UPDATE ON FIRE AND OTHER IMPORTANT THINGS

Boaz begging and Quilla having a snack.  I think they like Colorado

The Lizard fire is 40% contained, they are fighting it, but between the dry hot conditions and wind it's not easy.  They've evacuated some of the areas, to allow for free movement of the fire fighters.  Not sure how I feel about that, people's lives are disrupted enough without having to find a place to stay, especially if they have animals.  The firefighters are feeding and watering animals left by their owners from what we've heard, but doesn't that take away from their job of fighting fires?  That's OK, I get cranky about the police shutting down the road or highway when there's been an accident, so they can investigate, too.  If there are other roads in the area it's not that bad, but in the case of I-10 to Tucson, there are 2 detours of about 60 miles that you can take.  But........what if you have already passed the turn off before you find out the road is closed?  If we have appointments we always make sure to take the phone number with us, just in case.  I've also been known to cross thru the median making a u-turn, when I hoped no one that could give me a ticket was looking...........LOL  

The water in the holding tank is still brown and still smells like Clorox, although it's getting better.  The equine, (I'm using generic, since we have a mule and 2 horses besides the donkeys) have been drinking water, but not as much as I'd like.  John put on his thinking cap today and said he thought he could rig up a hose directly from the well, before it goes into the tank.  We went to Benson this afternoon, he got his "toys" and within 15 minutes it was ready to fill buckets.  He put two 18 gallon buckets in the back of the golf cart and it sure doesn't take long to fill them up with a 1 1/2 inch hose.  I went around and emptied and cleaned all the buckets in the pens, and Doug and John came behind me with the golf cart and delivered water.  If I counted correctly there are 18 buckets and the 75 gallon Rubbermaid by the well house.    We'll fill the buckets like this until the smell is gone, it's just too hot and dry to take a chance on them not drinking enough.  

Krista came out night before last to reassure Mel and Apache that they hadn't been deserted.  They really seemed to enjoy her visit and Mel started eating, which she had just been picking at her hay and pellets.  Krista was worried because I guess Mel likes to eat..............a lot....!!!  Krista is still in a pre-evacuation area, so the girls will stay here until she gets an all clear.  

Casper is still behaving himself for the most part.  He and Mel really don't like each other, I think it's a control thing, they both want to be in charge.   Casper will come thru to visit with Apache, he seems to think she's pretty cute, which really upsets Mel.  So Mel starts threatening him thru the panels and of course he isn't going to let her get away with that.  So they yell and scream and lunge at each other for awhile, with Apache pretty much ignoring both of them.  At least with mares he goes off and actually spends most of his time with the donkeys.  When Gizmo the mini mule was here, Casper spent a lot of time, threatening him thru the fence, and I assume that's what he does with horses that are geldings.

A magazine writer was out yesterday to get information and take pictures for an article she is writing about donkeys.  She did an article last month on the donkeys that was in  Edible Baja Arizona magazine, and decided to do another one on roping donkeys.  The donkeys always come up to people when they come for a tour and they showed up when we went out looking for picture subjects.  Casper was with them, and we warned her he probably wouldn't come close.  Not only did he come close he actually let her touch his nose.  These animals never fail to surprise me, which is what makes them such fun to be around. 

FIRE IS GROWING, WITH LITTLE CONTAINMENT

This is what some of the people in Cochise county are seeing from their homes. Scary stuff, I guess it made a turn yesterday afternoon and was headed for the little settlement of Dragoon, haven't heard an update, although we did hear they were evacuating that area.

Today is going to be another windy day, which they really don't need.  Besides helping the fire to move along, it interferes with the slurry planes and helicopters being able to fly.  I read this morning that it is about 14 miles from Tombstone, whatever that means.  

I have a bone to pick with the coverage of this fire and also the one earlier in the spring.  For one thing with so many people's lives being disrupted, is it too much to ask for official updates at least every 12 hours?  Let's see, 14 miles from Tombstone, north, east, south or west, moving in which direction, information that might be helpful.  I'm sure the people in Tombstone are aware of where and which direction, but it just seems like sloppy journalism to not give specifics to a story.  

