GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS.........!!!

Well the bad news is we caught another skunk, but the good news is, one trap was empty this morning. So we can only hope traffic is slowing down. We'll haul the chickens to the garage again tonight & set the trap over in their pen. I had put moth balls in a couple of holes the skunks dug in the chicken pen. This morning there was moth balls thrown everywhere. .!!!! (G) Hopefully the one we caught was the culprit.

It's been getting cold enough every night to put blankets on Pepper & Sha'ba. That means Pepper has to stay in the pens all night. John gives him extra hay, he has a warm blanket, but he still fights like a weak tiger at the gate, wanting to go out. Sha'ba is a homebody, he likes his pen. Right now he is busy eating prickly pear. They seem to eat different things at different times of the year. Someone told me cactus is high in vitamin C. I know he doesn't seem to mind sticking his face all the way in & getting dozens of spines & little tiny hairlike stickers that are almost impossible to find once they are stuck in your skin. He comes in looking like a porcupine with his whole face covered & usually wants to be loved on.........!!!!! YIKES! We've given up on pulling them out, unless they are close to his eye or inside his nose. They don't seem to bother him near as much as it bothers us to see them.

Judy seems to be walking much better although still has a slight limp. I'll continue soaking her foot until there is no more limp. I've been putting ichthammol on the area by her heel bulb that looks like a small split, assuming that is where the problem is. I know one thing, she's got one very clean hoof.......!!!

I MAY BECOME A SKUNK MURDERER.........!!!

We're up to 7, this morning we caught not only a hooded like the other 5, but a striped one. Good grief, they are calling in the neighbors......!!!! (G) Sardines seem to be a big hit. We've updated our approach, instead of taking them 1/4 mile away, they are going about 4 miles now. John loaded the traps into the bronco, left the tail gate open, one of them was rather smelly & hauled them to the Tres Alamos Wash. He said the first one sauntered out & was sitting in front of some brush when he let the 2nd one out. The 2nd one shot out like a bullet & ran over the other one. Now these guys are different types, but the last time John saw them they were running together up the wash.

The chickens are getting use to being dragged off their perch in the dark, & stuck in a cage. This morning while I was removing them from the cage, Rowdy the rooster decided not to wait. He hopped out of the cage & jumped down into the pen with the girls. John cut another "door" in the cage this afternoon, so we can open it & they can walk out, rather than me dragging them out the door in the top.

I'm still soaking Judy's foot. I think the abscess has opened, she's walking good, but I'll soak for another day or so just in case. She also might have some thrush. I've never had much dealings with thrush, so I'm not sure if it's just smelly feet or actual thrush. But it is black & it is smelly. After I soak that foot I've been spraying the bottom with a bleach solution. I am going to change over to Lysol tonight I think. I had planned on wrapping her foot once the abscess opened, but don't want to, if there is a possibility of thrush.

Set 2 traps last night, had 2 skunks this morning. That makes a total of 5...............so far. We were told that you have to take them 15 miles away to make sure they don't come back. That would be downtown Benson, not sure the city folk would appreciate skunks as new neighbors. I bought some sardines for bait today. John says they are probably telling all their friends to come to our place, the food is good, you get to spend the night covered by a nice warm blanket & you get to go for a ride in the wagon, although it would probably be nicer if the road was a little smoother. We've talked about spray painting a spot on them before we let them loose, so we could tell if we have repeaters. But we haven't decided who's going to do the spraying yet.

We went to town this afternoon & came home to find Judy out roaming around, thanks to Chili. He's such a helpful boy........!!!! I'm soaking her foot twice a day to hopefully help the abscess open up, so it isn't so painful for her to walk on it. She should walk as much as possible to also help it open up. But the vet thought the others might bother her if she was out. Actually I've never seen anyone attempt to intimidate her, so I think she is probably safe to be out moving around as much as she wants to. I've found out she does better in a soaking boot, if she can't see me. If I'm around her, she wiggles & squirms & lifts her foot up. But I found out if I soak her while she is eating her hay, & go off doing other things she stands still.

It looks like Chili will be going to a wonderful new home next week, along with Twinkie, & Frijolita will be coming out here to stay. We will haul Chili into Tucson, pick up Twinkie & take them to their new home. We haven't decided whether to pick up Frijolita at the same time as Twinkie, or come back & pick her up after we deliver Chili & Twinkie. Probably decide once we get into Tucson.

