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