Volunteering at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary

When you're in Kanab, you may have a free morning or a dull afternoon to deal with. Why not spend it at Best Friends? It's easy.

• Go to the Welcome Center. It's impossible to miss from 89, going north out of Kanab. Just follow the signs.
• Ask for a tour. Free! There are four every day, and a tour takes about 90 minutes. This is also an easy way to see some beautiful countryside.
• It's all here.

If you like what you see, and you're thinking about volunteering, tell them so when you get back to the front desk. They'll get you set up with a brief orientation time, and then you'll sign up for the department of your choice. Pigs fill up quickly, in an ironic twist.

I Hugged a Cowboy: tales of the Southwest

I have alluded to my fear of horses. We signed up for horse doody on Saturday, which is pretty much like it sounds. You grab some work gloves and a pitchfork, and Ron drives you through the canyon on a Polaris Ranger. We shoveled poop for a cumulative total of maybe 15 minutes, with a tour in-between piles.

I confessed to Ron that I was afraid of horses, and he was very reassuring. He told us how to be with them, and how to fend them off if they got too friendly.

I was inside their pastures STANDING RIGHT BESIDE HORSES. I touched them, and spoke to them, and scritched their necks. I even turned my back on them. Curly Sue followed me to the turd castles to make sure I was doing it right. Rocky got up-close-and-personal with my water bottle to look for the apple-mint treats he was sure I carried.

Rocky's girlfriend, Cassia. Cassia was severely abused in her previous life, and has permanent back injuries and trust issues. They believe she was a Mexican tripping horse. Her trainer demonstrates her Parelli training, a completely gentle technique.

Rocky moved to Best Friends when it was realized he was in serious pain with his bad feet. A trainer there determined to take him in, either to manage his pain, or to euthanize him. Now, BF's ferrier works with his feet, and Rocky is on pain medication all the time. He is a happy, active horse. With a cute girlfriend. And, they're both retired! Life has gotten a lot better for these two.

Anasazi grain storage facility, and Ron

800 - 1000 year-old corn cobs. Don't bother trying to compost them.

Pictograph

185,000,000 years ago, giant carnivorous cows roamed Utah. We're lucky enough to have the fossil record.

From Hidden Lake

Toward Hidden Lake

Kanab Creek forms a slot canyon

Anasazi hand prints

Potsherds. Ron holds some rarer decorated sherds.

Silver's Point. Hi-yo Silver! That Silver.

Turtle Rock. Yarmulke or beret? [I'm stealing Ron's jokes]

Ren was probably a ranch hand, and this is likely his headstone. This is now about seven feet above the ground, and was probably a couple of feet lower in 1883. Next visit, I'll show you Ren.

Anasazi dwelling. Bottom half of wall was still intact when it was rediscovered.

People still wonder what happened to the Anasazis. DNA testing indicates the Hopis and Zunis are descendants, and so it's possible nothing "happened" to them. They may just have moved and formed new groups.

If you get here to work, just don't miss the "horse tour." Ron loves showing people this stuff, and most people (us) wouldn't know to ask about it. 

Blogo

Because I am hot.

Because I am thirsty.

Because things are looking up.

I've tried Bleezer and ScribeFire since we parted. The picture problem is always the sticking point, and if I can't add a photo from my computer, I may as well post from Apple Mail. They were free, but Blogo will cost me like love always has. I'll guard my heart until I see this show up online.

We're cruising down I-75, just discovering our dash A/C. Here you go, ladies - your Slow Learner's Permit!

I talked to Bruno back home this morning. She is just about ready to pack away the long underwear in her bureau (the drawer drawer). In NYS, we never really "put away" our winter clothes, we just give them a conditional rest. I think resting the longjohns before Memorial Day is foolhardy, but that's just the way she rolls.

We were planning to leave Georgia this morning, but horses happened. We could have muscled the dolly around and backed out, then done our prep in the "main" driveway instead of pulling out frontways, nice and easy, where the horse trailers were parked; instead we drank more coffee and narrated the horse dance, Mystery Science Theater-style:

Hi! I'm a horse! Just one horse! STOMP!

From what I see in the bottom of the trailer, you must be more than one horse.

Nope! Just one! NAY! ONE! I pooped ONE [stomp] TWO [stomp] THREE times!

I know, right!? Hilarious. Then we narrated the dogs:

Hi! I'm a dog! A shepherd! Nip! Stay inside the perimeter, please! Hey, you're another dog! [Aside to horse: Here, guard yourself while I take care of something.] HUMP! INAPPROPRIATE HUMP! EXCESSIVE HUMPING! ENOUGH HUMPING THAT SOME HUMAN SHOULD STOP ME! I'M OUT OF CONTROL!! [Other dog: bite] Okay, I'm under the trailer.

So, the point is that we waited while the horse people did what they do, and used the time to spruce up the place. Carrot used the time to pee over the side of the box more than usual, and the horses used the time to try to kick the dogs. It was time well spent for everyone, which is more than I can say for the time you've spent reading this.

Social moths.

Nicole and Darlene came to visit us!  We’re boondocking about an hour and a half from their house, but they made the trip out to lend us their excellent company.  They worked on the Duck some more, too.  This time, I got under the motorhome with them, but luckily they needed my retrieval skills more than they needed me to lay on the ground pretending I don’t care about ticks.  One fuel filter, eight spark plugs, and a set of wires later, none of us are sputtering.  We’ll be sure to report back about performance and mileage;  Nicole wondered if the plugs were original.

Darlene behind the wheel

Annie is getting an itchy gas foot (not a bacterial infection), but she’s willing to stay in town until the CITYWIDE yard sale in Monticello, GA.  By law, people will have to bring stuff out of their houses and sell it to me.  If you attend as my guest, they will have to sell stuff to you, too.  If we don’t like what they’re selling, we will go into their houses and pick out something else.  It’s the law!  I didn’t make it, I just abide by it. 

Frugal Sue from The eBay/RV Life invited us to her temporary digs to meet her and have lunch.  She’s staying in Serenbe,  a trim, neat planned community outside Atlanta.  We ate at the Blue Eyed Daisy Bakery, then enjoyed a little walk around to see local scary things:

I touched this horse!  Without universal precautions!

Sue has been on the road for three months already in the Guppy.  She started from Oregon, a place perhaps EVEN CLOUDIER than Ithaca, NY.  Perhaps.  She still seems to have a lot of will to live.






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    And ... my transformation is complete.