ANOTHER INTERESTING WEEK-END PLANNED

Tomorrow Lynn, Linda, John and I are taking off again and leaving Suzanne in charge.  She enjoys the donkeys and says she doesn't mind.  It wouldn't take all 4 of us to deliver one donkey to Scottsdale, but we're all nosy and don't want to miss anything.  

We will get up early and at least help with chores before we take off.  Rambo is going to a new home in Colorado and has to be delivered to Monique's place to catch his ride.  I think Dave is already in town and won't be headed back to Colorado until Saturday morning.  Dave is picking up his new donkey at Monique's and has agreed to pick up Rambo to deliver to his new home.

Rambo will be learning to pack burro race and also will be used during hunting season for hauling supplies and hauling out elk if necessary.  I am sure he will enjoy all the new experiences, nothing fazes him as long as it's interesting, so we are expecting good reports from his new family.

This is called the Rambo strut, he is very good at it.......

Saturday is going to be a race day...........but..........with a twist.  The dirt track is still trying to have races for the Hornets.  They had their 1st race last week-end, but we were in Superior with the pack burro racing clinic.  They are racing again this week-end, but so is the asphalt track, where I have been racing for the last 4 years.  They had 7 cars last week-end on the dirt, but 2 of those cars are in 2nd and 3rd over at the asphalt track, so chances are they won't take a chance on losing too many points for end of the year.

Me..........I've had such a lousy start this year, I'm not in a position to worry about points, besides I love the dirt, so I'm going to jump from the asphalt to the dirt for this week-end.  You would think the tracks would make the effort to not stomp all over each others programs, but I guess not........!!  We saw a video taken by one of the driver's last week and there was so many rocks flying around, John is talking about putting another layer of wire across my windshield to help keep them from coming inside the car maybe they should require mud flaps on the race cars......  LOL.  I hope enough cars show up to make it interesting.  The dirt track won't race again until in July, which should give people a chance to build a car if they want to.  

Although it hasn't been really hot yet, the flies have arrived in force.  The fly traps are doing a great job, although there's still enough flies out there to make fly masks necessary.  And I've already had to put zinc oxide on Penny's bare front legs.  I don't think her legs had ever been doctored to keep the flies away before she came here about 7 years ago.  Over the years of getting bitten and bloody every summer, the hair follicles finally said, "that's it........I'm not even going to try to grow hair".  I was going to put socks on her legs today, but I put zinc oxide on her legs yesterday.  Zinc oxide and socks do not mix well, so I'll have to wait until the zinc oxide wears off before putting on socks.  

Here she is a couple of years ago in polo wraps.  They work really well at keeping the flies off her legs and they stay up better than crew socks.  I like the socks because when it gets over 100 degrees The socks allow for more air flow and I would like to think keep her legs cooler than the polo wraps. But the socks need to be pulled up a lot more often.  

Lynn and Linda are going to be heading north about the middle of May.  We sure are going to miss them, I'm sure the donkeys will too, L&L spend a lot of time messing with the donkeys.  So does Suzanne, so at least this summer they will still have someone to play with them.  

I think L&L's 1st race is at the end of May, a couple of years ago Linda sent pictures of them driving thru snow to their 1st  burro pack race.......sounds like fun..........!!!  LOL

THE WEEK-END IS ABOUT OVER, TODAY IS A DAY OF REST........

Friday 17 donkeys got loaded in 2 stock trailers and we headed out for Queen Creek, AZ to a horsey expo.  I think we were the only non horsey clinic on the agenda.  Monique did a hour talk on burro pack racing/donkey cross for people that were interested.  

For those that don't know the difference, pack racing requires a pack and in Colorado when they race the packs have to have a pick, shovel and gold pan and weigh at least 33 pounds.  

Although we would love for the sport to catch on in Arizona, there is no guarantee.  Pack saddles are not cheap and without a guarantee of future races and also whether people will actually enjoy racing Monique decided to let people decide which way they want to go........dressed or naked.......!!  The donkeys, not the people............LOL

Loki was the exhibit complete with pack for Monique's talk. 

