FLY SEASON IS HERE WITH A VENGENCE.........!!!

The last couple of days I guess the heat and humidity is just about perfect to bring all the flies in this part of the country out in force.  Thank goodness the donkeys have fly masks, but the flies are all over them in their mouths and their tails are switching constantly.  They get a break after dark, but they don't get a break from daylight to dark.  

They are finding plenty of mesquite beans on the 10 acres.  Yesterday afternoon when it was time to feed, everyone was here except.............Casper the little mini monster mule.  SIGH!  I took the quad and headed over to Burroland.  A few days ago he was over there and sure enough as I came thru the wash on the quad, I saw him in the brush.  He's white, so he can't hide very easily.... !!  By the time I got the quad thru the gate and the gate closed he was no where to be seen.  I rode all over the 20 acres and didn't see him anywhere.  Came back over on the 10 acres and he was outside Penny's pen helping her eat her mush.......brat..............!!!  When he saw me he walked straight to his pen.  I told John maybe we should let him continue to "escape" over there, rather than trying to fix the fence so he can't get over there.  I have a feeling he would just go under the fence in other areas and might end up out on the main road.  There is plenty of mesquite beans over there under the trees to keep him busy......I hope.........!!

Below are some pictures Linda shared from the Fairplay race.  Most of these pictures were taken by professional photographers, wish they had their watermarks on all their pictures, so I'd know who took which pictures.  Some of them are marked, so thanks for sharing. 

Buddy up in the high country, he's turned into quite a runner.

Coquette and her runner

Frijolita in the high country helping her runner up the trail

Little Pepsi, doing his thing.  At least I think it's Pepsi, it's hard to tell him and Justin apart, when they have their saddles on.

Guess Loki's runner had a good time.

Pepsi and his runner

Turbo and some new friends

Sugar heading for the finish line and a 7th place finish for the short course (15 miles)

Leo on the left, not sure who is on the right, don't think it's one of ours.

QUICK TRIP TO COLORADO.............

John and I spent the last 8-10 days driving to Colorado, visiting with Lynn and Linda, watching the Fairplay pack burro races and in general having a fun time, while Suzanne and our neighbor Vic got to enjoy the monsoon season and our unknown leaky roof.  

Our house is rammed earth Sante Fe. which means a flat roof with parapets.  I guess in the old days they built the parapets out of the same material as the walls, in our case it would be adobe and extremely heavy.  So in the modern age, they are framed in, stuccoed and no one knows the difference.  That is unless you get a crack in the stucco, which can happen very easily if there is any settling.  Of course the crack is usually not anywhere close to where the water finally finds a tiny opening to come inside and start dripping.  Poor Suzanne came in to the house to the sounds of dripping water on the dining room table.

She called us, we told her to call our neighbor Vic and for the next 2 or 3 days they had lots of fun when it rained.  I guess Suzanne would call Vic and he'd come up, get on the roof and chase the latest leak to put Elasti-tek roof coating on it and hope for the best.  By the time we got home the heavy rains had stopped, for which I'm sure they both were grateful.  Don't think the donkeys missed us at all, well except for getting shut out of Burroland.  Suzanne said their poo was getting to be more beans than hay, so we decided to go ahead and shut off Burroland for the duration which will probably be about the middle of September.  They are still finding plenty of mesquite beans on the 10 acres, unfortunately.  If poo patrol keeps showing too many beans, they will have to start staying in their pens more hours a day, which will really make them unhappy.

Casper the little mini monster mule has been staying in his pen most of the time.  He's gone back to his old habit of camo crawling under the fence.  He's not tall enough to gather beans off the trees, but seems to know there are plenty of beans outside the perimeter fence, so off he goes.  His footprints are all over the place outside the fence.  Suzanne kept him in all the time for a few days, but he's been going out during the day the last few days and so far he's staying in.........at least we think he is, we haven't caught him out.

