GIZMO IS OUT.........!!!

Yesterday morning I took his halter off.  He was pretty good about it, although the halter had been on him so long it was very stiff and hard to unbuckle.  He got impatient and took off, but came back and I got it off.  He has the shape of the halter outlined, on his face,  complete with bald spots because it was too tight, for a long time probably.  

He did very well, came out and went right to Casper, who was staying in his pen since he can't behave.  Of course he started sticking his head thru the corral panels, mouth wide open in a rather threatening manner.  Gizmo, spun and kicked at him, actually got him a couple of times.  So he's not going to be a push over. 

Since he ignored the donkeys and went to hang with Casper, my assumption is, he is NOT a hinny, but is a mule.  When we checked on him during the day most of the time he was in Casper's area, although he would go off and explore.  

At first he went in Tula's pen, which is next to Casper's.  I think he has always been in a pen, or at least for the 6 years Jean had him, he went in, rolled in the sand and acted like it suited him.  We closed all the pens, so he couldn't just stay in what looked like his comfort zone.  After all there is a lot to see and do on 10 acres.  We had Burroland closed, just in case we had to round him up at feeding time.  

He spent the day doing his thing.  Round up was not a problem, if you have food on your body.  He is more than happy to follow you anywhere.  I went out in the afternoon with animal crackers to see if he would follow me.  Not a problem, in fact he's like Penny, he'll run right up your back.........LOL

Today we are doing a home study, a possible home for him with a donkey gelding and a little mini mare.  I have a feeling we better find him a home quickly, or he might be here permanently.  I always accuse John of being a hoarder, but I kinda like this little guy............LOL  

He'll go out today and Casper will stay in like yesterday.  But tomorrow we will all be here all day, so we'll go ahead and let the little white tornado out and see what happens.  I'd like to think he will behave himself, but his track record isn't all that good and he has the scars to prove it.  Hopefully the 5 of us can keep the situation from getting out of control, if necessary. 

Poco Mierda Blanco Diablo!

Casper has a new name.........  If you know Spanish you might be horrified........!!!! LOL

Thanks for the pictures Linda, they show the natural progression of the little "darling".....!! LOL

Mules large or small, have a way of approaching life that doesn't necessarily bode well for the people around them.

We came home from town yesterday afternoon to a tale of Casper's adventures.  Thank goodness Lynn, Linda and Doug were here, so he might have been to Willcox by the time we got home.

There is a 2 strand wire fence around Doug's RV.  Hasn't been a problem, but if you look at the 1st picture, Casper is really close to Doug's RV.  Doug ran him out, and said he actually came back in right in front of him, as if to show Doug he could do what he wanted.

Then he stood out in the middle of the property, planning his next adventure I guess.  If you notice in the 4th picture you can just barely see him up the road, as he is headed for Gammon's Gulch.  They got him to turn around and head the right direction.  Linda stayed to open the gate, if he knew enough to turn in when he got there.  Couldn't leave it open or the others might have went on a hike too.

When he got close Linda opened the gate, told him to come in and wonders of wonders.........he did.  I'm surprised he didn't just keep on going.  It seems like he's probably been in trouble a lot in his life.  If he gets caught he gives up real quick.........LOL

Over the years our fences have been adequate, donkeys usually aren't fence challengers.  But they will take advantage of a weak spot in the fence, especially during mesquite bean season, when they can see all those neglected beans in the neighbor's yard.  The only other "challenger" was Jack the other little mini mule we had.  Maybe it's a mule thing.

He is still trying to get to Gizmo.  Today we will let Gizmo out to explore for awhile, then we'll let the donkeys out and I haven't decided what to do with Casper.  He'll probably stay in his pen for the day, that is if we can keep him in there.  He went under the corral panels, not long after he got here and took off. 

IT MAY BE TIME FOR RUSTY..........!!!

Got a call from Rusty the mule's foster Mom.  Rusty and Reba went out about a year ago to be with Ruth an older mule that had lost her horse friend.  