You might notice the horses neck is at the "what the heck is that?" position.  I think the horse had never seen a donkey before.  Loki would have been more than happy to go visit with the horse, but the horse never changed it's thought process and the rider kept it away from Loki. 

John hanging out in the donkey pen in Superior.  The donkeys were busy eating all the weeds well expect for Cheyenne, she thought he might have a cookie.  By morning they had eaten everything including the Bermuda grass roots, they dug up.  When 3 or 4 of them started digging, the dust was so thick you couldn't stand it.  My face was all gritty just from the little monsters digging for something that if we put it in their feed bucket they would think we were crazy.

Lynn gave the safety briefing and off they went.

Might as well make it an interesting run in the gravel and up the hill.

Leddy with his runner

 

Chancer and Trudee, who came here a couple of months ago for race training, have found their new home and in fact did not come home with us.  Looks like it's going to be a good fit.

There's something to be said for being old........!!!  LOL  Lynn and Linda were worried that we wouldn't enjoy "roughing" it.  So they fixed us up with a tent, cots, air mattresses and the sleeping bags were so nice I think it's probably their favorite ones.  We even got outdoor lighting.  We had been offered a hotel in October for the big race, BUT, the problem with that is we'd miss all the fun and adventure of camping.  So we're going to give it another go.  

  Here is some of the flatter part of the trail.  You'll notice BlackJack isn't very competitive, he has one speed.........SLOW

 This is an interesting woman named Gretchen Klett that brought her friend Daisy with her to the clinic.  Daisy was really cute and is very interested in literacy. 

4/10's INCH OF RAIN THIS TIME OF YEAR.......

Surprised us, usually this time of year the days are heating up and the wind is blowing almost every day.  So last night's thunder storm complete with lightening was pretty much unexpected.  At least it waited until after chores to rain quit before chores this morning........!!!

This morning John went for wound care.  His leg is actually looking pretty good, but it's going to take weeks if not months to completely heal. The longer the wound is open the more opportunity for infection, so..........Today they offered him a new treatment call EpiCord.  They had already made sure it would be covered by our health care providers before offering it.  It probably isn't the cheapest treatment but if it does it's job it should heal a lot quicker.  One good thing is instead of getting wound treatment every other day, this will stay on for a week at a time.  

This week Lynn and Linda hauled the donkeys to their new home where the oleanders got "murdered" last week.  From all the updates we've gotten they have settled in nicely and are having a great time inspecting their new home. 

This is heading up the driveway to their new pen.  They seem more than willing to "go along to get along", they'll be a lot of fun to work with I would imagine. 

Yesterday was dental day for little Justin.  Dr. Debra use to practice in Cochise County and although she has moved out of the area, she still comes back once a month for dental appointments.  Justin has been acting like his teeth needed attention, so Linda and Lynn wanted to get them done before they head back to Colorado in May. 

This wasn't Justin had planned for the day, so Lynn had to help him behave.  Cheyenne was just along as a buddy burro.

It doesn't hurt him, but it probably isn't very comfortable either.  

Linda brought these 2 little pieces of something home and handed them to me.  At first I thought it was his wolf teeth, but she said it was actually tartar.

Dr. Debra told Linda she knows we don't feed sweet feed so we obviously are feeding too many treats........!!!  Might as well plead quilty, Dr. Jeremy has told us the same thing.  So many of our donkeys have probably never had treats in their lives until they got here, so..........maybe we overdo it just a little bit........!!  LOL

Justin can be a brat if he wants to, but I guess he finally decided Lynn was a formidable opponent and was fairly cooperative, so as a treat, he and Cheyenne got to go shopping at Tractor Supply.

Boots on.........going in........!!

 

Nothing to get excited about I guess

Wonder what he thought Cheyenne was..........LOL

"hmmm if we could ditch these leads, we could really have some fun..........!!"

Justin waiting in check out

Time to head for home........!!

I'M BACK.............!!!