Carlos and Nellie are still here.  When their family came to take them home last week-end, the lights on their trailer wouldn't work, so they are coming out this week-end to hopefully get the lights fixed.  Actually the last couple of days they've been going out when Casper is out and everyone is ignoring each other.  I think the problem when Casper was attacking, was Carlos was the new kid on the block and wasn't use to having so many donkeys to contend with.  So he was kicking at everyone, which Casper probably saw as an insult and decided to show Carlos who is the boss around here.

Had a great time in Colorado, although we sure were glad we had our jackets.  It's a lot cooler up there...........LOL

You will probably notice these aren't donkeys.  They also have a llama race.  They are a strange animal and when they run they look like someone put parts together, their neck doesn't look right.  Guess I'm use to the way donkeys run.......!! LOL  Plus they always look at people like they are looking at a bug under a microscope.  Didn't see any of them spit, but they just don't look warm and cuddly to me. 

John with either Link or Turbo, not sure which and Sugar

Leddy, Boaz, me and Sugar again.  She was making the rounds, just in case treats were being offered.  She actually finished in 7th place for the short race, which was 15 miles.  The long race was 25+ miles.  It was actually 4 miles shorter than usual, because Mosquito Pass is still snowed in. 

 

I forget what Jack's full name is.  He is actually a champion pack burro racer of years gone by.  Bill Lee was at the Fairplay jail that is now a museum as a mountain man, talking to people and having his picture taken.  He rents out donkeys to people that want to race and don't have a donkey.  I think he had 14 donkeys in the race.  He and Jack actually ran the long course.  He also has reindeer and at Christmas time Santa Claus and his reindeer are part of the local color.

John trying to entice a little rodent with sunflower seeds at the mine museum at Creede.  I'm trying to get my camera to work.  It decided to "rest" for most of the trip, so I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted to.  Linda always has her camera with her.  I guess rechargeable batteries don't last forever......!!

 

Lynn and Linda took us to this waterfall, don't remember the name, but it was really pretty.  Lots of people there, so I guess it's well known. 

This morning I finally got around to working on Big Gus' mats.  He probably has more French Poitou blood than BlackJack.  They both mat pretty bad, but he is worse than BlackJack.

Those blobs you see are mats.  I had planned on doing his belly first, which is just one big mat, but got started on his legs and body.  By the time I got done with that, I decided to do his belly Sunday.  He was really good to work on, he loves any type of attention and of course the animal crackers that go with it......!!

He looks much better and I'm sure he's more comfortable.  I can't imagine how miserable the full blood Poitous are when they aren't clipped and are allowed to grow the dreadlocks.

This picture is from the early 1900s. with all that matted dirty hair to carry around all the time. 

THEY ARE OUT AND ABOUT.....!!!

This morning we let Carlos and Nellie out before the others for about an hour.  I was really surprised, Nelllie seems to be Carlos' security blanket, but when I let them out, he went one way and she went the other.  

Carlos' first order of business was to pee on the poo pile

Then he took off  to find Nellie

Guess he had to show her what he had found......!!

Then Nellie was off doing her own thing

 When I went out to let the other donkeys out of their pens, Carlos was running around like a wild child, yelling and screaming.  Since Nellie wasn't with him I assumed he had lost track of her.  I hate to say it, but I saw her as he was frantically running around screeching like a banshee.  She didn't seem the least big interested in letting him know where she was.  He ran up to a couple of the donkeys and they weren't very interested in his problem either.  

FINALLY he found her and peace and quiet settled in.  LOL 

Everyone is on just the 10 acres today.  I'm sure the newbies will be easy to put back in their pens, but rather than us having to go find them in Burroland, we'll give them today to get use to being out.  

Our neighbor is suppose to go get George this afternoon.  She said Banana has just been standing around like a lost soul, so I'm sure he will be happy to see his old friend.  They are both about 20 years old and have been buds since they were 4 years old.  

