SLOWING DOWN FOR SUMMER

At least it feels like we're slowing down.  Suzanne's granddaughters are visiting for the summer and have pretty much taken over doing the chores.  So John and I are just getting lazier I guess......!! LOL

The donkeys really enjoy children and young people.  The girls have been taking different donkeys out almost every day for a walk on a lead and also brushing.  This time of year brushing is important, when the donkeys with longer hair start shedding, they really look unkempt.

Eat breakfast or come out and play, either one would work for Big Gus.....!!

Cheyenne is pretty sure there is a cookie somewhere close.

The girls out walking Casper and Cheyenne by the blue agave.  We have a few on the property, they don't actually grow here naturally, we were given a couple of them years ago and they are really good at reproducing little baby ones.  Lynn transplanted quite a few babies over by the pens.   This one will die once the stalk puts out blooms, which it will do later this summer..  If you like tequila, this is the plant it comes from.

I think this is Cisco, it's hard to tell with a close up and fly mask.  

Thanks for the pictures Suzanne....!

We've heard from Lynn and Linda in Colorado.  All the donkeys are doing good, and of course last week-end they ran in their first two pack burro races, Georgetown and Idaho Springs.  

Frijolita registering for her first race

 

Rambo and his new best friend Steve.  He did really well and from what we've heard the whole family thinks he is just great.  That is wonderful to hear, he went from problem child to family favorite in one 1,000 mile trip.

 

Georgetown was a rather eye opening experience.   Jacque and Sugar had never ran in a "real" pack burro race.  So they weren't prepared for guns going off to start the race and all the hoopla.  Linda had her hands full with Jacque, I guess he decided if we're all going to run I might as well get to the front.  Linda hadn't been filled in on the plan, and from what we heard she got to go faster than she wanted to, but she managed to hang on.  Lynn and Sugar were ahead and Jacque team caught up with them.  Lynn tried to help Linda with Sugar and they all ended up in a rather tangled mess for a few seconds.  It all sounded exciting, but could have really been a train wreck.  

I guess they've decided in the future when running with novice donkeys, they will have a stud chain as part of the outfit.  A stud chain runs thru the halter either over the nose or under the jaw and gives you more control over a misbehaving equine.  

Idaho Springs went a little better, thank goodness.  They ran with Frijolita and Loki.  This was Frijolita's 1st official race and she was a pro.

Frijolita doing her thing, going up a 12% grade and showing off her BLM tattoo

      Not bad for a flat land desert donkey

We're going to try to go up to Colorado this summer for the race at Fairplay.  It's doesn't interfere with my car races, and Suzanne has said she doesn't mind taking care of the donkeys.  Should be fun, as long as no one expects us to RUN............LOL  

Thanks for sharing Linda........!!

YOU CAN'T SAY OUR TOURS AREN'T INTERESTING........!!!

Thursday morning was quite busy around here, some of it planned, some of it not.  It was hay delivery day, which of course is a very important day around here from the donkey's point of view.  Happens about twice a year complete with a squeeze to unload the hay and put it in the hay barn.  

We also had a tour that morning they showed up on time and Suzanne and her granddaughters were showing them around.  So far, pretty normal. 

All of a sudden we started hearing sirens out on the main road and Suzanne saw 3 people coming up out of the big wash.  One was a women and she fell in the wash.  They came up right behind Tula and Mariah's pens just about the time a helicopter came up over the trees, which freaked Mariah out.  We figure she was probably rounded up with helicopters last summer when she and her herd were gathered off the range by the BLM.  

So here comes 2 guy's in civilian clothes running down the driveway, are they friend or foe?  We're starting to get confused......LOL  I gave the woman a couple of bottles of water and they took her away.  

We're all trying to figure out what is going on, the couple on tour were from San Diego and said it reminded them of how it was before they built the wall on the border.  Hmmmm............perhaps they have identified the problem.  

