in a couple of pillows to elevate his leg to encourage the blood to move.......!!  They did say he might get to go home tomorrow, but if the blood shows bacteria he'll have to go back into the hospital.  Guess I better check my pillow supply...........LOL

I'm suppose to race this Saturday, and had decided not to even bring up the subject.  Well I found out John, our friend Larry that is a racer, and Lynn who isn't a racer, but willing to help had been talking behind my back about me racing and them being my pit crew.  I told John my first 3 races last year were pretty lousy and I still managed to finish 5th even not being able to race the last race of the season.  So I am more than willing not to race this week-end...........  Good grief you would have thought I said I was never racing again, judging from the fit John threw............so the plan as of now is, tomorrow Lynn and I will try to load the truck with all the equipment needed.  I have never participated in loading the truck.  John gave me a list, hopefully he didn't forget something important........!!!  LOL  I don't know who is in charge of this circus, hopefully it's not me........John has always been the "engine on this train", all I do is drive.  But we'll give it a shot and see what happens.

The excitement about the burro racing is still happening, people are really getting into the idea of having burro racing in Arizona.  October 12th in Superior, AZ will be the 1st race and the town is behind it 100%.  I have seen probably 100s of pictures and videos taken by dozens of people and one thing shows up in every picture, everyone is smiling...........!!!

I think this is the sunset from the night before

Everyone up bright and early, but they are smiling

Donkeys ready to go........!! 

What is wrong with this picture?  Poor little Pepsi and also Justin couldn't get a drink because the tanks were too tall for them.  Something to keep in mind for future races.  They make collapsible buckets and carrying one especially if a person is running with a mini might be a good idea....!!

 

Pepsi showing the big boys how it's done.  Team Pepsi and Indy finished 7th out of 14 teams.........!!!  Thanks for the pictures Indy.

 

Team Frijolita and Linda

For those that have been to our house and donkey rescue, you might have noticed a fenced area directly north of the house with trees in it.  We fenced it off years ago, so we could have at least a small area of trees that hadn't been chewed on by donkeys.  Over the years the weeds and whatever else thought it could hide from the donkeys have grown into a tangled mess.  It was to the point where you couldn't hardly walk thru it.  So we decided to take a couple of the fence panels down, so the donkeys could go in there for a few days. Taking down 2 panels gave them an avenue of escape in case the close quarters and the idea of fresh eating material made for some squabbling.

Like I said it was almost impossible to walk around in there without hitting your head on a tree or getting scratched or skinned up by who knows what.

Here's some of the donkeys working on the "jungle" and doing a good job.  So good in fact we closed it off the 2nd day.

This is after one day, as far as I know there was no squabbling at all, at different times there was different donkeys in there, at one time I counted 7.  Casper the little Blanco Diablo mini mule took it upon himself to show Leo how to get in there.  Casper was inside, Leo was outside, Casper went out and led him back in, so Leo could enjoy the "feast".

Speaking of Casper, our neighbor Jorja told us she found a little mule highway under the perimeter fence.  We've thought he had given up on going out and checking out the neighborhood, but obviously not.  She said the trail looks really worn under the fence.  John was over at another neighbor's place and said there were little foot prints EVERYWHERE.  He is always here at feeding time, and we see him off and on during the day.  So we figure he is sneaking out at night, to do his thing whatever that is.  I think it's the thrill of getting away with something, he has that attitude, which is what makes him so much fun.  LOL 

WE DID IT........!!!

This last week-end was quite busy.  Saturday morning we were up bright and early to load 2 stock trailers with 18 donkeys.  We were participating in the Salute to the Veterans parade in conjunction with St. Patrick's Day in Tombstone, AZ.

The last 2 years we have placed 3rd in the parade and this year we decided to go for 1st.  I don't know how many hours or how much money was invested in this endeavor  but we took home the gold, as they say..........!!!

We only had 17 donkeys in the parade, Coquette decided to have a meltdown and really threw a hissy fit.  So she had to stay in the trailer by herself until the parade was over.  

Two of the locals, watching us get ready.  Their "human" actually walked in the parade with us, but he said they don't have any training.  Being in a parade probably wouldn't be a good time to use for training, unless you want to have a train wreck....!  They sure were curious about all the goings on though........!!  Nice looking donkeys.

Lots of donkeys in that pen, eighteen to be exact. 

John and BlackJack, doing their thing

Linda P. and would you believe I'm not sure which donkey she is walking.

