WHAT HAPPENED TO FEBRUARY........??

 I realize February is short, but it sure went by in a hurry.  It was 16 degrees here this morning, so winter hasn't given up yet.  But the days are really nice.  

We picked up Ruthie as planned and she is already out and about.  She is really calm and didn't need more than one day in her pen to get use to lots of eyes looking at her.  

   This is Ruthie standing in the real nice barn she has used for the last 6 years or so. 

 
The welcoming committee.  You might notice they aren't as interested in the new girl as they are in the hay scraps that came with her in the back of the pickup.....!! LOL

Once hay cleanup was over, Link decided to get in the trailer and visit with the new girl.  I guess he has his priorities......!! LOL

                                   She went out of her pen the 1st morning like no big deal. 

She was more interested in running the pens after we let the others out to see if there was any food left.  These guys don't leave much to find, so she just wandered around checking everything out.  

 

 

Unfortunately there is a slight problem.  Casper always takes after the newbies, doesn't matter boy or girl, he goes after them like a little buzz saw.  She's big enough she could make mince meat out of him if she wanted to.  But she chose to run, which really gets him going.  So for the time being, he's in solitary during the day and she gets to roam.  At night he gets to go out and she stays in.  He is also getting a herb that helps to control his impulsive behavior.  After a few days the problem solves itself I guess, he leaves them alone.  

Gigi has been here for probably 11 or 12 years.  She is very shy and only in the last year or so has she warmed up to actually enjoy attention as long as it isn't overwhelming.  

She was probably born crippled and is the only donkey here that has to wear shoes to keep her front feet from basically turning backwards which is the way they were when we brought her home.  Her friend Rosie came with her and they are inseparable.  

This is the most comfortable I've ever seen her with someone.  Sierra helps with the donkeys when she can, and Linda just happened to catch them, maybe sharing secrets. 

Shy Gigi and friend

Donkeys seem to have a natural affinity for children and will let children do things with them, they wouldn't let adults do.  It's really rewarding when they decide to take a chance and come out of their shell.

 Shannon, Cindy, and Tara come to groom and play with the donkeys almost every week and have for quite sometime.  The donkeys love to be groomed, but the girls were having a problem figuring out who is who.  Shannon made name signs for everyone and this is the Burro Barrack's roster.  I'm surprised they are still up since yesterday afternoon.  Koshare took his down the 1st day.....!!!  LOL  We're not surprised, he has a long list of damages to account for.  Eating part of the roof off one of the shelters was a little much though, he's tall enough to accomplish that and did so..!! LOL   Then he tore down the electrical wires that were in the pen so we could have light if needed. 

 

 

 

WHAT HAPPENED.......????

Before supper I threw this page together to see if this video had downloaded and could be shared.  Looks like it did, so after supper I came back to double check and all that was on the page was the video.  Grrrr.....!!!

We've had a visitor from cold country here for a few weeks and she came out to play and visit with the donkeys every chance she had before she had to go back to cold country.  She took a couple of videos and tried to share them.   I have had LOTS of fun trying to download them to share and she tried 3 or 4 times to send them to me.  Finally............success......!!!  Thank you Susan, I'll try to share the other one later.

 

 

This is Big Gus and Link, they are the oldest and youngest donkeys here, and actually play together quite often.  

Tomorrow afternoon we are going to bring Ruthie home after being in foster care for about 6 years.  She went into a home that lost a jenny and their other jenny needed a friend. Unfortunately, Marci died last week, and the people want to lighten their responsibilities rather than get another donkey.  She actually was Boaz's girlfriend and they come in with their 2 year old son.  Ruthie was also pregnant and had Wister Christmas night, 2012.  He was a cute fuzzy little guy.  His picture with Ruthie is in the banner.

Boaz has stayed here in sanctuary because of health issues.  He gets to go to Colorado in the summer, because his skin problems do much better in the climate up there.

