AND THE BEAT GOES ON........ (WHY WE'RE NEVER BORED....!! )

NIGEL LOOKING FORWARD TO STEAK..!!  THANKS, LINDA

Have you ever wondered when the merry-go-round was going to stop?  I've given up on that, might as well enjoy the ride I guess..........LOL

Miss PennyPacker is doing good, still in her pen until tomorrow after breakfast and her last penicillin shot.  She is such a pain to catch and work with, that we've left a halter on her.  There is no way I would let her out in the brush with a halter on, so she's had to stay in the pen.  Talk about a cranky girl.  During the day she has the run of all the pens on that side.  If she sees anyone out, she immediately runs to whichever pen is closest to the humans and starts pleading her case to get out.  

But she is eating well and seems to be healed from her dental appointment, John, Lynn and I will be almost as glad as she is when the shots, twice a day is over.  Actually she doesn't mind the shots, it was the banamine by mouth that caused her to have a hissy fit.

Lynn is strong enough to stay with her and hang onto the halter, until we can get a lead on her.  She hasn't had to have banamine for a couple of days, so it's been going better.  She'll let us walk up to her, pet her and usually get hold of the halter.  She'll even let you stand by her holding the halter without much fuss as long as you don't try to lead her or try to take charge, before someone shows up with a lead.

We were putting her in the redneck squeeze, but the last couple of times, she's let me give her the shot with Lynn holding her with the halter and lead.  The squeeze was absolutely vital when we were putting something in her mouth, for our safety.

Remember Casper the little hellion with attitude that is being fostered by our neighbors, because they have a fence like this rather than barbed wire?  Although he doesn't seem to care for other equine, he does like to visit thru the fence. Linda got this picture of Leddy and her 3 dogs checking up on the latest neighborhood gossip, I guess. 

Lynn has cleared out another ATV/Golf Cart path over here on the 10 acres, it even has a roundy-rounder, so you can go 3 different directions if you follow the circle.  We always enjoyed in Europe and the Middle East, having less traffic lights, with the circles the traffic kept moving.  Of course in the Middle East the traffic lights would have just been a suggestion for most of the people anyway.........LOL  They did really good in the traffic circles though, it was amazing. 

We've been trying to find a little ATV,  just my size, but so far Craigslist hasn't had it.  And I'm too cheap to buy a new one.........LOL  I want to get out and try out Lynn's trails.  It should be much easier to find wayward fly masks and polo wraps with the trails and an ATV.  Even if the missing items aren't in the path, the ATV will make me a little higher, so I can see farther.  Just got to find an ATV, before fly season.

Fly season must just be around the corner.  My 1st shipment of fly predators should be here Friday, poor little guys.  The days are nice and sunny, but the nights are still getting cold.  I guess they will burrow down in the poo pile, otherwise they'll be rather short lived, I'm afraid.

Now as to why we are never bored...........   Linda found out that Tombstone is having a St. Patrick's Day parade as a salute to the military and it's free to participate.  She's been looking for races or something to get Leddy out in public, and even though this isn't a race, I'm sure it will give him lots to look at..........!!!

Well you can't just take one donkey, so we decided to also take Justin, since he's been in "training" for racing.  Then we decided to also take BlackJack, since he's an old hand at this impressing people with how neat donkeys are.  So now how do we decorate them?  Linda's good at ideas, I'm mostly the nod my head in agreement type, artistic I'm not.

A friend of Linda's is coming over tomorrow to see about sewing blankets for Leddy and BJ.  Leddy will be 1st in line, and his blanket will probably have a rainbow and a pot of gold on it.  Then Justin will be following him, dressed as a leprechaun.  Well you can't just have one leprechaun, so Pepsi has been added to the party.  So 2 little leprechauns will be following the pot of gold.  BlackJack will be following with a St. Patrick's themed blanket, with Forever Home Donkey Rescue on it.  At least that's the plan at this time, we'll see what the seamstress comes up with.

A good friend of Lynn and Linda's is coming down from Colorado for a few days and was suppose to get here on the 19th of March.  The parade is on the 18th, so now he is going to come in early.  He's an older man and wants to participate in the fun, so now there will be a golf cart all gussied up, leading the donkey rescue part of the parade.  So now we've got to figure out how to decorate the golf cart.  Thanks goodness we have 2 golf carts, otherwise we'd have to decorate the cart after chores that morning, and I'm sure we'll have enough to do without that.

The last couple of days Cisco has been limping on his right front.  Hoof is a little warm, doesn't bother him to poke and prod it.  His legs are so arthritic, that was my first thought, but doesn't look like it.  Could be an abscess I guess, just have to watch him.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Cisco, from a few years ago.  He still loves to eat cactus at certain times of the year.  We can tell when he's been "snacking" when we put our hands on his face.........OUCH.......!!