NEW JOB DISCRIPTION....SKUNK WRANGLER

Actually John is getting more experience than I am. We caught one skunk Monday night in the back yard. When John went over to shut up the chickens, we found another one behind the nesting boxes. So we gathered up the chickens, we only have 7 hens & Rowdy the rooster, thank goodness, & put them in the garage for the night. Set the trap & sure enough, yesterday morning we had caught another one.

This is a good way to move a skunk, if you don't want to get sprayed. They won't spray if you cover the trap with a blanket. So John hauled him about 1/4 mile away close to the San Pedro river. When we let the 1st one out it was dark, we opened the trap & it took off. This time it was daylight, with a close proximity to the golf cart. You can guess where this story is going............!!!!

The golf cart looked like a nice dark place to hide, & away he went. John thought that might not be a good idea, got a stick & poked him. It wasn't a full blown spray, but he did let loose enough to let John know he would prefer to be left alone. John agreed, & walked back home. We finished chores, took the quad down & retrieved our smelly golf cart & hay wagon.





Came home took the chickens back to their pen & life goes on. John went over to shut them up last night & there was a skunk running around in the empty pen. Same scenario as the night before, including moving the chickens to the garage, except I had run out of brisket fat & had to resort to tuna salad as bait.


This morning we had another little guest, & evidence where some of his close friends had tried to dig him out of his prison. So we think that probably means, tonight will be a replay of the last 2 nights.

We're becoming such good wranglers & seem to have an almost endless supply of hooded skunks, we're going to borrow another trap & set 2 each night instead of one.

Just got a call from the vet office & they are going to be out in our area & want to come by to draw the blood from Judy Mule for her Cushings retest. That will save us having to haul her into the office again. Right now she is still pretty lame on her left front. I soaked her foot yesterday morning & last night she was walking good. But this morning she is lame again. Which pretty much sounds like a hoof abscess. I poked & prodded when I soaked her yesterday, but couldn't find any place that was sore. I'll soak her again today, but this time I might wrap her foot with some drawing salve & hopefully if it is an abscess it will open & stay open to drain.

The skunks got another chicken last night. We thought we had all the entry areas covered, but obviously skunks are smarter than we are. We are going to try to set the live trap in the pen tonight with something tasty. If we do catch one then we'll have the problem of hauling it off, without us getting sprayed. And where do we haul it, far enough away, so it won't come back. We use to complain about the neighbor's dogs running loose, but at least we didn't have a skunk problem at that time. Guess we should be careful what we wish for sometimes.

Right now I'm involved in a donkey adoption that is going to be more involved than normal. A young woman that lost her older jenny to colic, came to visit a few weeks ago, & fell in love with Chili. Chili actually still has an owner that is having health problems. He had been staying here until she could figure out whether he could come home or not.

We found a wonderful home for Twinkie a few months ago, but since then her family needs to down size. Chili actually prefers girls over boys & has never really bonded with anyone here. He hangs with the group, but doesn't have a buddy. Soooooooooo I called Chili's owner & she agreed that this would be a good home. I called Twinkie's family & they also agreed to rehome Twinkie with Chili. So it's just a matter of getting them picked up & taken to their new home........!!!!! Incidently we will be gaining Frijolita, a friend of Twinkie, that is having weight problems. So although there will be donkeys moving here & there, we will still end up with the same number we have now.........!!!!! I don't think we will ever get downsized, although we keep trying.

SKUNK UPDATE:

Two nights ago, the skunks got into the chicken pens & killed one of the chickens. They dug under the fence, that is buried in the ground. We looked around & assumed they left the pens for the day. John fixed the fence, & put chicken wire over the chain link fence areas. Last night he came back from checking on the chickens & said he had a big problem. Both skunks were in the pens & the assumption was they had been in there all day, since John thinks he got the pen fixed so they couldn't get back in. They weren't in a mood to leave, so we took the blind chicken that had been in the pen where they killed the other hen, & put her in a carrier in the house for the night. Locked all the other pens & left the outside gate open. Sure enough they were gone this morning, actually John just saw one in the back yard........tonight.....!! I hope when he goes over to the chicken pen tonight, they haven't figured out another way to get in. I wish they would find another place to "shop". They even dig in the manure piles, looking for grubs.

This morning when everyone came in from Burroland, Judy the mule came in almost 3 legged lame on a front leg. I cleaned out her hoof & tried to check her leg. She seems to be trained to raise her leg if you touch it, which makes it difficult to know if she is reacting to your touch or just being a good girl & raising her leg because you asked her to. She has no swelling or heat in the leg I can find, although she seemed a little touchy around the elbow. She has a history of foundering, but her feet are the same temperature as everyone else, so I don't think that's a problem. She had to stay in her pen today, so I could watch her. She didn't really seem to mind, especially when she got some extra hay this afternoon. Usually when she's out during the day, she doesn't go very far away anyway.

