PENNY IS "OUT AND ABOUT"

3 OF THE GIRLS, LITTLE LYNN, MISS PENNYPACKER AND COQUETTE

Thanks, Shannon for the picture

After breakfast yesterday morning, Penny got to go out after 5 days being incarcerated, from her point of view.  She's eating good for her, so I guess her mouth is feeling better. 

The first thing she tried to do was entice the boys into "bad" behavior.  John and I were in Tucson, but Linda said she was really putting a lot of effort into it.  Unfortunately none of the guys were interested, no matter how hard she tried.  Today she seems to have forgotten about it and is off with her BFF, Coquette in Burroland.  

Linda gave Gus a bath this afternoon after it warmed up from our 17* start this morning........ Thankfully as soon as the sun came up it started warming up pretty quickly.  Gus doesn't drop to pee, never has.  I asked Claire if she had ever seen him drop and she said she didn't think so.  I've said something to the vets and they said it isn't all that unusual.  He's the only one I've ever seen not drop.

Because he doesn't drop, when he pees, it sprays everywhere.  Years ago he developed horrible sores on his lower rear legs, the skin just sloughed off.  The vet did a scrapping and he had 3 different infections, one was staph.  

Until it got so cold John had been rinsing off his hind legs a couple of times a week, but it had been awhile and Gus' legs were looking pretty icky.  I think Gus actually enjoys getting a bath, unlike the others, so Linda offered to bath him.

I guess we're off and running on participating in the Tombstone parade the 18th of March.   Jeanne, a friend of Linda's came out yesterday and met the donkeys to get a plan for sewing.  She really enjoyed meeting the donkeys and said she was surprised at how different they are from horses.  Linda got a text from her today and she was at one of the Dollar stores, having fun picking up goodies.

Yesterday when John and I went to Tucson, we went to Party City.  I've never been in one, Linda said it would be overwhelming and it was.  I've never seen so much green stuff in one place in my life.....!!  LOL  I picked up a few things, but Linda and I are going in again Monday to shop.  She's more familiar with shopping than I am, and was disappointed she didn't get to go yesterday.

THIS IS GUS LEADING THE PARADE OVER FROM BURROLAND
THANKS SHANNON

Cisco seems to be walking as well as can be expected for him and his hoof isn't warm, I have no idea what it was, but it seems to have "fixed" itself.

Tomorrow will be the 1st practice at the asphalt track.  Lynn's car hasn't been on asphalt yet.  We want to know how it goes on asphalt, but Lynn is busy tomorrow. So John and I will tow both cars, they need to go thru tech, and it's been so long since I was on asphalt, I need to find out if I still remember what to do.........LOL

Unfortunately the dirt track is going thru some changes, with new promoters.  They say nothing will change, but that's not usually the case, people have different ideas.  I really hope they get it all figured out and we have a chance to race, even if it isn't very often.  I think they only have 4 more races planned for the Hornets. 

PENNY IS HOME

We drove up yesterday, and picked her up.  

Look at the set of those ears, she's ready to go somewhere else........!!!   I guess her opinion of the medical profession isn't very good.......!!!  LOL  She hopped in and we headed home.........in the rain.  

Arizonians for the most part are not good drivers when it's rainy.  You have at least  2 groups, the ones that have never heard of hydroplaning and drive as usual, which is 10-15 miles over the posted speed limit.  Then you have the others that got caught out in it, otherwise they would be at home curled up with a good book.  They are driving 10-15 miles under the speed limit.  And of course the truckers driving as usual, which is not a problem, they should know what they are doing, BUT, they throw a lot of water up in the air, which seems to panic the ones that should be home reading.  

It wouldn't be so nerve wracking, except when hauling animals.  You can't stop quickly, without taking a chance on them losing their balance.  John is always alert when hauling, but in inclement weather he doesn't relax at all.  He says he's more tired after a drive from Phoenix, than if he'd worked a full day.  But he's never had one fall, although a few close calls, thanks to other drivers.  

For the next 3 days, she gets Banamine twice a day by mouth for pain.  She also gets penicillin shots  twice a day for 5 days, because of all the infection around the 4 teeth they pulled.   

I think you could give her shots all day long and she wouldn't even flinch.  Sticking something in her mouth is another thing.  Let me put it this way, it's going to be a LONG 3 days.......!!!   LOL  

She's going to be staying in her pen until we're done with shots, so we will take this opportunity to feed her an extra meal at bedtime.  She seems to really be enjoying her mush, so I assume her mouth is feeling much better, without those teeth.  

 

This is the 4 culprits that caused all the fuss, the black hole is a cavity

None of them are even 2 inches long.  Equine teeth start out about 4 inches long and push out as they age, get ground off and eventually fall out because of a lack of root to hold them in.  They all had less than 1/2 inch of root left, so even if they hadn't been causing problems, they probably wouldn't have hung on much longer. 

I had to soak them in bleach water overnight, the smell was really bad.  Thank goodness the clinic put them in a sealed plastic bag.....!!!  LOL

I'm going to have to get a bigger "treasure" box for these beauties.  I have a collection of medical parts from donkeys, including an eye lash from Buddy Brat that is about 5-6 inches long.  It had encapsulated into a tumor under his eye, Fred the pot bellied pig's tusks, and a couple of roosters spurs.  No room left for Penny's teeth, so I'll have to find something bigger.  

UPDATE

Rough crowd wanting to know where their supper is, BlackJack, Boaz, Leddy, Frijolita, and Tula in the back.  The rest of them were on the other side, probably

 

Dr. Voss called this morning after they did Penny's teeth.  They had to pull 3 loose ones on one side in the back and 1 on the other side, poor girl.  I asked him how many she had left and she now has 4 total in the back.  She likes her mush so I assume it won't be a big problem with those teeth gone and she should be a lot more comfortable. 

He said they only had about 1/2 inch of root, that was pitted, and had calcium buildup on them, not to mention leftovers from what she has eaten recently.  Of course that had all fermented, which is why her breath wasn't very inviting.  I checked her mouth yesterday morning, really didn't go inside, just gave her an animal cracker and made sure my hand touch her lip.  The smell stayed with me all day, thru 3 or 4 washings.  UGH!  

So we'll leave right after chores in the morning to go pick her up.  Linda said Coquette wasn't very happy yesterday, so she'll be thrilled to have her BFF back.