This "table" represents the POW/MIA table that is set in many chow halls and even some restaurants to show respect for the fallen and ones that haven't come home.  It was set on a 4 wheel cart and was pulled in the parade. 

Lynn the donkey and Sandy the walker

Linda as a WWII nurse.  She and Lynn (dressed as a sailor) did the kiss in Times Square when the war was over, right in front of the judge's stand........!! 

Me, Quilla and Rosie the Riveter aka Georgette

Lynn, me, John and Linda and of course our trophy

We had to load up and get home in a hurry, because about half the donkeys were scheduled for a 12 mile run, the next morning at Empire Ranch.  Unfortunately the vet check-in was Saturday nlt 5pm.  Rushed home, unloaded all donkeys, reloaded some of the donkeys and off they went, managed to get there about 3 minutes before 5pm..............

Suzanne our new helper left in the dark the next morning to make sure she got there in time to partner up with her donkey and not miss the start.  John and I fed and headed out.  Managed to get there just as the burro race was starting.  It was a 3 day event for horses, they raced over 100 miles in 3 days.  But arrangements were made for the burros to start an hour after the horses did.

The reason for that is horses don't always accept donkeys into their lives without a bunch of drama.  Heads up, eyes bugged, snorting, dancing and prancing are all things they do, if they've never seen donkeys before.  A lot of the horses were Arabs which are "squirrely anyway.

 THE START OF THE RACE 

(click for video)

Suzanne and Leddy

Some willing participants

Those ears look like he's ready to go......!!

Linda, Mely and Leo doing their thing

 

Indy and Pepsi, they finished really well

  

Lynn, Sugar, Jerome and Jacque finishing 1st and 2nd.  Oh yes, they are being followed closely by a horse that was fascinated with the donkeys......!!  LOL  Sugar is one of our alumni, she was adopted into a wonderful home about 11 years ago to be a companion with Jacque.  They both have turned into pretty good burro racers.

Loki taking a break

Happy people and donkeys, out enjoying a beautiful day....!!

That's about all the burro racing and parades for awhile, nothing else planned..............yet.  With Lynn and Linda around, who knows what might pop up.  They will be heading back to Colorado about the middle of May with their donkeys and some of our donkeys.  They take some of ours that have skin problems in the summer heat and they do better up there.  Quilla might not be going this year.  He is getting older and doesn't travel very well.  It's too bad because he loves the parades and Linda said the people are drawn to him, they will almost stand in line to pet him. 

GLOBAL WARMING..........HA! HA!

Justin is just about her size

Obviously the perpetrators of that particular science hasn't been in our area this winter.  Today it is cold as it has been for most of the winter, windy which is a rite of spring in SE Arizona and they are predicting the next few days will be cold, and rainy.........!!!  Guess we'll be lucky if it doesn't snow again........!!  LOL  Oh well maybe it puts off the 100 degree days a little bit longer.  For that I can bundle up if necessary.

Yesterday John and I spent the day emergency room hopping.  His leg is still really swollen, very sore and sensitive and really not very pretty.  We started out at the emergency room in our local hospital.  When we went in there was one person ahead of John.  In the next hour the room filled up and people were asking for chairs.  And John had not been called.  We made a decision that he might have a better chance in Tucson at an Urgent Care, so off we went.  Guess what?  They are closed on Sunday......who knew, I would think that would be a good time to be open, not only do people do stupid things on week-ends, but their regular doctor isn't available either.  I shouldn't say they are all closed we found one closed and one with a full parking lot.  So off we went to St. Joseph's hospital and their emergency room.  Walked in, no one there this is looking good.  Took his name and problem, went thru a door and found out it's like a funnel feeding from the small end.  LOL  It was a larger waiting room than the Benson hospital's and was filling up nicely.  Interesting day, I felt like a rat in a maze, went here, went there and had no idea where we were..........!!!!  Six hours later, after an ultrasound, they said he had no blood clots, which was what we were afraid of.  Told him to ice it and sit with it elevated.  So he's been outside most of the day, doing who knows what.  Like most men he doesn't not follow instructions very well.........!!! LOL 

 Neither of us had anything to eat and they wouldn't let him have anything once they had him in the system, so we went to a steakhouse and had steak.........!!!   It almost made the day worthwhile, really good.  

Kids and donkeys, make good partners

The last few days we have had a lot of tours, and the donkeys have really been on their good behavior, so it makes it fun.  Suzanne has hit the ground running and actually has given most of the tours.  

Looks like Pepsi won a ribbon, or someone shared their ribbon with him.

