A DECISION HAS BEEN MADE

 I have been doing the blog since 2006, and thru the years I had time to write about what was going on here and what the donkeys were doing.  The rescue has grown not so much in donkeys, but in the interest people have in meeting the donkeys and learning about them.  

A few years ago we got involved in Pack Burro Racing, which is the summer heritage sport for the state of Colorado.  Lynn and Linda went back to Colorado full time, but before they left, helped get racing started in Arizona.  It's still going strong in Superior and Tombstone, Suzanne takes donkeys to every race possible for people to run with and enjoy the experience.  

She also goes to races in California and N.M. and plans on attending the Mancos Festival again this year in Colorado, to give Koshare a chance to actually finish the obstacle course without drama. Although he won the event, he flunked water crossing with lots of drama.

Our little rescue has been discovered as something to do in the Benson area.  The local RV parks and the Benson Visitor's Center are very good to mention us when people are looking for something to do and of course there is always word of mouth.   We've had over 1000 visitors this year even though we were closed for the summer for tours.    

A tour is an hour or usually more, if the people are enjoying the experience.  We all enjoy talking about donkeys and if they want to listen we'll oblige them.  As a working "ranch" we all have jobs to do, and tours take us away from that.  We don't mind, talking donkey is more fun than chores.........!! LOL But we hardly ever get caught up.   

We have some of the best volunteers in the world, and couldn't be the rescue we want to be without them.  They have all pretty much showed up for a tour and wanted to get involved with the donkeys and have stayed.  

Suzanne

John

Tish

I've enjoyed doing the blog and sharing some of the adventures we and the donkeys have.  But it's time to move on to other things.  Our Facebook page will continue, Suzanne will share her morning videos and we will keep it up to date on what is happening and information on where the next race or festival is that we will be involved in.  

Thanks for following, all these years.............!!!!

OBTW, we will be having an Open House March 4, 2023 to celebrate 25 years since John bought me a $50 donkey that was headed for slaughter, BlackJack is still here and has been a great ambASSador all these years..  We would like for everyone that has ever been out to visit with the donkeys to come out and help us celebrate.......!!!!

Hmmmm.........we have a grumpy donkey to contend with.........

 Chewie and Carter have settled in nicely, they are now going out during the day.  They have to stay in at night because Chewie is use to being blanketed at night since it's been cold.  When they go out one goes one way and the other a different direction.  It's interesting to bring in a couple of donkeys that have been together for years.  A lot of times they hit the ground and don't even say bye to their former "friend".  These two are in a pen together because they had been together 5 years.  Over the years most paired donkeys have separated when they had access to other donkeys and plenty of roaming area.  La'Roy and Jackson have stayed paired, at the hip, but it's rather one sided.  Jackson is bonded and LaRoy goes along with it.  

This is Carter in a little feeding pen inside their larger pen.  He looks to me like a little chunky Irish donkey

.IRISH DONKEY SONG

The reason he is in the little pen is to keep him from getting chunkier.  He likes to help Chewie eat his feed.

The set of the ears shows an unhappy donkey. Nora tattled on him and he had already gotten in trouble for pushing his way into Beefy's pen between the  wall to his right and the outside corral panel on the right. There wasn't room to squeeze thru there, but he managed.  

Put him back where he belonged and this is what happened.  

He stomped in all the nice clean sand John had put in there, when he started pawing sand everywhere.........!!!!!  LOL

Even on top of the corral panel, and the ears are still telling his opinion of the whole situation........LOL

His problem was, since he had figured out how to squeeze thru here, we chained it, hadn't been a problem before.

While we were fixing the problem, Chewie had finished his feed, so we moved Crabby Carter and his bunk out in the big pen, and peace reigned.......  LOL  It's so much fun to watch their minds work and it isn't very difficult to figure out what they are thinking.  

NEW BOYS............!!!

 Chewie and Carter came in a couple of days ago from a good home.  Their family is having to move closer to civilization "ie" Tucson for medical care.  They have other equine but these boys have been kept separate, they were at the bottom of the pecking order.  They are both over 30  heading for 40 and have the usual old guy issues, arthritis, teeth wore out etc, but other than the normal wear and tear, they seem to be healthy and well adjusted..  

Introductions

This is Carter when we put him in their pen

Chewie having supper on arrival

They are nice boys, although we were told they aren't real good with their feet.......!!  Being that old, you would think they know when humans "borrow" their feet, they give them back........LOL

 

ETC..............

 Last week-end most of our volunteers joined us for a good dinner at Pinnacle Peak Steakhouse in Tucson.  John and I wanted to thank the volunteers for all their time and effort working with the donkeys.  Without their efforts we wouldn't be able to share the donkeys with the public, they pick up poo, help with feeding Mike right now is working on adding electricity to the Mare Motel.  We had rain over the week-end and if there is one thing donkeys like to do it's roll in mud.  They don't like to be groomed when they are wet so we didn't know if the mayor's visit would happen or not.  They had a chance to dry off overnight, so they got a quick grooming before the mayor got here Monday morning and looked pretty good.  Well except for Casper the little mini mule.  He was absolutely filthy and looked like a mud ball, so he didn't get his picture taken.

The mayor of Benson came out Monday to make a little video.  Every Monday he puts a video on their Facebook page of some business or place of interest in Benson to let people know they exist.  He was out at the Mescal Christmas event, met the donkeys and asked if he could do a video about the donkeys.  