Ruger and Wister went to a new home together a few years ago.  When we are in Tucson in the neighborhood, we go by to see how they are doing.  They have pasture and always look good.  It's in a horsey area and I have a feeling people stop by often and visit with them, judging from their friendly behavior  when you stop. 

DON'T LIKE WIND..............

 Today my opinion obviously isn't worth much, the wind is really gusting and blowing.  I had a tour this morning and it's hard to talk and keep your mouth shut so you don't get it filled up with dirt and dust.  

At least the nights are warming up.  We had to drag Cisco's blanket out of storage.  We thought winter was over and spring was on the way.  But a couple of mornings at 18-19 degrees sent John digging for the blanket.  Cisco has to stay in the pens overnight if he has a blanket on, which he doesn't like, although he likes being warm and seems to appreciate the blanket.  Days are sunny and in the 70s, so no complaints there.  

Lynn and Linda got back from their race last week-end.  Lynn finished a hundred k/62 mile race in 8th place for his age group.  I think he said 87 people dropped out so it was a pretty grueling experience for some of the people.  He said he enjoyed it.......!!! YIKES, I can't imagine running that far and they had to come in under a certain time, so they couldn't just take their time, moseying around the countryside.  

Linda's been sharing some more pictures and videos, I've tried to get a picture of LaRoy playing with his ropes, but if he sees you getting ready to take a picture he usually drops the rope and looks at you like, "what are you looking at?"  They all seem to have a 6th sense when it comes to people taking pictures.

 LaRoy and his rope

This is Lynn making Cooper's world go round.  Donkeys have 2 places that they LOVE to have scratched.  One is their ears, they love to have you run your thumb or hand down in their ear as far as they will go, and rub, rub, rub.  It makes their lower lip almost fall off.....!!! LOL

 The other area of interest is their bum.  Most of them will stand as long as you will rub.  I've never rubbed this energetic, but Cooper seems to be enjoying it immensely....!!! 

 How to make a donkey happy...!!

Some of you know we have quite a few cats, 6 to be exact.  Four of them are in the house 34/7.  Julius has been an indoor/outdoor cat since his Mom disappeared years ago, she was feral.  Smokey showed up a few weeks ago, gets along with all the other cats, and Julius when they are out.  So we took him to the vet for corrective surgery of his reproduction tract.....!!  He was grown, which meant he was spraying, don't like that so we had it fixed.  Then we started encouraging him to come inside.  He's still not really comfortable in the house and can't figure out why all of a sudden we yell, when he gets high enough to be able to see things he can't see from the floor.  But he's learning.  Both of the indoor/outdoor cats are not tame by most standards, so the relationship is on their terms.  

Julius came in a couple of days ago with bloody diarrhea.  He's the only long haired cat we've ever had and long hair and diarrhea doesn't make a good mix.  Linda is training to be a vet tech and has learned lots of tricks of the trade and his posterior is a mess.  So we came up with a plan, he sleeps in my chair and was there this morning.  The plan was throw a big towel over him, make him into a burrito, preferably with his feet and claws inside the towel.  John was involved to.  We all sneaked up on the chair, threw the towel over him and started trying to roll him up.  Needless to say he wasn't the least bit interested in playing the game.  Linda was trying to grab him by the scruff of the neck, John was trying to get his legs and feet covered, I was guarding the rear end with scissors at the ready.  Julius was fighting like a tiger.  

The battle was really getting wild, and John was trying to wad all of Julius in the towel........when one hind leg complete with claws escaped from the towel.  Linda and I were unscathed, John not so much, Julius nailed him in the hand and the blood flew.  All the good medical supplies are out in the feed room so Linda went out to gather stuff, while John dripped all over the floor.  

Needless to say our victim escaped, flew under the bed and I thought we probably wouldn't see him again for days.  But this afternoon he came out, wanted out and came back in when he found out how windy it was out there.  