One of the ranchers is going to bring some of their roping calves down to her place, so they can eat the beans.  That's a great idea wonder if he's got enough calves that we could borrow some to put over on Burroland for awhile.......!!!  LOL  We use to open the 2 gates in Burroland so the range cattle could come in and clean up the beans.  But the local rancher doesn't have as many cattle anymore and there are so many beans everywhere with this year's bumper crop, why would they bother to go thru a gate?   

Well this afternoon I was talking to Linda in Colorado and saw Carlos running behind the house with Casper the little Blanco Diablo mini mule in hot pursuit.  Told Linda I had to go, went out and they were running all over the 10 acres.  I tried intervention, which didn't work at all, they were too fast and Casper was totally focused on Carlos' butt.  It's been years since I used the bb gun to grab a donkey or in this case mule's attention...but it still works.  He ran over to the gate to Burroland and is still over there, looking back over here like, "what was that?"  Nellie was upset and went in the pens no problem, took Carlos a little longer, but he went in because she was in there.  Then she started trying to chase him and kick at him, poor guy.  A couple of cookies soothed everyone's nerves and I'll keep them in there for now.  

But for the rest of their visit, Casper will be staying in the pens, since he can't behave himself.  We thought he had quit trying to attack other equine, big or little, horse, mule or now donkey.  We'd never seen him go after a donkey before. He gets along just fine with all the donkeys here, but I guess they are HIS donkeys and he's not interested in making new friends. 

UPDATE............

George on the right and his buddy Banana

Jorja got a good phone call this morning.  The vet can hear gut sounds in all 4 quadrants and he is to put it politely fatulating.  He also pulled back and broke a lead rope, so it sounds like he is feeling better.  They are putting more oil down him, but it sounds like he's going to come home.  YIPPEE...!!

LOTS OF THINGS GOING ON AROUND HERE.......

Heard from Suzanne, she's got the girls where they need to go and is on schedule to get back Saturday as planned.  We will be leaving Monday to head for Colorado to meet Lynn and Linda's other family and be at the Fairplay Pack Burro Race to root for them and some of our donkeys that will be running.  I'm not sure how many of our donkeys will be running, but they'll have a little rooting section on the sideline.  

Our great grandson Hunter has been here this week.  We usually see him at the races and in fact will send him home with his dad Saturday night.  He might be driving a Bandolero Saturday night if he does good during practice Friday night.  He is 7 years old, which is minimum age for these little cars and will have to listen to his dad or he might not get to drive.  We'll try to go up and watch the practice Friday night.  

John's been having a "Caddyshack" adventure with a rodent in the feedroom.  Our feedroom is concrete block and the only opening is the doggy door.  Well an enterprising pack rat managed to figure out the doggy door and was having a great time in there, tearing up paper towels, filling up on assorted pellets from the pans made up for the next feeding.  He also had a affinity for chewing the bristles off the broom.  We didn't know what kind of critter he was, until John went in at bedtime, flipped on the light and there he sat.  

John set the live trap 2 or 3 nights and and the hairy little critter was tripping it and making off with the ginger snap.  Hunter went out to the feed room yesterday morning and came back in to tell us something was in the trap.  Sure enough there he was, pack rats are pretty good size and he chose to go into the smaller trap, which pretty much filled up the trap.  John rehomed him, he probably beat John home......!!!  LOL  We locked the doggy door and so far the feedroom appears to be rodent free.  Hopefully they won't figure out how to unlock the doggy door.......!! 

I got a call from our neighbor this morning that she was taking her horse George to the vet.  He was colicky and had been for a few hours.  She called this afternoon and said the vet was working with him, IV fluid, tubing him with lots of oil and nothing was happening.  Later on she said they had called and there was no improvement and if by morning there wasn't some change for the good, that it might be time to make a decision.  They suspect mesquite bean impaction, it could also be a twisted intestine, which can only be fixed with colic surgery, neither one is good.  Hopefully by morning she will get some good news.  Her animals are her family.  