Mayor Joe's Visit

   

John, Mayor Joe, Suzanne, me and Willie Nelson.  Mayor Joe was quite taken with Willie when he saw him at Mescal last week end.

Bonnie entertaining us.  In the video she is the one joining in the conversation.  She's come a long way in the months she's been here.  She is chronically foundered, her feet will never be healed, but a change in diet and regular feet trimming has made a world of difference in her comfort level. No more bedsores from laying down, she spends her days roaming around with the other donkeys.  It's very rewarding to help these animals improve their health, so they can be comfortable enough to enjoy life.  

This is our volunteer dinner Sunday, what a great group of donkey lovers

A dear friend in California sent us some cute magnets, designed by a group of children she works with, for us to resale in the store.  None are alike and it's really hard to choose a favorite.  Earlier in the week, we had 2 new volunteers come out and were here most of the day helping us try to catch up seems like we are always behind.

 One of the things they did was get the donkey magnets touched up from their trip from CA and spray them with a clear finish.  Most of them have glitter on them and without the clear coat glitter would start falling off.  They will probably be quite popular, I had a favorite and it's already sold, guess I'll have to find another one.......!! LOL  

Been Busy

 At least that's my excuse for not keeping up with the blog.  It's not the only thing I'm not keep up with unfortunately........!!!! LOL  

Betsy has settled in pretty good, although some of her "I'm sweet and misunderstood" has worn off.  Beefy the mammoth thinks she's pretty cute and she seems to think he is the answer to a maiden's prayers.  He is much larger than she is and we're afraid he will hurt her.  He's also being very rough with the other boys that would like to get to know her better.  As long as he is around that's not going to happen.  Waylon and Roper have been the most loyal.  Waylon has tried to take charge of Betsy and run Beefy off.  Lots of kicking and rearing up, a little blood drawn but nothing real serious.  The last 3 or 4 days she stayed in her pen, so the boys wouldn't fight.  Beefy spent all day long and I assume the night too, standing by her gate, in case any of the other boys got any funny ideas.

This morning we let her out and kept Beefy in his pen for awhile.  All was quiet, so after an hour or so, we let Beefy out.  At first it seemed like a bad idea, lots of running and nonsense going on.  Let's put it this way, I'm glad we didn't have a tour this morning, some of the visuals bordered on being x-rated..........!!! LOL  But they finally settled down, Waylon seems to have given up and Roper is following them around in case something happens to elevate his status with Betsy.  Don't think that's going to happen, this morning when I let Beefy out, Bonnie was standing at his gate and he didn't even pay any attention to her as he took off looking for Betsy.  

Betsy bears watching, she is spoiled and expects treats and if they aren't forthcoming she gets really pushy.  It might take awhile to make her understand we aren't going to put up with that behavior. She has a lot of moxy or spirit or whatever you call it.  

Betsy chasing the golf cart  

She's very observant and very quick, which might become a problem with the driveway gate.  I don't think she'd run away, she's too nosy about what is going on here.  But that gate is really interesting........!! Especially when it opens and vehicles go back and forth.  

Justice and Boaz have been getting out.  John finds a spot in the fence, fixes it and they get out again.  Right now he's ran out of places, showing foot prints coming and going, Justice was out a long time yesterday, just roaming around on the outside of the perimeter fence.  John spent quite a bit of time today and hasn't been able to find where he's getting out.  Boaz actually stayed in yesterday, guess it wasn't as interesting out there as he thought it would be.  

 

Last week-end we spent 2 days out at the Mescal movie site for a Cowboy Christmas Festival.  Lots of people came by to see the donkeys.  A man named Larry sent us this wonderful picture he took of John and Bella. 

This time of year we can stay about as busy as we want to with parades and displays and we get calls for a donkey to carry Mary into church.  We've always turned them down, I can see how that could go really wrong.  

This is Willie Nelson in his younger days, on a wagon train outing.  He could probably do the church gig just fine.  But he's retired from working, and he's a pretty big boy, I'm not sure he would fit down the aisle of a church.  He went for his first outing at the Cowboy Festival last week-end.  We took 5 donkeys for the people to pet, and he seemed to enjoy all the attention.  He'll probably be one of our regulars, he's very well trained and quite a gentleman.  

THE BEST LAID PLANS OF MICE AND MEN.............

 don't always go as planned.   We were planning on picking up the new boys Sunday.  That has been put on hold.  It seems when Cochise kicked my knee and I hit the ground I broke 2 ribs.  They aren't displaced thank goodness, but I'm not much good for chores right now.  Everyone keeps running me back in the house, I think to get me out of the way.........LOL.  We couldn't do it without the volunteers, John went out by himself to roundup and feed this morning.  Suzanne is in Mesa to pick up her furniture. FINALLY........When I finally managed to get dressed and out the door he said he had it handled.  Since then someone drove in, hopefully it was a volunteer and not someone wanting a tour........LOL

Here is Cochise at Superior with a couple admirers.  When he came here from being used as a roping donkey , we had to be careful when we cleaned his pen we learned quickly he was really fast with those hind feet.  With the passage of time and learning that no one is going to hurt him, he's been easy going for months.  But he was focused on those hay buckets more than spending a fraction of a second to check who was behind him, friend or foe.  