Before it was over there were 3 helicopters flying around, one of them is in the picture above just above the trees.  The INS, Border Patrol, Sheriff, Benson police and I think highway Patrol were all in here running around.  Two of them had the driveway blocked, so the hay truck and squeeze couldn't get out.  Another one, got the brilliant idea to take off down one of the trails Lynn had built for the golf cart.  Wish someone had gotten a video of that, especially when he got to the 90 degree turn down in the NW corner.  It's just barely wide enough for the golf cart, guess they don't get chastised if they bring the SUVs back with dings and scratches.  John saw him backing up to find a wide enough place to turn around.  If he had asked us, we'd have told him that wasn't a SUV trail. We noticed they weren't real interested in talking to us about anything.......LOL

I had an appointment in Benson, and they were still running around and flying over with the helicopters when I left.  We asked one of the guys what was going on.  They had been chasing them from New Mexico about 60 miles to the border at speeds over 100 mph.  Usually when they chase a car the illegals give up pretty easy.  I guess since these guys were so determined to not get caught they figured they weren't just illegals. We'll probably never find out the rest of the story, but it sure was exciting around here for awhile.  John did find out they finally caught the 2 guys, which is a good thing.  If they had not caught them, the illegals would have been out here in the middle of nowhere without transportation and would be looking for a car to steal.  John told one of the officers he was glad they caught them, otherwise we'd all have to arm up and become our own Homeland Security......!!! LOL

The hay truck and squeeze finally got out, Suzanne continued with the tour and life settled down, back to normal.  

Later in the day, this roadrunner was pecking at the patio door.  They do that quite often, not sure why.  We have a pair of ravens and at least one pair of roadrunners nesting on the property.  They both are hard on our quail babies.  Haven't seen any babies yet, I don't know what the average survival rate is for them, but a lot of times we will see a pair with 10-12 babies to start out with and later on they might only have 1 or 2.  The roadrunners are also hard on our lizard population, especially when their babies hatch, that is one of the main food groups for baby roadrunners.  They usually only raise one, baby roadrunners are cannibals of their siblings.....UGH!  

 

 

This morning we went to a meet and greet at Indy's and Jerome's house.  They invited a lot of their friend's to come and meet Carlos on the left and Nellie on the right, their new "fur" kids.  

They are really nice donkeys, seemed to enjoy all the attention  and were very gracious to all the visitors.  Carlos is almost at a perfect weight.  Nellie is a little "short for her weight", but they are aware of the situation and she is on a diet. 

The plan is to have them pack burro racing hopefully by October 12th when the inaugural  race in Arizona will be held in Superior, AZ.

Haven't heard from Linda how the race went this morning, saw pictures of snow they were going to be driving thru to get there.......!!  Hope they are having fun..........!!!!

THEY MADE IT..........!!!

Not without a couple of crisis', what would a trip be without those..........LOL  

I'm not exactly sure who this is, BUT I can identify what the problem is.  LOL  This was after their stop for the night in New Mexico.  Obviously one of the humans didn't see a problem with putting the cookie jar "almost" within reach...but not quite.  If the rails were farther apart, I can guess what would have happened to the cookie jar.....!! LOL

We knew they got a later start than planned and also knew they had stopped more frequently than usual and assumed it was to make sure Quilla was riding OK.

After it was all over we got the plain story without frills.  It seems when they were loading donkeys and only had 2 to go, Coquette managed to get her foot caught in one of the openings on the side of the trailer.  

There aren't any pictures of her laying in the trailer with her foot hung up, because their 1st thought was to get her out not take a picture to share............!!!  That is the saw-all and there is the opening in the trailer Lynn cut to get her foot out.  They said she popped up. and has a small scrape/cut and seemed none the worse for wear.  

So they watched her for awhile, talked about not taking her, but she seemed fine, so they finally took off, and stopped many times to check on her.  I'm sure she would have hated to miss the trip, especially now that she's there.............LOL

So they are driving along minding their own business in New Mexico and Lynn got pulled over by the state police, at least I think that's who it was.  Linda was out of sight ahead, and she had all the paperwork which is what they were interested in.  She had to turn around and come back to where they were.  Then they got to match up donkeys in 2 trailers with paperwork............BUT......it all matched, I'm sure that was disappointing, although Linda said the 2 guys were very nice.  

Just hanging out with the locals, notice the emblem on the open door of the vehicle behind Linda. 

Linda asked them what would have happened if they hadn't had the paperwork, they said $1,000 fine per animal.........or $15,000 for their 2 loads.........!!! YIKES, they are serious about this don't drive in our state without paperwork business...........!!!  We've always heard about confiscating trucks and trailers, and all sorts of other charges incurred while you get the paperwork straightened out, so don't cross state lines with equine and no paperwork........!!! LOL

We were worried about the weather in Colorado, but I guess it was all east of where they were driving.  

I'm guessing this is right after they got out of the trailers, when they got there.