I called to see how Gus is doing in his new home. They said he's settled in & he & Leo the horse are usually hanging around pretty close to each other. That should be a great home for him. We have a couple more that are looking for good homes, although we're not looking very hard.

OH! WELL.......!!!

There are actually 14 equine in this picture. I counted them before I took the picture, but three of the minis are behind some of the bigger guys.

Got a call from the vet clinic today. Although they called the lab almost 2 weeks ago to order the correct blood tubes to run Judy's ACTH test, it seems that the lab sent the wrong tubes. So the blood drawn Wed was for naught & we are waiting for the lab to send more tubes, hopefully the correct ones, so we can do it again............!!!!

The skunks are still around, although they haven't gotten into the house again.............YET! One of them waits out in the yard, until Hobo the outdoor cat, comes in to be fed. Then unless one of us stands by while she eats, the skunk comes in & runs her off. It would be nice if she would come in before dark, like she did for awhile. But for some reason she has decided she would rather eat in the dark.

We've gotten a little rain the last couple of days. I have never understood why everyone donkeys, mules or horse will stand in their shelters until the gate is opened. Then they leave & stand in the rain all humped up & looking miserable. When it's raining, we usually move their feeding area into the shelters. They all accept this change, except for Max the horse, & Tula, our wild child. Max will stand by his hay bunk, in the rain for a long time, even though he saw me put the hay in the shelter. He will stand & watch the hay cart as it moves down the line of pens, like I forgot to drop his off. He talks to me the whole time. Finally when he sees that the cart isn't coming back, he will go into the shelter & eat. Which leads me to believe he knew all the time it was there. But "it isn't like it's suppose to be".................!!!!

Tula on the other hand, hates to go into the shelter for any reason. She doesn't care how bad the weather is, she is a natural lifestyle type of gal, & prefers the wide open spaces. So when we put her feed under the shelter, it's really horrible from her point of view. She will stand in the middle of her pen, & literally scream at me, as I move down to the lower pens. She holds out longer than Max before she will finally go under the shelter. But if there is any noise or if she sees anything move, she pops back out in the open.

We took Judy to the vet today to have blood drawn to test her for Cushings. She goes in the trailer just fine, but "walks" for the whole trip. And she is heavy enough that you can feel her back there moving back & forth. She was a good girl for her blood draw. We should have the results back in a few days & everyone that has seen her agrees that she looks like a Cushings type of gal. So we'll start her on pergolide as soon as we get the results & have some idea of how much to give her every day.

Came home & there was a rather large box sitting just outside the gate. We always ask that anything we order be delivered to my Mother's house in town. The UPS driver's try to open the gate, drive in, deliver & drive out, before closing the gate. I realize they are in a hurry, but if the donkeys got out, it might make for a fun afternoon for us & the UPS driver.........!!!! (G) I had ordered an insulated waterer for Sha'ba's pen. Unfortunately when we set up the pens, we put the oldest skinniest little guy in the coldest pen & his water will freeze first & hardest on a cold night. I guess the company didn't notice a different delivery address than the billing address.

The box was sitting outside the gate, but of course once it was discovered & deemed something worth investigating it didn't matter which side of the gate it was on, the donkeys could reach it, mouth it, grab the cardboard & rip off big pieces & throw it everywhere. The insulation for the waterer is foam, luckily they didn't have time to delve deeper into their project, so it was still intact.

This is the 2nd time recently they've found a package to play with. The other one was a box of home grown Pennsylvania potatoes from some dear friends . Thank goodness the donkeys weren't interested in the potatoes, but there was no box left & they had strung potatoes EVERYWHERE. I don't know what the facination for cardboard boxes is, probably the thought that it isn't suppose to be there. They are always in John's assorted piles of "treasures" up by the garage. If he adds one little item to a pile by the next day it will be moved or dragged far enough away, he has to look for it. They remind me of cats, when it comes to noticing something new or different.

Well today has certainly been interesting.............!!! When I got up this morning I went in the spa room to water my poor little gardenia that has managed to survive in spite of my brown thumb. I noticed the folding door that covers the washer & dryer was half cocked & I heard shuffling noises. My assumption was one of the cats was in there messing around. I smacked the side of the dryer & a cat would have come flying out.........hmmmmm! I headed for the living room & both cats were there..............hmmmmm! We had a skunk show up a few days ago to help Hobo the outdoor cat eat her dry food, if we don't pick it up when she is finished. For some reason John didn't believe me, until he checked it out himself & saw "something" in the trash can that was now laying on it's side facing the back wall. We didn't do a real close study, but did notice that it was black & white, & the dryer duct was no longer attached to the outside vent, so our assumption was...........SKUNK........!!!! Now what? Our answer to the problem was, shut the inside doors to the spa & open the outside door, hoping our little visitor wouldn't mind leaving in the daylight, even though they are a nocturnal type of weasel.