He actually kicked his running partner at Superior, for cause from his point of view.  This was Greg's first burro race, and Cochise wanted to catch donkeys that were ahead of them.  Greg interfered with what Cochise wanted to do and he kicked back.  Hit a spot that guys don't like to get hit.  Didn't hurt Greg in fact they finished the 10 mile race, and Greg is signed up for a race up by Apache Junction in January and he requested a return match with Cochise....!!  He will probably be wearing a red ribbon on his tail.  That will denote to anyone behind or passing him to be careful.

Betsy is a lot of fun.  She's already chewed on Suzanne's porch on the modular.  If we're out she's there to help.  She seems to think every time someone is in a golf cart, whatever they are doing needs her supervision.  

Suzanne was moving Cisco's pumpkin out of my extra bedroom to the storage area in the office/store building.  Sure enough Miss Nosy was there to help.  

BETSY IS OUT TODAY.............

I think this girl has been maligned.  She's been here 3 days and so far hasn't been a problem at all.  Today was the 1st time she had been out of her pen.  Well, that's not exactly true.  Suzanne looked out a day or so ago and Betsy was across the driveway with another donkey.  The other donkey happened to be Jasper one of our excellent gate openers and we're hoping he let her out.  We don't need another one that thinks opening gates is fun.  We don't know if she opens gates or not, so for now her gate is double locked.

She is very pushy, probably from begging for treats from the greenhorns at the Bed and Breakfast.  She will nudge you hard enough to knock you down if you weren't paying attention.  I have no problem with instantaneous retaliation, so we have a pretty good understanding so far.  She's still trying to nudge me, but seems to realize it isn't working the way it has before..........LOL  Hopefully everyone will  be able to let her know those days are over.  I know she doesn't respect a stick, she'll just stand there and let you whack her with it, till your arm wears out..........!!! LOL

She doesn't want any of the other donkeys behind her and lets them know quickly.  The only one so far that is smitten with her is Waylon.  He is following her around, but from a distance.

Checking out the neighborhood

I was a little bit worried about Casper.  He has a history of attacking new animals on the property, doesn't matter girl boy or size.  So far he has pretty much ignored her, thank goodness.  

  We did have a little bit of excitement here a couple of days ago.  We were feeding, John was driving the golf cart, Suzanne was throwing hay and trying to do Betsy and Cochise where their pens come together.  I went in Cochise's pen to move his bunk and he kicked me twice so quick, I think I'm the only one that knew he kicked twice.....LOL  Anytime something like that happens it's almost always the person's fault and it was.  Suzanne was trying to get Betsy's gate open and control 2 buckets of hay.  Cochise and Betsy were totally focused on those buckets and I walked behind him.  He thought I was another donkey and probably figured there wasn't enough for 3.  He kicked the side of my knee, and I have no idea where the other shot was.  I went down and wallered on the ground for a little while, and made sure all body parts were still attached.  The knee swelled a little and didn't even bruise, it could have been worse.  When he first came here we had to be careful when cleaning his pen, he would shoot a hoof in your direction if he thought you were too close.  But he's been really good for a long time,  I don't hold a grudge and he doesn't seem to either........!! A dirty look and squeal would have got my attention though......LOL

We'll be picking up Chewy and Carter Sunday afternoon.  They are 2 mature geldings that have been in a great home for years.  But the people have health problems and need to move closer to medical care.  They have quite a few animals of assorted species and need to downsize the work.  They should do fine here.  

NEW GIRL COMING IN TOMORROW

 We have not met Betsy yet, we were told she has become aggressive and her only option would  be euthanization.  In these situations is the problem the donkey or the lack of leadership by the people around her?  Guess we'll find out............

It sounds like she isn't halter broke which means she doesn't lead.  We will try to run her into the trailer without having to wrestle her.  This means when we get her to the rescue we will unload her the same way, open the door and let her out into a pen............but which one?  

She will be kept in a pen for a few days until we figure out how to handle her.  Our first thought was to put her in the mare motel with Kris and Waylon.  But those pens aren't very big and there isn't any way to open them up to give her more room, when the others are out of the pens.  Most of our pens have middle gates we can open up and let a donkey use all of them during the day.  

We finally decided that Willie's pen would be the best choice, which means he gets moved to the mare motel.  Since he didn't have a vote, it was quite a shock for him this morning when he followed John like a good boy and ended up in a new pen.  He was not happy with this situation, so he paced and let us know we needed to fix it.  

We wondered how tonight would be at roundup, but you know what?  With a little hesitation he followed John into the mare motel.  It usually takes a couple of days for them to agree to a move to a new safe place.  Jasper got moved years ago and still goes in his old pen to stand sometimes.  If we forget to clip his gate, he will open it and go down to let whoever is in "his" pen out.  Melvin and Jackson that just went home last week, had that pen all summer.  Quite often we'd end up with 3 donkeys instead of two in that pen.  Jasper would open the gate and go in and the other boys didn't care.......!!! LOL

We've got 2 geldings over 30 years old coming in for sanctuary probably this week or next and that pen will be their's.  That should be a surprise for Jasper the next time we forget to clip his gate........!!!  LOL

THESE GUYS ARE SMART................!!