We've been on poo watch the last week or so with the donkeys.  There aren't a lot of ripe mesquite beans, but there are beans in their poo, so they are managing to find them.  Trying to control the bean consumption is really difficult.  Once we feel they are eating too many beans, we'll shut the gate to Burroland and until the beans over there are gone or have fallen and turned black, they will have to stay on just the 10 acres.  If we get some good rains after the beans fall, it doesn't take long for them to turn black.  Once they do that the donkeys won't eat them....!! Of course we have as many mesquite beans on the 10 acres as there are in Burroland.  But at least if we keep them on the 10 acres, they don't have quite as much of a selection to choose from.  

This morning Carlos and Nellie came out to "Longears Camp" for a week or so, while their family take a little vacation.  

Mom and dad telling the kids good bye and to be good.  

Carlos seemed to think he shouldn't be separated from Nellie, although they are sharing a corral panel divider, so he started pacing and digging.  We'll probably let them out tomorrow morning before everyone else, so they can get a chance to get familiar with the lay of the land, before the others get out.  Most of the donkeys are so use to donkeys coming and going, they don't pay much attention to newbies, so there shouldn't be any problems. 

SURE IS QUIET AROUND HERE.........!!!

Suzanne, Mikaela and Richelle left this morning about 4am, at least that was the plan.  I'll assume they got off on time.......LOL  Suzanne is going to be on the road for the next week, she said she likes to drive, but she might change her mind by the time she gets back.  

John and I actually managed to do chores by ourselves this morning in a timely manner.  Well not by donkeys standards, I think they judged us and found us lacking, since they have had access to  more "servants" and also younger and quicker ones.  I told them to get use to it, but the vocal ones didn't seem to care.  I think they might be a little bit spoiled........!!!  

Wednesday Indy and Jerome will bring Carlos and Nellie out for a week at Longears Camp and get to try out their new trailer.  They found a good deal on a used horse trailer, but most donkeys don't like horse trailers, too confining and in Nellie's case she wouldn't be able to see anything in a "normal" horse trailer.  She's a little bit "height" challenged........!!  The man they bought it from, had an idea and it turned out great.......!!!    Thanks for the video Indy. 

  

Big Gus got over whatever was making him sluggish for a couple of days.  Don't know what it was, but once it was over he was back to his usual "helpful" obnoxious self.  Between him and Bella, very rarely does John get to work up at the garage without "help".  He said they usually just stand and watch him do whatever he's doing.  Occasionally they move in for a closer look, but for the most part they just watch.  BlackJack use to come in the garage and walk around the car where John was working.  Usually John was under the car with his legs out where they could get stepped on, but BJ never stepped on him.

Friday we took Bella up to the Equine Clinic in Gilbert south of Phoenix.   They are always so glad to see us, I guess they don't get that many donkeys.  They always have 3 or 4 interns in training, so it's good experience for them.  

 

Here is Bella with a couple of the interns.  Notice her chubby butt, we thought it would go away when she lost the extra weight she was carrying when she got here a few months ago.  She's lost the weight, but still had the "bubble" butt and of course the reason we took her up there was her inability to get up off the ground like an equine usually does.  She sits up on her butt and then basically heaves herself up, sometimes she has to try 2 or 3 times to actually get up.  And has calluses on her hocks from getting up like that probably for most of her life. 

Also lately we had noticed she had hard areas in her butt, that didn't feel like squishy fat so we wanted to find out what that was.  

The 1st thing Dr. Howard noticed was she has no muscle development in the area of the gaskin muscle, which would be the area her tail is covering in the above picture.  The bone in that area is the stifle, at least I think it is....!!  I'm not that good at anatomy.......!!!  You should not be able to feel the stifle bone very well because of a heavy muscle cover.  Well she doesn't have very much muscle there at all.  We will be giving her steroid shots once a week for a month to see if it makes a difference, but I have a feeling she was born this way.  

On the to hard places in her bubble butt.  I have never heard of fatty necrosis before.  We were not given an option for treatment, but I ran across the link above, and found it fascinating, and also found a real name for the problem.  

They did a CBC blood test, nothing remarkable, but we did get sent home with a goody bag of assorted supplements.   