Kris will be calling the vet today to have an evaluation.  He's lethargic, standing around with his eyes closed on a gorgeous spring day and wants Kris to be with him.  He's had spells in the past where he would go off feed and the vet would come out evaluate him, usually give him a B-12 shot and he'd be good to go for awhile.  Kris seemed to think this is different, he is about 37 years old and we use quality of life as the decision.  If the vet can come out today, we'll let her be the final word.  

Rusty about 10 years

We are all up early to feed.  Today there is an Earth Day Celebration at Kartchner Caverns and we will be taking the 4 little minis for display, like we did last year with Ruger and Wister.  We think everything is ready to go, taking 2 trailers, one for donkeys and one for corral panels to make a pen.  We've talked about putting a frame on the outside of the stock trailer to hang the panels on, but it's one of the "round to it" things.  

Should be fun, people that have never been around equine and never thought about donkeys, usually love the little ones, I guess they are less scary.  Of course they have cute little faces too......!!!

Sounds like Gizmo might have a home, with a mini horse and a small donkey.  We'll do a home study next week and see how it goes.

UPDATE:  Rusty was euthanized this morning.  His gums were purple, his heart was racing and his breathing was hard when the vet got there.  She said she could hydrate him and do whatever she could to get him thru this, BUT chances are he would either not come out of it, or crash soon if he did.

 
Kris said Reba laid down beside him this afternoon for about 2 hours, then got up and went about her business, guess she was saying good-bye.  Kris has also taken in another molly mule, so it will just be the 3 girls now.  I would imagine Rusty was thrilled with another girl, he always thought he was a ladies man.

RIP old man, we have a lot of good memories of you being a mule.......!!!

CASPER IS GETTING AN EDUCATON.....!!!

Well at least I hope he is.  This morning when round up was going on, for everyone to go in their pens for breakfast, Casper started "attacking" Gizmo in his pen.  John got the BB gun, stood on the porch of the feed room, which is at least 20 feet away and popped Casper on the butt.  John said he tucked his fanny and took off running............right into his pen......!!!   He's obviously not stupid.........LOL  From that distance it won't hurt him, but obviously he felt it.  

 Gizmo is a little stockier, but I have a feeling it doesn't matter with Casper, he didn't get all the scars he's carrying, by giving up, I'm sure.....!!

We haven't had to use the BB gun since Paladin was here, after a recent gelding and thought every jenny on the property was fair game, just had to catch one.  He was chasing Tula one time and she ducked under a large tree limb........he didn't.  He almost went down, and as it was had quite a nasty swelling open wound on his forehead.  Didn't even slow him down, unfortunately neither did the BB gun.  The only thing that worked was finding him a home with another gelding.......!!

BACK FROM OUR ADVENTURE

Made it up to ShowLow and back as planned.  Even took a side trip to Snowflake to visit with Christine at Equine WellBeing Rescue.  I had never met her in person, but we had ran across each other on the internet a few times.

 

Had a great visit, for an hour or so, met Larry her husband and had a great time.  She just got in a load of mini donkeys from the large hoarding rescue, Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue did a few weeks ago.  They haven't had a lot of handling, but she's going to work with them and get them ready to be adopted.  Some of them are pregnant jennies, so the people adopting them, will get a "two-fer" good deal....!!! 

Spent the night in Showlow and went the next morning to pick up the hinny.  He seems to be willing to go along with what's happening.  The woman had him 6 years and her horse and mini mare both have died.  She is 81, has Parkinson's, and wanted him with other animals.  So many people don't plan ahead and when the time comes, without advanced planning the family doesn't know what to do.  

We went thru Globe and came back thru Springerville.  The Springerville route is highway 191.  Seems like everyone we've talked to knows not to go that way, unless you're ready for an adventure.  It's over 7,000 feet in quite a few areas, lots of switchbacks, and no a guardrail in sight.  One area has signs no vehicles over 40 feet because the switchbacks are so "close".  And we got to see rain, snow, sleet and freezing rain, for most of the mountain part of the trip.....!!!   LOL  We really enjoyed the trip, but John isn't comfortable hauling an animal, under those circumstances.  He said his left leg is sore today from having the foot up in the air prepared to put on the brake.  Saw a mule deer, and wild turkey, both by themselves, which is unusual.  