I wonder what is going thru the donkey's minds, when people choose trails like this..........LOL

Finally got my computer back from the shop.  The older I get the less I want to deal with people trying to get me to "fill in the blank".  In this case get rid of my Norton protection and go with their choice of McAfee.  I don't know if they get a commission for selling it or what.  Of course I got the big "talk" about upgrading to Windows10................I DON'T WANT WINDOWS10........ I don't know if I'm particularly uncooperative, but it sure seems like people are bound and determined that I need to run Win10 on my computer.  I've tried it, didn't like it, and resent when people tell me I'll get use to it.  I'm use to Win7 and happy as a clam.  The final objection to Win7 is, in September Win7 will no longer be be part of the Windows family for updates etc.  Just as well, I haven't even been allowing Windows to update my Win7 for a couple of years, so I guess it won't make a difference in my day to day life...........!!!  I'm a 20th century gal I guess.....!!!  LOL

While it was gone 2 days longer than promised, I used an IPad given to me a couple of years ago by Courtney, that trims the donkey's feet.  She's a good friend and had an old IPad, so if my computer crashed I'd have something to use.  Linda and Suzanne both carry their phones with them at all times, and I hate to admit it, but I have been known to rely on them for all sorts of information off the internet.....!!  I could keep up with my e-mail and look at Suzanne's updates on the new Facebook page she started for the rescue, so it wasn't much of an imposition. But I'm glad to be back to my computer that is attached to the printer, if needed and also has larger print.......!!  I am amazed at how many people have been on the Facebook page and seem to really enjoy all the pictures Suzanne and Linda have put on there.  

Casper and Big Gus hang around with each other a lot of the time.  Big Gus does prefer horses to donkeys, so maybe Casper being a mini mule fills his need for horse companionship.....!!

John is progressing, still going to wound care 3 days a week, but his leg is getting better everyday.  It will probably take weeks if not months before it will be healed, but it is headed in the right direction.  Our friend Larry came over a few days ago, and they finished up everything on the race car except for touching up the paint.  It's been too cold to paint, hopefully  it will warm up before the 27th, I'd rather not go racing with a red front bumper, it clashes with my usual orange.

A few of the donkeys are already wearing flymasks.  Even though it is cool, flies are out and some of the donkeys are fly magnets unfortunately.  Rosie even has socks on her legs already.  

 

This is Big Gus his little buddy Casper and Leddy is in and out of the video

Little Pepsi has a sarcoid on his face, below one of his eyes.  Years ago he had a sarcoid on his lower eyelid, we had removed.  A lot of people believe you should leave sarcoids alone, if you disturb them, the consensus is they will be more apt to grow back.  But this isn't really close to where the the earlier one was.  This is also more like a bump that an out of control sarcoid.  We'll probably have Dr. Jeremy come out to look and also check Gus' mouth.  He hasn't been eating well for a few days and this morning we noticed he was drooling.  I checked his teeth along his jaw and didn't feel anything and he didn't react to me pushing on his teeth from the outside.  Didn't notice any smell, so that pretty much takes care of my exam, time to get an expert involved........!!!  

Everybody else seems to be doing good.  Next week-end we are heading up in the Phoenix area.  Linda and Lynn are going to introduce some horsey people to pack burro racing.  We're actually suppose to take 16 donkeys with us and after their talk we'll head up to Superior for a trial run to prepare for Oct 12th.  We'll be gone overnight, Suzanne will get to feed all by herself for the 1st time.  She's already figured it all out, so she won't have any problems.  

This is what happens when a cat attempts to try on an equine flymask. Moogee is always getting into plastic bags and anything else that catches her imagination and I guess this looked interesting.

I'll be out of touch for a few days..........

My computer is going to the "doctor".  Don't know how long it will take, was told a day........!!!!  Hmmmm....!

Lynn with the big beautiful mammoth donkey that participated in the Spring Trail ride at Empire Ranch last week-end.  He was the only donkey amongst all those horses.

Here he is visiting with Link, at least I think it's Link.  LOL

The web-site is now up and running............  Let me know what you think, and if you have any ideas to make it better, by all means, share.....!!