BOAZ GIVING A RASPBERRY

Boaz has figured out that if he does "cute" things with his tongue and lips that people ooh and ahh and he gets treats.  So he is usually more than willing to play the game.  Looks like he could use a shave........LOL

This morning Tyler came to do Gigi and Penny's feet.  Gigi wears a shoe on one front foot 100% of the time, or the foot will turn under. Both of them have opinions on getting their feet done, and generally their opinion has nothing to do with Tyler's opinion on what he is going to do with their feet.

This morning it was almost like they had gotten together and decided to be as bad as they could be.  Gigi fought until she was on the ground, with Tyler's helper kneed down on her neck.  Not the best way to shoe an animal I'm sure, but he got it done.

THANKS LINDA FOR THIS EMBARRASSING PICTURE OF GIGI...!!

This is what a pouting donkey looks like.  When he was done with her and we all stepped back she refused to get up.  I guess she figured if she just laid there and ignored us, it didn't happen.  They can be so much fun to watch sometimes.  She finally made the effort to get up and went as far away from us in her pen as she could get and gave us the evil eye. 

So we move on to Penny.  She seemed to be of the same mind set as Gigi, Finally got her in the redneck squeeze so we could get a halter on her.

These two are never easy, but today they seemed to be particularly obnoxious. Soooooo............

Tyler knows a guy that can build stocks. https://www.cuteness.com/article/build-horseshoeing-stocks
 He's going to get the guy's phone number and see what he says.  He's made stocks for a couple of oxen our family doctor has, so donkeys should be a piece of cake.  I know one thing horse stocks don't work really well for donkeys, because of the size difference.

We're going to the races tonight at the asphalt track, to hopefully watch our son Rod, race his modified.  I don't know what it is about racers, but a lot of them seem to have no problem ignoring the car until a day or two before the races and then think their devotion to getting the car ready and staying up until all hours of the night turning wrenches, etc is fun.  John always started working of the car on Monday and in those days we raced every week-end.  Now we're lucky to get to race every month.

Lynn is going to try the asphalt, the 4th of March.  He might like it more than I do, we'll have a practice the end of February, so he'll get to feel it out before jumping out there in the "battle".  He's got a competitive nature, so he'll probably do good, at least I hope so. 

LYNN, LINDA AND THEIR "FUR" KIDS HAVE ARRIVED......!!

John and I went into Benson yesterday afternoon and when we got home, Lynn and Linda had already parked their RV in their spot.  They had quite an audience, most of the donkeys were standing and gawking at the whole process and their donkey Leddy was standing at the front of the herd.  

Doug had to put a fence around his RV to have any privacy at all.  They use to all but climb the steps to see why he wasn't coming out to play.  L and L might have to do something like that, if they want to have any privacy at all... LOL  When they set up in November, the donkeys kept pretty close tabs on what they were doing in that "thing".  

Their 3 dogs ran up to the car when we came in  and Lennon jumped right in like he was ready to go for a ride.  They seem to think we are part of their family, Lola started picking up sticks for me to throw.  She is a typical cattle dog and thinks fetching sticks is her job and can get really insistent about you throwing sticks.  Lynn finally started picking her sticks up and throwing them on the hood of their truck.  She didn't care, she just found another stick.   

Poor Saddik was beside himself, he was in the pen and they weren't.  We usually let Saddik out while we're doing chores and he comes back when he hears John running the leaf shredder to cut up hay for the donkeys that have trouble chewing.   Night before last he didn't come in, until it was dark, John was through and had come in the house.  That gets him "pen" arrest for a few days to think about it.  I don't think he spends much thought process on the problem unfortunately.  But he does usually behave for quite awhile afterwards.  He's such a smart dog, I wish he'd figure out that if he doesn't come in, he doesn't go out.  If you get stern with him, he just wiggles his tail and shows no remorse at all.  We started keeping him in the pen last year, when they were here, because he and Lucy their 3rd dog took off and were gone almost all day.  That was after they had taken off before and not come back for a couple of hours.

Some of you long term readers might remember Ruger and Wister the brothers.  Wister was born here on Christmas Day in 2012.  Ruger came in with his Mom and Dad and Ruthie was PG with Wister at the time.  

Boaz is still here, Ruthie is in a foster home and the boys have been in a foster home for almost 2 years.  It looks like they might be getting a permanent forever home.  What is really weird is the family that is fostering them now, are friends with the family that might adopt them.  But neither knew of the others involvement with us or the boys.  I found out there was a good home out there looking for a nice pair of donkeys and I threw these 2 boys into the pot.  There's actually another pair, a jenny and gelding from another rescue that are being discussed too.  It sounds like a wonderful home, so hopefully friendship will give us the inside line, if it's as good a home as it sounds.  

I love this time of year, no doctoring and no fly masks.  Well no doctoring, except for Miss Penny and her smelly mouth.  Her mouth hasn't smelled since about the 2nd day of antibiotics.  BUT, she is not a fan of antibiotics, believe me that is an understatement.  With antibiotics once you start them, the bare minimum time to give them is 5 days, 7-10 is much better.  Saturday the 7th will be the 10th day and we can't wait until it gets here.  

We've just been throwing the SMZs in her mush and keeping track of how many of them disappear.  Some feedings she does pretty good, maybe 1 or 2 left.  John was doing pretty good getting her to take the leftovers with animal crackers, but she finally figured out what was going on and refused to even take a "naked" animal cracker from him.  One morning she left 6 out of 8 tablets..... SIGH......!!!  So I threw 14 in her evening mush and they were all gone.  John even checks the ground to make sure she hasn't figured out how to hide them.  

It wouldn't be so bad, but she looks like you like the picture of her in the last blog page, and you can just about read her mind, "you people think you are putting something over on me, and you might get some of those pills down me, BUT, I'm watching you and you better be at the top of your game, or I'll outsmart you, and not even blink".  SMZs have very little taste, early on I tried grounding them into a powder and mixing them with molasses.  She wouldn't even go close to the feed pan.  Maybe she doesn't like molasses, who knows.  I have other flavors I could try with her, BUT, have a feeling it would be a waste of SMZs..........LOL

GOODBYE 2016 - HELLO 2017

This was so cute I couldn't resist, thanks Christine @ Equine Well Being

Well today was a lot of fun.  Dr. Jeremy came out to see why Penny's mouth was smelly again.  She had a smelly mouth when she went up to the clinic in Gilbert, and when they did the colic surgery, Dr. Voss prowled around in her mouth and pulled an infected tooth.

