WE FOUND THE ELUSIVE DONKEY GANG

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 5/08
I was optimistic this morning as I snapped a 135mm telephoto zoom lens onto my camera. We still had donkeys on our minds from the night before & I had a feeling we might have a remote chance of finding the burrows this morning. Didn't find any donkey suits to wear but figured I always have my jack-ass suite on anyway so our chances would be good.........And they were!! Within minutes of leaving the rig we heard the tell tale sound of a braying donkey far off out in the desert. We headed in the general direction when we noticed Max sniffing the air with his ears pointed straight up. We were down wind from the herd & he had picked up the scent. From that point on we just followed Max at a brisk walk for about 20 minutes. We could occasionally here the donkeys but despite stopping & scanning, we couldn't see anything. There was a tall rock outcropping with a tree on top quite a way ahead of us (I put an Inukshuk up there last year) & we headed for that. The sounds told us we were getting closer so we kept our eyes focused on the desert floor. Problem was, we were focused on the desert floor.......and not the hill. I first noticed a speck of white on the hill which at first I dismissed as the morning sun glinting on a rock. Noticed a few other irregularities about the hill so decided to keep an eye on it. While moving forward & throwing periodic glances at the hill........one of the white specs moved. Ahaaaaaa!! We had finally found the elusive wild donkey gang. Took a picture from where we were http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy & then as we closed in on the hill & the donkeys began to move I took more photos. Little Cora was going bananas & ran straight for the herd barking. Max backed off & dropped way behind us fearing what was ahead. Checkers just laid down & said, donkeys schmonkys, who cares. The growing number of burrows came down off the hill & defiantly began to slowly retreat around to the other side. I didn't try & get too close to them because I didn't want to disrupt the herd. We counted about a dozen animals & while I was taking some pictures, Kelly hollered over that there was another herd about a quarter mile to my right, watching. Got a couple shots off of those guys before they melted into the desert landscape. Meanwhile little Cora was still determined she was going to take a couple rounds out of the whole herd so Kelly had to catch & hold her. She wiggled & squiggled but Kelly held on tight & carried her back a few hundred yards. Took a few more pictures before standing quiet & savoring the moment. Not something you see everyday & we had been really hoping to see the donkeys on this trip, and now, there they were, just a few hundred yards ahead of me. I whispered a quiet thank-you to my new donkey friends before turning & walking back to where Kelly, Cora, & Checkers were waiting. Max was still hiding behind a Palo Verde tree quite a distance back. All & all it was a nice feeling as we made our way back across the desert floor heading to the rig nearly a mile away:))

We alternated with Ray's computer in the afternoon & thanks to Kelly's patience & perseverance the whole system is now up & running. Wifi & all. Kelly did a lot of trouble shooting & finally figured out where the bugs were hiding between the computer, modem, router, & wireless network adaptor. She finally got them all communicating properly with each other. The park now has Wifi. The signal distance at the moment is about 500 feet but Ray has a large outdoor antennae ordered which should be here in 2 days, which when installed will reach to the farthest ends of the park. We were all so happy that at last we could see light at the end of the tunnel. The website is published & still in the registration process but we're hoping the Google search engines will pick it up shortly & spread it across the web. I'll post the website address as soon as I see the site on the net.

A good day all the way around.
P.S. The web album to-night is full of donkeys....I hope they don't leave a mess in there:))))