Saturday Slight

I'm anxious to get going. Today's possibilities remind me of an all-you-can-eat buffet---lots of offerings, too many choices. At least, we do have choices on this beautiful Saturday morning. Not a cloud in the sky, kinda cold out but promises of 60s later in the day. And, tomorrow's the same, so I'm sure the cloud has lifted in a lot of households around our area.

Finally, we can go at it. We still have a three-foot bank of snow about ten feet long next to the shop, but other than that, the yard is clear and growing greener by the minute. I have a feeling that those lawnmowers, which had their maintenance appointment six weeks ago will finally get to go into action----after Bill goes to town and spends an arm and a leg to fill up the gas cans, that is.

I have cabbages and tomatoes in the greenhouse that need to be transplanted into bigger containers. There's still fence along Stan's border to fix. We still have to figure out how to get the boat out of the storage shed without tearing it apart.

It's been impaled by those bent frames all winter, and it may take some doing (like the jaws of life) to extricate it. Next week the contractor will come to plot out the new building, so we want the present structure ready to haul off to whatever cemetery takes caved-in quansets.

I'm glad to have such problems, though. I'm glad we can finally get at them. This morning while walking from the barn to the paperbox, I was reminded, as we always are when winter moves on here in North Idaho, how fortunate we are to be where we are at this point in my life. Many of the dreams that lingered for so long within my imagination are becoming reality.

Who couldn't feel satisfaction while watching beautiful Border Collies, lying along a white board fence, doing their self-assigned duty of keeping an ever-vigilant eye on those two strikingly beautiful horses within the corral? Yup, the white fences and the horses were always waiting there in my imagined sense of the perfect life.

Admittedly, the Border Collie concept evolved of late, but there's no prettier sight those photogenic little buggers doing their work along the fence line or bounding at high speed and with a big smile through a field of lush green grass. The other night while taking a long-awaited walk through the woods, I saw Kiwi and Kea over by one of the sheds where Bill was working.

At first, I teased them by making noise but not saying anything. Kiwi always needs to hear our voices from afar before deciding we aren't scary intruders. So, she did the Border Collie dance-around while yapping my direction. Once I said, "Keeeeeeeeweeeeeeee," however, she and Kea left the starting gate and raced across the field to greet me.

Bill and I continued a little back and forth calling of the dogs. First, he'd call them back his way so he could watch the sheer beauty in motion. Then, I'd lure 'em back to my side of the field. Their energy is boundless, so we could have kept that up all night and the dogs would have responded every time.

I enjoyed another sweet moment of dream realization yesterday afternoon. Lily had her new shoes on, and I wanted to see how she was adjusting to them. So, I took her to the round pen and let her play---cantering, trotting and walking, even a little bucking. The shoes, I believe, help her because she tends to have tender hooves, especially after a trim. Yesterday, however, she was moving just fine.

Then, I decided to walk her out the driveway and down the road. Of course, when we got out of sight, Lefty's engines shifted into high gear.

It's hard to describe the beauty and grace of an exquisite purebred Arabian in motion, but I guarantee, there are few things that can top the scene. The little guy, who's almost shed off and looking phenomenal for a yearling, put on an impressive show as he raced and pranced around the barnyard with nostrils flaring. Lily and I were willing fans, as were the dogs.

Well, ya know instead of just talking about this stuff, I'm going to leave this computer, head outside and enjoy some more of it. This Saturday sunshine has been long-awaited, so I'd better make the most of it.

Have a great day.