JUSTIN DOING HIS BEST TO GET COOKIES

Linda is a picture taker, and this sequence of Justin begging is so cute.  

And yes, he got a cookie, after all that work........!!!  Thanks, Linda......!!

BLACKJACK IS GOING TO BE IN A PARADE

A few weeks ago a group came out to see the donkeys from one of the local RV parks.  They all had a good time and before they left one of the woman asked if we'd be interested in having one of the donkeys in their Christmas parade of ATV's thru the park.  

Sounded like fun, so I said sure and planned on taking one of the minis, less poundage to work with, if he decided he didn't want to be in a parade.  Most of our donkeys are easy to get along with, but when she told me they were going to hang lights around his neck and put a blanket on his back, I rethought who might be the best victim to take.  Justin was my mini choice, BUT, Justin can also be a "I don't want to" type of guy.  Whenever we are going to do something horrible, like worming or putting a halter on them, we have to do him first and even then it doesn't always go well.  If he gets a chance to see the others being "mistreated" you better have your running shoes on, until you either wear him down or get him in a corner.  Cornering him doesn't always go well either......LOL

So my 2nd choice was BlackJack, he is usually pretty mellow about change in his daily routine and has been taken up to the movie site enough times that he enjoys getting out and meeting people.  And he doesn't seem to mind having "stuff" put on him.  

We got a wreath to hang around his neck with the lights and years ago I made some Christmas hats with ear holes cut out.  This morning we decided to dress him and see how it would go.  

Do you think he would "pose"?  Of course not, and he knew John had cookies in his pocket, so they were dancing down the driveway.  He did just fine with all the Christmas stuff on him, but he had cookies on his mind as long as John was trying to walk with him.  

I finally tied him to a tree and he just stood there like a big old fuzzy grump, no pride at all.  I'm going to have to exchange the wreath, they had 2 sizes and this one is really too big and floppy.  But at least he didn't mind having it hanging on his neck.

LOOKS LIKE I'M GOOFING OFF........!!

It's been a week since I updated the blog, I think that is a record, don't think I've ever done that before except if I was gone someplace and usually I'm not gone that long.  

There really hasn't been that much to write about.  It's cooling off, which means less doctoring for skin conditions, which is really great.  Last night John took off the fly masks for the night.  Usually in the summer during fly season, we just leave them on, because the flies get up before we do. 

We had to take Anubis the dog, back to the vet again.  She was in awhile back for being lethargic and as the x-ray showed, full of, well let's just say she hadn't been going "regularly" for some reason.  Got that all taken care of and she started limping around 3 legged lame.  My "expert" opinion was hip, but Nancy said it's her knee.  I have been giving her Previcox until I could get her in and she's almost back to normal.  According to Nancy, Previcox is one of the great inventions in the world, for man or beast.  Hmmm......maybe I'll trade my Aleve for Previcox.  Anyway, while there they said they'd clip her nails and break off some teeth plaque.  In the process of teeth cleaning we found out she has one tooth that is loose and another one that has shrunken gums, exposing part of the root.  So now she gets to go back in next Monday for a snooze and removal of 2 teeth.

I'm giving a couple of the donkeys Previcox and it has really made a difference in their ability to walk around comfortable, old Pepper for one.  Nancy said that equine assimilate it differently and while dogs can take 227 mg or more, equine are much more sensitive and only should have 57mg or even half of that.  Who would ever think that equine should have much less of a type of medication than dogs?

The picture above is Boaz's knee, I took the picture to show Nancy that it is "finally" healed.  I think she was as excited as I was, 3 surgeries, lots of doctoring and wrapping over almost 3 years.  That little spot at the top, seems to be where he puts pressure when he lays down.  It hasn't been open in quite awhile, but I keep an eye on it.  I'm just glad I don't have to keep the knee wrapped all the time.

