Not the greatest picture, but this is Rocky in front with Harley behind him, trying to figure out why there is another donkey in his pen. They almost look like twins.

We stayed around for awhile & they seemed to be getting along really well. A few feints here & there, Rocky spent quite a bit of time, rolling in Harley's dusting areas, but for the most part a very low key meeting.

Tonight I got a worry call from Sherry. She said we hadn't hardly got out of the driveway & Harley did a Dr. Jekell & Mr. Hyde personality change. He probably saw the trailer leave & figured out Rocky wasn't leaving in it. From her description it sounds like typical getting use to each other. But they were shocked that their darling sweet little Harley had decided to behave like a real ass..............!!!!!!

Rocky isn't a shrinking violet type of guy, so I'm sure after a day or so of getting familar with his new home, they will buddy up. He's already thumped Harley in the ribs, & is comfortable enough to lay down & roll so I don't think he's too worried about the situation.

I'm always glad when they get a wonderful forever home of their own, but I still miss each & every one of them.

THE SPRING WINDS ARE HERE FOR AWHILE

Much to everyone's disgust....!!!!! I keep telling them I can't fix it, but I swear they still give me dirty looks, like it's my fault.

Tomorrow Rocky will be going to his new home. It's still suppose to be windy, & hauling a trailer isn't much fun in wind. It's only down to Sierra Vista so hopefully poor little Rocky won't get flopped around too much. John is a great "trailer puller", so he'll do everything he can to make it a good trip for Rocky. I've ridden in the trailer, & it has a real good suspension system.

Once Rocky goes to his new home, we will try feeding Daisy out of her pen with Buster, Lucy & Frijolita. There's no reason for her to have to eat in a pen. Once she figured out we would let her out of the pen, after she had eaten her hay, she picked up the pace on getting rid of that hay, ASAP. Then she stands by the gate, & chortles at us to let her out.

The other 3 eat at about the same pace, & aren't chow hounds. If that works out she won't have to go in a pen at all. She has really gotten into this roaming around routine. She hangs around where Lucy & Buster is a lot of the time, & they would be perfect friends for her. So hopefully if they all eat together they will develop a little herd. Frijolita likes to hang with Tula & whatever group is running with her at the moment. Usually when she finishes eating she will go stand by Tula until we let her out.

A friend is going to help me trim Daisy's long hair for summer. Her Mom said she does lose most of the long thick hair, but we'll help her "shed" out a little sooner. It's warmer down here than it is around Prescott, so I'm sure she will appreciate having a "buzz" cut for summer. Not sure when we can do it. Katie's a vet tech, so we'll have to work around her schedule. I doubt if we will do it all in one session, it depends on how Daisy takes this new experience.

DAISY'S MOM CAME TO VISIT TODAY

Lynne & her friend got here this afternoon to visit with Daisy, & of course everyone else. We let the equines out on the 10 acres, so we had to go "find" them. Wasn't too difficult, most of them were right by the driveway, & Lynne saw Daisy when she drove in. Daisy seemed happy to see Lynne, & I know Lynne was happy to see Daisy. They visited for quite sometime & most of the other donkeys came by to get petted, & make sure there wasn't any food being offered. Lynne wants to come back in a few weeks to visit again, which is great. It's not often we have owners that stay involved in the donkeys lives. In fact I can count on one hand the owners that have called or e-mailed even once. Daisy is a very lucky girl to have such a caring family.

When Lynne & Daisy were visiting Rocky was trying to horn in. Daisy kept feinting kicks in his direction. I haven't noticed them having any problems, so I guess she was just telling him to stay away, while she visited with her Mom. He's still a kid in a lot of ways & likes to have his nose in everyone's business. He will be going to his new home Sunday, so he'll have to spend some time learning to get along with Harley & his new family. He'll do just fine, he doesn't have any negative issues that have to be dealt with, life is just a lot of fun from his point of view.

