The Roadrunner

and his wife.

 When I sat outside yesterday morning, suddenly a chorus of beeping noises broke out all over my yard. The sentinel ground squirrels were raising the alarm and I thought a coytote was on the way to drink some water from my leaky faucet, which I haven't yet shut off. 

No, it was the roadrunner and his wife. I didn't have my phone so this is an old picture. Of the wife. He's much flashier, of course, and I looked for his picture, but couldn't find it. 

Curious as to why the squirrels were concerned with two  birds, I asked Google. 

This is what I learned:

Greater Roadrunner Feeding Her Babies Newborn Groundsquirrels

You may not want to watch it, but everyone has to eat and nature can look cruel to us humans. 

But as D. H. Lawrence said: "I've never seen a wild thing sorry for itself." 

When we first moved here, we had a large cottonwood tree in our front yard and I actually saw a roadrunner couple raid a bird's nest. I believe I interfered with nature and chased them away. 

Closeup, they are intimidating birds with their very large and dangerous looking beaks. 

They have several roadrunner videos you can watch on youtube. I read one story, where a naturalist was talking about the fact that he had never seen a roadrunner, and really hoped to be able to encounter one some day. 

That made me feel so lucky to have my resident couple. 

 Yesterday was my best day for watching animals. 

I saw: One very skinny coyote, who did not look well; the road runner and his wife; many, many ground squirrels; ravens, and a variety of small birds; a covey (flock) of California quail; about five Jack rabbits (hares in Europe); a couple of cottontail rabbits; and one fence lizard. 

Some of these I saw because I was outside, several through my windows and then outside as I walked out to watch them. 

No luck with taking pictures.

I enjoyed my day and felt better after seeing so many critters that apparently found food, where I could see absolutely nothing worth eating. And I mean for wild animals to eat. 

 

A Donkey Thank You, Again!

I am so grateful, and so would the donkeys be if they knew, that so many of you signed the petition against the donkey roping event to be held on September 29, 2012 in Eden, TX. 

I'm posting the link again below in case others who read this post may want to sign the petition. Thank you so much if you can help.


At these events, cattle prods are used on the donkey to make it run and then be roped. Donkeys are not built like cattle, their necks will get severely injured, their bones will break, and many will die. This is an extremely cruel event put on to entertain people. Donkeys are highly intelligent animals, they are loving, loyal, and so sweet. Please help stop this event. You don't have to be a U.S. citizen to sign. Thank you so much for caring.


http://www.change.org/petitions/eden-tx-chamber-of-commerce-stop-burro-roping-event-9-29-12-in-eden-texas#share 

If you signed it last week, I hope you will enjoy a few funny donkey pictures that I took when I worked at the donkey rescue. The guy at the top was one of my favorites. His name is Apache, and he never met a camera he didn't like. Here are a few other clowns:

Thank you so much again, you guys are the best!

About Donkeys

When I lived in the city, I didn't know much about donkeys. So if you read this in a city somewhere, I don't expect you to be particularly interested in this post, but I ask you to stick around for a moment. I will write a lot about donkeys in the weeks to come, but I will break it up and try not to bore you. You see, I have to write about donkeys because I need to ask as many people as possible to sign the petition at the top of my sidebar.  

After I moved here, I worked at the donkey rescue next door for about a year and a half. I managed the gift shop, did office work, and wrote articles for a local paper and the rescue's newsletter. And that's where I learned that donkeys are the most misunderstood of animals. Some people think they are stupid, stubborn, obnoxious, and so on. This seems to give them a reason to abuse donkeys.

Donkeys were one of the first animals to be domesticated and throughout history has been one of man's best helpers. Donkeys trampled seed, turned millstones to grind grain, and pulled plows. They were the transport trucks of ancient times because, despite their small size, they can carry great loads. They need a fraction of what a horse needs to eat to sustain them, so they were economical. They are comfortable to ride and in ancient times, they were ridden by rich and poor alike. In the Bible, the donkey is the only animal God gives speech to (Numbers 22:28) and the animal that Jesus chose to ride into Jerusalem. In the Middle East, families care about their donkeys, and often decorate them with beads and ribbons.

