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.  

Ruthie & Aaron checking out the new digs.  At least the small pen they are in for the time being.  Cathy said she'll probably let them out tomorrow to run around on the 2+ acres.  

Aaron meeting his new dog friend, at least I hope they will be friends.  Ruthie might have something to say about that, until she figures out the family logistics. 

When we loaded them this morning, Ruthie jumped right in the trailer, & Aaron was trying to figure out how to get up where momma was.  John put one of his front feet in the trailer, & when he started to put the other one up, Aaron figured it out & hopped right in.  

The trailer ride didn't seem to bother either of them at all.  They jumped out & started looking around.  Aaron is really a laid back little guy, when we got ready to load them, he was laying down.  I went over & mauled him trying to get him to stand up.  Wasn't interested.  So John went over & not only mauled him, but grabbed his legs & rolled him on his back.  Finally he decided we weren't going to leave him alone, so he got up.

I warned Cathy about his latest "fun" thing to do.  He likes to run up behind you & either butt you like a goat or act like he's going to bite you, either of which might be cute now, but not when he weighs 500 pounds.  So I told her about kicking back at him, like an equine would, to make him stop.  I've seen what he does to his momma, rearing up & biting her on the neck............not acceptable....!!!

Yesterday morning Pepper choked, we think on hay.  We worked with him for awhile & nothing was happening, so I called & the vet clinic said bring him in.  I had to take Mother into town for an appointment, so John took Pepper.  On the way into town, I stopped by the clinic to see how it was going.  Pepper was in the stocks, & John said when he got to the clinic, Pepper had his ears up, was licking his lips & was ready to get out of the trailer..........!!!! In other words the trailer ride had worked it's magic & he had cleared.  They still tubed him to make sure it was all gone, but he was fine. 

Seems to come around just like clockwork on a regular basis.  Actually around here, one day is pretty much like the other.  But Garfield is one of my "heros", & he's good at telling it like it is.......!!!

Looks like Ruthie & Aaron will be going to their foster home Thursday.  He'll have lots of room to run, & they will have a new friend, Breezy the horse.

The people want to adopt, but that's not going to happen until he is gelded.  He actually has something in his little "purse", but I can't tell if it is one or two somethings.....!!! He is just 5 weeks old tomorrow,  & the vet complained last time when she gelded Tucker at about 8 months old, said she had worked on bigger dogs....!!!  LOL  So we'll wait a couple of months & see how it goes.  If the weather starts getting warm & the flies come out, we'll have to go ahead & do it.

Our friends from Missouri are going to go with us to deliver them.  They come out here as "snowbirds" & over the years have gone on many adventures with us.  In fact they were with us on our first big rescue of 2 jennies with their babies about 6 or 7 years ago.  Every time they come out we usually find something to "entertain" them. 

Someone has been stripping the bark off the mesquite trees.  John came in this morning a pronounced Molly as the culprit.  He put chicken wire on some of the trees after he caught her, but she'll just move to others.  Mesquite are pretty tough & will give up a lot of bark before it kills them, but it makes the trees look like they've been chewed on, wonder why......????

I would imagine something has been missing from her diet, although we've had others that really liked to eat bark.  I might try adding some supplements to her feed & see if it makes a difference.

John has also noted that none of the equine like Jack.  If he comes into their space they leave.  He said Rusty the big white mule is the only one that even tolerates him.  I don't know why, I haven't seen him be obnoxious.  John said sometimes Molly doesn't even want to go into their pen at feeding time.

Yesterday she was trying to eat their mush from the end of the bunk, & of course couldn't reach it.  Jack stopped eating, went over & pushed her to the side of the bunk, so she could reach the mush.  That to me is unusual behavior in a good way, but obviously his good behavior isn't impressing the rest of the herd.

A couple of days ago when we drove in, EVERYBODY, & I do mean everybody was running, all over the place.  They weren't chasing anyone, it just looked like they all decided to run for awhile.  The mules were in it, Ruthie & Aaron, well actually BlackJack wasn't running, he was walking fast in the area.  I think he figured out if he stayed in an area walking around, they would eventually come back around, & he didn't have to waste all that energy.  BlackJack doesn't move around, unless he absolutely has to.

I have a new pet..........  Yesterday there was a small wolf spider in one of the feed buckets.  I had a heck of a time getting him out & on the wall, he didn't want to get out.  This morning he was in another feed bucket, I assume he's trying to catch something to eat.  This time of year I would imagine pickings are pretty slim, & he looks like he could use a good meal.

I have a small insect habitat cage, so he has a new home for awhile.  John had seen a cricket in the well house a couple of days ago, but couldn't find him.  So when we go to Tucson tomorrow we'll get some crickets at PetSmart.  I'm not sure how often they eat, maybe they will know at the pet store.  

I'll keep him until it warms up & we start seeing bugs. 

Today we finally got out to visit Chester & his "herd".  This is John meeting everybody, as they try to figure out if he has any treats.  

Chester & Buster Brown went into a great home a couple of years ago, & about 7 months after they rehomed, they were running & playing & Buster literally dropped dead.  Had never been sick, needless to say everyone was shocked.  

Norton came to live with them within a week, & Macgyver & Kiwi joined the herd this fall.  

As you can see they are all very friendly & I think Chester remembered me.  Of course he was always very personable, & enjoys people, so maybe he was just being his friendly self.  