We now have a big fishing net, to throw over him next time.  I'm sure it will take a day or two to be able to sneak up on him again.  Not sure we'll be able to get John to help us.....maybe Lynn next time.........!!!  LOL

Here's a picture of Koshare, John and I goofing off, thanks Susan

JOHN AND I WERE ON OUR OWN THIS WEEK-END........

Everyone else were someplace else.  The donkeys don't seem to understand that when there is only 1 or 2 of us here, round up and feeding take longer.  They let us know that this is unacceptable and they expect better service.  Lynn and Linda should be back tomorrow which I'm sure will make the donkeys happy.  Suzanne is still in Indiana and will be for awhile. 

This morning Leddy decided he wanted to be in the Burro Barracks, and it took about 1/2 an hour to convince him that he wasn't going in there, he was going into his pen.    The donkeys in there all eat hay and have no issues that would keep them from competing for their share, so he could go in there.  That's how Oliver ended up in there and not in with Harley and Siggy the 2 minis he came in with.   

 Speaking of Harley we had 3 tours this morning, and one of the group wanted the donkeys in when they got here and out before they left.   The donkeys were in later than they usually are.  Muzzy is a large standard and usually runs in Cisco's pen because he knows Cisco leaves hay.  Cisco went out and Muzzy assumed possession of his leftovers.  Next thing we know, Harley, which could walk under Muzzy's belly with little effort comes in.  Muzzy pinned his ears, started yelling and bouncing his butt back and forth.  Harley backed off and I guess thought about it for a minute, came back in and let Muzzy know that hay was his.  I wish I had a camera with me, at one time Harley was circling the hay bunk, kicking up his heels with every step, and yelling at the top of his lungs.  Muzzy tried to stay in the battle, for a little while they both were eating out of the bunk at the same time.  But I guess Muzzy was taking too big of bites, because Harley took off again, and this time Muzzy had enough and left.  These minis don't seem to know they are small.  Arrow is in the Burro Barracks and has no problem holding his own.  He just wades into the action like he belongs there.  I was surprised that Muzzy wasn't more aggressive, maybe they realize the size difference and give the little guys a break......!!

 

Linda has been sharing some great pictures of the donkeys. This is Boaz, one of the rescue donkeys.  He has learned to beg using his tongue and wiggling his nose.  

 

I'm pretty sure this is Link, not sure how he got his nostrils that big or why........LOL

 

What a great picture of Leo, looks like he's king of the world......!!

 

  Would you like to make Cooper's world go around?   This is how it's done.

 

I'm not really sure if Lynn's little wild runner is LaRoy or Arrow or Siggy. 

 

All I do is win

 

AND SO IT GOES........

 Lynn and Linda are going out on training runs, sometime with donkeys sometimes just people.  Lynn has a big race up at Black Canyon coming up this week-end, it's a people race 100k, which is 62 miles.  Better him than me, only if someone was chasing me with a great big knife would I run and it certainly wouldn't be that far.....!!! Ha!  

Most of the time they run with donkeys, last week it seems like they went out almost every day.  Missy was a pretty little girl visiting here to get some racing practice. Here she is on the left out on a practice run. While she was here she ran a total of 43 miles on different trails and roads. 

SWEET CHILD O' MINE

When her mom came to take her home, she showed us what Missy can do. None of us have ever driven a cart, which means Missy knows more than we do.  She really knows how to strut her stuff.  She was trained by inmates at the Arizona state prison in Florence.  They work with the Bureau of Land Management which are in charge of all the wild mustangs and burros in Arizona.  To help them get better homes when they are adopted, the mustangs and burros are brought to the prison and some of the prisoners work with them.  They learn to pull a cart, work under a pack saddle and ground manners among other important lessons.  I think Missy was probably an A student, she has a beautiful trot.

 ON THE ROAD AGAIN

We have a cart, so hopefully we'll be able to train some of the donkeys to pull it.  Actually a couple of them have experience with a cart, and like Missy probably know more than we do.  