I would imagine they were all ready to get out of the trailers and explore.  Wonder if the ones that went last year remember being there?  Linda said they are really enjoying all the pasture grass and weeds, said they aren't even interested in animal crackers, which is amazing.

Linda said Coquette has bonded with Frijolita.  Here Coquette hung out with Penny, we wondered how splitting them would work.  Penny doesn't really care. 

 

Turbo doesn't want Frijolita to go I guess

Hiding out in the trees.....!!

Another guess, next morning perhaps after they had a chance to rest their legs

Here's some of the boys, Levi, Loki, Boaz and Buddy Brat.  Levi and Buddy haven't been to Colorado before.  Boaz was there in 2017, but didn't go last year.  

Lynn and Linda and some of the donkeys are racing tomorrow and Sunday, I'm pretty sure Georgette's Sugar and Jacque are going and Justin, but I'll have to wait until Linda tells me for sure who is racing Sunday.  These are 2 short races, it will be fun to see how Sugar and Jacque do, they both seem to be pretty competitive. 

THEY ARE HEADED FOR COLORADO

At least we assume so.  John had an appointment in Tucson today, so we said our good-byes this morning and took off.  When we came home this afternoon, the trucks, trailers, 15 donkeys, 3 dogs and Lynn and Linda weren't here.  

It's about 5 hours to their spot they like to stop at in New Mexico, and I would imagine they are there and have been for a couple of hours, BUT, setting up their traveling circus doesn't allow much time for idle chit chat.  I would imagine Linda will send an e-mail. when she gets a moment.  

The paperwork came thru early this morning, up until then they didn't know if they would get to leave today or not.  We've all been watching the weather in Colorado and a lot of the areas are getting quite a bit of snow, the town they are going to is suppose to have snow showers tonight, but just cloudy tomorrow.  Hopefully the weather will hold until they get there tomorrow afternoon.  

When we got home, no dogs, and only 13 donkeys.  We had decided to put all the donkeys in the east side pens, so they would all be together.  At the last minute we decided to leave Tula and Mariah in their pens until tomorrow.  I doubt that Mariah would be a problem to move, but Tula has been using her pen for over 10 years and she isn't much more cooperative today than she was the day she got here.  We have learned her limits and she has learned we won't push her, so we all get along.  

We left them in adjoining pens, if we had moved Mariah,  Tula would have been by herself, and as it is, she lost Frijolita her best friend to Colorado.  There's always tomorrow when we have more time, we'll see what happens.

Everyone else moved pretty easy, although Casper the mini mule moved into Loki's pen and he seemed to think we had lost our mind until the hay came.  That seemed to make things OK.....LOL

Yesterday Lynn decided they needed a couple more corral panels for the trip.  Poor Jasper, he use to have a nice big pen, until they decided earlier they needed a few more panels, and his pen got smaller.  Yesterday's panel gathering left him with no panels on one side, he still had the back, other side, and front with gate.  Last night when it was time for him to go in he wouldn't go in until Linda opened the gate for him, even though the one side was completely open.  Sometime after we fed he figured it out, because when they went out to let the donkeys out at bedtime he wasn't there.......LOL  This morning he started out in there, but I guess he decided it was taking too long, so he came up to the feed room, to hurry things along.  It's so much fun to watch them figure things out.

Suzanne and her granddaughters got in before dark, so the girls got to see the donkeys.  I hope they have a good time, I'm sure a lot of what goes on out here will be a lot different than what they are use to.  Somewhat like an adventure...!!  The donkeys generally love children and young people, so I would imagine they will make the girls feel welcome. 

UPDATE

 I finished the blog and about 10 minutes later the phone rang and it was Linda.  They got a later start than they had planned, so they got to their stopping spot in New Mexico late.  But she said no problems and they stopped more than they usually do to check on Quilla.  He's not getting any younger, but he loves going in the parades and Linda said he is a favorite of the people.  She said they almost stand in line to pet him, which of course he thoroughly enjoys.  We didn't want him to miss the adventure if at all possible, so they are making the trip easy on him.  

While Linda was talking, Sugar and Jacque, Georgette's 2 donkeys were hopping in the trailer, guess they didn't get enough traveling today..........LOL  

Linda said a lot of their friends have been calling to find out where they are.  I guess some of the passes are closed because of snow, hopefully not the ones they will be going thru tomorrow. 