John told me a few days ago her mouth was stinking again, so I called for an appointment.  In the meantime Dr. Jeremy had me start her on antibiotics twice a day.  Let me say working with Penny is NOT easy.  She will hurt you if she can, however she can, front feet, back feet, using her head as a battering ram.  So in order to get 8 ground up pills down her throat, we put her in the squeeze and then try to line up a syringe and plunge the molasses and pills in before she explodes.  The 1st time isn't too bad, by the 2nd time she's figured out some evasive actions to try, and by the 3rd time she's really thought up some new ideas...........LOL  I'm not sure, but think she cracked my wrist yesterday morning.  I've got it wrapped, which is probably what the doctor would do, so I'll save the time and effort.  We decided to try and see if we could get them down her one at a time, with animal cracker pieces.  I tried last night and after 6 she said no.  But this morning she took all 8 for John.  Her mouth is already smelling much better, but I still wanted her looked at.

 This is her cooperative stance...........Thanks, Doug

We warned Dr. Jeremy, got her into the squeeze and he decided to just drug her, rather than try to work with her.  Good idea, except she is still difficult.  They were doing pretty good, with her drugged and him running his hands around inside her mouth.  Until she crunched down on a finger, a bloody finger by the time he got it away from her.  Good news, it isn't broken.............LOL  I think that's our 1st wounded vet over the years, which is pretty good, although I'm sure he didn't appreciate being the 1st one.  

Good news, he didn't find any really loose teeth, or any cracked ones.  Her jaw has been broken, so her teeth aren't really lined like they should be and are crooked.  She packs food around them, so hopefully if it's anything other than just rotting feed, hopefully the antibiotics will take care of it.  He said if it happens again, he'll put her completely out and x-ray her jaws, so we have a better idea what we are messing with.  Hopefully that won't be necessary, but if it is, at least he has an idea of what direction to go.

As usual, as the days pass and the the year's come to an end, there are changes, some good and some not so good.  But that is part of life and every day should be seen as a gift.  Many people complain about getting old, but think of the many people in your life, that didn't have the privilege of a long life.  

Seems like this year we've lost many friends and relatives, and the vast majority weren't "old".  I know it's part of the kaleidoscope of life, people are lost and people are added.  Just lost a good friend from the race track a couple of days ago.  Don and his brother Allen drove one of the push trucks at the dirt track and moved over to the asphalt when the dirt track closed.  I'd either wander over to their truck or they would drive where I was, and we'd talk for a few minutes.  Nothing earth shattering, they just liked to be involved in racing and always liked to talk and seemed to enjoy watching me race.  

Don had been sick for quite sometime and hadn't been able to come out to the track.  I'd ask Allen about him, and he'd just shake his head.  Sixty years old isn't very old, although as they say, "the good die young" and he was a very good man.  

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that 2017 is a great year for health and happiness. 

PUNCH HAS A HOME......!!

 THE BOYS LANGUISHING ON DOUG'S BED, THANKS DOUG

Yesterday we took Boaz to Dr. Debra for a dental appointment.  He's got some chipped teeth and I wanted to make sure they didn't need grounding down.  They were OK, but he did have a few hooks that needed cleaned up.

When we got home there was a message on the phone from a neighbor, wanting to bring some friends over to see Punch.  Doug said he hadn't seen them, but about 1/2 hour later, they got here.  Nice people, they already have a Kelpie, and an Anatolian, they have horses and ride with their dogs.  Punch really took up with the woman, we visited for quite awhile and they took him home with them.  He wasn't very interested in getting in their car, John had to lift him up, but once in he was fine.  

I think it will be a good home for him.  It sounded like they spend a lot of time with their dogs, although sleeping on the bed, isn't going to be an option from what they said.  

Just yesterday, because Punch was going thru the cattle panels and getting out, John and Doug had strung chicken wire inside the cattle panels.  John made a special trip to Benson to get the wire and they spent all afternoon putting it up.  Did a nice job too...........LOL  John said that's OK, we're ready for any size dog now.............HUH?  Does he know something I don't?

We let Saddik out during chores and he hopped up into the golf cart like he use to, helped John weigh hay for awhile and then disappeared, which was about what he use to do.  John yelled and whistled and he came in from our dirt road.  The people across the road have a little dog, he use to visit with, so that's probably where he was.  I wish he would stay within the confines of our fence, but obviously my wishes don't count.  He also could have been looking for Punch.  Doug said he got to sleep in the middle of his bed last night for the 1st time in awhile..........LOL  I guess between the 2 dogs, he didn't have much room left and it was on the edge.  

As of yesterday Penny is out of confinement after about 3 months.  We let her out when we got back from Boaz's dental.  She wasn't all that interested in leaving the confines of her pen, and when John and Doug did round-up for evening feeding, she was waiting in her pen.  I've never seen her eating when she was out on the property, although obviously she ate a lot of mesquite beans when they got ripe this summer.  The clinic said to keep her confined until November 1, but I'm not sure that isn't the usual protocol for an equine that is ridden or worked in some way.  She hasn't had any problems at all and even if she is out, she's just going to be responsible for herself, no saddle, no human on her back, or having to trot or lope or lunge in an arena.  Actually lately she's been trotting a lot, when she sees us outside, hopefully headed her way with cookies.  I'm so glad we chose surgery over euthanasia.  It would have been easier, cheaper, less work, etc............BUT......it's really worthwhile to see her trotting over to the edge of the pen, insisting that she get cookies.  She's never been the friendliest donkey on the property, and she still isn't, BUT, she has really learned how to work us, during her recuperation, always on her terms though.  She will always expect the worst from people, unfortunately.

5 - 0 and so it continues

I'm really finding this entertaining.  John, not so much.  After this morning's escape, he gathered up his fence, pipe, wire, t-posts etc and prepared to do battle.  I had to go to town, so I left John and Doug busy doing fence.  

This is a picture I took before Doug came to help and I left for town.  John has plenty of help including Gizmo, the mule.

When I got back John was on his tractor moving gravel and said he wish he'd had a camera after they got the fence fixed temporarily on this end and were on the other end fixing it.  