About half way home on the interstate the truck started hicupping, as in "the fuel pump might be failing".  One of the 1st signs is, the speed starts dropping and of course thru that area there isn't any frontage road.  John managed to keep it above 40mph, which is scary when everyone else is going 80 or more and we limped almost to our son's house on the NW side of Tucson before it finally quit.  Our son Rod had to tow us the last 1/2 mile or so. 

 

Lisa actually has a horse and pens, but we tied Bella under this tree, not sure Sassy has ever seen a donkey.  The tree turned out to be a mesquite tree, with ripe beans on it.  Bella thought she had died and gone to heaven, until I noticed all the beans and started throwing them out of her area.  She still enjoyed the dried grass though.  

 One of the pleasures of having racers and mechanics in the family is, they know how to take a truck apart.  Unless you've had a fuel pump go out you might not know in a lot of vehicles it is in the gas tank.  In the case of a pickup the bed has to be raised, to get to the gas tank.  Our grandson J.R. said he had changed a few where he use to work, O'Reilly had a fuel pump, so they went at it.  We've had a fuel pump put in this truck before by a shop and they charge a fortune, so I'd just as soon pay J.R. It took less than 3 hours.  

We had discussed all sorts of "what do we do" scenarios, renting a car, staying in Tucson.  Our primary problem was Bella.  When we came off the freeway towards Rod's house, the truck had died on the railroad tracks that run along side the freeway.  I was in the process of grabbing a lead rope and getting her out of the trailer, when John managed to get it started again.  Whew........!! 

We were still planning, when the guys started on the truck, didn't know if they could get it done that night or how long it would take if they did.   I called Suzanne and she and the girls came in to haul Bella home.  They also took John because he didn't have his medication with him, we hadn't planned on making a night of it. It was done in time for me to get home before midnight, which was great........!!!  

John said the 1st think Bella did when she got in her pen was bury her nose in the bunk, like she hadn't been eating dried grass and what mesquite beans she could find the last 3 hours.  

Mikaela telling Cisco bye, he is one of her favorites, along with Penny.

 

NO RAIN, AND NOT GETTING ANY COOLER......

Well that isn't exactly true, it got down to 52 degrees last night, made us scramble for the comforter down at the foot of the bed.  Unfortunately one of the cats was laying on it.  Nothing is more whiny than a comfortable sleeping cat.   The days are still pretty warm but usually not going over 100* which is a good thing.  

Saturday night we went racing on the dirt.  Well, that was the plan, but we didn't expect the track to not be prepared.  I guess they didn't know how many hornets would show up, so they didn't bother to wet down and prep the track.

They actually had 6 cars show up, which is enough to make a race.  I started in the back and this gives an idea of what it was like on the track.  This is the car that won, the rest of us were back there in the dust.  The dust from the last lap is still hanging in the air in front of him.  

Could not see the track, spent almost as much time off it as on it.......LOL  See that pile of tractor tires around the light pole?  I "visited" them twice, last time took out my power steering, it was so rough and dusty, I didn't even realize it......!!!  

I have waited 5 years for the dirt track to reopen, so needless to say it was disappointing.  Hopefully they will figure it out and have the track prepped next time.  

Our son was racing his modified at the pavement track and their race was the last one for the night, so we hurried over there, sneaked in and caught the last 10 laps of his race.  He finished 8th and the car is in good shape, so no complaints.  The security people are so use to seeing us roaming around they just waved us in.  I doubt if they would have been required to charge us for about 4 minutes of racing, but they could have at least acknowledged we weren't suppose to be there.......LOL

This morning when we got up the Night Blooming Cereus had bloomed.  They are such a beautiful bloom, but only last a few hours.  Don't know if the moths pollinated them last night or not.  If they did, later on this summer they will get a bright red bulb on them with lots of seeds.  Years ago I called the Desert Museum to ask how to grow them.  They told me, but I didn't get any of the seeds to germinate.  

