A day of Check-offs

No play on Anton's name this morning, although he is one of my favorite short-story writers. I always loved teaching his tale "A Slander" in my sophomore English class. Very, very short but big lesson. Trying too hard to erase guilt can make you look guiltier than sin and pretty stupid too.

Anyway, I wasn't thinking about Anton until I wrote my headline, so I'll put him aside and talk about days when we can check off a lot of accomplishments. Yesterday was one such day.

Item No. 1 occurred in the barn when I let the horses out. I discovered a week or so ago that Heather, our "gift horse," still shies and flees at the sight of a halter. I've led her in and out of the barn all winter but only with a rope over her neck.

The day I chased her around the stall for five minutes trying to halter her disappointed me greatly as I've worked with her a lot over the winter---brushing, leading, and attempts at clipping. I discovered early on that she is head shy, which means haltering and clipping up near her ears are no-no's as far as Heather is concerned.

Well, I told Heather that morning after finally catching her that if things didn't change, she may be looking for a new home. There's nothing worse with a horse than dealing with something so basic as putting on a halter, cuz if ya can't do that, what else will be next to impossible?

I laid it out clearly to Heather that I'd give her every opportunity possible, and if she'd change her ways, I might reconsider ousting her from the Lovestead herd. I think she was listening, and my efforts on a regular basis have helped too.

Each day since that day, in twice-daily circumstances, Heather has changed her attitude about halters, so much so that she even comes and puts her nose in the halter willingly each time I take her out or bring her in.

Adding to that, yesterday morning she allowed me to snip off the three-inch high hair growth in her bridle path, improving her looks greatly. It will be a while before the clippers go up there for a trim, but we're making progress, and I came to the house with renewed hope that little gestures on a regular basis lead to large achievements.

Item No. 2. Raspberry plants transplanted to a better spot. One of my friends gave me at least a dozen raspberry starts last summer. I planted them. They did fine until winter. Only four were still living when the snow disappeared, so I've moved them to a different garden patch where I can keep track of them and hopefully nurture them along.

Item No. 3: Not done but a good start on weeding my strawberries. I believe no worse gardening job exists than weeding strawberries. I did not plan to weed strawberries, but upon pulling up some spears of grass, I noticed that the roots came along willingly. So, I figured time was of the essence. If I took this opportunity, maybe I could stick at it and get that patch cleaned up and looking a bit more respectable. I'm nearly half done.

Item No. 4: Back to head shy horses who hate clipping. I have two out of three in my barnyard. Little Lefty---he's a darling. I took him to the barn, brushed him down and clipped him with no problem.

But then there's Lily.

We have epic stories of our efforts to clip Lily anywhere around the head. