GUS.............AGAIN.......!!

I hate to keep harping on Gus, but he seems to be the one that gets in or stays in trouble.  

I took this picture this morning while he was enjoying his breakfast.  I was at a distance, wish we didn't have to get close to him to throw hay and mush in his feeders.  Be glad you don't have "smell-a-vision". He managed to find a skunk to play with last night.  I assume they were close friends during the encounter, because he STINKS.......!!!  Poor Cochise is his closest neighbor, but neither one of them seems to be bothered by the smell.  We have a couple of tours today, which should be enjoyable, I think we'll probably speed past Gus, which will really disappoint him, he loves to have people to entertain.  

Everyone else seems to be just fine, but there is a change in the dynamics of the herd.  Jasper and Rosie have been hanging together since Gigi died.  John said he has seen Rosie hanging with the mini girls, Sasha, Mamacita and Bella.  Well Bella isn't really a mini, she is a small standard, but she has become a head jenny of the mini girls.  I guess Rosie is trying out a new herd.  Not sure what Jasper will do, maybe he will go with them.  He's never shown an interest in hanging with any of the other geldings.

Tula is the head jenny of about 6 of the jennies and geldings, but none of the above have ever been part of that herd.  It's interesting to see the dynamics in the group.  Cochise is somewhat of a loner, but sometimes he hangs with Justice and Boaz.  He and Justice like to play fight and they play rough enough to draw blood.  Ears seem to get involved a lot of times and they aren't very durable.

 

 

MAMA ISN'T PREGNANT

 Dr. Jeremy did an ultrasound on Mamacita yesterday afternoon and didn't see anything that would prove she is pregnant like a spine, which would probably be the easiest to identify.  😞

We all were looking forward to having a fuzzy little baby running around here irritating all the big donkeys.  Little donkeys are moving all the time until they collapse in a pile to renew their energy.  When not sleeping they usually pick on the grown up donkeys and do zoomies.  We've only had 2 babies born here and they are a lot of fun to play with. 

When Dr. Jeremy drove in I headed down to the gate and was met by Dr. Jeremy driving up the driveway with Big Gus in tow.  He had a halter and lead in his truck and put it to good use, when Gus tried to escape out the gate, and met his match........!!! LOL  Dr. Jeremy didn't appreciate Gus' behavior when not getting his way.  Gus doesn't understand anything about personal space and uses his head effectively as a weapon.  Dr. Jeremy is use to horses that usually have manners at least some manners and won't try to walk thru you.  

I'm really surprised he hasn't gotten out on some of the tours when the people open the gate and drive in without supervision......!!  He has a tree he stands under that is close to the gate.  John swears he's watching the gate, although John says he usually acts like he isn't paying any attention.  If Gus starts moving towards the gate, John has left the truck outside the gate a couple of times, rather than take a chance.......!!! LOL

Here he is "daring" the FedEx guy to open that gate.............you got to love him.....!!  He didn't realize that packages are put in a big box outside the gate.  Years ago we put the box out there to stop the delivery people from driving in and leaving the gate open to save time.  Gus wasn't here at that time thank goodness, or he'd have been out in a flash.  I'm surprised some of the others never got out. 

NO NEWS ON MAMA......

 Dr. Jeremy didn't make it yesterday late afternoon, so we still don't know if Mama is pregnant or not.  Bummer......!!   Hopefully he'll get a chance to come out soon.  

2021 is almost over.............

 It hasn't been a horrible year, but I think most people, me included look forward to a new beginning with the new year.  It will be interesting to see if 2022 is an improvement.

Suzanne is still in Indiana, unfortunately her father passed away.  We're doing just fine, the volunteers seem to fill in the holes and everything is getting done.  Dr. Jeremy is going to try to come out tomorrow afternoon and give us a definite answer...........IS MAMACITA PREGNANT OR NOT?  He's going to bring a sonogram machine, which should be able to see if there is a little one on board.  If not, there are going to be a lot of disappointed people.  My list of people wanting to know when the blessed event occurs is pretty long.....!!! LOL  And the baby is already spoken for.  