 People that have come out on tours know we don't feed treats if the donkeys are out of their pens. It would be too dangerous with donkeys and people not use to being around large animals that are greedy and want to make sure if treats are available they get their share.  They wouldn't hurt people on purpose but they sure would go after a fellow donkey that was between them and an animal cracker..........!!! 

Yesterday we had large group in the morning to visit with the donkeys.  The donkeys stayed in their pens and the group got to feed them treats.  At the end of the tour they wanted to see a couple of donkeys out of their pens to roam around with the people.  End of tour......... 2 donkeys..... large group of people, sounded doable.  We were by Harley and Siggy's pen, two of the minis so out they came which they thought was great, until they figured out there weren't any treats being offered.  They wandered around checking all the people for treats, wandered off and the tour was over.  

Siggy

We had another tour coming, and the minis weren't interested in going back in their pen, so we just left them out.  The tour got here, I looked for the boys but they weren't in sight.  The boy's pen was at the end of the tour and when we got there, there were two little minis standing in their pen, waiting patiently for their treat.  

They know there are no treats if they are outside the pen, but know if they are on the inside of the corral panel, treats will be offered, gate open or not.............!!! 

When it is feeding time, some of them will not go into their pen unless one of us is there to see the transition.  Other wise they will stand outside, until a person with a carrot shows up to escort them in.   It is so much fun to watch the little wheels work inside their heads.  Except when they are outsmarting us..........!!!  LOL

Harley

JACKSON & MELVIN WENT HOME THIS WEEK...........

 Melvin and Jackson had been here all summer.  They usually spent summers in Colorado and winters in Tonopah, AZ.  But this summer they stayed here while their family went to CO.

Jackson in the background, Melvin front and center

Going for a walk with mom

I think they had a good time being part of the herd, haven't heard yet if they were happy to get home.

Suzanne took 7 donkeys to Empire Ranch for a Cowboy Festival last week-end.  John and I took care of the ones left at home and then went out for the day Sat and Sun.  Lots of people interested in the donkeys and we've already had people come out here to see the rest of the donkeys.  

Next week we will be picking up a jenny named Betsy that has been living at a Bed & Breakfast, but has worn out her welcome by becoming too aggressive.  Treats probably were a large part of the problem, or perhaps not having anyone in charge.  Donkeys need to be part of a herd and have a leader.  If there isn't a leader in charge, they can become rather difficult to deal with, so they figure they must be in charge since no one else is.  That can be a big problem especially if the people don't agree with this arrangement.  

We are going out to the Mescal Movie Site next week and taking some donkeys for the people to pet.  We have never taken Boaz because he has scars on his legs people want to know about.  But he is the "donkey" of a thousand faces.  He has learned to make all sorts of faces to make people laugh and give him animal crackers.  Maybe people won't notice his legs, they'll be too busy laughing at his antics.

We have always wanted to take Beefy because he is a mammoth.  But he is just now learning to behave himself around jennies and still has a lot to learn.  We've decided to take him to Mescal with 3 or 4 other guys.............no girls.  It's been almost a year since he was gelded and he still acts stupid sometimes, but if there aren't any girls around we're hoping he'll enjoy all the people and forget about chasing girls.............!!!

Suzanne's modular is coming together, hopefully she can go get her furniture out of storage, move it in and her and her mom can enjoy all the space to spread out.  

Sorry I haven't been keeping up the blog, we never know what our days will be like, and there is usually surprises we hadn't planned on.  I keep trying to keep up, but sometimes the days just aren't long enough.   

LUAU TIME.............!!!

 Last night was Luau time at the Pima Fairgrounds for the Ramblers RV organization.  Our donkeys were invited to participate.  This is the 2nd time the donkeys have been invited to one of their get togethers over the years.  The people really enjoy seeing the donkeys and the donkeys really enjoy having access to green grass, so it's a win-win for all......!!!!  

Kim and Frijolita getting ready for "showtime"

Mike and Frijolita

La'Roy doesn't seem to be the least bit excited about the "weird" relative holding his lead, he's enjoying the green grass.

Jackson and Kim ready to join in the fun.  

This Saturday the Ramblers will have a Cowboy theme dinner and hoedown and the donkeys will be on display in the afternoon for people to visit.  Last time they invited us, there were so many people coming by to see the donkeys and a lot of them had stories to share about having donkeys when they were kids or stories of donkeys that had touched their lives.  

Unfortunately John and I came home from our trip to the Midwest testing positive for covid.  So we have been in quarantine since we got back much to our disgust.  Thankfully John tested negative yesterday, will retest tomorrow and if that is negative, he's good to go.  Me...........not so much.  My little test is still showing a pink line.  Neither of us has been sick, thought we had allergies from being in the Midwest with different flora and fauna.   At least if we were sick we'd have something to show for hiding out in the house...............!!!  LOL

So we have been in isolation and Suzanne has been taking care of business.  Last night Kim and Mike went with Suzanne to the Luau and will go to the Cowboy party tomorrow to help Suzanne with the donkeys.  Thank goodness for all the volunteers that have been here every day, making sure the donkeys are taken care of, while John and I were gone and haven't been able to help much since we came back.  They are all invaluable and will never know how much we appreciate their efforts.  

The donkeys haven't been wearing fly masks the last few days.  The masks are still hanging in their  pens..........just in case, but hopefully the fly season is over.  Everyone seems to be doing good with the cooler weather.  