Martha came today to massage Chester & Max. Courtney came to trim feet on those that needed it. Chester was very good about his feet, & actually stood on his bad leg long enough for her to do a quick job on his other leg. This was the first time Judy the new mule had been trimmed by Courtney, & she did pretty good at least on 3 feet. She decided to make a fuss about one hind leg, but nothing dramatic. Courtney also thinks she is probably Cushings. We're still waiting for the vet to get the correct lab tubes to do the test to make sure before we start her on meds.

The last time Martha was here & worked on Max, he was a big worry wart & couldn't relax, because he didn't know her & wasn't sure what she was going to do to him. This time he relaxed & almost went to sleep on his feet. She said he has a lot of muscles around the area where his neck is broken that are rigid, poor old guy. She got them softened up, although I'm sure they won't stay that way very long.

Chester's primary request was to get his butt scratched, rather than have her work on his front leg & shoulder. If she would try to work on the front leg, he'd turn around & stick his fanny in her face. Finally they reached an agreement & he decided that it felt pretty good to have her work on the bad leg. He has a couple of spots that must be sore. When she worked in those areas, he would act like he was going to bite her.

We told Courtney about the skunk in the spa room, & she decided she had to have a picture of it. I told her if she set off a flash & the skunk REALLY didn't like it, the spa room would probably be off limits for a LONG time. I told her where we'd seen it last, in the trash can, so we all tip toed into the spa room, she took her camera, held it at arm's length in front of the downed trash can & took a picture. No skunk.........!!! Hmmmmmm, now where did it go? I got a step stool so I could look over the back of the washer & dryer. No skunk.......!!!! Courtney was so disappointed.

This morning John had set a live trap in the back yard. We didn't disarm it figured the skunk wouldn't be around during the day. Tonight after dark (we forgot about the set trap), John said the trap had been tripped & the packing blanket we had covered the trap with, so it would look inviting, (we're trying to think like a skunk) was jumping around. Couldn't see what was in there, but it was definately not happy. After a long discussion about, "now what do we do", we decided to just open the trap & let it go rather than trying to "take" it somewhere. Started to go out to open the trap, & there was a skunk walking around the packing blanket............... SO WHAT'S IN THE TRAP?

OK, we decided to "gently" open up the trap & set it, so whatever was in the trap could leave. I held the flash light & John set the trap, using the blanket to hide what we were doing. Went back in the house & flashed a light into the trap thru the door. Seems like we have 2 skunks instead of just one, & the one in the trap is perfectly happy in there I guess, because it "ain't" going anywhere. I went back in to try to finish supper, John comes in & says, "the door on the trap is shut again". I guess the little "stinker" jumped around enough to slam the door shut. New idea........... use a bungee strap to keep the door from shutting. So we went out again, opened the door & hooked up a bungee. Came back in & the other skunk was now finishing off Hobo's dry cat food.

John just checked & the skunk is no longer in the trap & there is no dry food left for them to eat, so they have both disappeared...................for now. John used duct tape to cover the dryer vent for now. If they really wanted in, the duct tape certainly wouldn't stop them, or even slow them down. But since they found no food in here, hopefully they won't come back.

This is the 2nd time we've had something come in thru the dryer vent. We had a momma mouse come in the vent, chewed a hole thru the duct & had her babies somewhere in the spa room or our bedroom. Not a good place with 2 cats patrolling, unfortunately.

COLD NIGHT = BLANKETS ON THE OLD GUYS

Much to Pepper's disgust, although I do think he is mellowing to the idea of staying in at night with a blanket on. He had eaten all of his hay by bedtime, which is unusual. John put some more hay in for him to munch on during the night. This morning it looked like instead of munching, he had fun flinging it everywhere. He's always been difficult to get extra calories into. It looked like since he wasn't hungry he decided to see how far he could throw it.

I've decided that rather than wait to see if it's going to be cold or not, I'll go ahead & put Sha'ba & Pepper's blankets on every night when we feed. Going out in the cold when it's dark to put on blankets isn't much fun, although I do think Sha'ba realizes the pleasure of a blanket. Not sure about Pepper.