While Dr. Jeremy is here he will check Cisco's ears.  He has a lot of trouble with ear gunk and when he starts trying to rub his ears on anyone that will stand still, we know it's time to start doctoring.  The problem is.............long ears, and my short hands.  I can't reach all the way down inside his ears.  I have medicine to put in his ears, which he doesn't like at all and they are better, but it would be nice to have someone that knows more than I do to look at them.  I've also been doctoring his sheath all summer and he still has a couple of areas that just won't heal for Dr. Jeremy to look at too.

Kelly with Boaz

Kelly and Aiden came out and spent the day grooming and cleaning water buckets.  We really appreciate our volunteers; they make chores a lot easier. 

BlackJack doing what he does best, soaking up attention.

Thanks Kelly for the pictures.........!!

A few days ago, I forgot to close the garage door, when John took the car out to go to town.  It was open all afternoon.  I didn't know it until John got home and told me.  In the past the few times this has happened the donkeys always find it open and of course go in to see what has changed since the last time they had the opportunity to go in.  This time was no exception, I wonder how long he was gone before they noticed it?  My guess is minutes rather than hours.......LOL  

 Thank goodness they found the area just inside the door interesting enough, they didn't go in deeper, which is where we store the trash bags until we take them to the collection station in town.  A couple of times they've gotten that far and of course have to see what is in "every single" bag.  Most of what is in the bags gets discarded everywhere in their search for more interesting items.

Years ago I put a video of John running a lot of donkeys out of the garage on facebook.  Over the years and changing computers I've lost the video off my computer.  In the last year or so it came up as a memory on my FB page and I just spent about 1 1/2 hours starting at the top of my page and running thru a lot of stuff I had shared.  Finally found it..........Yea..........couldn't figure out how to get it to my computer, and in the process pushed the wrong button, which took me back to the start of the page......!!!  Needless to say I'm bummed over the wasted time and not being able to save it or share it.  LOL....!!

    

 

 

BUSY AROUND HERE.........!!

 Suzanne has been in Indiana this past week and will be for the foreseeable future.  She had to go back for a family emergency.  She had planned on going back the 15th, for a couple of weeks, but her plans got moved up a little.  

Of course that leaves John and I taking care of the donkeys.  We've had volunteers here almost every day, so it hasn't been a problem.  The donkeys have actually been fairly cooperative about going in their pens.  I'd say without having to be bribed, but they always get a piece of carrot when they go in the pen.  In fact some of them will go in their pen and if someone doesn't put them in quickly, they will go out and stand outside until someone shows up with the "goods". They want to make sure the payment is forthcoming I guess.  Thanks to Nora, Barb, Gloria, Susan, Kelly and Aiden we really appreciate you coming out and helping with the donkeys, many hands make the job easier for everyone.  And the donkeys love to have more people to hopefully have treats.  

LaRoy has learned to pick his ropes up and shake them to get people's attention and hopefully a treat.  We had a tour today and he was doing his thing.  I gave him a treat each time and I think he's got it figured out.  He would shake the rope and drop it on the ground to receive an animal cracker.  As soon as the animal cracker disappeared, he'd pick the rope up again.  We did this 3 times and he was flawless, do I assume he will try his new skill when we have another tour.  

This is LaRoy at Empire Ranch a few weeks ago, trying to entice some of the donkeys to play with him.  They seemed more interested in entertaining the people, he never did get anyone interested. 

We actually had a little bit of rain a couple of nights ago.  It rained off and on most of the night, but we really didn't get much actual rain.  This morning it was 23 degrees when we got up and the first morning the buckets had a film of ice on top of them.  Of course that means the hoses are frozen until about 9-10am depending on when the sun decides to show up.  

I haven't put fly masks on the donkeys the last couple of days. It's getting warm enough in the afternoon that a few flies come out, but I'm sure the donkeys appreciate not having to wear a mask.  

CATALINA STATE PARK AGAIN FOR SOME FUN......!!

