DONKEYS!

Sometimes I decide to give Chef Shaman a break and we go out for dinner. Our favorite place is this old roadhouse at the west end of San Timotao Canyon. I love this place, the food is not great but it's good and inexpensive. Things I love about this bar, built around 1935, is no beer on tap, no blenders, barely two TVs and cash only. It's like stepping back in time.

Anyway, to get to the topic of this story, when you leave this fine establishment there is, the drive home through the dark canyon. Besides no shoulder along side the road and the idiot drivers, you have to watch out for the donkeys. Yes donkeys, burros whatever you want to call them.

For some reason a local yokel in the 1950's decided to go north of Death Valley and capture a herd of donkeys and deposit them in this canyon and  the adjoining canyon named Reche, Well, the herd is alive and thriving to this day. I think some of the estimates say there is over a hundred now. 

The donkeys spend most of their time wandering the hills of Reche but when it is hot and dry they come to San Timotao because there is a creek that runs pretty much all year long. 

So after a filling dinner and adult beverages the drive home can be precarious. It seems the donkeys like to move at night and and like deer, can freeze in the coming headlights, So you have to be careful.

There are a few casualties but not has many as you would think, considering the size of the herd. 

I think they are fascinating and always enjoy seeing them, much to the chagrin of some of the canyon residents. The wild donkeys have a great fondness for modern landscape and garden plants.
They will clean out a rose bed faster than a terrorist chicken can take out a vegetable garden. (see last post).

I love our donkeys and happy they are left alone to range free and live a good life.

actual picture of the Reche Canyon donkeys

Oh, Woe Is Me!

Since my last blog, much has happened, most of it not so happy. First I have been suffering from allergies, a sinus infection and tinnitus all at once. This has been just miserable and hard to shake. I haven't felt like doing anything including blogging. I am feeling better.

I have or had one close neighbor. His house is high on a hill with over 70 steps. My neighbor has been in ill health for many years but he loved his 'Eagles nest' and his solitude. I keep an eye on his comings and goings so I know all is well. Well I hadn't seen his car move for a couple of days. Most days this is normal but things had been quiet so I went to check on him...As I got to his porch I detected that smell of death, something you never ever forget if you have experienced it. I didn't even go in I just called 911 and his daughter. A dozen emergency and police vehicles and several hours later he was off to the morgue. He was a recluse and cantankerous but an all right guy. 

He was a few years younger than me, and I was just affected by Robin Williams death, who was my age, My own mortality came to question. When your time is up that's it. 

A couple of weeks ago a few young chickens I raised from eggs escaped and terrorized  my vegetable garden! These 'thugs' about the equivalent age to a human teenager found a way out of the pen and destroyed the tomatoes, peppers, kale and swiss chard. I haven't been feeling well so I didn't get violent with them. I'm not usually a violent person but these little terrorists deserve to have their necks wrung! Too bad they weren't older maybe a large pot of chicken soup would been in order, it might have helped with my sinus problems. But karma being the way it is I might have choked on a chicken bone...

Last weekend I was awakened at sunrise by Chef Shaman about some water in the laundry room. I staggered in to see water all over the floor which looked like it was coming from under the washing machine. Thinking no big deal I shut off the supply behind the washer and made some coffee and tried to wake up. When I went back in the room the water was coming fast and furious where the edge of the slab meets the wall. SHIT!

So I went to the road to shut off the main supply, of course the gate valve would not budge and could not shut down the water. I proceeded to start busting up the slab searching for the leak, of course it was not at that spot. Fifteen feet of broken concrete and mud following the pipe I finally found the source of the leak. 

But I had to get the water shut off so a trip to local hardware store to buy a new gate valve and accessories. Also, I am on a community well and had to shut down eleven other residents' water.This turned out to be a bigger ordeal than the laundry room. I'm sure at this place in this story, you, my dear reader are shouting, YOU NEVER HEARD OF HIRING A PLUMBER, YOU IDIOT!

Not my style. I'm cheap and have had experience fixing many house problems. Plus I'm just stubborn, 'I can handle this!' Well three days later, fixed and cleaning up. Oh, what a miserable weekend.

Well with the death of my neighbor, my illness, the terrorist chickens, the relentless heat and the water line break, I'm glad to see this past month, gone!!!

All in all, with the state of the world as it is I should consider my self fortunate.