I told her about the problem with trying to get Pepsi to take the cancer medicine Neoplasene.  She said to mix it up with a double handful of grain.............YIKES....!!!  I can't imagine what he would look like after 3 months of that diet twice a day, the Goodyear blimp comes to mind.  This morning we separated him from Lynn and Justin and I gave him 1/2 cup of oats, with 1/2 cup of senior feed.  I added a teaspoon of molasses with a "dab" (do you know how small a dab it?) of the offending medicine.  NOPE...!!!  He did eat hay out of the other end of the bunk, but that's as close as he would come to it.  So tonight I'm going to see if I can get him to eat the oats and senior feed without anything added.  I'm sure he will think that is just fine, then maybe I can add molasses and that will probably be OK too.  After that I'm sure when I add a "dab" of you know what, I will get the judgemental look as he stands there and everyone else is eating.  SIGH!  She said she had never had one refuse it.  John said the owners probably told her they were feeding it, but weren't.....!!! LOL

We are not going to do the Cascabel Christmas Fair this year.  I think we've done it 6 or 7 years and it's a lot of fun.  Even though we don't have much to do, to get ready it's still a lot of work.  I'm sure there will be some disappointed people, every year we had people come that had been here before.  What I found interesting is the kids that remembered certain donkeys or mules, especially if they weren't still here.  A lot of people remembered Sha'ba, I guess because his ears had been cut off and most people had a hard time accepting the fact that there are people in the world capable of such cruelty.

 

RIP, SHA'BA.......he still loved people 

Ruger and Justin

Almost every morning for the last week or so, Justin and Ruger have been playing in the morning while waiting for the "lazy" people to come out and serve breakfast.  We know when they are playing, because Boofer, the neighbor dog that lives here instead of at home, starts rooting for one or the other.  Then our dogs Anubis and Nicki of course have to join in.  If we look out by the well house we can usually see dust flying as they play.  

This morning I went out with the camera to get some video.  It's really cute because Ruger is a standard and Justin is a mini.  Doesn't bother Justin in the least, he seems to think he's as big and tough as anyone........!!!

I tried to be as quiet as possible, but they kept going behind the well house and water storage tank.  So I had to go closer to my subjects.  Even though they were busy "fighting" they noticed I was there and of course quit to come see what I was doing, and if I might be handing out treats........!!!! BRATS!

WORMING DAY........!!!

 

Not exactly the type of face that presented itself for worming this morning.  Although Rosie and Gigi surprised me.  I figured they had never been wormed, but judging by the way they grabbed the wormer tube and hung on, I think they knew what was going on.  Thank goodness they were getting the apple flavored instead of the "ugh" flavored cheap stuff.  When our Tractor Supply opened a few months ago, they had a lot of specials.  One was good tasting wormer at more than half price off, so I got all they would let me buy.  Unfortunately their limit didn't cover the amount of animals and mules we have.  So I had to pick and choose who got the good stuff.  The others got double cookies afterwards.  

I have heard that mules are a conflicted animal from birth, they aren't horses and they aren't donkeys, so they have an internal battle all their lives.  We knew Rusty was going to be a pain, he always is, but when we walked in the mule pen, Reba almost knocked John down getting out.  Unfortunately for her, she only ended up in Tula's pen next door.  John really needs to stay light on his feet and pay attention to his surroundings or he's going to look like road kill one of these days.  Reba's big enough to make a dent......!!! LOL 

Justin is always a little pain in the butt, we have to chase him around the pen about 5 or 6 times, then he hides his head in the corner and I put the halter on him. 

Penny had to go into the squeeze, and while she was there I had to adjust her legging.  It is almost impossible to wrap a leg above and below the knee with a polo wrap effectively and she has fly damage above the knee unfortunately.  She doesn't mind the polo wraps thank goodness, putting them on with her on one side of a corral panel and me on the other, is a good way to break a hand or wrist if she decides to freak out and act stupid.  But she stood still, although afterwards refused to take an animal cracker from me.  Guess she wants to keep her independence.  No problem with Coquette, we couldn't hardly work with Penny in the squeeze, because of Coquette outside the squeeze.  I ask her if she was a nurse.  She had already had her wormer and really thought she should continue getting cookies.......!!

Starting tonight Ruthie is going to be eating with her boys, Ruger and Wister.  She is not holding her weight being with Frijolita at feeding time.  I thought they both ate at about the same speed, but guess not.  Frijolita is a real "Hoover" when it comes to food. 

ISN'T MY RACE CAR PRETTY?

 John said I should wait to take pictures, till he gets the numbers on it, but I thought it looked pretty good already. 

 

We're not sure about the headlight covers.  Or the bumper.  Last year there were no covers on the headlight openings, it was just open.  Our son Rod, put nice little covers on to give it a finished look, at least until they get mangled.  I think John is going to paint them black. 

The bumpers were black last year, I think John's theory is, the white will show any paint off the other cars.  Not sure I want that information known on the front bumper...........LOL  Now if he wants to leave the back bumper white, I'd be able to know who had pushed on me.  With the front bumper I would be the "pushee", I'd rather not have any evidence of that.........!!!  LOL

It was really windy this afternoon, so John had to put it in the garage to paint, usually he just paints it in the carport.  I think about all he has left to do is put the numbers on the doors, and it will be ready to go next week-end, the 22nd.  I'm ready, my original goal for the year was to win a main event and finish better than 5th for end of the year, which is where I finished last year.  I won 2 main events in the Winter Extreme in January, so that's done, although they didn't give trophies.  So hopefully I'll finish good for the year, won't find out until next November. 