 Suzanne took a trailer load of donkeys to Catalina State Park yesterday, for fun and adventure.  The donkeys were all spoken for, but people were still calling to see if there were any available, after Suzanne had left Friday afternoon.  

She only had one minor break out Friday night, and blames Jackson, although he wasn't the only one out.  The other donkeys tattled quickly, so the escape was short and quick.   Memo for next time............ bungies really don't work as extra security on corral panels.....!! LOL  Donkeys are obviously too smart for such a fix.  

 The flora and fauna at Catalina are absolutely gorgeous, typical Sonoran cactus and trees, that we don't have in the Chihuahuan desert.  

Suzanne and Frijolita

Although we are only about 40 miles from Tucson our trees and brush are quite different.  

Always when a group goes out to areas where there are a lot of people hiking and enjoying the beautiful weather, the donkeys draw people like magnets.  One young lady said she had been visiting Tucson for a month and seeing the donkeys was the highlight of her visit so far.  

When Suzanne was loading donkeys she said BlackJack was trying to get in the trailer.  I guess he's decided he'd like to know where everyone is going and what they are doing.  She said next time she'll take him as a short trail walker.  He's over 30 years old, healthy as far as we know, and believe me will rust out before he wears out.....!!  He gives a whole new meaning to "conserving energy", well except if you have him in a parade and there is grass along the route.  I know from experience if you are walking with him in such a parade, you will cover a lot of extra ground as he tries to eat as much grass as he can drag you to.  Normally he moves so slow a turtle could probably outwalk him.......!!!  LOL

    

 BlackJack pretending to be wild......!!! 

BIG GUS.............AGAIN.....!!

 

This is a picture of a dejected donkey.  Yesterday John was going out of the driveway gate in the golf cart and of course he's not the fastest thing on the planet, with his cane, he was slow enough that Big Gus took advantage of the situation, ran out the gate and headed east.  

First thing Suzanne and I knew about it was John coming in the house to tell us.  Of course we hit the ground running, because we know from past history, he might be old, but he is also very quick, when he knows he's doing something he shouldn't.  Last time he got out, he almost made it to the main road before we people got organized enough to catch up with him.  

John said he wasn't even close to the gate.  He has a tree he stands under most of the time, and we always say he's casing the gate and planning his escape.  Maybe he is, who knows.

When Gus saw John and Suzanne in the golf cart (only holds 2 people, so I was walking behind trying to catch up) he took off.  John managed to catch up in the golf cart, grabbed Gus by the neck and held on for dear life, till Suzanne could catch up with the halter.  Gus was using his big head as a weapon, trying to get John to let go.  He also didn't appreciate Suzanne catching up and haltering him either.  But he went quietly when he figured he was outnumbered. 

He gets in more trouble that all the other donkeys put together..........!!!!  LOL  It's been a long time since he pulled that stunt, guess we'll have to keep an eye out for him at the gate.  Suzanne put him in the first available pen, which happened to be BlackJack's and he wasn't very happy about the turn of events.  As Suzanne said when it was all over, "it would be boring around here without at least one daily crisis".  It's always amazing how often Gus is involved in them.

Today John and I went to town, the pickup was filthy so John ran it thru the car wash.  Came home, Gus was standing in the driveway and walked in front of the pickup so we couldn't move.  He has a habit of snotting cars and he managed to start at the front and snot all the way down the side almost to the back of the bed.  Needless to say John wasn't amused......!!  LOL

Suzanne is taking some of the donkeys up to Catalina State Park this week-end for a fun run.  The weather right now is really nice and the donkeys enjoy getting out.  It's amazing how excited they get, when the trailer gets attached to a vehicle and parks in that "special" place in the driveway.  I hope she has time to take some pictures.

 

I'M BACK..........AGAIN

 John and I went to Indiana for Thanksgiving with the cousins.  We always enjoy the drive and this was somewhat of a trial for John.  He's been driving to Tucson for the last month or so and his broken leg hasn't given him any trouble.  But Indiana is a lot farther away than Tucson.  In years gone by we would have done it in 2 days, but we took 3 days each way and he drove every mile.  Said his leg didn't bother him which is great.  

