February 28, 2013 - Bouse

Bouse (sounds like house) is a sleepy little town east of Parker and northeast of Quartzsite and that is where our travels took us today.

I wonder who those 5 grouches are – LOL!

Our first stop was the Assay Office/Museum to get information on next week’s Swansea Tour and the location of Camp Bouse – where we also hope to go next week.  The museum is small and we will be back to see more of it but we had a show to see – :-).

And that show was Cutler’s Bull and Donkey Show.   Gene and Phyllis have put on this free show for over 10 years all over Arizona and Idaho. 

The main stars of the show are Rowdy, a Miniature Brahma Bull and Bandit, a Siciilian miniature donkey.

A little about the Brahma:

The Brahma cattle originated in India and are called Zebu cattle. They date back to 500 B.C. Zebu cattle have a sweat gland and have an almost perfect immunity system. They can handle hot and cold weather better than our American cattle. Zebu live long healthy lives typically living as long as 25 to 30 years! Early in American history, people heard about this hearty breed and shipped Zebu's to America to breed with their cattle, and the result was Brahma cattle. They were bred larger and are used primarily for their meat, breeding and for Rodeo Stock.  You can always tell a Brahma by the hump on their back, their dewlap under the necks, and their droopy ears.

A little about the Sicilian Miniature Donkey:

The breed comes from Island of Sicily and have white on their stomach, and nose area with distinguishing marking of a cross on their back. There are many Christian legends about the cross on the donkey back. The story goes that Mary was holding the baby Jesus on the donkey's back and he wet on the area down the back and across the shoulders which formed a cross. Because of this, the Donkey carries a cross on it's back today. The  miniature donkey is under 36 inches from their wither (the highest point of the Back.) Donkeys make excellent pets, are very smart and strong for their size.

Yes, I copied that but I do have pictures – :-)

We arrived early and had a chance to talk with Gene.  He is so proud of his animals and told us a few stories.  They are not doing as many shows as they use to because he said they are all slowing down. 

He then went to prepare his stars and told us we could join him.   Well, part of the preparation was to use a leaf blower on the animals to get all the dust off.  And take a look at Rowdy’s face – he LOVED it!

Here are the show stars:

The show was 30 minutes long and cute.  You could really tell how much time they spent with the animals.  And you could see the animals giving them the love back.

 

Overall it was a cute show and I am glad we went.

From there, we headed over to the Camp Bouse Memorial Park.

Camp Bouse:

General George Patton established Camp Bouse in 1945 in the Butler Valley as the site for training over 5500 carefully screened and qualified volunteers.  These soldiers were trained to use a Defense Light.  Dubbed the “Gizmo” by the soldiers who operated it, the CDL was a 13-million candlepower searchlight mounted on specialized tanks for the purpose of illuminating the area at night to dazzle the enemy with its flickering light.  Troop trains brought the highly trained soldiers and their equipment from Fort Knox under heavy guard on October 14, 1943.

The Park has a number of memorials dedicated to the troops who were trained here and then went on to other missions.

This was cute – a memorial to one of the donkeys:

 

We are hoping to locate Camp Bouse next week when we are at Quartzsite.  We also found out that every year on the second weekend in February, they give tours of Camp Bouse.  So that will be on our list for next season.

Another great day – :-))