Courtney was here to trim yesterday and found some feet that needed a little extra attention.  Coquette has thinner soles than she should and is suppose to go on a 12 mile run this month.  So Courtney said to soak them and try her in boots.  She didn't mind being soaked at all, which is a good thing.  Leddy also needed to be soaked.  I didn't see it, but Linda and Suzanne were fixing him up.  Linda said she put the soaking bag on his foot and he didn't care.  But when the foot set on the ground and started squishing around, he flipped out.  I guess the next thing they knew, the bag was airborne and headed out of the area.  Needless to say, he's probably not going to get his feet soaked, at least not today.  

Wonder what they are talking about?

I raced Saturday night as planned and actually did pretty good considering.  I was 4th fastest in my poor little beat up car from last year.  Started 11th in the main event and finished 5th.  The top 5 cars have to go to tech after the race.  So anytime you make tech is a good night.......!!!   Also if you bring the car home in good condition.........!!!  LOL

My knee did good, I could climb in the window opening and use the clutch, although the knee did get pretty tired by the end of the night and all that climbing and pushing.  I'm sure it will be stronger March 23rd when I race again.  Hopefully by then my new car will be ready, we're suppose to bring it home tomorrow.   

So many people came up to me and said they were glad I was back.  I heard the announcer gave all the gory details about the wreck and that I made it to the banquet to get my trophy.  My "spy" didn't say if he said how old I was or not..........!!! LOL 

BURRO RACING IN ARIZONA

Not a whole lot of information out yet, but a whole lot of interest.  Once this was put on facebook, there were over 4000 views the 1st day.  A lot more people want to run with the donkeys than we have donkeys.  

People are going to have to realize that for this to become a long term sport in Arizona, there are going to have to be a lot more donkeys involved than the ones we have.  That means people that own donkeys, people that have friends with donkeys, people that know of donkeys in their neighborhood maybe standing out in a field.  Then there is always adopting from the BLM or answering an ad on Craigslist or maybe an ad on the bulletin board at their local feed store.  In other words, they are going to have to go on a mission to find more donkeys. 

Colorado has been having burro races for 70 years and have managed to continue to grow.  But most of the donkeys that are raced are rented, rather than individually owned.  I would imagine renting donkeys will always be popular, because a lot of the people live in town or an apartment.  Or don't want to own a burro year round, but enjoy the adventure of getting out and running with one. 

The town of Superior has jumped into the middle of this idea and is behind it 100%, so it should be a lot of fun.  

We're actually participating in the Salute to the Veterans parade in Tombstone again this year Saturday March 16th.  We have placed 3rd the last 2 years, so this year we are bound and determined to WIN..........!!!!  The last 2 years we themed for St. Patrick's Day, everyone "greened" up.  

This year we are saluting the veterans and will have about a dozen donkeys with walkers, at least that's the plan.  Hopefully the weather won't throw us a curve like it did for the Tucson Rodeo Parade last month.

We have flags for all branches of service, Rosie the Riveter will be walking with us and there will be a couple of other surprises too.  If all the plans make it, they'll have to give us 1st place.......LOL

John got the back up race car ready today, at least he said it's ready.  I hope so, I actually took it out on the main road yesterday.  Our dirt road is so rough I couldn't tell if it was running good or not.  I'm just glad nothing fell off, it is really rough......!!  I took it out on the paved road and it seemed to be OK, so I'll keep my fingers crossed.

A couple of days ago John and Lynn went down to Gary's, picked up the Cavalier and took it into our grandson's for some last minute work.  John had forgotten that when we unload from that trailer, if someone isn't sitting in the car with the brake on, it is a real good idea to keep the winch attached to the car and slowly let it roll backwards off the trailer.

This is what John's leg looked like after the car rolled and trapped his leg against the fender of the trailer.  Lynn and Gary pretty much lifted it off his leg.  Some things you shouldn't forget and I'm pretty sure he won't forget to keep the winch attached if I'm not available to hold the brake........LOL

I'M BACK AGAIN...........!!!

Cisco enjoying the sun and soft sand at the Rainbow Bridge

 I just noticed it's been quite sometime since I updated, didn't realize so much time had passed.  I guess that's what happens when you are busy.  We've all been busy, probably busier than we should be and unfortunately "stuff" gets lost in the shuffle sometimes. 