John said he looked up and Lynn was halfway thru the fence and held it up long enough for Cheyenne to squeeze thru.  He said they looked like they didn't think it was a big deal......well until John went over and ran them back.  Doug was the gate keeper and I guess he had more help that he wanted from the rest of them trying to get thru the gate from this side.  

After they got it fixed, the guys sat in the golf cart to see what would happen.  I would imagine they were wondering if it was going to keep the munchkins on this side.  John said Lynn walked up and started pushing and shoving and sticking her head thru.  She did that for quite awhile and then he said she walked the complete wash, very slowly, looking for weak spots.  Guess she didn't find any, they finally wandered off.  Heh, heh..........John thinks he's got them beat, but I'm not betting the farm on his thoughts..LOL

The guys played in the 12 ton gravel pile and got Penny's pen ready for her to move.  John said she was an absolute pill, she didn't want a halter on and wasn't going to have it.  She reared up and stomped John's toes with both front feet.  Wasn't my toes, so I thought it was pretty funny.  She wouldn't go into the "squeeze" and in general not cooperative at all.  She's not the most grateful animal on the planet, that's for sure. 

He got her moved and then they used the gravel to fill in low spots in some of the other pens.  The raining season is over for awhile, but when we were getting rain, low spots showed up really well as mud holes.  John hasn't even made a dent in the pile yet. 

12 ton doesn't look like much, but I bet John will be glad when it's gone......!!!

TODAY WAS THE DAY, BURROLAND OPENED...........!!!!

Talk about a bunch of happy donkeys and Gizmo the mini mule..........!!!  We were getting ready to go to Benson in the late afternoon and when we went out to get in the car, about a dozen assorted donkeys and Gizmo were right out by the pen area.  So we decided to go open the gate, since we were pretty sure they would follow us if we headed in that direction.  Sure enough, that's all it took, in fact Boaz was actually in front of John in the parade.  

Of course in the back of our minds was the idea of getting them back over here after about 1 1/2 hours of wild freedom...........LOL  We went to town, did our thing, and as soon as we got home, headed out each carrying a whip to whiz thru the air as incentive to make them know we meant it.  Doug stayed in the pen area to put them in IF and WHEN we got them.  

Actually since they hadn't been over there for awhile, it was pretty easy to track them all the tracks were new.  We had split up, and they just happened to be in my direction.  Sure enough their heads were down and they were eating as fast as they could.  They knew I was there, but didn't bother to acknowledge me, until I threw a couple of rocks into the herd, yelled and started swinging my whip around viciously........!!!  Talk about a mess...... donkeys took off at full speed, bucking and relieving gas from the beans they had eaten.  They usually stay in a group and all of them headed straight for the gate......except for  Tula, Quilla and Gizmo.  Tula is usually the herd boss, but they were moving so fast I don't think they even knew she diverted and took those two with her.  Doug said it was a good thing he wasn't standing in the gate or he would have been road kill, when they came thru......!!!  LOL  

So I had to find them again.  One thing about eating mesquite beans, they make noise when chewed.  Also Casper the other little mini mule that is staying at the neighbors, tattled when he saw them.  Tula tried to go the wrong direction a couple of times, but finally gave up and headed for the gate.  

Whew! I was wore out.  I remember doing this just a few years ago, even running after them to make sure they knew I meant business.  No running today, I even lost sight of them a couple of times, and was glad they didn't decide to really rebel.  

We'll probably order the sand/gravel tomorrow for Penny's pen, so she can get out of the hay barn.  She will stay in the pens, either hers or we will probably open them up when the others are out, so she can have more room, till about the 1st of November.  

She has finally decided we aren't out to "get" her I guess.  She's enjoying being brushed, always before she would squirm and get away if she could.  Now she stands still as long as you will brush.  She's also much better about her feet.  She's never been really bad about picking them up for me, or letting me mess with her legs.  Tyler, that trims her feet is another story.  She absolutely refuses to cooperate for him at all and has taken a quick swipe at him with a rear foot more than once.  

Everybody else is doing good, thank goodness the prickly pear fruits are almost all gone.  Cisco wades right into the middle of them and eats all the fruit he can find.  The fruit has tiny little spines on them and he ends up with them all in his mouth, nose, muzzle, not to mention in his legs where he's walked into the cactus pads, which have big spines.  We try to pull them out, but the numbers are overwhelming.  Sha'ba use to do the same thing.  What gets me is they can still eat hay and mush, not to mention animal crackers, but you have to be careful feeding them crackers or you'll be picking spines out of your hand.    There's very few prickly pear in Burroland, thank goodness, so I think he's about done with this particular entertainment until next year.  

YUMMY......!!!

HAVE YOU MISSED UPDATES THE LAST FEW DAYS?

John and our grandson JR, cleaning up weeds at the dirt track last Sunday.  Actually it looks suspiciously like they are leaning on their shovels..........!!! 

Well it hasn't been that many days, but between doing clean up at the dirt track, John's "procedure" Monday, then his MRI and C-scan Tuesday and my computer deciding to "go on vacation" Tuesday night, this is my 1st opportunity to figure out if there is anything worthwhile to write about.......LOL

Cleanup at the track was fun, not sure we accomplished very much, but we got to meet some like minded people, (prefer dirt over asphalt) and talked to the manager.  He's got some good ideas, plans on having some practice days, starting in Oct. and wants to start racing in January.  There's still lots of cleanup to get done, not sure it will get done with just volunteers on week-ends, human nature being what it is.  We plan on going out this Sunday again, John is going to call and see if they have any use for his little tractor with a bucket on one end and a backhoe on the other, if so we'll load it up.     

Monday morning John and I were up bright and early, I made up the feed pans, so Doug could feed after we hit the road for a 7am appointment for radiation seed implants for John's prostate cancer.  They did 5 weeks of external radiation and now the seeds will release low dose radiation for about 6 months.  The next day we had to go back in for MRI and C-scan to make sure the 35-50 little seeds were where they belonged.  I guess they were, we haven't gotten in frantic messages to come back in for further treatment and he doesn't glow in the dark.  