Mel and Apache seem to be doing just fine, and Casper isn't really hanging around the pens, after the 1st day or so.  He's back to hanging with the donkeys.  Wonder what he would do if they were out of the pens?  I'm not curious enough to find out............LOL  

We do have a slight problem, I hope is over quickly.  We had our new well water tested and the test for e-coli came back negative, but coliform was positive.  For those of you like me, that don't have a clue, that is a basic catch all name for bacteria.  Can be a lot of reasons, external bacteria when taking the water sample, for one.  I'm pretty sure that water from 605 feet is probably less apt to have bacteria than the surface water we've been using for years.  So what do you do for this problem? 

Our son is a state certified water person, so we called him and he said to put 1tsp Clorox per gallon in the holding tank.  Doesn't sound like much does it?  Well, it's cleaning all the gunk out of the existing pipes, which makes for interesting water color, rather rusty brown.  And even that little bit has a chlorine smell.............which the equine don't appreciate.  They are drinking, but they go around checking all the water sources before they finally drink.   I washed clothes yesterday to try to use it up, as soon as possible...........LOL  But it will take awhile to use up 2000 gallons I'm afraid.  Not sure I wouldn't rather have the bacteria. We'll wait a month or so and test it again, hopefully it will be good and we won't have to do this again.  We haven't gotten all the other test results back yet, I guess the local water testing place sends it out.  They test for about 50 things, I'm sure it will be very informative, hopefully I can understand it.  

Next Saturday is our 56th wedding anniversay, what to do to celebrate.....???  We're going racing.........LOL  It's been about 6 weeks since my last race, and there's nothing we'd rather be doing.  John's got the car ready to go and this will be the 1st time we've taken the quad into the pits, so we don't have to walk so much.  I'm still in 1st place for the Hornet Division, but probably won't be after that race night.  There's 2 guys right behind me in points that a couple of bad races early in the season, but have been doing really good since.  Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. 

WE HAVE GUESTS........!!!

This is Apache and Mel, Christa's girls.  She brought them while I was in Benson this afternoon.  By the time I got home, they were in their pens and snacking on hay.

Haven't heard much updates this afternoon on whether it's getting better or worse, maybe they will have more information on the news tonight.  Did read the Lizard fire is about double what it was yesterday, which isn't good.  

The Benson school is going to be open if people need a place to stay and the local auction barn is open to take animals in if necessary,so the community is stepping up to the plate if needed.

I guess Casper the little problem child is smitten with Apache.  John said he checked them out, rubbed noses and didn't behave like he usually does around geldings.  When I got home he was off someplace else, but has passed thru a couple of times to look them over again.

So they are safe and we will keep them until the fire fighters drop the pre-evacuation orders.  When I was in town there were quite a few stock trailers on the road, one was "stuffed" with cattle.

JUST WHAT WE NEED,MORE FIRES.............!!!

http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/35616542/ccso-lizard-fire-causes-evacuations-in-dragoon

According to the reports there are 15 files burning in Arizona right now, and 4 in New Mexico.  There was quite a bit of lightening a couple of days ago, and it's been awhile since we've had any rain, except for a couple of drops.  

One area fire is behind the Little Rincon mountains between us and Tucson to our west.  There is also one in the Dragoon area about 12-15 miles south of I-10.  That area is under pre-evacuation orders and we just got a call from a friend with 2 horses that is in the line of fire.  John and Doug are out fixing pens, so when Krista gets here with her horses, the pens will be ready for them.  She's under pre-evacuate orders, which if you have yourself to get out it's OK to wait until the last minute.  But not if you have animals. We heard of someone else that left their horses overnight while they went to a motel and the firemen are caring for the horses.  I'm sorry, but that is sad.

Having to do some pen shifting, I think Frijolita is the only one getting moved, so the 2 horses can share a fence.  There is one "slight" problem to think about, Casper, the little mini mule........!!!!   His history with horses isn't good, which is why we ended up with him.  He gets along just fine with donkeys, even tries to "blend" in with the herd with his little short ears.  He's been up here a couple of weeks and hasn't offered to crawl under the fence, so maybe he's mellowing, hopefully.....!!!! LOL  I think both of her horses are mares, which was one of the things we had wanted to try, to see if he gets along OK with mares and just has a problem with geldings.  