We had a nice couple from the Vail area out to see the donkeys this afternoon, even though it was windy.  Lately people have been coming later in the day, so we go ahead and let the donkeys out of their pens. 

Some of the donkeys stay with us as we walk around, Justin usually stays right with us.  He wants to make sure if any treats are offered,  he's available.  

Penny let both of them pet her, she is getting better about being touched, as long as you stay away from her head.  I think she's actually better with strangers than she is with me touching her.  When she first came I put a halter on her and I don't think she's forgot it.................!!! 

Rosie and Gigi haven't given up being stand offish though.  They will let you get about 15 feet away and that's it. 

NOBODY KNOWS WHERE THEY BELONG.....!!

If you look down thru these 6 pens you will see donkeys all along the way.  Unfortunately none of them are in their pens, they are in someone else's pen.  When we let them out most of them "rush" to see what has been left.  Believe me they know which pens will have the most goodies left, which of course causes a problem when 2 or 3 of them head for the same snack area.  BlackJack and Boaz are always in each other's way, talk about a bunch of posturing and yelling.  You'd think they were both vicious monsters ready to kill each other to listen to them.  Since both of them are big bluffers, nothing ever comes of it, they take turns going to find another area that might even be better......!!!

This is Coquette and Penny at the Ritchie getting a drink.  BlackJack is being polite and waiting his turn.  I guess it just depends on who is in his way.  He likes to ruffle Justin, one of the mini's feathers too.  Unfortunately most of the time Justin will stand his ground, which ruins BJ's bluff. 

Today was a practice day at the track.  John went in to help a friend of ours if he needed help.  Actually I think John mostly went to be nosy.  He called and said he'd only seen one new hornet so far.  We could have taken my car in and played, but it just puts wear and tear on the car and motor.  We don't race until the 22nd of March.  As beautiful as our weather has been, I'm ready to go racing, probably by the end of March we will "finally" have winter .  I hope not, there is nothing more miserable than sitting in staging waiting to go out on the track when it is cold and/or windy and the race on the track isn't going well, too many yellow flags. One of these days I'm going to fall asleep sitting in my car and they will either have to wake me up or drive around me.  I've been close a few times.......!!!!   LOL

THINGS ARE GOING WELL

Wister is trying to be obnoxious with his brother Ruger.  John put the "kids" in a pen and Ruthie and Boaz are eating in another pen.  So far, so good no one seems to be copping an attitude.  I was hoping the boys would hang around together, but so far, Ruger is staying by himself and Wister is finding his usual play buddy, Justin to play with.  Last night when John let everyone out at bedtime, he said Wister ran out of the pen, straight to Ruthie and started to nurse.  That is the longest he's ever been separated from her.  He will be a year old tomorrow night, and we keep telling him he's too old for such behavior.  She's been dry for quite sometime, and he really gets upset when nothing comes out of the spigot, he stomps his feet and butts her like it's her fault.  She puts up with his nonsense, like a good momma does.  Very rarely does she chastise him, when he's acting silly. 

The people that had Ruger and Pancho and now have Pepsi, sell a balm and powder for a company called Source One Naturals.  They swear by it and asked if I wanted to try it on Boaz's knee.  I've tried just about everything else and am always open to the idea of something that might work.  Judy even had a vet friend of hers call me to see if I had any questions.  I just started with it this morning so we'll see how it goes.  I know one thing, trying to smear the balm on his knee when it is cold doesn't work very well, I should have warmed it up first I guess.  I finally smeared it on the bandage rather than the knee, worked a little better.  

I'm anxious to see what it looks like in the morning.  The vet said not to leave it on longer than 1 1/2 days between bandage changes.  I had been leaving the bandages with the mupirocin on for 2-3 days, I'll have to load up on brown gauze again.  

I sure hope this works, he has put up with me doctoring him for almost 2 years.  I'm sure he is as tired of it as I am, although he does enjoy the accompanying  animal crackers. 

RUGER IS BACK, PEPSI WAS CHASING THE DOGS WHEN WE LEFT

 FOR ANYONE THAT CHECKED THIS ENTRY, THE REST OF THIS "STORY" COMPLETE WITH 2 PICTURES WAS HERE YESTERDAY.  I GUESS COMPUTER GREMLINS ATE IT.  I'LL TRY AGAIN.........!!!