EMPIRE RANCH

First of all, John was released from the hospital Thursday late afternoon and seems to be doing good.  He will be on antibiotics for about a week and they are suppose to call with an appointment for an MRI at the main hospital.  What they are looking for is bone infection, they don't think he has infection in the shin bone, but there is a track from the open wound in that direction.  So they want to make sure of what they are dealing with.  The doctors didn't seem to think there is a problem, but the infection team want to make sure.  Guess the infection team won..........LOL  I noticed when I had the wreck in September, there is a pecking order with medical personnel.  I had 3 or 4 different groups of emergency people with me off and on and one guy in particular seemed to think he was the big boss of the whole operation.  I didn't get the idea he was interested in my well being, as much as he was interested in being in charge........LOL

This morning Lynn and Linda put 6 donkeys in the trailer at "O dark 30" and headed out for Empire Ranch about half way between Benson and Tucson.   The original herd got changed around, Levi and Bella were suppose to go, but Levi has been sneezing and running a temperature, probably Rhino, which is pretty much an equine common cold.  So Buddy Brat, Cheyenne, Lynn, Leo, Link and BlackJack got to be ambassadors for the day.  They all did good and showed people how well behaved they can be.  Well, except for trying to escape from the pen, once they found out there was grass growing outside the pen.  The volunteers/docents said they had come in and grass whipped the area.  If they had only known, the donkeys would have been more than happy to tidy up the area..........LOL

This is the ranch we went out to a couple of weeks ago for a fun run with 14 donkeys.  Everyone had a great time and the ranch asked us to bring donkeys out for their annual spring ride to see if horsey people would be interested in the donkeys and having another race.  

Link checking to make sure we are at the right place

This is just a small portion of the house, not only does it go to the left and right, there is about as much house behind this part as is showing.  I have no idea what the square footage might be, rambling comes to mind.........!!! 

 Leo checking out the headquarters for the ranch.  The original house was built in 1876 and was pretty small and basic.  Over the years, 3 major families ran the ranch which at one time was over 100,000 acres.  It is now 160 acres owned by a foundation and they have rides or some type of event most week-ends, sometimes more than one.  By the 1940's the house was 29 rooms and is now open to the public.  Really interesting, I guess if they needed more room, they just started building. 

Turbo was suppose to go this morning, but he managed to get OUT of the trailer and refused to go back IN the trailer.  So he missed a trip and Link got to go without his big brother to hang out with.  Link usually can't stand to be out of sight of Turbo but I don't think he missed him all day.......until we got back home.  Then he started squalling and bawling until he found Turbo.  I doubt that Turbo wasted one minute all day, looking for Link..........LOL

Lots of people came by and really seemed interested in the donkeys

How about this pretty boy?  He went on the annual ride and was the only donkey.

 

If you watch the video the woman has on an aqua jacket and they are close to the end of the line.  Sometimes horses are spooked by donkeys if they've never been around them, but I guess they didn't have any problems. 

Link checking us out

THANKS TRACY.............!!

Tracy came out to visit with the donkeys and wrote about her experience complete with great pictures.  

ENJOY

 Thanks Tracy for sharing with others and thanks for coming out to visit with the donkeys, they are really good ambassadors, aren't they?  

GOOD GRIEF, WHAT NEXT........????

John is back in the hospital.  Saturday Lynn, Linda and John helped friends Indy and Jerome "murder" their oleander that had been on their property probably 60 years.  The reason...???..... they are about to become new donkey parents and oleander is one of those plants that is highly toxic to equine.  Actually it is toxic to all animals including people.  Just a leaf or two can be deadly.  

This is what the 14 (I think it was 14) oleander looked like when we got there. 

Jerome had done a lot of preparation, with the chain saw.  That oleander is going DOWN........!!!  LOL

If nothing else Indy is determined......LOL

While everyone else was murdering the oleanders I took our truck to get new tires put on the front.  Coming back from Tucson the other day I was driving and I told John it was really loose and driving weird.  He had a new tie rod to put on it and the tires were wearing because of that and a few other things in the front end.  Got home and John found a bulge and belt separating.  .......!!!

Some of you know I generally take speed limits as an unappreciated suggestion, so as usual I was "driving up on the wheel" as they say in racing.  If that front tire had blown we might have went for a wild ride....!!  At least there wasn't a wall to run into..........LOL  

This is the 1st swipe with the backhoe

While I was gone they all were really having to work to get the roots out of the ground.  John's little tractor had to huff and puff and a few times the front wheels were off the ground.   Indy and Linda were dragging and stacking.  Lynn and Jerome were working with axes, a chain saw and a digging bar.