We had what we thought was a question that no one had ever asked before, "would it be OK for the cats to sit on John's lap (that's prime cat property around here) or would they get radiated"?  Dr. Mack said it wasn't a problem, and over the years that question has come up quite often.  He also said very rarely does the question come up for grandkids.  Hmmmm.......interesting....!!  He's doing just fine, or at least will be in a few days when the results of "abuse" improve.  Makes me glad I'm an "innie" rather than an "outie"............LOL

Doctoring is getting easier and easier every morning, it doesn't take much of a change in the weather to really make a difference with the skin problems.  I have 4 that would probably do much better in a cooler climate, especially in the summer.  John says we should move to Show Low in the summer.  It's OK with me, but the logistics would be formidable to overcome.  And moving isn't as much fun as it was when we were younger......LOL  

I have to report that the cows "aren't" going into Burroland.  Vic thought they were, but we went over and checked for hoofprints and there aren't any.  As much green stuff and beans as there is all over everywhere, why would they bother to turn left to go into a new area.  Cows are creatures of habit and don't change unless it's really worthwhile.  There's nothing in Burroland that they don't have where they normally go.  So we're back to what to do about Burroland.  The donkeys have pretty well picked the 10 aces clean.  There is an occasional bean in their poo, but not much.  We had a nice rain a few days ago, hopefully it will cause the beans on the ground to mold and turn black.  We've noticed they don't eat them, when that happens.  

It's about time for Miss Penny Packer to move out of the hay barn and into her pen.  We are thinking about ordering some mortar sand to put where she likes to lay down in her pen, so she won't be on  gravel.  We talked about just getting some bags of sand, but a lot of the pens needs to be filled in, so now we're talking about getting a truck load of sand.  Well I'm talking about getting a truck load  and John's eyes are glazing over.  We'll see how this story plays out.  

As for my computer, I was on it, during the rain and somewhere got lightening, because the electricity went off.  When it came back on, my computer wasn't interested.  We poked and prodded it and nothing.  Called my computer guru, Jared, hauled it to him and picked it up on the way back from John's MRI day.  He couldn't find anything wrong with it, brought it home and nothing.  John worked electronics for many years and he didn't seem to think it was unusual for it to work and not work.  Probably hauling it to Jared jiggled something and us bringing it home, jiggled something else.......SIGH!

So called Jared again, but he is tied up until tomorrow, so last night after supper John decided to delve into the inter workings of the little monster.  Since he's done this with million dollar equipment, at least that's what the Air Force pays for it, I figured he could be trusted with my little PC.  He took the cover off and started poking around with a wooden pencil.  Didn't find anything loose, picked up the PC and twisted it a little bit and it came on.  It's still on, I'm afraid to turn it off..............LOL  

As John explains electronics to me, you can't fix it if it isn't broke or if you can't replicate the problem, so I'm pretty much stuck with leaving it on 24/7 or until the electricity goes off again.  Or until it does finally break.  They think it's probably a crack in the mother board circuit, but it would be a shame to change out the mother board and still have the problem, so we'll just limp along for awhile. 

THE SNAKES ARE MOVING AROUND

Most little girl's dream, I know it was mine......!!

 Fall is always an interesting time.  The snakes we never see move around and we see them, or their tracks across the driveway in the morning.  We also see great big Praying Mantis hanging around the fly traps.  Not sure they make much of a dent in the fly population, but we do appreciate their help.  

Must not forget the little green bugs.  We've never figured out what they are but, about this time of year they show up.  They are so small they go right thru the screens and are very drawn to the lights.  So wherever lights are on they congregate by the 100's.  The little devils bite, I'm not sure how since they are so small, but they do and it hurts.  So we sit around in the dark, watching TV, or don't open the windows until bedtime.  

The Colorado River toads try to keep the wet season going by using the water pans John puts out for the birds and whatever else wants a drink.  They sit around in the pans, soaking up the water.  They'll do that for a few days of non-rain, eventually if there isn't any rain, they disappear back underground.  

Penny is really tired of being in "solitary confinement".  She is starting to challenge us when we go into her pen in half the hay barn.  Even if she does get out as long as we put the chain on the gate into the hay barn, she isn't going to get very far.  

Everyone else seems to be doing good, well they are getting rather cranky about only getting out of their pens for a couple of hours a day.  John keeps saying there aren't many beans left on the 10 acres, but I keep seeing quite a few beans in their poo.  We aren't even thinking about Burroland yet, that's for the future.........LOL  We'll start out with the 10 acres at first and see how that goes.  We'll probably just let them out in the afternoon to start with, and work up to letting them out when they get thru eating breakfast.  But they will probably stay in the pens overnight for awhile.  

Still doctoring legs, even had to put socks on Penny's front legs, although she has a fan running in her stall.  But the other day when we put her outside for a couple of hours, the flies started on her legs.  We didn't know how putting socks on would work with her in a different area than usual, but she stood like a trooper and let me put them on without a lead or anything.  Sometimes she is a real surprise.  

She decided she likes to be groomed, never has before.  If you tried to brush her, she'd stand for about 10 seconds and then take off.  The last few days I've brushed on her a little bit, mostly to get her winter hair off, finally.  Since she doesn't like to be groomed we haven't pushed the issue.  This morning I decided to try the Furminator.  Talk about a "hit".....!!!  I thought I was finished and was going to start picking up poo, which is why I was up there.  It's not easy to do housekeeping when there is a donkey standing in your space, and if you move, she moves with you.  John finally showed up and brushed while I picked up poo.  I think her 10 second brushing and then taking off days are over, she acts like she'd stand there as long as you would brush.  That's OK, I wonder if she's ever been brushed before?  I have a feeling she's been a throw away her whole life, no matter where she was. 

EXCITEMENT LAST NIGHT

Last night after it cooled off outside John started opening up windows and doors to let the cool air in.  Our house is a passive solar house, all that means is, the rammed earth walls are heat or cool collectors to keep the inside of the house comfortable year round.........well except for that monsoon season, when the humidity and cloud cover some nights, means the nights don't cool off.  So the house gets a little warmer than we'd like, but we have ceiling fans, so no big deal.  

Anyway he's going around doing his thing, and when he opened the window out to the back patio, there was a real loud buzzing noise.  He didn't even hear it, I assume a rattlesnake rattle, is in the range of hearing he no longer has.  Too many years of working on military planes.  