While we were gone, Suzanne held down the fort, and for the most part she said everything went pretty well.  Well, until the last day, when Big Gus and Casper both choked during the morning feeding.  She got in touch with Dr. Jeremy and he was pretty busy with a horse in a sling..............!!!  She said Casper the little mini mule cleared in about an hour, but it took Big Gus about 4 hours before he finally cleared, but they both cleared on their own without having to be intubated.  

Gus has choked before and had to be intubated which isn't a pleasant experience for all involved.  He's over 40 years old and most of his teeth are at the gumline, so he is fed a mush of soaked pellets and senior feed.  We hadn't been soaking the senior, but will in the future.  

Other than that she said things went well and she actually had volunteers here almost every day to help with feeding and picking up poo and grooming.  We really appreciate our volunteers, more than they will ever know.  They make our work days much shorter when they are here.  

She had donkeys escorting her to her RV almost every night and in the morning they like to keep track of where she is, in case she heads for the hay barn or the feed room.

Gus making sure she's headed in the right direction for breakfast.

https://www.facebook.com/100015219016221/videos/265925595568723

Cisco probably seeing if she is going to get the pumpkin.

https://www.facebook.com/100015219016221/videos/433365618324645

 BlackJack making sure she gets home safely.  She'd probably be safer if he didn't step on her foot......!!

https://www.facebook.com/100015219016221/videos/562755561491382

This is what always happens if something new/different/interesting, etc happens. 

https://www.facebook.com/100015219016221/videos/296413249048797

We had a good time on the trip and getting to visit with family.............BUT........although I grew up in the midwest I had forgotten how dreary and grey it can be in the winter.  Even when the sun shines it isn't bright sun.  One morning there was frost on the car, which we haven't seen in awhile.....!!!  LOL  At least it didn't snow and wasn't as cold as it could have been, although the last night we were there, the wind which was really cold blew so hard, John's cousin Mark took down his flag, so it wouldn't end up in the next county.  

The donkeys are still wearing fly masks, seems like it's late this year for the flies to disappear.  If it was just a few flies we'd probably take the masks off, but there are LOTS of them and of course they go for the face.  

TRAINING RUN IN CATALINA STATE PARK TOMORROW MORNING

 Suzanne headed out today with a herd of donkeys to go have some fun in the morning.  Some friends are bringing their donkeys too.  The trail is different lengths up to about 16 miles.  Most will be walking or jogging, but I think Koshare and Cochise are going with Jennifer and Adam and will go long.  Jennifer ran with Koshare at Superior and they won the 6 mile.  Her husband Adam hasn't ran with a burro yet, so this will be his chance to find out if he likes to run with the burros or not. 

We had a tour today of people from Pennsylvania that are visiting the area.  One thing led to another and Suzanne loaded Jackson and LaRoy for them to walk with tomorrow.  They'll have something to talk about when they get back to PA.

The view from the pens in Catalina State Park

Good thing Suzanne took the corral panels to make a corral, even though there are pens in the park to use for equine.  She said she got there, unloaded the donkeys into the pen, and really quickly found out the pipe was about 3 feet off the ground.  A adequate corral for a horse perhaps, not for mini donkeys or in Siggy's case a micro mini.  She said she turned around and Siggy was beside her outside the pen, while she was taking care of that crisis, Jackson came out the other side to join them. 

So  she had to unload the corral panels after all to "beef" up the existing pen, so the little guys couldn't get out. 

Damage control 

Probably just as well, Koshare has learned to raise corral panels up and push them around and the end result is once the noise of banging corral panels is over, they can get out.  Suzanne said the pens are very well made and she thinks he's met his match.  Hopefully that's true, once donkeys learn to do something you don't want them to do, they get very good at it.....!!! LOL

Bella got to go on her second outing.  We've never taken her anywhere because of her weak hindquarters.  Since she's been here roaming the acreage, her legs have gotten stronger. She went to Empire Ranch a couple of weeks ago just to be there for "Show & Tell", consisting of petting and an occasional animal cracker from the adoring public.  She did great, so she got to go today as a short trail walker.  Suzanne said she was ready to go, hopped into the trailer like "let's go, where we going".  