SOMETIMES THINGS JUST DON'T WORK OUT

Lynn, Linda 3 dogs and 15 donkeys were suppose to head for Colorado today, but paperwork SNAFU means they are all still here.  The paperwork for their Coggins test didn't get done.  Don't know what happened maybe 13 tests coming in at the same time, overloaded the lab.  

Supposedly it's being worked on and hopefully will show up today.  Linda had to cancel an appointment in Colorado for tomorrow, and they and 3 of the donkeys are suppose to race Saturday in the 1st race of the 2019 season.  

Buddy is ready to go, and this year he is going.  We started taking him to parades and he really enjoys all the excitement and hoopla.  The 1st parade we took him to in Tombstone, I was walking him, and I was wore out by the time the parade was over.  We spent a lot of time turning in circles, he wanted to get to the front of the parade in a hurry......LOL  

If they get to leave tomorrow that will give the donkeys a couple of days of rest before they get a chance to show the Colorado donkeys what Arizona donkeys can do.  

Here's Leddy and Jasper doing some mutual grooming

Boaz making a "mushy" face, he's learned to make faces which people find entertaining and maybe will give him a cookie.

Coquette and Penny hang around together quite a bit.  Coquette is bonded with Penny, but Penny not so much.  Coquette is going to Colorado, it will be interesting to see how all the herd relationships will go.  Tula will lose her second in command, Frijolita is going.  In fact Tula is going to lose almost the complete "A" team.  I doubt that she will care, I don't think she enjoys being followed everywhere she goes, all the time.  Levi will be away from his momma for the first time in his life.  He's been to 2 or 3 of the fun runs and did just fine.

Since about half of the donkeys will be gone, the ones left here are going to be consolidated on the East side.  There will be quite a bit of pen changing going on.  That should be interesting for the 1st couple of days..........or longer.  Tula is in the same pen she has been in for years, it's the only pen she's every been in.  She's very smart but she is also very determined and will probably insist on going into her old pen for awhile. 

THINGS DON'T ALWAYS GO AS PLANNED..........

Lynn, Linda and the donkeys going to Colorado are still here.  The big holdup is, the travel papers each donkey has to have are somewhere else.  They haven't arrived in the mail and Dr. Jeremy hasn't sent them, so traveling is on hold for the moment.  It's not that bad I guess, it gives them more time to make sure everything is packed, and their RV is "summerized" etc........!!  But there is one small wrinkle, their 1st pack burro race is next week-end.  It would be nice if everyone got a few days rest before the race, people and donkeys.  Fingers cross for Monday.........!!!

Other than that, things are going pretty good, the weather has been and still is nice and cool.  Most days are in the 70's, lots of sunshine and that's the forecast for the next few days.  I have a feeling when summer comes it will be quick and hot.  April 19, 1989 is the official earliest 100 degrees on record, but I would imagine over the years before they kept good records, there have been others.  

The donkeys are enjoying this weather, although the flies are terrible.  They are wearing their fly masks 24/7, because the flies get up before we do.  I've got out 4 fly traps and they are really buzzing......LOL  Some of the skin conditions are getting started, we're having to doctor.  Boaz will be going to Colorado, hopefully that will help with his knee.  Right now we're keeping it wrapped.  The scar tissue on his knee, gets scruffed when he lays down and bleeds which draws flies.  If we cover it they can't get to it, and it doesn't get bloody again.  

Got another pretty picture of Rambo from Steve in Colorado.  

The consensus here in Arizona is........good thing Rosie, and Lynn the donkey don't have access to that pretty wooden fence.  They both seem to think wood is a food group........!!! LOL

Lynn and Linda have invited us up to Colorado this summer for a visit and to see a pack burro race.  we've about decided to go up in July when the Fairplay race runs.  It's the longest race 26 miles for the long one and most of our donkeys that run will be in it.  Of course with all those donkeys we probably won't even recognize them, I guess running Fairplay is a biggie, so there will probably be lots of runners.  It doesn't even interfere with my car racing.  

We'll have to check with Suzanne when she gets back to make sure that date doesn't collide with her plans also.  I think she gets back late Tuesday and will be bringing 2 of her granddaughters with her for the summer.  She said they love animals, so they should have fun.

Sugar on her first outing

I guess Jacque was bored..!!! LOL

All Linda saw was their butts, as they headed out to explore.  Our donkeys are so use to new donkeys coming in it's like no big deal.  The new ones are usually so busy exploring they don't even pay any attention to the others.  Sugar was here years ago when she was less than a year old, wonder if she remembers?