While my brain is trying to wrap around, what is it, and where is it, Nigel the cat ran over to a big basket under the window and started trying to beat it to death.  LOL  Wish I had the camera, I guess he thought the snake was in the basket.  Got a flashlight and found a pretty good sized unhappy snake.  Guess the vibrations of the window opening got her attention.  I say her because usually the ones that are big around are females.  The guy's stay skinny.  She was probably between 3 and 4 feet long and big around as a man's wrist, it was hard to tell, since she was up against the house, wadded up.  

Over the years in the fall we've had rattlers around the house.  They are busy hunting, getting ready for hibernation and go places they usually don't go.  

This was in 2007 on the back porch.  At the time I thought it was a boy and girl, doing the dirty deed, but a snake person told me it was 2 males fighting.  Sure enough there was a fatter one watching the show, waiting for the winner I guess.  

The bird watching is a roadrunner.  I think it was a young one with visions of grandeur, either one of them could have eaten him, he wasn't full grown.  I guess he thought they were too busy to go after him.  

John put Penny in Quilla's old pen today to get a little bit of sun and a different view than just being in the hay barn.  I looked out and it looked like she was trying to dance and John was hanging onto the lead for dear life.........!!! LOL  He finally got her in with the gate shut, I asked him if she had danced the whole way from the hay barn and he said for the most part.  We'll double lead her tonight when we put her back in.   I guess alfalfa and sweet feed does make them hot.......!!! LOL 

SHE'S GETTING SPOILED

 

All the donkeys are spoiled when it comes to animal crackers, but she's really getting into the idea that every time a person comes within her eyesight, IT'S COOKIE TIME..........!!!  It's cute, but I have a feeling it's going to be hard to break her of it, later on.  Oh! well, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, for now I'm sure it is making Penny's recuperation more interesting for her.  

I think she likes all the special attention, but she isn't going to give up her independence, just because of cookies or anything else.  It's all still on her terms, if we go in her pen she goes to the opposite end and watches us.  But if we come into the hay barn, she immediately comes up to the front and sticks her nose thru the corral panel.  It's always fun to watch their minds work.

Everybody else are doing good..........well except for that reduction of time out of the pens, thingy.  Really not appreciated by any of them.  They have pushed on the pens until they are all out of shape, they have dug holes, Rosie is eating her shelter, and every time they see one of us outside, the yelling and screaming gets really loud.  John trimmed some trees than were hanging down on the roofs of the shelters and threw the limbs into the pens.  That was great fun for a little while, and then the screaming started up again.  Everybody gets out for a couple of hours every afternoon, except for 5 fatties that only get out every other day for a couple of hours.  And if they don't start looking a little less fluffy, even that might get curtailed.  

This week John had a doctor's appointment in Tucson, he thought he was going to have to run on a treadmill, so he was really thrilled when that particular torture didn't happen.  Anyway we were sitting in the waiting room waiting for him to be called and in walks Baxter Black. Over the years we've ran into him in town, one time we went to a local fund raiser where he was the guest speaker.  He has a 20 section ranch in the Benson area and raises the first love of his life, cattle, as I found out in the doctor's office.  We said hi and the next thing we know he's moved his seat over to where we were.  We talked for awhile and John got called in, so it was just him and me.  Talk about a fun time, he wasn't doing his "schtick" although he does have a great way with words and a quirky sense of humor.  Come to find out his people are from Oklahoma, he's lived in Texas, so we're almost related...........LOL  Found out he doesn't think much of mules and probably even less of burros.  He said he retired from the traveling circuit, although he is still doing his writing and radio show.

March 26, 2009, I had this little blurb on the blog about a chance meeting with Baxter:
One time I was in the express line at Safeway in Benson. You might know I didn't have enough money for what I was buying, which of course messes up the whole reason for having an express line. All of a sudden a hand came up beside me with a dollar bill in it. I turned around to thank the person and it was Baxter Black the cowboy poet & humorist, who has lived in Benson for years. Anyway I thanked him & he said, " not a problem ma'am, just helping life move along".

I THINK PENNY IS ENJOYING HER RECUPERATION

Judging from the way she is acting, you would never know she had major abdominal surgery less than two weeks ago.  She's perky, alert, and getting demanding about animal crackers, which is funny..!!!  Always before when she dealt with people, it was on her terms and at a distance.  If treats were involved her neck can get pretty long, so she didn't have to be close to you.  If she thought you were expecting something from her, treat or not, she would leave the area.  We've always had to use a squeeze to work with her and probably will still have to.  But for now, she expects crackers anytime someone is in sight and will actually let me fingernail scratch her back and will stand there as long as I'll scratch.  Usually she would stand for a few seconds and take off.  

Last night at dusk, John came in and said he had a run in with a rattlesnake in the driveway.  He heard it before he saw it and said it was moving at a pretty good speed towards Doug's RV.  He watched it go into a concrete block and curl up.  I would imagine it was going out hunting before it had to take into consideration a human in it's space.  We debated whether to tell Doug or not.  Doug is of the mind set that the only good snake is a dead snake, along with 99% of the population, but he's been here long enough to know our mind set of....... leave them alone and they'll leave you alone.  We finally decided to tell him and John went out to make sure Doug and the snake didn't accidentally find each other in the "almost" dark.  

The snake was still in the concrete block, so the only problem was when the dogs go in Doug's RV for the night around 8pm.  Saddik is snake wise, he gives them a wide berth, but we weren't sure about Punch.  I guess Doug figured it out, this morning everything was status quo and the snake was gone.

My doctoring is down to 5, Quilla is the worst one.  Both of his front legs are bloody from fly and sun damage and I've tried to get away from completely bandaging his legs.  But so far that is about the only things that works.  They both were looking good, no open sores one morning and by that afternoon both of them were bloody, I assume from the sun, so we're back to completely bandaging. At least we aren't having the 100+ degree days anymore.  We're not exactly into fall, but the nights are cooling off and 90 degree days, so LIFE IS GOOD...........!!!!  LOL

SHE'S MAKING PROGRESS.....!!!

She seems to have turned a corner.  Yesterday morning her stool was 100% liquid, which is scary.  It doesn't take long for a body to dehydrate under those conditions.  I got in touch with Dr. Karla and since we were going to be in town for John's last radiation treatment.....(YIPPEE...!) she put out some Bismukote paste at Jackpot Equine clinic for us to pick up.  I've never used this before but as of this morning this is what Penny put out.  Not perfect, but looks pretty good compared to yesterday.