Doug and his son Conor, came over this morning as planned to go on our adventure of the day.  We got a late start, which isn't all that unusual.  Feeding, doctoring, trying to chase why the lights aren't working properly on the trailer and pretty soon the morning is gone....!!!  Pepsi wasn't really sure he wanted to get in that trailer, at the same time we were having to fight off Justin, Wister and Molly.  Justin has always thought a trailer was a toy.  Finally Doug and Conor, literally picked Pepsi's rear end and pushed him into the trailer.  We're lucky he isn't a mammoth I guess......!!!!  LOL

Got there and they had a halter on Ruger and he was ready to meet and greet.  From the way they had described his independence and not being cooperative, we weren't really sure what to expect.  But he was his usual friendly curious self, just like I remembered him.  

We just let Pepsi out in the yard, before meeting Pancho in the pasture.  Actually Pancho was off somewhere visiting with the neighbor's horses probably and wasn't even in sight.  

Got Ruger lined up with the trailer and he pretty much self loaded, while Pepsi entertained the 3 family dogs.  Not sure the dogs were too thrilled, but he was having fun lowering his head and running at them.  

Just about that time Pancho must have figured out something was going on, because here he came, running down the hill to the fence.

 This is Pepsi and Pancho getting acquainted.....!!!

 JOHN AND CONOR GIVING PEPSI A LAST ANIMAL CRACKER

Right now Ruger is in a pen by himself.  We had to put Boaz in with Ruthie and Wister last night.  Our extra panels have been loaned out for about 6 months and we were hoping they would come back before we needed them..............NOT...!!!  We talked about feeding Quilla outside by the feed room.  But he really likes his pen.  We've tried in the past to feed BlackJack outside, but he is entirely too helpful when it comes to delivering hay to everyone.  This arrangement worked just fine, Boaz had his bunk and didn't bother Ruthie and Wister's.  

We'll probably let Ruger out today, and the long term plan is to feed him and Wister together so they hopefully will bond.  They are full brothers, and would make a good couple to adopt out together.

WISTER IS GETTING IRRITATING.....!!

BACK WHEN WISTER WAS CUTE AND NOT DRIVEN TO BE OBNOXIOUS....!!! 

Not just for us humans but for a lot of the donkeys.  He has developed a taste for fly masks, doesn't seem to care who's as long as he can get hold of it and pull it off......!!!  Over the last few days we've lost count of the masks out there.  John found 3 this morning and there is at least 3 more out there......somewhere.  Wister does know enough to leave Boaz alone I guess, at least so far.  Justin and Pepsi the minis seem to be his favorites, probably because they are smaller than he is and easier to de-mask.......!!!

Yesterday morning when John was out looking for fly masks, I saw him hot footing it back to the house.  I went out to see what the hurry was and he said we had a problem.  It seems Friday afternoon or evening the UPS truck came by and left a package.  Nothing wrong with that, except the driver, rather than putting the 43 pound box of supplements from HorseTech.com in the chest, put by the gate, specifically for that purpose, decided in his infinite wisdom to put the 43 pound box, BESIDE the chest.  

The reason for the chest is years ago, a friend use to send us about 40 pounds of home grown potatoes from Pennsylvania annually.  One year we didn't find the potatoes sitting by the gate before the donkeys did.  I can't say they liked potatoes, but they certainly spent a lot of time looking for something better in the box.  The box was torn up, eaten and there were potatoes strung everywhere. 

So we got this brilliant idea to put a chest out there big enough to hold just about anything.  We even put a label on it UPS/FEDEX, not very complicated and rather self explanatory.  At least we thought so.  

Thank goodness supplements even peppermint flavored are rather concentrated and must not taste too good, although they ripped the box and the bag they didn't really get into the supplements very much.  

As soon as I got back to the house, I e-mailed UPS my thoughts on the problem.  I also told them not to send that person out here again.  

This is not my first run in with UPS drivers.  Years ago, the drivers would open the gate drive in, drop their package the try to get back out before the donkeys found the open gate.  This is why they leave packages at the gate, they aren't allowed on the property.  I realize they are on a time schedule, but if they had to help round up donkeys, it would pretty much ruin their schedule.  LOL

QUILLA & JUSTIN PLAYING

 I was going thru some of the pictures on my computer & came across this cute sequence of Quilla & Justin playing with a deflated Jolly Ball.  I don't know how the company can get away with saying they are guaranteed.  We haven't bought one in a long time, but anytime we did get a new one, they usually last less than a week, before someone bites a hole in them.  

This one actually is still here & is still played with, although it looks like road kill.....!!!

"You know you want to play, Quilla"

"It will be fun, trust me"

"You have to get a bigger bite or this isn't going to work"

"Now you've got the idea"

"Don't raise your head so high"

"OK, my neck is only so long"

JUSTIN'S FLY MASK FOUND.....!!!!