Well it sure feels like spring around here, and the donkeys seem to think so.  They are busy eating the creosote bushes and digging up the prickly pear to eat.  We're having to be careful when we put our hands on their faces, especially around their mouths.  The other day Benji had so many stickers in his lips he looked like a walrus.  I tried to pick some of them out and he wasn't interested.  You'd think they would want to get them out, but the spines don't seem to bother them as much as they bother us.  

This is Leddy digging up a prickly pear from the roots.  They pull the cactus out of the ground and eat it from the root end.  Today three of them were squabbling over a bed of cactus when I was giving a tour.  Bunny seemed to think it was her private cactus patch.  The other two just ignored her tantrum and she finally allowed them to dig too.  She's real good at letting the other donkeys know she isn't happy.  She squeals and growls, pins her ears, threatens to bite them and swings her butt back and forth, especially if there is more than one getting her wrath.  

Dr. Jeremy came out yesterday to look at Big Gus and his lump.  He said it is a lymph node and that as an old guy, he probably has or had a loose tooth that probably got food around it.  His breath wasn't very good when this all started, and he was drooling like crazy.  Since he's been on antibiotics the lymph node is getting smaller,  the drooling is getting better, and his breath isn't as bad.  At his age a tooth probably isn't going to be 1/2 inch thick, so it doesn't take much for them to just fall out.  I will finish out the antibiotics and hopefully he won't have to have any treatment.  He isn't the easiest donkey to work with, he uses his head as a weapon and it's a big heavy head........!!

This is Gus and Link playing.  They actually spend quite a bit of time playing, the old guy and the "kid".

 This is a parade of donkeys.  They are probably headed for the waterer to get a drink.  They all have a water bucket in their pens, but prefer the public waterer.  

THE WEATHER IS WONDERFUL RIGHT NOW.......

 The weather couldn't be nicer than it is right now.  It's 75 degrees this afternoon, clear blue skies, just a gorgeous day.  This is the weather people come to Arizona to enjoy.

All the donkeys are doing good, except Big Gus has a lump between his jawbones and has been slobbering.  I started him on antibiotics a couple of days ago and let Dr. Jeremy know  we might need him to come out if the slobbering and lump don't go away.  He's acting just fine, but with donkeys it's hard to tell if they aren't feeling well.  The weak in the herd get eaten, so they are very good at hiding injuries and sickness, which is really a detriment to their health.  

We had a couple of tours this morning, and lately when we have tours Big Gus has to stay in his pen.  He is not a team player when it comes to sharing attention with the other donkeys on tours.  He knows he's being mistreated and really let's us know he's not happy.  One woman spent a lot of time with him, he laid his head on the corral panels and really worked on showing her what a special boy he is.  

 Everyone else is doing good.  We are having some porn tours though.  The donkeys, boys and girls seem to think it's spring.  I can't figure out who is the worst, the girls start it and the boys join right in.  One day Linda and Lynn had a training run going on.  They were out on the main road and one of the girls, not sure which one, gave Oliver the eye and before it was over people in cars were stopping and taking pictures.......LOL   

Sometimes we have to divert the tour in a different direction, especially if there are children on it.  Even though all our boys are gelded, some of them obviously have memories of another time...!!  

 The scratching post is up and open for business.  We haven't caught anyone using it, but there are feet prints all around it, so assume they are trying it out when we aren't looking.  On the internet a guy put one up for his cows and said it took them 14 seconds to try it out.  We had a woman on a tour, that tried it out and said it works really good....LOL

 Went out to check the scratching post and caught Rosie peeking around the corner of the feed room.  The post is right behind her and she's the one that was scratching when it was laying on the ground, so she might have been using it.

This is one of the latest training runs out here.  As you can see, they try to make it interesting and run on different types of ground.

I GET AROUND