The Mules and their trip to Bakersfield

So what did the Mules do in Bakersfield? Did we climb up a telephone pole with an M16 automatic assault rifle and shoot and kill motorists? NO. Did we enter a campus and shoot and kill students? NO.

The Mules entered the town of Bakersfield on foot leading our two mule animal companions Little Girl and Frank with our chins out, carrying no weapons to attack others nor for our defense. Instead, we carried the energy of our ancestors created, accumulated and harbored from living this nomadic ages old way of life. A life of love, respect and reverence for this precious one of a kind home, the Earth.

As the Mules wandered on the streets and through the neighborhoods of Bakersfield gathering supplies, we have no doubt that the energy we left in our wake made Bakersfield as well as other cities and towns in which we pass a better place to be a human being.

The above being said, it is interesting to note: The Mules were walking north on Coffee Road approaching Kern River. There was a Starbucks on our west side. We entered the parking lot, found a suitable place to secure Little Girl and Frank. Then the Monk went into Starbucks, bought a small cup of coffee, leaving room for cream, and was there for about 5 minutes. I went back to where Little Girl and Frank were secured and standing comfortably, sat down and slowly drank the coffee.

Shortly thereafter, in a prudent amount of time, a well armed security guard drove his vehicle, stopped in front of us and declared the Mules were loitering and must leave the parking lot. The Mules said no, we had bought a cup of coffee and weren’t going anywhere until we finished it and would leave in our own good time.

He said if we did not leave immediately, police would be called. The Mules continued to drink their coffee. When done, we left, never talked to any police while in Bakersfield.

The Mules will be returning to Bakersfield in 2 – 3 weeks to resupply and once again, stop at Starbucks, park the kids (mules) and buy a cup of coffee, maybe leaving room for cream, maybe not.

This parking lot, CALL-DUN-DRUM that the Mules are continually being forced to deal with must be laid out fully and all parts examined. All city, county, state roads belong to the Public Thoroughfare. When the Mules or a motorist or anybody else want to enter a store, they leave the Public Thoroughfare and enter a parking lot, park their automobile (in our case secure our mules to a fence, tree, light post) and proceed to enter the store.

Any law that allows an owner of a parking lot (privateer) to deny a citizen access to a store that provides the necessities of life, such as food, etc., must be changed, abolished. The United States is a free country with a constitution guaranteeing all its citizens the right of free movement and equal treatment and protection under the law. To allow a privateer to deny a citizen of a free country access to the necessities of life is Totalitarianism of the worst kind.

The Mules

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Frank E. Boy

Larry, Paula and Frank E. Boy

On June 10, 2018, we bought 10 year old, 16-hands in height Bay mule named Frank. We didn’t go look at Frank. We purchased him sight unseen and based on our conversation with the owner. We were told that he was left in a pasture for 5 years with a mare and no one working with them. We were sent some pictures, the price was right at $250, so we decided we would just role the dice and get him hauled down here. Our friends Larry and Paula from Riverdale Stables volunteered to pick up Frank in Placerville and brought him down to where we’re staying in Bakersfield.

Frank E. Boy

Frank is a very friendly mule with a sweet personality. In addition to calling him Frank, we’ve nicknamed him E.Boy, short for “elephant boy”. When we go out in the morning to catch him, he’s usually hundreds of yards away, but we can spot Frank E. Boy very quickly because of his size and because he looks like a rogue elephant walking across the savannah.

Little Girl and Frank are becoming good companions. They seem to get along well and enjoy each others company. I always find them together in the pasture.

Frank has a very kind demeanor, so I don’t worry about him trying to kick. He is just resistant of having his feet worked with. Before purchasing Frank, I was told that he would stand quiet for a farrier, because that was one of our main concerns. Because the way we live traveling across the state, city to city, county to county, our mules have to be shod. They have to have shoes on them. So, we need a mule that will stand quiet, that is easy to shoe, that won’t put up a struggle.

However, upon Frank’s arrival, I attempted to pick up his feet and he would have none of it. I have been working with him for three weeks every day. We’ve got his front feet up. We get him into the horseshoers position, so we’ve made progress on his fronts, but we haven’t made very much progress on his backs. He is extremely reluctant to let us pick up his backs. He resists very strongly. But for the first time today, Frank let me lift his back foot and was able to record this progress on video. Baby steps in building trust. We’re working on him but we can’t do this forever. If he doesn’t come around in a month, we will have to sell Frank and start looking for another mule. [UPDATE: Frank has gotten use to being shoed.]

Frank also has a small bump on his rear cannon bone leg. Whether this is going to give him a problem when he starts packing weight, we won’t know till we start doing that. But right now, he moves around fine. He shows no signs of it causing him any trouble. So anyway, Frank has not been fully vetted for road duty. He may work out to be great, or he may just have to be a pet for somebody staying in their backyard, keeping the grass down, a companion for another horse, that sort of thing. The other alternate possibility is that he make somebody a great mule that will be using him without the necessity of horseshoes.

In the past three weeks, we also have been getting him use to wearing the pack boxes. It seems that he may have had previous pack experience.

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