I learned that donkeys are highly intelligent, they are able to assess a situation, as Balaam's donkey did in the Bible, and if they feel it is not safe to proceed, nothing will make them move, thus they gained their stubborn reputation. Donkeys are also sensitive, loyal, and loving animals. They make best friends and if they lose their best friend, they mourn. Donkeys in the American West were abandoned when they were no longer needed, back in the late 1800s. They then formed herds and managed to survive and thrive in the harsh desert environment where they were left. Donkeys can dig four feet deep in the ground for water, they can kill mountain lions, and have no natural enemies here, but man.

I learned about donkey roping while I worked at the rescue and was involved in whatever they were attempting to do to put a stop to it at the time. Most of the donkey rescue has moved to Texas, where unfortunately most of the practice of donkey roping takes place. Donkey roping has nothing to do with real cowboys, just with sick people who enjoy watching the torture and killing of innocent animals. 

Thanks to social media, a "world championship" donkey roping event that was to take place this weekend was cancelled. Note that this has nothing to do with official rodeo events, which do not condone donkey roping. While this victory was wonderful, it was just one small battle won. Roping will continue and we need to put a stop to it NOW.  A petition is going around social media and the blogs right now to make donkey roping illegal. I posted it at the top of my sidebar and I ask you, my blogger friends, to please take a minute to fill in your name in support of the donkeys. 


Tina in Canada and Dreaming in Colorado recently posted excellent posts about what donkeys can do -- one led her friends out of the Colorado fires to safety in a field where her  group of donkeys and horses were later rescued -- and also what donkey roping is all about. If you don't want to read these posts, let me tell you a little: Donkeys are not built like cattle and when roped their windpipes, which are more exposed than cattle's can get crushed and they suffocate, their legs break, their necks break, their backs break, they suffer incredible pain, while the audience sits there and laughs at them. They are frequently killed, which may be the best outcome for them since they will be permanently damaged, both physically and mentally from a donkey roping experience. Please sign the petition at the top of my sidebar.
Thank you so much.


http://livingadream2.blogspot.com/2012/06/donkey-saves-herd.html

http://borderlineexpress.blogspot.com/2012/06/these-are-not-cowboys.html

About Sheep And More

Yesterday, on my way to the Diabetes Support Group meeting, I came upon the flock of sheep that move from field to field here each spring, eating wild grasses and thereby reducing  fire hazards around town. In this picture you can also see some of the wind turbines in the hills.

The Franciscan Padres were the first to bring sheep to California in the late 1700s. And sheep have been a large part of farm and ranch life in this area. Large sheep drives of up to 10,000 sheep came through the Tehachapi valley in the late 1800s on their way from California to New Mexico. 

For many years, sheep ranchers in the San Joaquin Valley hired Basque shepherds to drive their sheep from the valley to the mountains, where they would spend the summer grazing in the mountain meadows.

They drove sheep through town until 1970 when modern life caught up with them. I think it's great that sheep are still useful, helping to reduce the risk of fires in this area. I often mention the winds here and if you look at the trees in the background, it's easy to see how they are affected by the more or less constant winds. The prevailing winds come from the west or north-west here and all trees get bent accordingly.

I want to share just a couple of things from the meeting: If you have diabetes, you know to stay away from sweets, but did you know how fatty food affect you? If you eat something fatty, like ice cream or pizza, your sugars will first rise from the carbohydrates, but then they will stay high for a long time due to the fat in the food. So fatty foods, in addition to all the other bad things about them, are a serious health hazard for people with diabetes. 

I guess most people know by now that 33% of the U. S. population and 17% of children are obese. But did you know that this causes 6,000 deaths per week!!! 

The most interesting new devices for making our lives with diabetes easier were: In Europe, a device that is implanted in the head has been approved. It can detect low blood sugars by measuring brain waves. And in the U.S., Ford Motor Company is working with Medtronic to develop a diabetes management system for cars. You would have to wear a sensor and take a reading, then the car's dashboard would monitor you for low blood sugars. This might seem strange to healthy people, but passing out from low sugars while driving is hazard to both diabetics and any healthy person who may get hit. Ford is also developing a car that can detect alcohol levels. So if the idea of big brother monitoring you is scary, how about your car doing it? 

Finally, the gorgeous bird above belongs to someone whose office I visited yesterday. He comes to the office with this guy and since he was so pretty, I asked if I could take his picture. To add a bit more color after all those sheep.