DAISY DISCOVERED BURROLAND

National Geographic picture of zebras & their shadows

Most of today, whenever I went outside I would see Daisy standing around with the "horsey" group. But when John went out to round up for supper, she was no where to be seen. Most of the donkeys were missing, & we assumed they were over on Burroland. When John ran out of equines over here he headed over there. He had been gone about 5 minutes & all sizes & types of donkeys came running from over there. And sure enough one of them was Daisy. She came thru the gate, trying to kick up her heels, dust flying everywhere. Everytime she came close to another donkey she'd try to kick up her heels. I think it's been awhile since she tried that, because she seems to be out of practice. I thought she was going to fall a couple of times. She disappeared down below the pens, while everyone else headed for their pens. John went down to find her & she followed him back to her pen like a lady. He said when the others saw him, they took off running to the gate, any excuse to act silly I guess. Daisy didn't get the "memo" & got left behind when the others started running. I guess she didn't know why they were running & started trying to catch up. John said he doesn't think she's ever ran in trees before, & she kept having to duck & swerve. If she had slowed down a little she might have seen the trails the others were running on. When they run like that over there, you would swear they are going to hit a tree. But they know where the trails are.

This morning Chester was walking with almost no limp at all. He was following John to his pen, & for a moment I didn't recognize him, he was walking so good. I still stretch his leg every day. In fact all I have to do is hold his leg up & hang onto the knee & he will pull against me, & stretch it himself. He will always limp, but hopefully we can keep the tendons from contracting & keep him from limping too much.

Judy has managed to wiggle her way into the inner circle of the horsey group. When they are standing under the mesquite, she usually ends up standing closer to Max, the horse than either Jack or Rusty. I assume there is some type of hierarchy at work. I know one thing, she has made a believer out of all the pen runners, looking for hay. All she has to do is pin her ears & they take the hint. BlackJack is the only one that even attempts to hold his ground, but it usually doesn't do him any good, she runs him off anyway.

ROCKY HAS HIS FOREVER HOME.......!!!

We checked out Rocky's new home today. He will have a friend named Harley, that almost looks like his twin. Harley really is a neat little guy, loves people & wants to be where the action is. It should be a wonderful home & I have no doubt they will become great friends. We almost always haul the donkeys to their new homes to make sure they settle in without any problems. Both Rocky & Harley are not territorial or aggressive in any way, so I don't anticipate any trouble.

This Thursday Daisy's mom is coming down from Prescott to visit Daisy. We've only talked on the phone, so it will be nice to meet her in person. So far Daisy hasn't found a buddy. I'm sure once she gets settled in she'll find someone to hang out with. Yesterday afternoon we fed early, which was a first for her. John had her to her gate 4 or 5 times & she would just keep going. Usually she walks right in, so we don't know if rounding her up early confused her, or if she was playing with John's mind. I came out of the feed room, pointed to her pen & told her to "git". She promptly went past it. I don't think she was impressed with my authoritorian attitude, because she turned around & went right in, once she had shown me she didn't have to "git".

Once Rocky leaves I might try feeding Daisy with Buster, Lucy, & Frijolita rather than by herself. They along with Rocky eat at bunks that aren't in pens. But Rocky is what you might call an energetic eater & thinks it's his job to make sure no one leaves any food in their pans or hay in the bunks. Those 3 hold their own with him, so he doesn't get away with much. They are all about as gentle as she is & if she eats with them, she would probably start hanging out with them too. At least Buster & Lucy, Frijolita is usually with Tula's herd.

For once the weatherman was right. They said it was going to be windy today, & they were RIGHT.......!!!!! The donkeys absolute hate wind with a passion. I looked out one time & Daisy was standing under a tree by the driveway. Her long hair was standing up & flopping all over the place.

When it was time for afternoon round-up, we noticed the usual suspects were missing & probably over on burroland. John rounded up everyone else & finally went over to find them. As soon as they see you they head for the pen area, which is really irritating, if you have walked the 20 acres looking for them. Tula & Chester went right in their pens, & I had Jenny & the 4 minis in their pens before John caught up.