Two days ago, Justin came in without his mask.  Lately Wister gets blamed for all fly mask removal.  Since he's figured out how to get them off, we see him pulling & tugging on just about anybody.  Even Rusty the mule has to put up with the game.  Once Wister gets ahold of the mask he's like a bulldog, he hangs on as long as he can.  In Rusty's case, if Rusty raised his head up high, he could probably sling Wister cross country.  He usually just stands there patiently waiting for the little monster to let go.  We've never seen any of the donkeys besides Ruthie his mom discipline him.  They all seem to put up with his baby shenanigans with good humor.  

I didn't have an extra mask that would fit him, so we've been diligently looking for his.  This morning John just happened to be down in the wash & saw the mask up on the bank, in a place we would have never thought to look.  So now we have the mask & no Justin, they are all over in Burroland for the afternoon.  The Vel-cro on that mask is about worn out, so I think we'll put that mask on Lynn & use her mask for Justin.  So far Wister hasn't messed with the girls's masks, so Lynn should get along OK with worn out Vel-cro.  

That's our son's Super Stock car next to my little Hornet Saturday night.  Now that's a REAL race car.  I'm not really sure what he thinks about me racing, but he can't hide...........  We run the same number & the cars are both orange & white, so he can't disown me......!!! LOL. 

WISTER LOST HIS FLY MASK....!!!

It was bound to happen.  A couple of days ago, he & Quilla played all afternoon, bite, bite, rear, rear, chase, chase, guy stuff.  I'm surprised, Quilla isn't any spring chicken, mid to late teens.  But he hung in there & wore the little guy out, the first thing Wister did when he got in the pen for supper was plop down for a nap.  

Yesterday afternoon when John went out to do round-up, Wister & Justin were playing & Wister didn't have his mask on.  Hmmmmm........wonder how that happened?  Justin has been known to take masks off, sure hope Wister wasn't paying a lot of attention, because he's been trying to get Ruthie's off, just hasn't figure out how yet.  We were feeding early, to go racing, so didn't have time to look for it.  Today we're too wore out to go look for it, but I had an extra one, so no crisis, unless it becomes a habit.......!!!

This is what the car looks like this morning, not bad, certainly could be worse.  Dirt doesn't count...!!

 There is a "slight" problem though

I finished 4th & when I came in, John was telling me how good I did & all that "warm fuzzy" stuff a racer likes to hear..................until he saw the right side of the front.  He came over & asked me where the rest of the bumper was..........I don't know, I was busy....!!! LOL  But I had a pretty good idea, when it happened.  When we went to get paid, one of the guys that I'd had pretty good contact with was in front of me in the pay line.  I asked him where the rest of my bumper was.  Scott is a real nice guy & not real aggressive on the track.  He started apologizing all over the place, thought he was going to offer to go help me look for it.  I started laughing & told him I was teasing him.  Actually it might have been stuck in his car someplace.  One time I came back with a guy's tail light cover stuck in the side of my door.  I graciously returned it to him, it's easier to pound out body parts than to build new ones. 

De-worming Day!

Well, we've had a fun filled morning.  Today was worming day..well for everyone except Rusty the white mule, & Tula the Wild Child.  They will be wormed later in their feed, because it's not possible to worm either of them with a tube wormer...trust me.......!!!  

I got on my smock with big pockets, filled the pockets with wormers & away we went.  John follows behind me with cookies, so it's not a big deal.  At least that's what I thought until I got to Gus.......!!!  He smelled that wormer & became a Dr. Jekyll......!!!   Talk about shocked...!!!  Gus is about the most mellow laid back guy you could ever meet, but there was no way he was going to just stand there & be so ABUSED.....!!!!  John got the halter & lead & we finally had to tie him up & even then it was a hassle.  Surprised me, most of the guys just stand there at liberty & it's over in a second.  

Headed on down the line to the minis.........hmm........Pepsi is a good boy the other 3 not so much.  Lysa got here to clean pens just about that time, which was good, because the halter John was carrying was too big for a mini & he's never learned how to make a halter out of a lead.  We got Lynn first, not too bad, Cheyenne was pretty good once we got her, Justin.........not what he had planned today.  Lysa finally got the "lead halter" on him & he took off like a race horse.  Lysa isn't one to give up, she hung on, managed to jump over one of the hay feeders that was in the way, but he finally got away.  She got him again & this time we had him in a corner.  One thing about donkeys they know when the "jig is up", he just stood there like it was his idea........!!!!!!  LOL

We saved the best for last, Jack & Molly the mini mules.  We figured they would be a real rodeo.  I think Lysa was disappointed, I know I was shocked.  She put the lead halter on them & they both were really good.  In fact Jack kept getting in our faces to see if we had more...........well I think he was really after the mandatory follow up cookie. 