And muscle power......!!

Jasmine came by to give her stamp of approval on all the work being done

Lunch break Leigh Anne and John are talking and you can see what I'm doing.....LOL  Indy had quite a "spread" for us to eat.

Leigh Anne and Jasmine have walked probably hundreds of miles on the Arizona Trail over the years and Jasmine is quite the  ambassador for burros.  She carries all the equipment and supplies on her little pack saddle & they will stay out for days, camping out.  . 

In case you've never seen a spadefoot toad up close.......!!!  We also found a couple of night snakes, they look like earthworms and they sure can wiggle, very hard to hang onto, but Indy and I managed to get them relocated.

The root system is deep and sturdy....

Didn't look quite this good when we left, but I think Indy and Jerome got out there Saturday morning and leveled it out. 

 

More dump runs, I think Indy said they had made 13 trips with the limbs and all the above ground growth.  Most of this is roots. 

As soon as the fencing gets put up, the donkeys will move in.  Indy and Jerome have ran with some of our donkeys.  In fact Jerome won the fun race at Empire Ranch a few weeks ago, with Sugar.  Sugar is one of our alumni and seems to love to run.  

Now to answer the "what next" question in the headline.  John is back in the hospital. Saturday morning when he got up, his hands looked like baseball mitts, they were so swollen.  All day, he was pretty lethargic, we thought maybe it was because he worked on the tractor all day Friday.  But as the day wore on, his temperature started rising.  So off to the emergency room we went.  I wonder if they give frequent user awards for patients that keep coming back?  They decided to send him to one of the hospitals in Tucson.  Being sent to another hospital isn't as easy as it sounds I guess.  They made that decision about 9pm and the ambulance didn't haul him until about 1am.  I made a joke that I guess someone had to die for a bed to open up, I don't think the nurse thought it was funny.........LOL

I went in to see him today and he's doing much better, although they did a test and he has some sort of bacteria in his GI system that is getting stronger antibiotics.  And it is highly contagious, so all the medical personnel have to put on gowns when they work with him.  I didn't have to gown, so we decided it's because they go from patient to patient. 

They also think he might have some dead tissue in the wound on his leg.  I don't think so, the wound is dry and healing, but then again I didn't go to medical school, so I think they have decided to clean it out tomorrow........lucky John.....!! 

Lynn, Linda and Suzanne have been keeping the home fires burning, as in taking care of the donkeys and giving tours.  I guess we've been discovered, we've been having tours almost every day and some days two or three.  Suzanne made up a facebook page for the rescue, I don't know if that is generating traffic or not.  We love for people to come out and learn about the donkeys.  People really seem to have a good time with the donkeys, and the donkeys have learned to be "cute", they love attention.  

Grooming has stopped for awhile.  Last year a couple of the donkeys had what you might call "spring crud".  The hair would fall out and leave bald spots, that eventually would hair over.  Grooming is one of the things that gets lost in the day to day happenings.  But this year Suzanne and Linda started coming out almost every day to groom on the donkeys.  They even brought a couple of their friends out to groom, Sandee and Bonnie.  First Boaz had some bald spots, then Rambo and pretty soon a lot of them were having the problem. The only thing we could figure out was, grooming was passing whatever it is around, so then they kept grooming, but carried a bucket of bleach water to drop the brushes in between donkeys.  

It was still showing up, so for now, grooming has been postponed.   Whenever they come out, they take some of the donkeys out for a walk, which is fun too.  The other day Suzanne went out with them, walking Levi.  She said they were walking along having a good time and all of a sudden Levi slammed on the brakes and backed up.  There was a pile of rocks with some dried grass and Suzanne said she saw something that could be a snake, but she didn't investigate any further..........LOL  So Levi is her hero these days. 

 Thanks, Linda and Indy for the pictures.........!! 

PAST TIME TO UPDATE I GUESS...........!!!

