We picked up these 2 boys in Tonopah this week. They will be boarding here thru the Summer, attending "Longears Summer Camp", while their family enjoys cooler Colorado. They usually get hauled back and forth every year. This year the owners are seeing if staying in Arizona works out best for the boys.
This is Jackson, so now we'll have 2 Jackson's for awhile. He has the softest hair, even softer than BlackJack's. He's about 20 or early 20s, very friendly.
This is Melvin, meeting his new neighbor Beefy. They both mouthed, after Beefy lunged at the corral panels, not sure if he is sending mixed signals or not......!! Melvin is a BLM donkey, I think he's about 8 years old. When we got there and went in their area, he started kicking out. I thought, this is going to be fun, as I get older I also am getting slower and John is even slower than I am.........!!! LOL Really didn't look forward to trying to figure out his personality, while trying to stuff him into the trailer. The owners always load Jackson first, he pretty much hopped right in. Melvin wasn't sure this was what he had planned that day, but he was willing to go along and went in the trailer pretty quickly thank goodness.
Uneventful trip home, except for the crazy drivers. They like to play chicken with semis and obviously stock trailers. I can imagine how frustrated truck drivers get daily having to deal with people cutting them off and just not driving past their hood with 50,000 pound plus trucks. When hauling animals you like to stop slow and easy, so they can keep their balance. No close calls, but we did shake our heads a few times at some of the "interesting" moves people do when driving.
When Melvin met Beefy for the first time, no fireworks, as long as Melvin stays away from Beefy's girl Bonnie. The poor girl can't get a break. A couple of days ago, Big Gus decided he'd have a go at being "the man". He's over 40 years old, who knew his memory was that good....!!! LOL How he sneaked around Beefy without getting knocked down we'll never know. I wasn't here but I guess Suzanne and John watched with amazement, said the old guy seemed to know what he was doing. By today he was back to keeping an eye on the driveway gate, in case someone is slow enough he can make a run for it...........!!!
Bonnie has finally had enough and she spends most of her time, trying to escape Beefy. He spends his time, being about as obnoxious as he can be. The big problem is...........Bonnie. As a jenny she is programmed to behave in a certain way and she does, which of course Beefy sees as encouragement. Leaving one or the other in their pens, really doesn't help the problem, it just starts over as soon as they are both out together. I am happy to report that her feet and legs are holding up well, she isn't favoring her front feet, but she is sick and tired of the "game". Can't blame her, he's pretty pushy and obnoxious.
The boys settled in nicely, so far they haven't been out of their pens. We like to have all 3 of us here when we let them out the first time and have to get them back in their pen for evening feeding, in case one of them equates being out with being.........free.....!!! Maybe this week-end.
Melvin likes to get up close to see what you are doing. I spent quite a bit of time trying to get a picture of them together. But he insisted in being right in my face.
Casper, the little white devil mule was seen on the wrong side of the perimeter fence yesterday. We thought he had reformed, but guess not. It's probably been close to a year, since he was getting out on a regular basis, and we assumed he had turned over a new leaf, obviously not. We don't know if he's been getting out all this time, or if because it's spring and all the plants are leafing out he's just started up again. Either way we really can't keep him in without refencing 30 acres..........don't think that's going to happen, the donkeys seem perfectly happy on the property. We don't think he travels far, but we really don't know for sure......LOL
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