If he still wants to be a little monster, we have 2 options, he can either go back over to Vic's for a few days........or............ he can go in the dog pen.....!!!  LOL  It's empty and would be a good place to keep him corralled if necessary.  Although he's only about as tall as Saddik is, I don't think he's little enough to get thru the doggie door into the feed room, at least I hope not, that would certainly be a surprise to walk in and have a mule in the feed room...........LOL

Lynn and Linda will be in their 2nd burro pack race, with Turbo and Leddy this week-end, I'm sure they are excited and will have a better idea this time of how it works.

I got a call from Bronco Billy, I think his name is in Tombstone.  He is one of the parade coordinators, it seems like Tombstone has quite a few parades every year.  The 24th of June they are having a salute to the Buffalo Soldiers, that were stationed at Ft. Huachuca in the 1880's and invited us to participate.  WHERE'S LINDA WHEN YOU NEED HER.........LOL  I e-mailed her with a help request.  She wants me to get a period costume, but I keep thinking how hot it's going to be, parade starts at 11am......!!!  John, bless his heart is ready to dress up in his miner "duds" with his old friend BlackJack as his loyal miner donkey, guess it doesn't matter how hot it is.

But who am I going to lead?  We'll put one of the blankets with Forever Home Donkey Rescue on it on my victim. So far I'm thinking about either Frijolita or Buddy Brat.  Neither of them have been off the property for awhile, so they might enjoy the outing............as long as they didn't enjoy it too much and decide to take off, like Quilla did, Lynn isn't here to run down a wayward donkey...!!

So it will be a simple parade "unit".  Me and my victim,  John and BlackJack and we'll do our thing.  Unless anyone in the neighborhood, would like to join us.......!!!!

STILL NO BILL..........lol

I really pretty sure it is on it's way, but we're enjoying the abundant water for free...........so far......!!!  It takes so little to amuse me sometimes......!!! 

It's really warmed up the last week or so and we're going into June really hot and dry, humidity about 5%.  Although 2 of my worst skin problems went to Colorado with Lynn and Linda, I've still got 4 here that take daily care.  Yesterday I noticed even though Coquette has had stockings on her legs, her skin is starting to break down.  We pull up the stockings when we see them down, so I don't know if the sores are because of the socks being down, or if it's happening in spite of the socks.  It's not as bad as it could be, at least so far. 

Still doctoring Cisco's ears even though they've dried up, I'll doctor for the maximum 14 days, so hopefully we won't have to do this again.  His legs are good so far, but I'm having to doctor behind his sheath.  I think Cisco was probably gelded with a pocket knife, cowboys usually do their jobs with whatever tools they have on hand.  Cisco also has 5 cuts in his ears to brand him which were probably done with a pocket knife.  He always has skin problems in the summer where his scrotum would be, it's rather ragged and gets really messy if I don't catch it early.  So far we are managing to keep it from getting bloody from him scooting, which is a good thing.

Not much going on around here, once it gets as hot as it is, life slows down to a crawl, the donkeys hang around in the shade and I try to stay indoors.

We took both of my race cars to the asphalt track from practice Friday.  The dirt car had never been anywhere except around the driveway, since it was built.  So John wanted to see if it was OK.  It ran OK, but started smoking and they black flagged me off the track.  John has checked about everything he can, so far hasn't found a reason.  That is a brand new rebuilt motor, and about all he has left to check is the compression to see if it busted a ring.  If so, I might not have a dirt car after all...........LOL

Linda sent a lot of pictures to bring us up to date on what they've been doing.  It makes me tired just to read about their adventures.  They are getting ready for the next burro race this week-end in Creede. They are also practicing for a people/dog race later this month.  This will be Saddik's 1st opportunity to show what he can do in a race.  If all it takes is speed he should do great.  If it takes concentration and focus......maybe not....!!!   He's a overgrown puppy, that just wants to have fun and probably play with all the other dogs. 

I doubt that Saddik misses many trips

Quilla and Boaz entertaining admirers

 

Quilla enjoying the cooler weather..........no socks on his legs....!!!