She also said to give her Metronidazole which is a really rough antibiotic that kills nasty bacteria and protozoa, which is probably why she had such bad diarrhea.  A few years ago we used Metronidazole for Jenny after her hoof resection.  We found out then that it is so nasty tasting, if you can get it down them, it instantly ruins their appetite.  We found out then, that it can be given rectally, which is the only way to go from my point of view.   Dr. Karla said that was OK........whew...!!

Actually when dealing with Miss Penny, rectal is much easier than mouth.  The Bismukote is by mouth a couple of times a day.  What a battle royal we fight.  She has no problem going in the corral panel squeeze, John put in her stall in the hay barn.  She has no problem with you messing with her body or legs or anything else.  BUT.........her head and especially her mouth are "off limits" and she will fight like a tiger to get that point across, no holds or methods are off limits, as far as she is concerned although she hasn't tried to bite, thank goodness.  We are trying to work around the pipe on the corral panel, hoping not to get a broken arm out of the deal.  Since she's putting out more normal stool, Dr. Karla said we will only have to do it one more time, tonight.  Won't break our hearts that's for sure........LOL

This afternoon John led her out to the pen area for a couple of hours of fresh air.  This is Quilla's old pen and it's been closed up since we moved him to another pen.  Some sprigs of grass have popped up and I thought she might like to eat them.  No problem, John turned her loose and she immediately started eating them.  I'm sure when I go out, there won't be a blade of grass left.  She won't get much food value out of a few sprigs, but it will be more interesting than just standing around up in the hay barn. 

IT'S GOING TO BE A LONG RECUPERATION I THINK.

 This is where she spends her time, all the way in the back of the hay barn.  

This is where she ends up, when she sees someone headed her direction, this means she expects at least 2 animal crackers...!!

Penny has always been a challenge to feed.  She is not a good eater, probably because of her broken jaw.  It's fairly straight but who knows what it's like inside.  That's one reason I was surprised that she was impacted with mesquite beans, who knew she even ate them.  Well, that isn't true, we always do POO101, when we are in the pens, so we usually know who the worst ones are for eating beans or anything else they shouldn't.  She would have a few beans in her poo, but not even close to how many Rosie or Coquette have.

We have tried her on just about everything we have, but she would just pick at it.  The vet said to feed her whatever she will eat.  Yesterday I stayed home to monitor her when John went to his radiation treatment.  I called him to bring home, grapes, watermelon, and oranges to see if that would get her attention.  She ate about a cup and that was all.  So we made a trip to town to get a bale of alfalfa.  For those that know me, they know this is NOT something I feed on a regular basis.  We put it in with her and cut the strings.  She immediately started chewing on it, although not very effectively.  This morning I put some in a feed bucket and fluffed it up.  She has been picking out the leaves, so I would imagine the dried stems are hard for her to chew.  

This afternoon before John got home from his radiation treatment I cut her up some more fruit and she ate all I had.  I fed it to her by hand, which seemed to work.  She has never liked me, so I think she might like the idea of me being her slave........!!!  LOL  She will also eat applesauce off a plastic spoon, BUT, will not eat it if I put it in a pan on her feed.   

Everyone else is very unhappy today.  Yesterday afternoon they all went out for a couple of hours.  When it was time to do round up for feeding, most of them decided they didn't want to be fed, they would rather feed themselves.  After a lot of chasing, darting around and in general being monsters, we got everyone in except BlackJack and Tula.  John had put Tula's food in her pen and shut the gate, so when she go there far ahead of us, she couldn't get in.  John got there, opened the gate and she went in.  Unfortunately so did BlackJack, which is a no-no.  Tula can't stand to have any of them in her pen, so out she went with BJ in hot pursuit.  She didn't even slow down, but headed right back over to Burroland. It was almost dark, I went over with a flashlight while John fed the others, but never found them.  When John went out at bedtime to open up the internal gates, there stood the culprits, waiting patiently for the gates to be opened, so they could go into their pens.  Since they were late to the party, they spent the night in their pens, rather than being in with the others. 

SHE'S HOME............!!

We picked Miss Penny up this afternoon.  Our morning started out a little rough.  Because of the bean situation, the donkey are staying in the pens much to their disgust.  Sometime during the night, they managed to break one of the water pipes, which drained 2500 gallons of water out of the tank.  That meant no water available to fill up water buckets, or anything that took much water.  At the time we didn't know the pipe was broke, John thought one of the donkeys turned on the faucet, but once we got home this afternoon, we found out different.  It will take a long time to get the tank filled up again, because of the water buckets we use quite a bit of water each day, so now John is talking about having someone bring water in a truck to put in the tank, to boost the process.............SIGH.....!!!  We called Doug on the way home to see if there was water, before we found out about the broken pipe and he told us, NO WATER.  So we stopped and bought some gallon jugs of water to get us thru the night.  

Actually once we got home and John had a chance to look at it, he figured out some way to do something that will fill up the pressure tank, which is about 30 gallons.  So John plays with some switch and Doug fills buckets.  Not sure how long this new life style change will last, I'm sure John will fix it as soon as he can.  Thursday is his last day of radiation, might not get a chance until then.  In the meantime, the tank is filling up, but really, really slow.  

Penny is absolutely frisky, eyes bright, head up and ready for all the animal crackers she can get hold of.  They said this morning she tried using her front legs as weapons, guess she's tired of being a patient.  She hopped in the trailer and we headed home.  

We didn't tell her as per doctor's orders, she will have to stay in the hay barn "stall" 30 days, and then 6 weeks of "pen" time.  One thing, by the time she gets out of "jail", the beans will be gone.  When we go in the hay barn, she starts showing us, she knows where the "get out" place is.  I had John double latch it, not sure she isn't capable of getting it open.  