Tomorrow we are going to haul a horse for a nice lady, who's friends or aquaintances wanted to charge her $75 to move her horse from one side of Tucson to the other. The old saying "with friends like that who needs enemies" comes to mind........!!!

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 & 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". So I guess that's what we're doing, helping life move along. I guess their time, gas & trailer are worth more than ours is...........!!!! (G)

Loading 34 sturdy Wehrmacht Cavalry horses aboard an Me-323 somewhere on the Eastern Front during WWII. From the book THE WORLD'S WORST AIRCRAFT by Bill Yenne

Daisy out visiting with one of her new friends, Anubis the dog. She seems to be absolutely fascinated with the dogs for some reason. Now that she is "out & about", I have to check her over a couple of times a day to make sure she doesn't have any mesquite sticks stuck in her hair. This morning she had 4 caught up in her hair, a couple of them had already started to wind up in the hair.

She's decided that hay pellets are pretty good & is eating her hay without leaving some to munch on later, so she gets to go out on schedule with everyone else. Tula is still trying to dominate her by trying to herd her. Daisy really isn't very impressed, when Tula tries, Daisy just goes in her pen & stops. For some reason Tula won't go in to herd her in there. I guess it's neutral territory.

DAISY'S OUT & ABOUT

Daisy got released from solitary this afternoon. She went out & promptly ate a poor little greasewood bush about 8 inches tall. I don't know what they find so tasty about greasewood, but it seems they all go for them the first time they get out. Didn't see her for awhile, & the next thing we see a rather large herd following her, with Tula in the lead. We watched for awhile, & made sure they weren't being mean. Tula got a little close a couple of times, & Daisy threw a kick in her direction. A few minutes later, everyone dispersed & went on about their business. When John rounded everyone up at feeding time this evening, she was in the wash by herself, & readily followed him to her pen. We always wonder if they will go back in their pen, & they always do. She finished her hay tonight, so she got to go out. Wonder where she will be in the morning?

We had a nice couple come out today to see if Rocky might fit into their family. They got a donkey last month & are looking for him a friend. We will do a home study next week-end, & if everything is OK, Rocky will have his forever home. They also might be interested in little Pepsi. He has had a sarcoid tumor under his eye at least twice & it looks like it's coming back again. It will probably have to be surgically removed, so I don't know if we would let him go at this time or not.

Daisy has settled in just fine, we'll probably let her out tomorrow. Frijolita visits with her quite often thru the fence, so maybe they will be friends.

We tried putting Rocky in with BlackJack & Cisco to eat. It didn't work very well, even though we put an extra feeding bunk in, so they couldn't keep him away from the hay. He was upset at not being with Lucy, Buster & Frijolita. He couldn't take time out from running the fence & yelling to do something as unimportant as eating. BlackJack & Cisco thought that was great, they ate everything he didn't. So after that one abortive attempt at changing, we put him back out with his "herd". We will just have to watch to keep him from scarfing up all his feed & running the other 3 off of theirs.

Now that John is back we are trying the new idea of doing all the hay in one run instead of two. It's working out pretty good, still have a few glitches to fix, but all in all I think it will get the hay handed out quicker. Quicker seems to be very important to all of them. Except Daisy, she's is a well mannered lady, & doesn't rush you when you come in with feed or hay. Her Mom said she had never had hay pellets before, but it didn't take her long to decide they are pretty good.

I do see a problem when she starts going out of the pen. She isn't use to eating her hay until it's gone. She likes to eat a little & come back during the day to finish it. That isn't going to work with this bunch of "pen" runners. They all know who leaves hay, who drops hay & don't pick it up & who they can run off of "found" hay. At first we will probably only let her out during the day, & leave her in her pen at night with the majority of her hay for the day. That way she can eat at her leisure. If she figures out that she needs to eat hay when it's available, then we can let her out at night too.