The little guy did just fine.  We haven't come up with a name yet.  No one likes my choice, so we're having a "conference" today, everyone can input their choice and then we'll have to decide which one  works.  

This video was taken this morning.  We thought Casper was trying to visit with the new guy and trying to keep everyone away from his new friend, which we all thought was so cute.  Until Casper started running at Linda, instead of the dogs and donkeys.  Now we're thinking this might be the bad behavior he has been accused of.  

Since taking the video he has tried to dig under the pen, and has stuck his nose thru the corral panel with his mouth open.  So it should get interesting in a couple of days when we let the new guy out.  We might put Casper in his pen, so he can't attack, if that's what he's planning.  This seems to be more involved than just a testosterone high.  I thought he might have been scared of the horses the people had, but he is initiating the confrontation.  So we may have to re-evaluate what to do with him.  He doesn't react to the donkeys at all, so he may have to either go with donkeys, or possibly as the only equine.  Dogs didn't seem to bother him, although this morning he was going after them too. 

We really had a good time, ate great Mexican food in Globe on the way up.  Monday night we found a great steak house in Showlow, biggest 8 ounce sirloin I ever saw.  On the way home once we got past Springerville, before lunchtime and after that there wasn't anyplace to eat or get gas until we got to Morenci and Clifton. They border each other and we drove thru slowly, and there wasn't a place to eat in sight.  Got to the city limit of Clifton and saw a sign for Tyler's Texas Bar Be Que, at a rather ramshackled building.  Looked like an old Mercantile store.  Went in and what a treat, the walls were covered with memorabilia from many different areas, we couldn't see it all.  John's brisket and my pulled pork sandwich were as good as we've ever had.  The waitress has a familiar accent, I asked her where she was from, she said Jal, New Mexico, born and raised.  I doubt that there are many people in the world that know where Jal is, or even care.  It is about 90 miles from anywhere in all directions, a few hundred people, in the middle of nowhere.  But it's close enough to west Texas for the accent to carry over I guess.  I ran out of gas there one time, actually about 20 miles out of town.  The men are gentlemen, they'll pick up a woman carrying a 5 gallon jerry can down the highway.......LOL  

We had our naming conference, everyone from Dillon that picks up poo to Suzanne sister of Michelle who has the weekly task of mucking out the house, got involved.  Not to mention our good friends, Marv and Bettie that came to visit for the afternoon.  We ended up with a tie between Scooter and Gizmo, so that's why Michelle called Suzanne to break the tie.........Gizmo won, so Gizmo he is. 

HEADING FOR SHOW LOW.......!!!

We are leaving this morning to go up to Show Low to pick up the little hinny. We actually have no idea what we are going to pick up.  She says it's a hinny, but they call it Donkey.  She says he's been used for roping, but mules or in this case a hinny aren't usually roped, so I'm wondering if his aversion to halters and leads is taken as roping abuse?  Our experience with mules that haven't been in stable comfortable homes, really have no interest in cooperation with what they see as stupid unnecessary people in their lives.  

Lynn and Linda will be in charge while we're gone.  Doug has been in the hospital with pneumonia for a few days, but is suppose to come home today.  Lynn and Linda have the routine down pat, and Linda will even have a tour today.  She's great at doing them, I think she likes talking about the donkeys.  

I raced Saturday night, got another "DNF", did not finish......!!!  It was almost a replay of the last race, I didn't finish.   All of a sudden the car starts coughing and sputtering and eventually quit, so I almost couldn't get off the track.  Where I stopped in the pits, left a puddle of gas.  John had changed the complete fuel system, so needless to say he wasn't very happy about the situation.  

I went out with 1/4 tank of gas, and the tank was bone dry, when John checked it.  Got it home, he checked it the next day and found a broken clip that holds the gas line to the fuel filter.  Once it came loose, with the fuel pump, still pumping, I basically ran out of gas.  I'm sure not having a very good start this year.  Hopefully we'll get all the bad luck over early, and do good the rest of the season............OR NOT........!!!  LOL

This is the type of thing that usually happens with young males age 16-25, sometimes after saying to a friend, "hold my beer and watch this".......!!  