Just talked to Cathy & she said Ruthie & Aaron are doing great.  Said things couldn't be better.  Breezy the horse has been with them,  Aaron follows her around too & Ruthie doesn't seem to care.  Shasta the dog has been in to visit & that went fine too.  So all in all it sounds like everyone is happy.

I had warned her about his running up behind you & she said she really appreciated the head's up, because he's been "practicing" his "style" on them.  He's going to think all people are grumpy, but this is something that has to be stopped as soon as possible.  Right now he weighs less than 100 pounds, but even at that, those little hooves would hurt, & later on as he grows it would be harder to break.  She said he seems to be getting the idea, so hopefully he will find something else to do, that isn't quite as dangerous. 

I'm going to call the clinic up at Gilbert tomorrow to get an appointment for Cheyenne & Cisco.  Both of them eat like something is wrong.  They've both had their mouths checked & teeth floated.  Cisco was losing weight until I started giving him enough mush so hay isn't a big player.  Cheyenne has lost weight also.  Yesterday we moved her into Pepsi's pen so she can eat by herself, & Pepsi got thrown out with Justin & Lynn.  Pepsi had always eaten by himself, the few times we tried putting all 4 minis together to eat, the other 3 pushed him out.  But he's either gotten more assertive or they've gotten tired of the game, because they don't seem to care now.  She seems to enjoy her mush, but it takes much longer for her to eat it, & if she tries to eat hay, she quids most of it.

So we'll try to take both of them up to the clinic next week & see if they have any ideas.  I'm sure they will, we haven't stumped them yet, & we've taken them some "unusual" cases.  

EVERYONE OUT & ABOUT......!!!

This morning we had friends over to see the donkeys.  After they left, we got the pens cleaned, & let everyone out, except for Ruthie & Aaron.  Even the mini mules went out with the herd, since they were out all day yesterday anyway.  They are a hoot, every time they see you outside here they come to see if you "might" have a treat.  Molly especially looks like she's had too many treats in her life, she's a chunky little girl.  Jack is just about right, maybe a little heavy, it's hard to tell, they both are shaped exactly like Shetland ponies.  Jack has a chest that looks like he could haul a tank out of a mud hole.....!!!  I told John maybe it's time I learned to drive, get them a little wagon, with some eye catching harness........!!!!  Hmmmmm, they sure would be cute.  Right now they are busy, exploring & begging treats......!!!  Don't think work is in their vocabulary.

Everyone was suppose to disperse away from the pen area, so we could let Ruthie & monster out.  They dispersed, but as soon as Ruthie came out, they all came back to "see" him, which drives Ruthie absolutely crazy.  She's actually not as bad as she was, he got in one of the pens with Frijolita one time which Frijolita thought was interesting.  Ruthie was outside, read the situation, came in the gate, & just got between Aaron & Frijolita without having a hissy fit. 

One of the couples that was here this morning saw him a couple of days after he was born.  They said he's really grown, it's hard for us to tell since we see him day after day.  If we had a scale I would imagine he's at least 25 pounds heavier than he was when he was born.  That would be about a pound a day. 

Justin as usual, tried to chase him.  He did the same thing with Tucker when we first let him out.  Mocha was less of a "helicopter" mom, Ruthie let Justin know he better find something else to do in a hurry..........& he did. 

Jenny seems to be doing real good.  The maybe letting her out a couple of hours a day went out the window the first day.  She's out all day, & we're keeping her in at night.  The only reason is, to keep the duct tape boot from wearing out  too quickly.  They seem to last about 36 hours, before I  have to add a new boot over the old one.  

The 1st day she went over by her old pen before the afternoon feeding, I closed the gate so she couldn't go in, we got the halter & lead, put it on her & she became an immovable object, not going anywhere, no way, no how............!!!!  I finally had to get the quirt aka bat & started popping her on her hip.  It started out with maybe 20 pops to get one step.....SIGH.......!!!!   Took awhile to get her to the hay barn.  

The next day she was down between the 2 rows of pens, not interested in moving.  Get the halter, & lead & of course the quirt aka bat.  This time once we got her moving she walked all the way to the hay barn without stopping.  Of course John was following along with quirt aka bat in hand.