SUPERIOR JACK ASS DASH IS OVER

 

The Forever Home donkeys waiting for the race to begin

Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time, thanks to the Bray Club's effort to put on a great race.  Lots of pictures and great stories to tell. 

Suzanne's brother Greg with his running partner Cochise.  They had a slight difference of opinion about how fast they should move at about mile 3 of a 10 mile run.  Cochise showed his displeasure at not catching the runners in front of them and gave a wake up call to Greg in the form of a well aimed kick.  They finished the 10 miles and Greg wants to run with Cochise again.  In the future Cochise will probably be wearing a red tag on his tail, which is a warning to anyone that he has been known to have strong opinions on how races should be ran......!!!  LOL

This is Cochise and Greg on the right before the race.  On the left is Koshare and Jenni.  Jenni has ran with Koshare quite a few times, and he loves to run with her.  They finished a strong 2nd in the 6 mile and might have finished 1st except Jenni had to stop to tie her shoe and Koshare took off .  It takes awhile to get the team back together and they have to start back at the point where they parted company.  Thankfully Koshare didn't get too far before the 1st place team caught him.  Most of the racers will go out of their way to help each other, which is really nice.  

This is Jenni and Koshare, trying to look exhausted after the race.  Jenni is a runner and I'm sure neither of them were wore out.   

WEATHER'S GREAT, NICE AND SUNNY...........!!

     Didn't realize how grey the skies in the Midwest are this time of year.  We didn't see "real" blue sky until we crossed the border into Arizona coming home..  Had a good time, a family reunion in Indiana and a high school reunion in Missouri.  I was really surprised at all the "grey" hairs at the school reunion.......... LOL  Well maybe not, it seemed like everyone was walking around looking at chests instead of faces.  Our faces had changed over the years, but our name tags told who we were.  Actually some of the faces looked pretty darn good, for over 6 decades of wear and tear.  

    All the donkeys looked great and I think some of them actually missed us.  Muchacho acted like he was going to climb in my lap.  With him the primary goal was to get animal crackers, he didn't fool me with his "I missed you" routine............!!

    Suzanne had volunteers to help all the time we were gone, which was great.  I think she still stayed pretty busy.  Her new modular home FINALLY was delivered, but is still waiting to be put together. 

 

    That's suppose to happen this week, the 2 sides have to be put together and made into a home.  Who knew getting a new home would take so long and be so complicated.  I'm sure it's no big deal for the people that deal with it all the time, but it's pretty nerve wracking if you've never been involved before.  Hopefully from now on, it will go smoothly and Suzanne and her mom can get moved in and enjoy being able to spread out.

    I'm sure I missed out on a lot of donkey doings being gone for almost 2 weeks.  Every day with the donkeys is an adventure with lots of observation of donkey behavior.  They certainly don't quit being entertaining just because I don't see them being donkeys.  I have noticed one thing before we left we would have to go find Bonnie in Burroland and she would not follow.  So we would have to halter her and she led just fine, just wouldn't start on her own.  

I went out a couple of times to find her after we got back, since everyone else had already went to their pens.  She followed me all the way back to her pen.  I guess sometime during the last couple of weeks she decided she didn't want to be haltered, which is a good thing.  Now if she would just come in without us having to go find her, that would be great......!!!  She's really walking pretty good for her, which is wonderful.  I assume her feet are getting more comfortable, hopefully she will continue to improve.  

Suzanne got to meet one of our neighbor's the day after we got home.  This isn't the one she met, we were too busy capturing him to take pictures.  She was in the feedroom and said he came climbing up the cabinet.  Suzanne isn't a fan of bugs and I don't think she had ever seen a centipede before.  They are pretty creepy when they move and they can give a pretty nasty sting.  She got him in the sink, covered the drain, so he couldn't disappear and we managed to get him in a bucket for release outdoors.  He probably was looking for a nice place to spend the winter, but we don't want to have to look for him everytime we went in the feedroom, so out he went........!!!  LOL

 I'm back and buried under paperwork.  Suzanne and our wonderful volunteers held everything together and the donkeys looked great.  They even came to greet us when we got home this morning.  More later, when I get a chance to raise my head, hopefully in a few days,,,,!!!

ON THE ROAD AGAIN............!!!

 John and I will be traveling for the next couple of weeks.  I haven't really joined the 21st century as far as keeping in touch with the world, we still use a flip phone.  So I will be on the road and basically out of touch until we get back to Arizona.  

We packed tonight and I packed long jons just in case the weather in Indiana and Missouri is pretty normal for this time of year.  Desert rats have thin blood when it comes to cold weather.  

I'll catch up when I get back.  

FINALLY.............??? MAYBE............???

Suzanne's mobile home was suppose to be delivered in July.......it is almost October and every week for quite some time she has been getting erronous information like next week and then excuses.  They are promising this week for sure............!!!  I don't think any of us will believe it until both halves make it thru the driveway gate.  

The donkeys right now are all doing really good, even Cisco.  He went thru a couple of weeks of problems with his heart on top of the kidney failure, but is back to eating and his daily routine again.  Actually his daily routine is pretty simple, eat breakfast, go stand in the carport or shed, once people start moving around at dinner time, move back to pen to eat.  

John lets everyone out around 9pm for the night.  We noticed when Cisco wasn't feeling well  he spent his nights in the pen area.  Suzanne was getting up to check his heart every 4 hours for a few days.  But we don't know if that is "normal" for him, she isn't getting up to check him now.  