Yesterday Suzanne and I spent the day at a specialty clinic with Charley the blind dog that showed up here a few months ago.  He got to see a doggie ophthalmologist to see if his cataracts could be removed, so he could see.  They did all sorts of test, took all afternoon.  The doctor told us that Australian Cattle Dogs are known to have retina failure, that's what the tests were for.  

We saw the graph of his retina test and it was not good.  She showed us a graft of a normal retina and then showed us his.  He has no working retina in either eye, so he is permanently blind, which is very disappointing.  He's such a well mannered happy dog it's a shame nothing can be done to help him.  But dogs do very well blind.  He's got a 30 by 70 pen foot, a doggie door into the feed room and he knows his area really well.  The people at the clinic thought he was really a nice dog, they said he just slept until they needed him for a test and he was happy to oblige and then went back to sleep.

We can't let him out on the property, he also doesn't hear very well, and the donkeys see dogs as a predator and will try to kill him.  Big Gus got in his pen awhile back and if Suzanne hadn't seen what was going on, probably would have killed him.  They actually share a fence and Big Gus spends quite a bit of time when he's in the pen, trying to dig into Charley's pen.  We put a railroad tie against the bottom of the fence, so now Gus is digging beside the tie.  I guess he's determined to get that dog........!!!

WOW MORNINGS ARE GETTING CHILLY...........

 The last few mornings have had ice on the bird baths, which sit on the ground.  This morning said it was 31*, so it's just barely cold enough for a little bit of ice and of course in true desert weather it's gone by the time the sun comes up.  Guess we should start chores a little later if we don't want to see ice........!!!  LOL

The week-end at Empire Ranch was really nice.  We met lots of people that were interested in the donkeys, a lot of them had stories to share about donkeys in their lives.  

Suzanne set up the tables and took care of the donkeys all week-end.  John and I came in after chores and help with the booth sales and answering questions.  

Our booth at Empire

Suzanne did take a break to hob knob with HORSES........!!! 

This is Othello, nice looking horse.  Suzanne went for about an hour trail ride along with a bunch of other people.  Not sure the donkeys would approve, don't think they even noticed.  

LaRoy likes to play with ropes.  He has figured out if he picks up a rope and shakes it, people are entertained and might give him a treat.  

He tried but couldn't find any of the donkeys that wanted to play unfortunately.  I don't think any of the other donkeys have ever played with him, poor little guy.  His buddy Jackson has no interest in a rope.  so he picks it up, walks around for a little while and then drops it.  

This month so far has been busy with tours.  Seems like almost every day we've got at least one.  John and I will be headed to Indiana next week-end for Thanksgiving.  We always enjoy road trips, although this will be the 1st one since John broke his femur in August.  We're taking the little car, already put more than $100 at one time in the pickup, besides the little car is more fun to drive.  But it isn't the most comfortable ride, it built for speed, comfort wasn't important I guess.  Hope John gets along OK, so far he hasn't had any problems riding or driving.  But we haven't gone 1800 miles either.......!! LOL

Suzanne and I just spent this week-end at a virtual symposium from U.C. Davis in Sacramento, CA.  This is the 8th year they've had it, although it's always been in person before.  Last year Covid cancelled it, so this year they tried virtual.  They really did a wonderful job, had lots of experts on different aspects of donkeys, donkey diseases, and care.  Mark Myers founder of Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue, was very involved and showed the video below.  It's really informative about the plight of donkeys in Australia, where the government has killed 500,000 to 600,000 donkeys in their eradication plans to kill all the feral donkeys in NW Australia.

WITHOUT A VOICE

The BLM in the U.S. so far is doing a lot of rounding up of mustangs and burros, last I heard they had something like 40,000 in holding pens and that's been a few years ago.  There are organizations that go out when they are rounding up and keep track of how many are rounded up and how many deaths and basically are trying to represent the people and their public land and the mustangs and burros.