Out for a training run, looks like Leddy is after a peppermint.....!!

They saw this BIG horse at an Amish auction they went to..........

He's HUGE.......!!!!

WAITING FOR THE FINAL BILL

The well people came out, and destroyed our old well as per state law.  They pulled the pump, filled the pipe up with gravel, and capped it off with a lot of concrete.  The state says we can have one well, but we can't have two.  John's got all the paperwork filled out to send in, we picked up testing material in Tucson yesterday, so now all we are missing is the final bill.....!!!  Ha!  Not looking forward to that, but it sure is nice to have water and not have to worry about it.  

Haven't heard from Linda in a couple of days, I'm sure by now Lynn is cutting firewood to sell and mowing yards.  He has a whole group of homes in a retirement area that were calling him while they were still down here to make sure he was going to take care of their yards again this summer.  Hopefully they'll have time to play going out to run with the dogs and donkeys too.  

Everybody getting lined up and ready to go

Linda and Leddy having a pep talk before the start

Great picture of Leddy, I assume this was during the race, Linda didn't say.  Those white specks are SNOW....!!  UGH..!!

Everything is going pretty good here, I've started covering up legs with crew socks, to thwart the stable flies.  They had started chewing on the hair, once that's gone they can get to the good stuff.  Cisco has his annual ear infection.  I'm not sure if it is an infection or what, his ears itch and he will find a limb the right height, run it down his ear and scratch away.  You can imagine what that does to the inside of his ear.  This year I caught it early and after 3 days of putting stuff down his ear, the black gooey gunk is drying up.  He doesn't mind making his ear bloody with a limb, but sees me coming with the ear stuff and tried to escape, so John has to hold him.  Usually I can do anything with Cisco, but not his ears.........LOL

This is a picture Linda took of Cisco before she left.  I didn't realize how white his face was getting.

Just got a call from Vic the neighbor that had been fostering Casper the little  mule to see how he was getting along.  I must say, I'm impressed, with the little devil.  He's hanging with the herd, hasn't shown any inclination to go under the fence and is even going into his pen at feeding time without a lot of drama.  The first few days there was a LOT of drama....!!!  LOL  He seems to have settled in nicely, so I told Vic I think he's lost his mule.  Unless we get in a horse or another mule and he tries to attack them.  We might get in a little mini mare horse, who knows maybe he'll fall in love and forget about fighting......!!!

BURRO PACK RACING

Here is a video some woman along the route took of the race yesterday.  It was Lynn and Linda's first race, not to mention also first race for Turbo and Leddy.  Linda said they really had a great time, met lots of nice people and can't wait for their next race in a couple of weeks.  

https://www.facebook.com/jatha.austin/videos/1520007114737795/

Linda asked if we could find them.  Towards the end of the video, Lynn in blue and orange, comes by with Turbo and the woman comments on how gorgeous Turbo is.  John and I are arguing on if we saw Linda and Leddy or not, he says he did and I don't think so.  

This woman seemed to be having as much fun as anyone else and she didn't even know such a thing existed, just stopped and did a video and shared it on the internet.  

Linda sent a nice long e-mail to share all the fun and adventure with us.  It did sound like a lot of fun.......well except for that running part......!!!   LOL

We went out to the dirt track last night to see how the program was going.  I have to admit we were pleasantly surprised.  There has been so much controversy, change in people running it, cancelled races, well pump broke, no liquor license for beer.  To a lot of people beer and racing go together always.  

Still no beer, but there had been a lot of work done and it showed.  Need to work on the food and drink concession a lot.  We specifically didn't eat before going out there.  We usually don't eat at the track, but figured we should support them.  Bad decision.  They had the usual race track food, drinks in cans, no ice, which is all things you can live with.  BUT there was only 3 or 4 people trying to feed a whole bunch of other people that had decided to eat at the track also.  And they had not planned ahead enough to take care of a line of 20 people or more.  But that's something that can get better, if they know what they are doing.  