A real pretty bloom on what looks like a dead stick

This Friday we are going to take Bella to the Equine Clinic up by Phoenix to hopefully see what is wrong with her hindquarters.  We have had her adjusted twice, but this is a long term problem she's probably had for a long time.  She can't get up when she lays on the ground without sitting up on her hindquarters like a dog.  Her hocks are both callused and subject to opening up, so I'd like to find out exactly what is wrong with her if possible.  She such a sweet little girl today Suzanne, Jorja and John were working on some fencing and Bella decided they needed her help and was determined to do her part whether they appreciated her efforts or not.  They didn't.........LOL

Big Gus has been acting a little off the last couple of days.  He's got a heart murmur he was probably born with, but I always worry if he isn't in my face constantly.  Also it's been so hot and he has so much hair, we thought that might be bothering him.  I could body clip him but then he wouldn't look like a Poitou and I'm not sure that's the problem.  Suzanne said he was a little touchy about his touching his cheek, so maybe he has some teeth problems.

It's so difficult sometimes to figure out what is bothering these guys.  Donkeys are so stoic they can really be sick and you would never know it. We'll watch him for a couple of days.  He's eating, but he's not in your face, which is typical Big Gus. 

INDEPENDENCE DAY 2019

Had a lot of fun yesterday, we took 3 donkeys up Mt Lemmon for Summerhaven's annual 4th of July parade.

Our day started at 3:30am because the donkeys we were taking had to have enough time to eat their breakfast.  We went ahead and fed all the donkeys, our neighbor Jorja that picks up poo let the ones that stayed home out when she came over to clean pens.   

Left before 7am, headed to Tucson to pick up India and her little girl Nellie and started up the mountain.  John and I haven't been up there in years, the difference between down here on the desert floor and up there is amazing.  It's like being in an alpine forest, lots of trees, although they don't have as many trees as they did before the horrible fire they had a few years ago.  Our friend Leigh Anne, that asked us to walk in the parade, lost her cabin in the fire and has since built a new one that is rustic and looks like it's been there for a long time.  

We got there in time to get everyone dressed and in line for the parade.  

Pretty long parade and lots of people along the route.

BlackJack and me doing our thing.....!!  BlackJack doesn't lead really well, especially when there is grass along the road.  He has really good eye sight unfortunately........!!! LOL  In the future I will put a stud chain on him if we take him out.  It's a chain that goes across their nose and if they jerk and pull, it is across sensitive nerves and doesn't feet good.  My arms were tired from wrestling him, I even turned him over to Suzanne a few times while I recuperated.  I think a stud chain would make a lot of difference in his overall behavior when out in public .........!!

This is Leigh Anne and Jasmine, doing the Donkey Dance, she's one in a million and always has fun, no matter what's she doing. 

ENTIRE PARADE, our part starts at about 7:18 

I'm looking for a better picture of John and his outfit.  He was in charge of the Department of Sanitation, which Mikaela printed on his bucket.  I screenshot this off the video, but I'm hoping someone got a good picture of him.  He was dressed all in white and had all the tools of the trade, which was a good thing.  Cheyenne made him work a little.  If anyone asked him, he told them it was a crappy job.......!!! LOL 

Found this one, at least it's clearer. wish I'd thought to take a picture

RAIN.....? NOT REALLY...........!!

Well it tried earlier this afternoon, it was what we call a 4 foot rain.......4 feet between the drops on the courtyard for a minute or so.......!!  

When we first came to Arizona the oldtimers said the monsoon started the 4th of July.  It was pretty accurate, many years the fireworks were rained out.  But a few years ago, someone got the brilliant idea that the monsoon should start the middle of June.  I don't think they shared that information with whoever is in charge of rain, because we've never had rain that early and it's still usually pretty close to the 4th......!!  There's clouds around and obviously there is moisture in the air, but so far that's all we got.  

Still watching Cisco and Rosie's habronema spots, both of them are healing up without further infestation, but I'm continuing to put wormer or SWAT on the areas, just in case.  Other than those 2 and socks on Rosie and Penny's front legs I don't have much doctoring to do.  