This tarantula was found in one of the pens and we were afraid she would get stepped on.  So John picked her up and started showing her to Lynn and Linda.  

She was on Linda's hand for awhile, then John took her back and she dug her fangs into his finger. 

 Linda got this picture, just as she nailed him with her fangs.  Notice the open mouthed surprised look on his face...!!  LOL

 We tried everything we could think of to get her to let go, stuck John's hand in the freezer, turned her upside down, but nothing worked.  Called the Desert Museum, they called back and were amazed she held on for 37 minutes, before John finally got her to retract her fangs.

We called Tony, that has been out a lot this spring, with Mike building shelters.  He got a degree in whatever bug study is called.  He said they usually just strike, so he was surprised at her tenacity also.  He asked if she was thin and she was thinner than the female usually are.  He said she probably just came out of hibernation and was really hungry.  He said she was probably trying to eat John, guess we should have tried to find a cricket and waved it in front of her.  John finally got one fang loose and she gave up.  We took her back where we found her, but put her up against the shelter wall and later on she had disappeared.

This is the result of her attack.  We soaked it, a little triple antibiotics, bandaid and he was good to go.  The experts said it's somewhat like a bee sting.  John said it wasn't bad, except when she dug the fangs in deeper, when he was trying to get her to turn loose. 

PROBABLY NOT CASPER'S FAVORITE DAY..........!!!

You would think going to the dentist was the most fun day to do today for the herd.  John drove the truck and trailer up in the driveway, came in the house and this is what it looked like when we went out to load Casper.  Not sure who is in the trailer, might be Boaz.  Linda is in the middle, not easy to see her.

 This is me taking a picture of Linda taking a picture of Dr. Debra working on the little man.  She is proud of the fact that she has never had to "drug" a mule to do their teeth.  Well, the little guy didn't ruin her record, he was pretty good, except for trying to crunch her hand in his mouth.  She has special gloves so it wasn't a big deal.

A woman came over and said Hi Tish..... I am terrible with names and faces, always have been and age hasn't helped the problem.  Actually we had never met, BUT, she was instrumental is saving Rosie and Gigi from being shot and buried, she called to see if we could save them a few years ago.  She said she has been keeping up with Casper's story too.  It was nice to finally meet her and get to thank her for getting involved.  Can't imagine not having these girls around.  

There was also a couple there headed home to California from a cutting horse show in Ft. Worth.  They had stopped off at the sale barn, where Dr. Debra works when she comes to Benson.  I think they would have loaded Casper up, when they left if we had said yes.  We were all teasing around, but I got the idea that they would have taken him.  He is a cute little bugger.  Mike Robertson owns the sale barn and said he remembered Casper and thinks every time he came thru the complaint was, he tried to fight with horses.  He's not even looked at the donkeys cock eyed, the only problem we have is going thru the fence to eat grass at the neighbor's yard.  Found out yesterday, that although he's been caught 3 times, he's been over there more than that.  But he seems to be making an effort to not upset us, by making sure to be on this side of the fence when we might catch him, otherwise...........!!!  LOL

This was one of their horses.  He might not look as impressive here as he did in person, but he was gorgeous.  Wasn't too impressed at having Casper where he could see him.  If horses have never seen a donkey or mule, or a mini, sometimes they will absolutely freak out.  This horse was jumping and bucking in a small pen.  Then he'd stop, blow and snort.  After a couple of minutes of acting like a nut, then he was fine.  In the same situation if a donkey saw something that was that scary, they would probably freeze and look at it.  

WHEW WE'RE STAYING AHEAD OF THE GAME.........SO FAR.......!!!

BLACKJACK AND JOHN RESTING BETWEEN "TAKES"..........THANKS LINDA FOR THE PICTURE

Sure glad Doug, Linda and Lynn are here this week.  John and I have been hanging out in doctor offices.  What that means is, you are there before your appointment and maybe, if you are lucky they come get you within 1/2 hour, put you in a room to wait, and wait, and wait some more.  So although we try to make appointments to get home on time, it doesn't always work out that way.  But when we got home,  the donkeys were taken care of, so we didn't have to rush so much.  Thanks guys........!!!!