We are having to doctor  both Cisco and Jasper for ear bacteria.  We usually don't go around sticking our fingers in everybody's ears to see if they need attention.  They let us know by scratching their ears on anything available, including us.  Cisco gets it every year, but I think this is the first time for Jasper.  They get black gooey yucky stuff in there that needs to be gone.  Cisco is resigned to his fate because of years of having wash rags or paper towels poked in his ears.  Jasper has not had this done and isn't the least bit interested in the process.....!!! LOL  Their ears are getting better and Jasper's disposition is improving a little bit, Suzanne and I aren't getting quite as wet from him slinging his head to get rid of the soaking wet paper towel in his ear.  

 

Cisco with an admirer..........!!!

Beefy and Roper have developed a relationship, not sure what kind.  They are chasing Ruthie, Tula and Frijolita like bad boys.  They also play fight and that's funny to watch.  Roper is about half Beefy's size, height and weight.  Roper has no qualms about grabbing Beefy's legs or neck...... what is interesting is Beefy just stands and lets him do it till Roper quits.  Then they go off to find the girls.  Beefy is really mellow except when he can't find the girls, then he becomes a jack mentally instead of a gelding.  In that mode you have to make sure you don't get in his way or between him and the girls. 

Roper's surgical area on the right side of his cheek, has healed well and the area Dr. Howard said might be scar tissue, seems to be getting smaller after injections of steroids about 10 days ago.  Our hope is scar tissue and we won't have to do more treatment for cancer.  

Bonnie is doing really well with regular hoof trims.  She came in with abscesses in both front feet and chronically foundered.   She would go out and it took her a long time to get back to her pen.  She spent 

most of her time out laying down in the wash.  

These days she has no bed sores on her hips I can't remember the last time I saw her laying down.  She now has a boyfriend, Waylon Jennings seems to think she's pretty cute.  A good match, his feet are just about as bad as hers.  

Suzanne heard from Jackson and Melvin's family that spent the summer in Colorado.  They should be back about Halloween time to spend the winter in Arizona.  

Jackson is looking good since we separated, him from Melvin at feeding time. Melvin is an energetic  eater and was getting more hay than his share.  So there is a small pen inside the pen they share.  We started out putting Jackson in the little pen, but they trade back and forth, on a daily basis.  Whoever goes in first stays in there to eat.  Jackson is somewhat of a loner, but Melvin likes to be with the herd.  Hope he doesn't miss the rest of the donkeys when he goes home.  

    

Jackson

UPDATE ON ROPER............

 We took Roper up to the clinic in Gilbert earlier this week for an evaluation of the area on his jaw where the soft tissue sarcoma was removed.  When we got there Roper knew exactly where he was and remembered he didn't like it.  He's usually very easy to work with and willing to go along to get along.  Not what he had planned for the day and certainly not at the vet.  It took 4 determined people to literally push and pull his reluctant body to the exam area.  Should have parked closer that's for sure......!!!   LOL  

After examination, Dr. Howard says he thinks the lump is actually scar tissue rather than a return of the cancer.  It hasn't envaded his mouth, although he did have a sore from a sharp tooth.  So to add insult to injury he also got a dental work over.  

The black area is actually dark pigment and the sore is just above there.  The inside of an equine mouth looks really weird to me and they aren't ever interested in letting you get a good look to figure out how it all works.  So, the only time I look is at the vet clinic.

 We are on wait and watch, to see what happens over time.  We will do whatever is necessary to have a good outcome for him.  

Work is still being done to finish the storage/office/store.  It's down to the little finishing touches, except for the shelves in the store room.  We're having a lot of fun with that particular project.  Figuring out what we need to do the job isn't as easy as I thought it would be.......!! LOL  

Suzanne set this up temporarily until John gets the display cases painted.  If someone comes out and wants to see t-shirts, books or stuffies.  everything has been piled up in one of the bathrooms and we would have to dig thru to find what they wanted to look at.  This way they can at least see what's available and it will be easier for us to find since the boxes and totes aren't piled up 4 or 5 high.  

Suzanne is at SanDam this week-end with 9 donkeys.  Usually she would be keeping us up to date on what's happening and how it's going.........BUT.........she is in a dead zone for communications and there is NO COMMUNICATIONS.  They had an obstacle course event last night and the race was to start this morning at 8am.  Hopefully she'll get a chance to let us know what's happening, otherwise guess we'll find out when she gets home, tomorrow afternoon.  

HEADED OUT TO SANDAM........!!!!

HOW CUTE IS THIS VIDEO?

 Gunner and Snickers

ETC

 Office/store still isn't done, but there is work being done every day.  Mike our wonderful volunteer is working on the air conditioner this week.  All the fans work and the bathroom is done except for the hot water heater.  We decided on a demand water heater.  There is no tank, turn on the faucet and water starts running thru pipes over a coil heater, so you pretty much have instant hot water, for as long as you don't run out of water or electricity.  The heater is about the size of a Kleenex box, didn't want to waste space and it will heat 1.6 gpm, which should be enough to wash hands which is all that is needed.  