They had been feeding her soaked alfalfa powder, whatever that is.  The guy at Tractor Supply didn't seem to know either, so I just bought a bag of alfalfa cubes.  John ran some of them thru his leaf shredder and she ate some of that.  She also tried her regular beet pulp, senior feed  and Lakin Lite mush, and I even tried wetting her shredded alfalfa cubes and she tried that too.  I separated everything, so I can tell what she prefers.  They said to feed her what she will eat.  She has never been a big eater and in fact they said she is anorexic.  So we'll keep trying different things to see what is the biggest hit.  I feel funny feeding alfalfa, never have, never thought I would............LOL

You might know, I took my camera and didn't take one picture, either up at the clinic or once we got home.  Maybe tomorrow I can get one of her in her "new" home for the next 30 days

The races got rained out last night, so we got to bring the car home safe and sound.  I actually got to run the heat race, finished 3rd, but we don't know if the race will count or not.  We're suppose to race again next Saturday, so they might just throw last night out, and start all over again.

 

GOING TO PICK UP THE GIRL

 COQUETTE WILL BE GLAD TO HAVE HER BEST FRIEND BACK

The clinic called today and said Penny will be ready to come home Sunday.  She still isn't eating very much, although I guess she is enjoying the fresh grass a couple of times a day and they are feeding her alfalfa of some kind.  She won't want to leave all that attention and yummy food to come home to bermuda hay probably.  

Glad she is doing well, I hope she will continue to improve with no more problems.  John has the hay barn ready for her to stay in for a few days, it's softer in there and if it rains she will be out of the weather.  

So we'll feed early, and hit the road, Doug will let the others out in the afternoon.  Right now they are only going out for a couple of hours before time to round up for supper because of the over abundance of mesquite beans this year.  Last year wasn't bad, this year is making up for it.  The "fatties" are fattening up nicely and needless to say we are pretty gun-shy about someone else getting an impaction.  Of course they come out of the pens like a race horse coming out of the starting gate, their heads go down and their lips start vacuuming as fast as they can.  It's almost like they know we're going to control their time and they want to make the most of it.  

Right now Gigi has a swelling around her udder and belly.  We've had others have something like this before, in the summer.  Had the vet out a couple of times and they prescribed an antibiotic, that I keep on hand for emergencies, soooooo she's on her 2nd day and it's going down.  Gigi isn't really thrilled to be messed with.  We have to put her in a redneck squeeze to work with her.  I tried to put the antibiotic in her mush and that didn't work.  I have used powdered jello before to mix with something that doesn't taste very good, so I figured what the heck.  Yesterday morning when I "presented" it for her perusal and she almost swallowed the syringe.  Guess she likes strawberry/banana..........LOL  

PENNY IS IN RECOVERY.........!!

Dr. Voss just called and said she was in recovery and doing very well.  They had been calling every day to report and unfortunately there wasn't anything to report, nothing was moving in the pipeline, although they had tubed her with oil and Epsom salts.  The liquid was by passing the impaction and x-rays showed the impaction wasn't going anywhere.  So we were down to two options, actually three, wait and watch, surgery or euthanize her.  The longer we would watch the more damage could be done to her colon.  The impaction was passed the cecum, which to me would be a good thing.  All her test numbers were good, she's not acting painful, was more than willing to go out and eat grass a couple of times a day.  OK, so she's a 20 year old throw away with a nasty attitude towards people, is hunchbacked and has had a broken jaw and we have the power of trying to save her or not.  There's a saying from the movie Seabiscuit, "you don't throw them away, just because they are a little beat up", or something like that.  

Hopefully we'll get to bring her home in 2 or 3 days and she will be able to hang out with her friend Coquette.  Probably won't be going out to eat "wild" food for awhile, if ever......!!!  LOL  Actually everyone is on restriction now.  They are only going out from about 2:30pm to 5pm when they come in for evening feeding.  The 4 fatties, Rosie, Gigi, Buddy and Coquette (yes, Penny's friend) as of today are getting to go out for 2 hours at the most.  And we are watching poo, like detectives.  If anyone starts having more beans than actual poo, the restrictions are going to get more restrictive.  Unfortunately keeping them from going out doesn't do anything to get rid of the beans.  John and I raked up beans around the pen area yesterday morning and after some wind in the afternoon, you couldn't even tell it.  The ground was covered under the trees.  Georgia cleans pen a couple of times a week and lives just down the road.  She said she doesn't have very many beans at all......!!!!  SIGH....!!  

I just talked to Dr. Taylor that did the surgery.  My main concern was damage to her colon.  It's been 8 days since we noticed she had a problem.  I was afraid there might be damage to her colon since the impaction wasn't moving at all, but he said it was fine, no damage.  He also said his opinion is, we could have treated her for 2 months and the impaction wouldn't have moved, so we did the right thing.  I hate to have to second guess my decisions, but this was a good one. 

THE DONKEYS THINK WE'VE LOST OUR MINDS..........!!!

 This morning Buddy was acting colicky laying down and wiggling around.  Between that and seeing how much weight Rosie and Coquette have put on, not to mention Gizmo the little mule is starting to plumb up nicely too.  So..........I made the decision that everybody's time out of their pens is going to be sharply curtailed for awhile.  The problem with this scenario is, if the beans don't get eaten, the beans will still be there when they do get out.  Once the beans fall, if it rains on them they will turn black and the donkeys won't eat them.  But in the meantime there are beans everywhere and every time the wind blows more beans fall.  Our whole acreage is pretty well covered with mesquite beans, so there is no way we could rake them up. 

Buddy got a colic dose from Equine Colic Relief USA, and Coquette, Rosie and Gigi got to stay in the pens too.  Doug let the others out at 1pm, much to the disgust of these four.  As of tonight the whole herd will be staying in all night until 1pm tomorrow.  Using this routine, they will get about 4 hours out in the afternoon, but that's all.  I don't know if even 4 hours will be a problem, or if the beans on the ground will continue to be a problem.  We'll just have to see.  I know one thing, they are NOT going to be happy.

When we got home from John's radiation treatment, Buddy had passed some poo, in fact quite a bit with plenty of beans.  And he was acting normal, wanting out of that pen.......!!!  LOL

BUDDY BRAT LOOKING OUT OF DONKEY PRISON..........THANKS DOUG

 COQUETTE WANTS OUT.......THANKS, DOUG

The vet clinic called today and said Penny is doing OK.  She still hasn't eaten much, but they did more x-rays and said she is impacted with mesquite beans.  She actually passed a couple of wads of them and they saw plenty in the x-rays.  Although they did take her out in a grassy area and she ate some grass.  She's had an IV with glucose and will get another one, plus they will tube her again with water and add oil this time.  Hopefully things will start moving soon.