Still not much problem with flies, which is really nice.  I started the predator wasps early this year, Spalding Lab  said start in February, so that's what we did.  I feel sorry for the little wasps that get delivered in cold weather I would imagine the freezing nights do them in pretty quick, unless they find a warm place in the poo pile with maggot eggs, that's what they parasite, and then the eggs don't hatch..........!! 

Little Casper is managing to stay in the doghouse.  One afternoon when we came back from Tucson, Doug met us at the gate with a story to tell and Linda as a witness.  

They were out by the pens which are close enough to the neighbor's place that a little white mule shows up really good if you happen to see him.  Doug saw him on the other side of the fence and yelled at him.  Doug said he came to the fence, got down on his knees and squirmed and wiggled until he popped out on this side.  The little stinker obviously knows where he belongs and also obviously doesn't care.........LOL  Doug said he was glad Linda saw Casper do it too, or we wouldn't believe him. 

 Actually, Casper isn't the first one to escape like that.  A few years ago, Jack which incidentally was another little mini mule (there seems to be a pattern) was upset because we closed Burroland during mesquite bean season to try to control the amount of beans they had access to.  Jack seemed to think he was being mistreated and went thru the fence more than once, in fact it was like a daily occurance.  He never went anywhere except Burroland, he wasn't trying to escape, he just wanted to eat beans...........!!! 

Here's another picture Linda took of us recently.  They had been staying at one of the local RV parks, before they moved out here. I guess they participated in a lot of the entertainment in the park, and were invited back after they left when something was going on.  

So Linda and Lynn asked us to go to a end of the season dance, they held, before all the winter visitors hit the road for home.  The guy doing the music usually plays somewhere in Tombstone and was really good.  I bugged John to dance, actually for quite awhile, before he finally gave in.  Then we tried to figure out the last time we had even danced.  We think it was prior to 1982.......!!!  We both survived the experience with our toes intact and didn't fall down, so I guess it was fun....!!!   Sure different than the old jitterbug days, when John use to do lifts with me.  I'm sure one of us would get hurt if he tried that again.....!!! LOL  Some things are just better as memories, I think. 

GOING TO BE AN INTERESTING WEEK & BEYOND

The calendar for the next 10 days or so, is packed with fun things to do.  Well, fun might be a little over the top. Today is the great grandkids birthday party in Tucson and we'll have to rush home to a prior commitment.

John goes to an eye specialist Monday to have needles stuck in his eye.  YUCK!  He has fluid behind the retina, whatever that means.  Tuesday he gets to go see the skin doctor in Tucson.  Wednesday, our new mattress is being delivered.  According to Temperpedic ads, you will be a new person after sleeping on their mattresses, so we'll see, we're hoping that we will feel like 40 year olds........!!!    And John will be taking the neighbor lady to do her monthly shopping. 

 Thursday, Casper has an appointment with the dentist.  We figure if he is 15 years old and no one ever cared enough to get him gelded, they probably didn't take care of his teeth either.  He's warming up to us a little, but I doubt that he will ever be, warm and fuzzy.  

Friday, is practice with the race car before racing Saturday.  I already practiced yesterday, when we brought the car home from a friend that did some work on it.  John has drove himself crazy, since the last race, when it vented gas and I got black flagged, trying to figure out and fixing stuff.  Some of you know we live in a rather "rural, rustic" area.  As in mostly local traffic and not a lot of sheriff attention. 

The problem with the car didn't show up until the race was almost over, so to test it, I need to run at least 10 miles at speed, so the car would have time to build up pressure in the gas system, enough to vent fuel.  We unloaded the car about 3 miles from home and away I went, with John following in the truck to watch for venting.  No one caught up with us, but 4 cars passed going the other way.  Wonder what stories they told when they got home......!!! LOL  I passed our turn off and went another 9 miles north, where the pavement ends, turned around and drove home.  YIPPEE!  no venting, but I still want to go to practice, driving on a road isn't the same as driving on a track.  