At least that what a good friend told me.  Said if I didn't update I would be hearing from people wondering why not........!!!  LOL

John is out of the hospital and is suppose to sit around with his foot level or above his heart, like in a recliner.  Sitting is not what he usually does.  Unfortunately if he doesn't he gets swelling all the way up to his thigh.  He has been tested and has no blood clots in his leg which was a big worry.  None of his "cultures" have grown any weird little critters either, so that's good too.  

He will be going to the wound clinic in our local hospital for the foreseeable future 3 times a week for wound cleaning and dressing.  I am doing it the rest of the time, usually at least twice a day.

The white area around the edge is a gauze material used for packing wounds so they heal from the inside out. 

 
Today we had to go to one of the hospitals in Tucson for an arterial doppler test to check for clots in his arteries.  I think they have done about all the tests known to man now, so about all that's left is healing which will probably take 6-8 weeks.

I raced Saturday night at John's insistence.  He actually got out of the hospital about 4:30 Sat afternoon, but Larry and I left about 1pm, so we were already at the track.  Linda picked John up brought him home and Lynn had said if John really wanted to come out he'd bring him.  When I talked to John he decided not to come out. which was a smart decision I think.

It was NOT a good night.  I finished 5th in the heat race and did not finish the main event.  There was a wreck in front of me and I had no place to go when the car came out of the infield backwards up towards the outside wall of the track.  I was already there, so it was a little bit messy.

Video of wreck

If you go down to the 1st video on Tim's facebook page he did a video of the wreck out the back of his car.  I'm the little orange fendered, black hood way back behind the gaggle around Tim.  I wasn't far enough back to avoid hitting the #57 unfortunately.  That car is totaled, but I've heard they have stripped all the good stuff off it and will probably have a new one out there for our next race the end of April.

My car looked worse than it is, John said another fender and bumper and some of the metal braces under the hood will need to be straightened or replaced.  This car has been badly wrecked twice, if he gets it fixed this time, I don't think it will survive another wreck.  John says he will fix it 1st and then try to get the Cavalier ready for the end of April, that way if the Cavalier doesn't get finished, I'll still have the Neon as a backup.  I'm not off to a very good start this season I hope my luck changes pretty quick.

We've got a problem with the donkeys and by the time we figured out what might be causing it quite a few were involved.  This is the 1st year the donkeys have been getting groomed on a regular basis, like almost everyday.  Suzanne and Linda P have been coming out for weeks to groom.  Suzanne is now living out here, so Sandee had been coming out with Linda P.  It started with Rambo losing patches of hair.  Then it started one some of the others, now there is 8 of them with it, whatever "it" is.  We think it is something that is being shared with the brushes, so a couple of days ago they started carrying a bucket with bleach water in it and the brushes go in there after each donkey is groomed.  Not sure it's doing any good, Buddy presented with a bald spot today.  Linda and Suzanne bathed 7 donkeys today which is a record, I think.........!!

We've never had a designated Facebook page for the rescue, but that is about to change.  It's nice to have people around that are computer literate........!!!   LOL  Not sure when the big day is to have it operational, but I will post it on the blog, when the bugs are worked out.

Some more pictures from the Tombstone parade........

   

This is Quilla, he stepped on a rock or something and started limping real bad just as the parade started.  So he didn't finish the parade.  He was really difficult to pull out, he wanted to stay with the other donkeys.  He's done quite a few parades here and in Colorado and loves the attention. 

This is one of our two Rosie the Riveters, with Linda our WWII nurse and Pepsi of course

This is little Cheyenne, as the Red Baron from WWI, complete with leather helmet and goggles.  Linda has a knack for finding weird stuff........LOL

Lynn and Linda stopped in front of the judge's stand and portrayed the famous kiss in Time's Square at the end of WWII.  As they say, "the crowd went wild".......!!!  LOL

TIME TO MAKE LEMONADE ............

Earlier in the month John was unloading my race car off the trailer and it tried to self unload.  He tried to stop it and got caught between the car and the trailer. I wrote about it earlier this month.  Yesterday afternoon he said he felt cold, no one else was cold and he started shaking.  I took his blood pressure and it was all over the place.