I haven't been gone all this time, although John and I went to Las Vegas last week for a couple of nights of dirt track racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  We talked about staying for the big NASCAR race last week-end, but decided a couple of nights of dirt would be more to our liking.  Enjoyed the races, although once the sun went down it got pretty chilly really quick.  We had cold weather gear, but did buy face masks after the 1st night. Had a great time, drove down the strip once and never played a slot machine, just went for the races.....!!!  LOL

Lynn and Linda held down the fort here while we were gone and as always everything went well.  Tyler came and reset Gus' shoes and changed them a little bit.  The cold humid weather had really made Gus miserable.  With him, if he is having bad days, I'm always wondering if this is it for him.  He spent most of the time laying down in his favorite sandy area, with his buddy Jasper keeping watch over him.

But once it started warming up and he got his shoes reset, he's doing much better, thank goodness.  He isn't eating his mush and pellets like he should, and he could be developing ulcers from the bute for pain.  Now that is is warming up and he's feeling better we'll cut back on the bute and give him some Ulcer-guard for awhile, to see if his appetite comes back.

Spring is in the air and guess who seems to be the most willing participant?  Rambo is managing to act like an idiot, even though he is getting herbs to corral his bad behavior.  Yesterday he was being particularly obnoxious, especially with Frijolita, so he got to stay in the pens for awhile.  There was a tour, and we'd rather people not see him acting like a jerk........LOL

We have a new helper staying on the property.  Suzanne has been coming out with her friend Linda for quite sometime grooming donkeys almost every day, which most of the donkeys really look forward to.  She is planning on staying in the area thru the summer and really enjoys the donkeys, so she will be here after Lynn and Linda go back to Colorado for the summer to help.  The donkeys love her, she always has cookies in her pockets..........!!!

Yesterday her friend Linda brought another friend Sandy out to brush the donkeys.  They said they had a good surprise, although it was more like a SHOCK.  Sandy had a yard sale and donated all the proceeds to the donkeys.  What a generous thing for her to do, and we really appreciate it.  As I always tell people, our budget for carrots and animal crackers is huge.......!!!!  I can already tell Suzanne is going to happily participate in the Carrying of the Cookies Club.  I never carry cookies, Linda is pretty good about cookies, but the guys are like cookie dispensers and the donkeys know it...!!!

This past week-end Lynn and Linda participated in a people race and were requested to bring some of the minis.  Some of the people putting on the race, have been involved in the Burros and Burritos, and Donkeys and Donuts fun runs and wanted to introduce donkeys to more people.

I was told they were a big success and some of the people said they only came to the race because the donkeys were going to be there.  Linda took pictures, but hasn't had time to download them yet.  Maybe later..........!

Yesterday John and I got to do something pretty special.  We went out to the go kart track to watch our great grandson Hunter go on the track for the first time, with his go-kart he will be racing this year hopefully.  He's 7 years old and could start out on the asphalt in one of the Banderleros, which is for ages 7-14 in cute little cars with motorcycle engines in them.

His dad our grandson JR, is a dirt fan, and also thinks the go kart on dirt will be more of a learning experience than the Banderlero on a 3/8s mile asphalt track and I tend to agree.  If he likes it he should be able to move up from the go-karts directly to a full size car when he's old enough.  There are men racing go-karts, in a different class, so he won't out grow the go-karts. 

I would imagine it is pretty unique to have 4 generations racing at the same time, if and when he actually races.  

Hunter wasn't too happy with practice.  There were some problems with clogged lines and just in general the things that you go to practice to find out.  Otherwise if you show up at the track to race and those problems are there, it ruins your race.  Hard to explain to a 7 year old, but a lesson he needs to learn.  Racing is about 99% work and 1% fun, at least that's what they tell me.  In the old days I was a lot more involved in the boring stuff than I am now.   Now I just drive...........LOL

My 1st race will be this week-end the 9th.  Unfortunately I will not be starting out the season in my new car.  Too much down time with the car and motor in pieces sitting around and probably too many people involved, with stuff not getting done.  

So I will start out in the least mangled of last year's cars.  Not the last one that hit the wall and submarined under another car.  This one got shoved into the wall by a disgruntled male driver.  There are 2 brothers that drive and between them they have managed to wreck 3 of my cars.  They are of an age that probably can't stand being beat by a woman, especially one old enough to be their mother.....!!! LOL  

John riding out for Meet and Greet..........This is the car I will be driving this week-end, although it doesn't look this good anymore, although it will probably look pretty good once John touches up the paint.  At least from a distance......!!!

Unfortunately right at this moment it isn't ready to go yet either.  John was sure the new car would be ready, so he's out today frantically getting a notch cut out of the frame to clear the power steering.  It's a little bent and things aren't all where they should be.  Oh! well, at least I'll get starting points and not start the season in the hole.