This is Turbo and Link in their shelter.  They are the only ones tall enough to be able to almost look over the boards.  I have a feeling by the time they get back in the fal, Link will have no problem looking over the top.....!!

THINGS SURE STAY BUSY AROUND HERE........

Earlier this week Mindy and her mom came to visit for a few days.  Over the last few years Mindy has come down from Phoenix once or twice a year for a few days to, get some donkey time.  Her mom doesn't always come, so it was nice to see her again.  

Didn't think Mindy was going to make it this year, she's been dealing with a broken ankle for quite sometime, and it still isn't right.  At the same time, her mom is dealing with a knee.  But they decided to make the effort to come down, I think this is their first big outing for quite sometime except for going to the doctor.


https://www.facebook.com/mindy.keeling.5/videos/2237354759684579/


This is what greeted them when they turned into the driveway.  Big Gus patrolling the gate.  Mindy called to see if someone would come down to the gate and corral him, so they could drive in.  I guess we'll have to put another sign on the gate, saying if there is a big brown donkey at the gate for goodness sake, DON'T OPEN it, or we'll all be chasing him.........!!  LOL

With Big Gus, everything is of interest and nothing is sacred.  The other day John left the door open on the truck.  By the time John figured out what was happening, Gus had flipped the cover on the center console, throwing all the "important" stuff on top all over the back seat.  Then he moved onto the beverage holder under the dash, grabbed John's sun glass case and flung it around.  John finally figured out what was going on and came to save his stuff.  We didn't know until the next day when we were going to town and John asked me to hand him his sunglasses how much fun Gus had.  He had bitten down on the glass case and in the process bent John's sunglasses.

Linda has been trying to get the trucks packed for the trip.  She can't leave anything out or Mr Nosy has to check it out.  She caught him playing with one of the weights they use in the packs when racing.  I think she said they weigh 5 pounds, and he was swinging it around having a good time.

Minda and her mom got to visit with the donkeys.  The donkeys always seem to enjoy Mindy's visits, a lot of them act like they remember her.  When she is here she spends lots of quality time with the donkeys and they seem to appreciate it.


https://www.facebook.com/mindy.keeling.5/videos/2237423223011066/

Here's a video Minda took yesterday.  We were sitting on the feed room porch with Justin and Jasper and they kept us entertained for a long time.  They were enjoying the one on one attention.

Mindy, Justin, and Jasper's nose

 This afternoon, Georgette and Dave brought Sugar and Jacque out, so they can go to Colorado with Lynn, Linda and 2 trailer loads of donkeys in a few days.  Both of them debuted at Empire Ranch a few weeks ago and also did the fun run up at Superior.  Neither of them had ran before except for the Burros and Burritos and Donkeys and Donuts fun runs earlier this year in Tucson.  They finished 1st and 2nd at Superior and Empire Ranch and seem to be naturals.  They'll get their chance to show what they can do, the end of this month at the 1st pack burro race of the season. 

Rambo will be in that race too.  This is Rambo after his latest practice with come of his fellow racers.  He is the darker brown one in the middle and seems to be enjoying having access to grass ..........!! Steve seems quite pleased with him, maybe all this time, all he needed was a job......!!  Steve hasn't said if Rambo is pretending to be an alarm clock at 5am.  He has a rather deep loud bray and isn't afraid to use it.  Hope Steve doesn't have any close neighbors.....!!

SPRING RAINS IN THE DESERT FOR MOTHER'S DAY

Seems weird to get rain this time of year, but we've had 2 or 3 days of clouds, wind and yes rain.  Last night was race night for me, it had been cloudy all day, but the show must go on and away we went. We got home at 3am, which means today we just try to sit up and walk.........  It usually takes about 3 days to recuperate a race night, since this one was hours long, it may take longer.  We don't bounce back like we use to.