So off we went to the local hospital.  After a few hours in the emergency room, they admitted him. About a week or so ago, a couple of areas opened up and looked pretty nasty.  He has surface varicose veins and we figured they got damaged by the car.  He was running a temperature and the big worry is infection or bacteria in the blood stream.  So they started him on antibiotics IV.

Thank goodness Lynn, Linda and Suzanne are here, they have been taking care of the animals, while I entertain him in the hospital.  I had physical therapy today for my knee, while I was gone the doctor came in and they've decide he has a hematoma or a captured area of blood in his leg and they are culturing blood to also check for bacteria in the bloodstream, which might take a few days.  My first thought was they would drain it, that's what they usually do for animals that have one.  I was surprised when they brought in a couple of pillows to elevate his leg to encourage the blood to move.......!!  They did say he might get to go home tomorrow, but if the blood shows bacteria he'll have to go back into the hospital.  Guess I better check my pillow supply...........LOL

I'm suppose to race this Saturday, and had decided not to even bring up the subject.  Well I found out John, our friend Larry that is a racer, and Lynn who isn't a racer, but willing to help had been talking behind my back about me racing and them being my pit crew.  I told John my first 3 races last year were pretty lousy and I still managed to finish 5th even not being able to race the last race of the season.  So I am more than willing not to race this week-end...........  Good grief you would have thought I said I was never racing again, judging from the fit John threw............so the plan as of now is, tomorrow Lynn and I will try to load the truck with all the equipment needed.  I have never participated in loading the truck.  John gave me a list, hopefully he didn't forget something important........!!!  LOL  I don't know who is in charge of this circus, hopefully it's not me........John has always been the "engine on this train", all I do is drive.  But we'll give it a shot and see what happens.

The excitement about the burro racing is still happening, people are really getting into the idea of having burro racing in Arizona.  October 12th in Superior, AZ will be the 1st race and the town is behind it 100%.  I have seen probably 100s of pictures and videos taken by dozens of people and one thing shows up in every picture, everyone is smiling...........!!!

I think this is the sunset from the night before

Everyone up bright and early, but they are smiling

Donkeys ready to go........!! 

What is wrong with this picture?  Poor little Pepsi and also Justin couldn't get a drink because the tanks were too tall for them.  Something to keep in mind for future races.  They make collapsible buckets and carrying one especially if a person is running with a mini might be a good idea....!!

 

Pepsi showing the big boys how it's done.  Team Pepsi and Indy finished 7th out of 14 teams.........!!!  Thanks for the pictures Indy.

 

Team Frijolita and Linda

For those that have been to our house and donkey rescue, you might have noticed a fenced area directly north of the house with trees in it.  We fenced it off years ago, so we could have at least a small area of trees that hadn't been chewed on by donkeys.  Over the years the weeds and whatever else thought it could hide from the donkeys have grown into a tangled mess.  It was to the point where you couldn't hardly walk thru it.  So we decided to take a couple of the fence panels down, so the donkeys could go in there for a few days. Taking down 2 panels gave them an avenue of escape in case the close quarters and the idea of fresh eating material made for some squabbling.

Like I said it was almost impossible to walk around in there without hitting your head on a tree or getting scratched or skinned up by who knows what.

Here's some of the donkeys working on the "jungle" and doing a good job.  So good in fact we closed it off the 2nd day.

This is after one day, as far as I know there was no squabbling at all, at different times there was different donkeys in there, at one time I counted 7.  Casper the little Blanco Diablo mini mule took it upon himself to show Leo how to get in there.  Casper was inside, Leo was outside, Casper went out and led him back in, so Leo could enjoy the "feast".

Speaking of Casper, our neighbor Jorja told us she found a little mule highway under the perimeter fence.  We've thought he had given up on going out and checking out the neighborhood, but obviously not.  She said the trail looks really worn under the fence.  John was over at another neighbor's place and said there were little foot prints EVERYWHERE.  He is always here at feeding time, and we see him off and on during the day.  So we figure he is sneaking out at night, to do his thing whatever that is.  I think it's the thrill of getting away with something, he has that attitude, which is what makes him so much fun.  LOL