The little bit of cooling off has made a world of difference with the donkeys that have skin problems.  I don't know if it is because of less sunlight or the temperatures, but they are enjoying not having to be doctored quite as much.  Still wearing fly masks and probably will be until November.  .  The boys are playing more in the early morning when it's cool and are coming in without their masks.  We're trying to get by with the masks we have, but between losing them and tearing them up, I don't know if we will make it to winter or not without having to buy some more.  

  The donkeys have really enjoyed the green growth of weeds, although the lack of rain the last week or so, has most of them wilting and dying.  Weight control is always a problem with the donkeys, some worse than others.  You can only cut their hay so much.  We notice Harley one of the minis was finishing his hay in about 10 minutes.  A lot of people in Europe feed straw with a little hay to control their weight.  We've tried feeding straw before and it isn't a real big hit, in fact they aren't impressed at all..........!!  

Harley is the little black and white mini.  He doesn't look as fat as he really is, I think he's heavier now than he was a few months ago when this picture was taken.  So far he has had 2 days of having 75% of his hay being straw.  I guess there is still enough to eat out on the 30 acres at least for awhile because he isn't the least bit interested in straw..  Siggy, the micro mini had no problem last night when John opened the pens.  He went right into Harley's pen and started eating straw.  He's a little round too, hopefully he'll continue eating straw and we can cut down on his hay too.  They'll eat dry sticks, I would think straw would be tastier than a dry stick that has laid out in the weather for months.  

Kris is all over his bout with hyperlipidemia .and back to eating normally.  It is always scary when they aren't interested in eating anything.  He and Waylon have settled in nicely although they aren't best buddies.  Kris will fret is Waylon isn't close.  But when they are out on the property, they usually aren't together.  .

This is Waylon trying to outsmart Suzanne.  He knows he's suppose to get a treat when he goes into his pen.  I guess he figured if he put one foot in he might get a treat, then he could work the other 3 feet into the equation and get 3 more treats.  Not sure what he was thinking but Suzanne said he stood that way for a long long time, looking at her like, "do you see my foot is in the pen".  It is so much fun to watch their minds work

NOT DONE YET, BUT GETTING CLOSER............!!!

 Good grief it's like being 6 years old and waiting for Christmas, as we all anxiously await the office/store being done.  Suzanne is making plans to get her office furniture out of storage as soon as she can and finding someone to unload it.  

John has been painting baseboards, to be put up now that the floor is done.  Mike has the electricity done although the A/C still isn't in and operational.  He's been working on the plumbing, so now the commode works and the sink.  We have a porta potty, but this will be much better for visitors.  The hot water heater isn't cooperating and so far doesn't want to work. I'm sure Mike will change it's mind when he comes back.  LOL 

The last big project will be putting the shelves in the store room and rounding up all our supplies and equipment to fill them up.   Haven't bought the shelves yet, but we pretty much know what we want.  

The donkeys have almost complete access to Burroland now.  We haven't had rain, so all the yummy weeds are just about gone.  The only time they are in their pens is to eat twice a day and if we have tours coming.  

Tours started up the 1st of Sept and we've already had quite a few. It didn't take even one complete tour for the donkeys to see the red solo cups and figure out it was "showtime" again after a 3 month layoff.  Tours will really pick up when the winter visitors come back probably late Oct..  Many of them come out here every year to see the donkeys.

This was the day they got to go into Burroland after being on just the 10 acres for awhile, so they didn't have access to the mesquite beans.  

Cochise was front and center when I "sneaked" over to open the gate.  I don't even know where he came from all of a sudden, he was there.

Although he was first the others weren't far behind.

Herd into Burroland

This is Debra, one of our volunteers.  I think she was picking up poo, but had to take time out to visit with Muchacho.  In rescue you aren't suppose to have favorites, BUT, she seems to have a thing for the old guy and he really enjoys her attention.  

This is Kris and Waylon, the newest boys enjoying being out and about.  Counting the legs it looks like there is someone else behind Kris......!!!  LOL  Kris needs to lose some weight, you can see the fat pockets on his sides.

We had a medical problem with him and he had to stay in his pen for days, had the vet out twice.  Since he is heavy it's pretty much a fact that he has fatty liver disease, which isn't unusual for donkeys.  Add to that, our abundance of greenery because of the rain we've had.  One very prevalent plant is pigweed.  Some donkeys won't eat it, some will.  The one's that do eat it, become addicted to it and will not eat anything else.  It's high in carbs, 16% protein, good source of lysine which is good and high in nitrates which is bad.  

When they are fat if something changes their eating habits they can develop hyperlipdemia which we've dealt with over the years.  Eating pigweed exclusively rather than hay by an already fat donkey isn't a good idea.  

We ended up giving him Karo syrup 3-5 times a day.  Big shot of sugar to make his body think he had plenty of sugar and didn't need to release fat into the blood stream, which can be fatal.  

It took about 5 days for him to start eating on his own again.  Whew.......!!!  The survival rate is about 50%, so we were lucky.  We've only lost one over the years and she was carrying a 10 month old foal.  That was our first one and we've learned enough to save the others since then. 

This is Yukon one of the winning pack burro racers in Colorado.  He has a really strong personality and isn't afraid to use it...........!!! LOL  It looks like his teammate Bob was holding him back and he didn't appreciate  it. Yukon and the little mini Buttercup are neck and neck to win the championship this year.  They've both been champions before, but this year I think they are the only ones that have won a race.  So I would imagine they both are trying their best to add another championship to their list.  