The big complaint from the last race they had was the condition of the racing surface.  The track surface was really good last night.  No rocks and enough clay on the surface with moisture to last all night.  And they had enough cars in 4 different divisions to put on a pretty good show.  I sure hope so, there's a lot of dirt racing people that are wanting them to succeed, one of them is me...!!  LOL

Casper is still being a brat about going in his pen.  Now he's gotten Don Juan and Shaggy Bill to join in his rebellion.  They stand down by Tula's pen and watch the round up.  After everybody else is in it's time to get at least Don and Bill in their pen.  I don't worry about Casper, he'll go in once his feed is put down.  He is chubby enough he could miss a meal or two, if he really wants to make his point.  But so far that hasn't happened.  But we can't have 3 of them running around open pens with food available.  They don't pay any attention to John and Doug, I guess they aren't in charge, by equine standards.  So far I've been able to insist, and they have given up. 

WE HAVE A WORKING WELL...........!!!!

The pump setting guys came, set the pump at 360 feet, put in the pump saver and it started doing it's thing.  Our 2000 gallon tank has been full every since.......!!!   YIPPEE......of course we haven't got the bill yet........!!!   LOL

John and Doug have been busy, cleaning up clay.  John is using the tractor and Doug is raking into piles, so John can scoop it up with the front bucket.  It's looking pretty good now.  Gus even has his special spot back to lay down.  

Although it looks good now, I have a feeling the 1st time it rains, the clay will become a problem again.

Vic, the neighbor that has been fostering Casper, the little white mini mule, or as we lovingly refer to him Blanco Diablo (white devil) said Casper had been "hanging out" more than normal, in other words he was letting his "boy" parts hang out...... a lot......!!!  LOL  So I made an appointment for Dr. Jeremy to come out and check him.  

8

Dr. Jeremy headed off for reinforcement "drugs"........LOL

Casper has a lot of moxy and really isn't a people mule.  He likes kids well enough and little ones can ride him, but he seems to think a relationship with adults, basically is an ongoing challenge to see who is the smartest.  So far I think he is leading in that area.  

Anyway Vic walked him down here and told us, Casper was really interested in coming here, as opposed to the times he almost has to drag him home.  Casper is by himself since they got rid of the goats.  And his absolute hatred of horses and mules doesn't make him easy to rehome.....LOL  He's always gotten along with the donkeys, which makes John think he might be a hinny.  The reason Vic has been fostering him is we only have 4 strand barbed wire, and the little monster was camo crawling underneath it to go out an explore.  He never went far, and if you caught him, he'd skuttle back under the fence, stand up and look at you like basically, "go to hell".......!!!  Like I said he's a lot of fun, if you like a problem child.  

I warned Dr. Jeremy that Casper isn't easy to work with, and almost got his head kicked off, Casper didn't appreciate the attention I guess.  A small soft bean probably wasn't causing him a problem.  So the consensus is when our girls cycle he wants to join the fun, since he shares a fence with Burroland.  Dr. Jeremy had to take off for a rattlesnake bite emergency, really glad that wasn't what he was here for.   

If Casper will behave himself and stay home, we're giving him a 2nd chance at staying here with the donkeys.  Although he tricked John out of 3 carrots this morning when John was putting him in his pen for breakfast.  John went in the pen, turned around gave Casper a piece of carrot for being a good boy and coming in the pen.  Casper took the carrot, whirled around and went out, probably watching John as he chewed.  So John went out to encourage him back into the pen, and this time decided to go farther into the pen, give Casper the carrot, walk past him out the gate.  Not the way Casper saw this relationship.  He walked to John, took the carrot and ran out the gate, stood there, watching John as he chewed. John said as soon as he started to move towards the gate Casper sprinted to the gate.  I missed all this interaction and only got the story from John's point of view.......LOL  Third time is a charm, right?  John went out of the pen gathered up his little "friend" they walked into the back of the pen, John offered the carrot, Casper took it, John moved, Casper ran............and Doug just happened to be coming by from putting others in their pens and shut the gate.  BUSTED........!!! 

I would imagine he's already decided on his plan of attack for tonight............Casper not John.......!!  LOL   

We'll be rounding up a little early, the dirt track is suppose to race tonight.  They actually posted a picture of the track being worked on facebook, so we'll go see what's happening.  I sure hope they can make a go of it this year, although they are starting out pretty slow.  