Today when John went out to do round up, Tula did one of her "I'm in charge & you're not", group kidnapping of about 6 donkeys.......!!!  John thought they went over on Burroland, because when he tried to get Jenny to follow him, she took off in that direction.  He ran ahead of her & shut the gate, which didn't improve her disposition.  I got the tools of the trade, ie, halter, lead & the quirt aka bat.  She saw me coming & tried to escape, but we finally cornered her at the chicken pen.  Surprise, surprise............didn't have to use the quirt aka bat, so I just followed along as John led her towards the hay barn.  I told him I'd catch up & went back to open the gate to Burroland.  Went to catch up, & they had halted about halfway.  Without me following with the "enforcer" she decided to stop.  When I came up behind her I didn't even have to show her the quirt aka bat, she started right off like it was her idea all the way to the hay barn.  

At this rate I don't know if we'll ever get her to go without someone behind to encourage her.  I hope so, this way isn't very efficient.  

We now have 3 fly masks out there somewhere.  John went out this morning determined to find at least one of the two missing.  So when we got home from town, Justin's was missing.  John says Tucker probably took it off when they were playing.  

Going to try to race tomorrow night, we'll see how it goes.  I told John to take his helmet & jacket.  I'll see how I do in the 6 lap heat race.  If I'm not competitive he can run the 15 lap main event. 

This morning while everyone was waiting for us to come out & serve breakfast, Tucker & Justin started playing.  Mocha decided Tucker didn't need to play, & she broke it up.  Doesn't matter than Tucker is already taller than Justin & probably is getting close to weighing as much guess momma didn't want her little boy getting hurt.  Later on the boys sneaked off away from her, & started playing again.  I didn't have my camera, I'll take it out tomorrow morning.  Of course if I have the camera, they won't probably play. 

The well guy is suppose to come out tomorrow to probably tell us we need to drill a new well............UGH!  Right now the holding tank is pretty full because of the water delivered yesterday.  John is checking it often, climbing a ladder & sticking a flashlight inside.  He says it's a little higher than it was yesterday, so I assume the well is still operating.  We're being careful with our water useage, just in case we need to get into the habit..................!!!

Jenny is eating this morning although not with great vigor.  I broke down & gave her a little of the chicken's alfalfa hay  & she had no problem eating that.  So I don't know what is going on. 

Courtney is coming out tomorrow to trim Jenny's re-sectioned foot, that didn't get trimmed up at the vet clinic.  We have a plan, hopefully we can get it trimmed without getting dirt in the open areas.  We also don't know how much feeling she has in the open areas.  She doesn't react when I stuff gauze into either opening, so maybe they aren't real sensitive. 

We noticed this morning that Daisy is cycling...........!!! YOU GO GIRL...........she's about 27-28 years old.  She had her eye on Boaz & was ready to "party".  Of course Boaz is ready & willing, not sure that December gelding changed his mind on what his job is, in the world. 

The problem is, he is very rough with the girls, he chased Frijolita around the other day & she wasn't even interested in what he was selling.....!!!  I had to break it up & put him in a pen, so she could rest. 

Daisy is too old for this nonsense, even if she doesn't know it.  So we left her in the pens today.  John just went out & said she is digging holes all over the pens, showing her displeasure I guess.  She's a funny old girl.  John's going to be outside this afternoon, so I told him to let her out & if he hears thundering hooves, we'll have to corral Boaz. 

Haven't heard form the vet clinic about Jenny today.  They usually call in the afternoon, although they said they'd call if she got up, so I assume she hasn't.  

Tucker is doing just fine after his traumatic day yesterday.  He was laying down a little more than usual, but when I let him & Mocha out this morning he took off as usual.  I checked him, much to his disgust, & everything seems to be just fine, no drainage or swelling. 

Today is the 1st race day of the season, so Burroland is closed.  I looked over there & almost everyone was milling around trying to figure out why they couldn't go over there.  When John rounds them up at 2pm to feed, it's much easier if they are all over here on this side.  

LOADED UP & READY TO GO......!!!

Since everyone was so upset I took a bottle of fruit flavored Tums out to the feed room porch & sat down.  Didn't take long for the observant ones to figure out there was treats being offered.  Ended up with Chantilly, Rusty, Gus, Mocha, Justin, Tucker, & Daisy.  Some of them had never had Tums but decided real quickly that they were worth pushing others out of the way.  Gus even put his front feet up on the porch & started making ugly faces at Tucker, shaking his head & putting his ears back.  Maybe because of being with Quilla all winter up at Claire's he seems more assertive.  I don't know, but he is definitely more involved with the other donkeys, even if it is in a negative way sometimes.......!!! LOL

Courtney is trying to get a day to come out & trim those that need it & reacquaint with Gus' feet.  She's also talking about bringing Martha out to do some massage work on Gus.  She thinks he might have some alignment issues, if he does Martha should be able to find them.