He's been under treatment for Valley Fever for almost a year.  It's not very common for equine to get it.  They had noticed he was lethargic & was limping pretty bad on the leg that had a bone infection when he was here that required surgery.  He was tested & that was the diagnosis.  They said he has really perked up & is usually in the middle of any & all boy wrestling & running.  Yesterday they had blood drawn to see if they can quit with the daily meds.

Tomorrow we will do a home study for Ruthie & Aaron.  He is such a little ham, there have been quite a few people come out just to see him.  And he has provided them with as much as entertainment as he can.  He's already learned to present himself for petting & cooing when anyone shows up.

Of course Jack & Molly the little mules have already learned the drill too, people show up, let's go see if there might be treats, or at least lots of petting. 

The heated Rubbermaid water tank is a big hit, when they come out of their pens after eating

This morning about 2:30 John said he was up & outside to see what the heck was going on.  I slept thru it, unless it comes thru the bedroom, I'm probably not going to care.  Good thing John hears all these things.  

He said he could hear Molly making the "alert" sound obviously mules make too.  Donkeys will make the hair stand up on the back of your head, when they "alert snort".  He could also hear the sound of thundering hooves.

When he got out there, he said Rusty, the 34 year old fool was running around, with the mini mules watching him & Molly alerting.  He said Rusty would stop & they'd all look to the south east for awhile.  All the other donkeys weren't in sight, probably over in Burroland.  The range cows roam around all the time, but they've all seen them many times, so who knows what was going on. 

Changed Mother's bandage for the first time this morning.  I know it had to hurt, but she was a good little trooper about it............this time.  I'm sure as time goes on her cooperation level might slip a little.  Of course the 1st time you have to figure out what you're doing & how to do it, so it takes more time & bumbling around.  Hopefully I'll get it down to a science after a few days. 

The little mules have settled in nicely.  We were told they were bonded & have to stay together.... hmmmm...........!  Don't think they got the memo.  We've seen this before, a couple of "bonded" animals come in & once they are here, it's like they don't know each other.  They do sort of stay within sight of each other, but Molly doesn't even want to go into the pen with Jack sometimes, & he doesn't care either.  If she tries to eat on the same side of the bunk as him, he pins his ears & makes ugly faces.  He's the one the woman said was so bonded, go figure. 

Took Mother to have 2 squamous cell cancers removed from her temple yesterday.  After the doctor was done, we had to wait until the lab made sure he had gotten all the cancer cells, so he wouldn't have to go in again.  It took a few hours of waiting, but at least he got it all & she didn't have to have more cutting done.  

It's going to take weeks to heal, it's an area about 4 inches long & 2 inches wide, thru all the layers of skin.  They could do plastic surgery with skin from her shoulder, & it would heal faster, but she opted to just let it heal as it is.  

It's still got a pressure bandage on until tomorrow, then the fun begins......daily dressing changes.  She's already said every day won't be necessary..........hope this doesn't turn into a power struggle....!!!

Got the race car back with the rebuilt engine & it runs pretty good.  John wants me to put some time on the motor before we take it out to the track.  Guess I'll be picking up the mail & have some fun at the same time for awhile.  We have a new neighbor in the area that has a little car of some kind that runs up & down the dirt road wide open.  I told John if the road was a little wider I'd see if he wanted to see just how good his little car is......!!!! As it is some of the mesquite trees are a little close & he might not want to take a chance on his street car "visiting" one.....!!!

It looks like Aaron & Ruthie will be going to a new home, if the home study goes well.  The people will be fostering them until we have him gelded, then they can adopt them.  

I will not let a jack go off the property without being gelded.  They have a mare that is by herself, so we'll try it this way.  Hopefully he'll drop soon & we can take him to the vet before fly season gets here.  

If I was Ruthie I'd already be tired of him, now that they are going out of the pens, he runs, & jumps on her all day long.  When we put them in the pen for the night, he basically collapses on the ground.  John was afraid there was something wrong with him, but as obnoxious as he is with momma, he seems to be just fine. 

This morning when we were feeding hay he was laying down when we came thru the pen with the golf cart.  John had to drive around him to get thru the next gate.  I stayed behind, got down on the ground with him & started "wallering" him, all over.  He didn't have a problem with it, & in fact seemed to enjoy me scratching an itch he was trying to nibble.  He's still a little bit touchy about picking up his feet, like a farrier would.  What's really weird is, he's better with his back feet than his front...........go figure......!!!
 

Tomorrow morning, very early, I am taking Mother into Tucson to have a couple of squamous cell cancers removed from her temple.  Her primary doctor took them off twice & they came back, so this time we'll see if an oncologist surgeon can make them go away.  We may be there all day depending on how many times they have to go back & cut more.  They want to get clean edges & said they might go back 3 or 4 times, so we might be there all day.  I'm taking one of my Elmer Kelton books to read.

I'm in the process of reading everything he wrote, which is going to take awhile.  Glad I found Abe Books on the internet.  I've bought most of his books, used, for a dollar.  Of course there's shipping, but it still makes for pretty cheap reading. 

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. 

Today is going to be a busy day as far as lifestyle changes go.  Ruthie & Aaron are out while the pens are being cleaned this morning.  They'll go back in the pen, & Jack & Molly the little mini mules, will get to go out with the herd for the day.  If this all goes well, tomorrow will see everybody out at the same time.  Ruthie is pretty protective of him, but I've noticed he isn't the clinging type.  He likes to wander off away from her & just keeps going until something scares him.  Then he takes off running & bucking to momma, as fast as he can.  He was 3 weeks old yesterday, & should be OK, as long as he doesn't wander off from her & think he's lost.  

Diega was euthanized this morning.  At least she is free of pain now.