They had a big K&N NASCAR race actually 2 of them 100 laps each and us local racers were suppose to be fillers.  That’s fine, except the races were suppose to start at 7pm and the rain started at 7:04......  The big huge logistics problem was their races were being televised at 9:00.  We had already been told if it got to 9:00 and one of our races were on the track we’d get thrown off the track, so the big boys could do their thing..........!!  With asphalt another big problem is we can’t race on a damp let alone wet track.  So they spent lots of time drying the track and managed to get it dry, sacrificed the Bomber class to dry it further, got the K&N guys on at 9pm and they race 100 laps by 10pm.  Ran another local class, and ran the 2nd K&N 100 lap race.  Then they started racing the local classes  that started after midnight..........    I finished 3rd, passed 2 cars at the finish, couldn’t tell who did what, until I got paid.  Bet those guys are mad..........!!!!  LOL

Suzanne is going to visit family for a few days, and Lynn and Linda are getting ready to head for Colorado.  They will probably leave a few days before Suzanne gets back, so it will just be John and I for a little while.  There will only be about half the donkeys that are here now, so it shouldn't be a problem.  They'll actually be taking most of the feisty ones........!!!  

Suzanne took this picture of Lynn and her son Justin for Mother's Day.  They both look rather silly, especially the ears.  Justin has begging down to a science and learned quickly how to get people to do his bidding.

Mariah the new jenny has already settled in, and has joined the A team part of the herd.  We tried to get her feet done a few days ago and she said no thank you.  Rather surprising, since she is so easy and gentle to work with. She was definite about her opposition and held no grudge when we decided to figure out a plan B.  Still working on that aspect.

This was the day she got here, she's pretty good with everything except leading and doing her feet.  It only took letting her out and putting in her pen once, for her to get the idea that was where she should be at feeding time.  She's in the pen, in the morning when it is time for roundup.  Most of them just wait until they feel like going in, or make someone look for them, I think it's some sort of donkey game.

She was suppose to possibly be pregnant...........well I don't think so.  The first day she was out of her pen, Linda said it was like Woodstock, free love all over the place........!!  LOL  Things have settled down to normalcy now.  But if she was pregnant that wouldn't have happened, at least I don't think so.  That's a good thing she is only about 2 years old too young to be a momma, although we had one here that was 26 months old when her baby was born.  We were afraid she would reject the baby, but she turned out to be a wonderful mother, and they got to go to a home to grow up together, which was great. 

THERE'S A NEW GIRL AT FOREVER HOME.............

She actually had another name, but I think there was over an hour spent this afternoon coming up with quite a few names, to choose from.  

We've done this before, we brought home a little mini mule named Donkey  a few years ago which just wasn't right.  We came up with some names and everyone had a vote.  Unfortunately we had an even number of voters and tied.  So a friend called her sister and she broke the tie voting for the name Gizmo.  He's been in foster care along with another of our mules named Reba and will probably stay there, even though he hasn't been adopted.  It's a wonderful caring home. 

This time we had an uneven numbers of voters but the decision was made to each vote for 2 names.  We ended up with a tie...............!!!!  Voted again and Mariah won.  

\

She wasn't in a big hurry to come out of the trailer

Mariah is a very pretty girl, seems very calm and curious

She's suppose to be pregnant, but as soon as she was in her pen, she started trying to catch the attention of some of the geldings..........hmmmmm......!!!  

As calm as she is, we might let her out to roam around tomorrow.  The others, have come by her pen to check her out and that's about it.  

Her feet need to be trimmed as soon as possible.  Courtney is coming out Friday, as long as her feet are she probably hasn't been trimmed since she was captured by the BLM last summer.  She's only  about 2 years old having feet long like that is hard on her legs and tendons at such an early age when she is developing.  

She'll probably be here awhile until we can figure out if she is pregnant or not.  If she is everyone here is anxious to have a baby donkey around to play with.  Of course Lynn and Linda will be heading back to Colorado in just a couple of weeks, so if she is they might miss the birth.  Suzanne has promised to take lots of pictures and videos if it happens.  

This morning we had a chiropractor come out for the 2nd time for Bella. He thinks she has had damage to her neck.   She has problems with her rear legs and has a hard time getting up when she lays down.  It's a long term problem, when she gets up she sits on her fanny and struggles up.  Both of her hind legs have calluses on the back of her hocks, so she's been getting up like that for a long time.  I wonder if anyone ever noticed?  

This is the 2nd time he's worked on her and it seems to help, she's doing much better than she was last week when he was here.  

He also is one of those people that seems to be attuned to the aura field around animals and people.  I don't really understand it, but I respect it, because I've seen people like that find things that they had no knowledge of beforehand.  