Courtney came out as planned.  Mariah did really good with Courtney, after I drugged her with Dormosodan.  We brought Rosie down to be worked on beside Mariah in Turbo/Link’s pen.  Mariah wasn’t the least bit impressed.  Brought big Gus down and she went over to Tula’s side of the pen and basically ignored us.  Courtney went in to see if she would change her mind and she didn’t bite or kick or anything like that, just aggressively evasive. 

I think there might have been too many people there, Suzanne, the girls, John and I and Courtney with her noisy sander.  So I drugged her, it takes about 1/2 an hour, Courtney did the mini girls, and Cisco and John said Mariah was stumbling around.  Maybe so, but her cooperation level hadn’t changed much.  More drugs a little more time and she did really good.  Of course Suzanne was shoveling cookies in her mouth non stop, I was afraid Mariah would get sick.......!! LOL  Courtney didn’t use power tools, she just nipped off the long hoof wall.  Didn’t even rasp the feet, Mariah will wear them off walking around.  Courtney said she had the hardest feet she had ran into in quite awhile.  This time last year Mariah was running with her herd on the range, she was "gathered" as the BLM calls it, last July.  She is really a sweet donkey, but she's only 2 years old and we don't know if she will be a runner or not. 

Heard from Linda in Colorado, they had a training day for the Leadville race, which actually isn't until next month.  That's the race John and I are going to go up and watch, at least that's the plan.  Linda took Coquette out, I think for the first time and Linda said she was so focused on running, people were asking if she was available for adoption.  We've always said she wasn't because she was so bonded with Penny and Penny isn't adoptable for a lot of reasons.  But Coquette has done really well this summer not being with Penny, so who knows maybe she will stay in Colorado long term if the right people wanted to add her to their family.

This is some of the teams, they are above the timber line.  They went over 12,000 feet......!!

 

HABRONEMA VICTIM #2

Must be the season, Rosie has a sore on her chest, probably from itching on sticks or branches.  Noticed lots of flies on it, and sure enough, little white specks.  I only doctored her with topical wormer once and it seems to have taken care of the larvae.  Now we're just putting SWAT on it daily. Cisco's nose sore seems to be healing, but I put wormer on it every morning, just in case.  

BlackJack is going to get a bath today.  He's been itching a lot, we see him scratching on trees and he's got some bare spots where he scratched too long.  He isn't a fan of bathing, but he stands still for it, well fairly still once he's wet. It's like he thinks by squirming he can avoid the experience, but once he's all wet it's all over......!!!  Silly boy..........!!   

Courtney is suppose to come this afternoon to trim.  This will be Mariah's first trim and I think she will do just fine.  I picked up and cleaned all 4 of her feet yesterday and she was cooperative although I could almost hear her asking, what in the heck I was doing.  She's had her front feet picked up, but I don't know about her back feet, and also don't know if her feet have ever been cleaned out before.  But she did just fine and Courtney is pretty good working with new animals as long as they behave.

This morning we gathered up our decorations for walking in the 4th of July parade up on Mt Lemmon, at Summerhaven.  They have a parade every year and we were invited to participant this year.  We are only taking BlackJack, Cheyenne and Lynn.  Our friend Leigh Anne and India are bringing Jasmine and Nellie, so there will be one standard and 4 minis, all dressed up for 4th of July.  I think John is going to be the hit of the parade.  He isn't walking a donkey but we came up with a great idea for him I think.  We'll take pictures.......!!!  LOL 

I raced Saturday night, finished 5th and the car came home in one piece, so it was a good night.  This is a screenshot from a video of the race.  We all stayed close together for awhile, but I finally got ahead of them  I'm 2nd from the top, which isn't a real good place to be, but then again this track isn't made for 4 across racing, so none of us were in a good position.

The 6th of July I'm suppose to race at the dirt track, for the 1st time in a long time.  Haven't heard much advertising, so don't know if they will actually race or not.  We'll be ready if they do.