Today is Lynn and Linda's first race in Colorado with the donkeys.  And this is what they were driving in this morning to get to where the race is.  

Yesterday's forecast was 100% chance of rain..............this doesn't look like rain to me.....!!  I hope they dress warm.  Turbo is an Arizona donkey, this might not be his idea of fun....!!!  

Linda sent some pictures of a practice run they did yesterday, six miles......!!!   I'm so glad they enjoy running and send pictures, that works for me....!!!   I can think of a lot of things I'd rather do, most of them have me riding, not walking and seriously not running........!!!  LOL

Some rather rough trails I guess

 

Turbo enjoying a snack

605 FEET

UPDATE:

Well it could have been deeper I guess, so no complaints because they finally hit water.  John and I went to Benson yesterday and before we left we heard a change in the noise the drilling was making.  Looked out and a 6 inch pipe was pushing out dirty water at a high rate of speed complete with some granite rocks.  It was shooting about 100 feet, which unfortunately was going into a lot of the pens.  And of course wetting down all that gooey clay that was on the ground everywhere.  

They had been talking to one of the local well drillers that is retired, but had put in a lot of deep wells in this area over the years.  He told them when they finally got thru the clay it would be like tapping into an ocean and that sounds like what they hit.  They ran it till it cleared, which was a couple of hours.   Today they are out picking up all their toys and are suppose to come back tomorrow and set the pump.  Once that's done, we should be in good shape and hopefully never have to worry about water again. 

You can't imagine the torturous path both people and donkeys are having to take to get to the pens and the feed room.  The clay when you do goof up, gets on your shoes and doesn't come off.  If it dries it's even worse.  I've got my usual work shoes on the courtyard, my plan was when it dried, bang the shoes together and watch the clay fall off.  Banging them together doesn't even faze the clay.  Not sure what plan B is...........LOL

The donkeys have been real good at acceptance, as long as they can figure out how to get to their pen.  If it's thru another pen, they don't usually go in, that's OK.  Donkeys are very good at concentrating on the goal, even though they usually lock into "but I always go this way, why do I have to go "that" way?  But in this case they have evaluated the situation and decided it is in their best interest to go "that" way.  

John is out there this morning with the tractor, scraping up clay.  If he can get it picked up, maybe we can get back to some semblance of normalcy around here.  I have a feeling even with the passage of time, and washing walls and corral panels, etc we will be finding clay spray for years......!!!  LOL

John just came in and said the drillers checked the recharge on yesterday's water strike.  The recharge is within 100 feet of the top.  So the 6 inch well casing has 500 feet of water in it.  Should be a good well with plenty of water.   Yippee............!!!  Just wish we didn't have to pay for it.....LOL

BUSY LITTLE BODIES

The well is down to 500 feet and still drilling.......!!!!   We were really hoping they would punch thru the clay by now, but guess not.......!!  Close neighbors are at around 480-510, so hopefully we aren't in a different strata.  

The drillers had a good day yesterday, but using compressed air instead of water to drill makes even a bigger mess.  The air comes out under high pressure and sprays clay and gravel everywhere.  They brought 6 bales of straw to protect the corral panels in the direct line of fire.  

Yesterday was a good day for drilling, they drilled all day, which is why they are down to 500 feet.  When I say mess I mean mess, it's like the pictures you see in WWI, where bombs have gone off, in mud and sprayed it everywhere.  

Poor mesquite tree covered in mud

When they left last night this is what the mud flow in front of the feed room looked like.  On the left you can just barely see the edge of the straw bales the drillers brought out to protect the corral panels from the high pressure air coming out along with the mud

 This morning the smooth muddy area had been reworked, during the night.  

The ends of these muddy bales of hay is what the donkeys are after

And we have evidence of who the culprits were

Actually I think it was everyone except Penny, this is just BlackJack and Cisco, but believe me there were plenty of others......!!   LOL  They all also have muddy mustaches again, only this time mixed in with pieces of straw.

If we had tried to walk them thru that slimy slick clay we would have had a fight on our hands.  But since it was "their" idea...... "let's go see if we can get to that hay" seemed to be the rallying cry.....!! 

Just one of the reasons we're never bored.......!!!