One of our pens in fact the last one to the west has always seemed to make the donkeys uncomfortable if they were in it.  Two of them had to be moved to another pen, because they wouldn't go in  that pen.  We asked him to go down to the pen, didn't tell him why.  He walked around in the pen for a few minutes, and said there was nothing wrong in the pen and pointed NW of the pen.  He got so upset, he almost threw up.  He said there was a massacre, Indian women and children.  He said it isn't scary or dangerous, just overwhelmingly sad.  

We know there were tribes in this area, one of the travel corridors passed by here along the San Pedro river.  Suzanne is going to go to the Amerind Foundation and see if she can find any local information that might be helpful.  I'm sure many people were massacred all over the country that were never even noticed, but she might find some local history that would give us a clue.  

RAMBO'S 1ST COLORADO OUTING

He looks like he's having a good time, can't wait to hear how he does in his first race, the end of May.

Yesterday was Cinco de Mayo, so of course Linda had to dress up donkeys.  She sent me the pictures and I was very confused, couldn't figure out who the donkeys were.  If I had looked at the overall picture instead of just focusing on the donkeys I would have noticed it wasn't our donkeys.  The background is different.

Linda and Suzanne after their race

After they ran their race yesterday morning..........early.........they went over to Indy's and Jerome's to visit Carlos and Nelli. 

I think this is Nelli, she is slick

Carlos has a heavier coat and I think this is him

I think this is Carlos checking out Lynn for a treat

 There is a snake living under the feed room pallet step, noticed it yesterday.  I haven't seen it, but the consensus is it isn't a rattlesnake.  It's actually in the dog pen, so it probably won't stay long, with dogs running over it's "roof". 

Lots going on as usual.......!!!

It seems like the last few days have been particularly busy or chaotic, not sure which.  either way we all seem to stay busy.  This morning Suzanne, Lynn and Linda went to Tucson to run in a people race.  Linda said there were 1100 runners, which is just amazing to me.  Then again, I've never been a runner, I find it interesting that many people would go out in the early morning and run, but they do. 

 

John got to go into Tucson and do a jeep tour this morning,  he hasn't got to do a tour for months.  Another crowd of people, he said they had 17 jeeps with 6 people plus the driver in most of them communing with nature in the desert.  Because of the heat the tour started at 7am.  Everybody left before daylight this morning and left me snoozing until "normal" time to get up.  I was in charge of feeding this morning.  Lynn and Linda actually picked up poo and filled water buckets in the dark before they left........!!  

When I did get up and outside to feed, the donkeys let me know they are use to faster service.  I tried to explain to them that I was just one person and not very fast anyway, but they seemed to think slamming the gates and yelling at me would make it go faster...........it didn't.........!!!  

]

Lynn has been trying to find an adjustable pack saddle that will fit Levi.  Levi is, to put it mildly, plump.  We were afraid he would flunk the vet check when we took the donkeys to the Empire Ranch spring ride a few weeks ago.  The vet wrote on his paperwork OBESE.  I like to think of him being a little short for his weight.....!!! LOL  He's actually lost weight since he's been here but he's got a lot more to lose.  He seems to like to run, so Lynn and Linda are planning on taking him to Colorado and see if they can run some of the fat off him.  He'll have to wear a pack saddle in Colorado, and the ones they've tried on him just sit on his flat table like back.  They think they have found an adjustable one that can be adjusted to fit him if he loses weight. 

This is little Cheyenne stopping to smell the flowers.  I hope she knows that's a cactus......!!!

A picture of Rambo in Colorado, not exactly Arizona weather, but Steve said he didn't seem to mind the snow.  Steve took him out yesterday for a practice with 30 other donkeys and all the reports we've gotten he did very well, once he figured out what was expected of him.  I think the 1st race is the end of this month, I hope he does well, Steve is already smitten with him, which is really good.

Casper the mini mule accosting John after he drove thru the gate.  Getting in the gate is sometimes quite a challenge.  John came in the other day and said we need to build a double gate.  I don't know how we would do that, much of the time we have a trailer attached, which would make a real long rig.  The distance between the gates would have to be pretty long.  Most of the donkeys aren't interested in going out, but a few of them are.....!!  Makes it exciting coming thru the gate, especially if you don't drive in far enough to close  the gate.....!!! LOL

This is the worst culprit..........Big Gus.  He knows how the gate works, and seems to know just about how long it takes for humans to open the gate, drive in and close.  We have a large container sitting on the left side of the driveway for FedEx and UPS to leave packages, so they don't have to try to come in the gate.