Sunday is actually open, a day of rest I guess, to get ready for next week.  With Lynn and Linda here we don't have to be home for feeding, so Monday we are heading out to Show Low to pick up the little hinny and come home Tuesday.  The woman was happy that we can do the whole trip.  She was having trouble finding a trailer, so this will work out really well.  The rest of the week has nothing planned.............so far.....!! LOL  

Until Saturday, when we will be setting up a donkey petting pen for Earth Day, at Kartchner Caverns.  We took Ruger and Wister last year and will probably take all 4 of the minis this year.  Since Linda and Lynn are here I'm going to "try" to bathe all 4 of them.  Donkeys love to be dusty and people hate to get dust on their hands...........so.........we'll see how this goes.  I'm pretty sure the donkeys won't be impressed.  They'll love all the attention...........the bath.......not so much............!!!

This is what happens when lazy FedEx driver doesn't put package in large container, specifically put by gate for that purpose.  

We actually found it inside the fence about 10 feet.  Over the years I have developed a love/hate relationship with package delivery companies and pretty much have their number on speed dial.  They are always very apologetic, but if they get a new driver, we usually go thru a learning curve.....LOL

It doesn't do any good to explain to office personal, that a gate left open, could mean their driver would be helping to round up a lot of donkeys.  Or the price of colic surgery for ingesting plastic or other inedible items, is quite expensive.  Not to mention items destroyed by curious donkeys.  A brand new aluminum radiator with hoof prints all over it, comes to mind.  What really irritated me about that one, the company replaced the radiator, not FedEx, even though I was very adamant who caused the problem.

OUR FAMILY IS GROWING IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE

Doug's RV is on the left of the screen with his SUV in the foreground.  But if you look beyond that on the right you might notice another RV.

Lynn and Linda are one of the nicest couples you could ever meet.  Earlier in March Lynn brought Linda out to see the donkeys for her birthday.  They were going to be in the area for a few weeks and said if we needed any help to give them a call. 

When the big tour with the BIG bus was coming out, I thought it might be a little more than Doug and the 2 of us could handle.  Gave them a call and they showed up ready, willing and able.  In fact Lynn and his chain saw saved the day, or at least saved the big beautiful bus from getting scratched trying to get around the driveway.  

Well, to make a long story short, when they saw there was work to do around here they offered to stay a little while longer before heading back to cold country to plant a garden.  

They've already learned the "drill" for feeding and letting the donkeys out and have offered to take over for a couple of days, so we could take an overnight trip someplace.  If you haven't been anywhere together in 5 years it's kinda hard to come up with a place off the top of your head..........LOL  

But as usual a need gets filled.  Weeks ago a lady that lives way up north called and asked if we could take her mini hinny .  She had good reasons to need to rehome him, but she lives too far away for a day trip.  At that time I didn't know about Casper but  did know that Pancho was going to a new home, so as usual we'd have an empty pen soon.  John said if she could haul him as far as Globe, we could make that in one long day.  She said she would try to find a trailer and make it happen.  She called a couple of days ago and found a trailer and wants to make arrangements to meet in Globe.

BUT, with Lynn and Linda here we can make it an overnight trip and go all the way to her place.  I haven't been able to get in touch with her yet, but this should work out good for everyone.   Who knows, maybe Casper will get a new friend out of the deal.  So far he follows the donkeys around, but really doesn't have anything to do with them.  Maybe he'll recognize the hinny as a fellow hybrid, hopefully they won't hate each other........!!! 

Lynn and Linda are talking about coming back next winter to stay for awhile.  That's OK with us, they really are good help.  They have 3 dogs, which of course thrills Saddik to no end. 

Last night everybody but me, set around a campfire by Doug's RV, including all the dogs.  I guess I'm a party pooper, BUT, it was cold outside and I had already changed into comfy night clothes. The problem I see with a campfire is, one side is too hot and the other side is too cold.  Inside the house is.............just right.......so that's where I stayed..............LOL