                                                                             

This is little miss Buttercup with her dad Marvin Sandoval.  She's not very big but she holds her own with the big guys.  

FALL IS FINALLY HERE.............I THINK

The weather people who we know don't get paid for being right, say the next week is going to be 100 degrees. yada, yada, yada..........!!!  Ever since they started saying that the weather has been gorgeous.  The doves have migrated to Texas to be shot when dove season opens.  We don't have as many hummingbirds, so I assume they are migrating also.  We have bats in John's bat houses up by the garage.  We also have lots and lots of bugs.  

This all points to fall coming early this year.  The monsoon isn't over according to the experts until the 15th of September, so we'll see.

This past week has been really busy for all of us.  Suzanne and our neighbor Vic got the floor laid in the office/store building.  

Mike has the electric in and operational.  You might notice the ceiling fan in the picture, IT WORKS........!!! Don't have the air conditioner installed yet, but the weather has gotten cool enough it isn't really necessary.

The open door goes into our store room, that will have shelves and hopefully all of our supplies in one spot.  Right now everything is strung from feedroom, my pantry, the hay barn, the shipping container/storage and what we call Cisco's room.  Long story, years ago John built Cisco a room that could be air conditioned because of his skin problems.  He had absolutely no interest in going in it.  We finally dragged him in and he wouldn't move, wouldn't eat, drink or anything.  Brought him out and he was happy to only be bothered by flies as long as he didn't have to go into that "cave"...........!!  It became a storage area, but we've always called it Cisco's room, I don't think he was in it longer than5 or 6 hours.....!!!  LOL

The short wall on the right is hiding the bathroom.  It is going to be handicap accessible once we get the ramp coming in the outside door on the left.  From that wall to the front of the building will be Suzanne's office and our merchandise area for our t-shirts and other burro related items.  That will be 14'x22' of shared space for Suzanne's office and the store.  We have a couple of display cases and Suzanne has everything for her office in storage.

Mike will get the A/C in and the plumbing in the bathroom probably this week.  We'll get the baseboards in and should be able to start using it real soon.  We're all really excited to have a designated area for burro business, we're getting real anxious......!!!!  LOL

No, he's not dead, he's in REM sleep.  I had always thought they only needed REM sleep every few days, but when I went into find an article on REM sleep, I discovered that I've been giving out erroneous information all these years.

   

This is Cochise after he, Willie and I think it was Oscar didn't come in for the evening feed and we couldn't find them.  So they got to stay out all night in Burroland probably eating everything in sight.  We are trying to restrict their access to so much greenery they aren't use to and of course every time the wind blows it knocks more mesquite beans out of the trees.  They've eaten all the ones on the ground that are edible, because of the rain the others have turned black and the donkeys won't eat them.  They didn't have access to water, which is probably why they were ready to come in the next morning.  

The first thing Cochise did was flop down for a nap.  

We got the report on Roper's tumor and it is a soft tissue sarcoma.  Even though they put chemo into the surgical area it is still there.  I have sent pictures up to the clinic in Gilbert, but haven't heard back from them yet. He's only 4 years old, I hope they can do something to eradicate it.  There is very little on the internet about soft tissue sarcoma in equine.  I found this but if you want to read have a dictionary handy.......!!!  He really is a nice donkey lots of personality and fun to be around.  I hope we can find something to help him live a long quality life.  

This is what happens when trees get trimmed and the limbs piled up.  The donkeys are sure the best limbs are buried and think it is their job to drag the branches all over the place to find the best ones.  

This time of year the "garden" spiders are really busy building webs to catch a winter supply of bugs I guess.  They seem to like the gates to the pens, which is really fun in the morning when you're still half asleep and going thru a gate.  Once it gets cold we'll take brooms and get rid of the webs, but for now we are just co-habituating with them.  

 This is little Mamacita, living the dream in California.  Who would have thought she would take to pack burro racing, but she has.  She and some of her friends went up to South Fork, Colorado this week-end for a pack burro race.  Haven't heard how the race went yet.  That was the first race held in South Fork, but it probably won't be the last.  It seems like almost every year they add a new town to the schedule, which is great for highlighting burros and how much fun they can be.  

Suzanne will be taking at least 9 donkeys to the Sandam Burro Jam Camp in Dewey, AZ the weekend of September 24-25.  I think she took 10 last year and had a great time.  A lot of people are getting interested in pack burro racing.  The donkeys she's taking are the ones that do the shorter courses and are really good partners for people that want to try it or don't feel up to running 10 miles.  Cochise and Koshare were available, but they have to have runners that do long distance and want to move faster than a walk/jog.  

We had bloodwork done on some of the older donkeys.  Cisco's showed he is in kidney failure, I asked Dr. Jeremy on a scale of 1-10 where would he be.  He said about an 8, he's been losing weight and although he's never been really active, he's moving a lot slower than usual.  

Cisco has been here almost as long as BlackJack, in fact Buddy Brat, and Cisco came in about the same time, within a year of BlackJack before we were a rescue.  Cisco and I have a lot of time together, he's one of donkeys with horrible skin problems that have to be dealt with every summer.  

I'm not looking forward to the next few weeks or months, but will make the decision when it is time to let him go.  

BlackJack, John and Cisco as extras in a western during filming at Gammon's Gulch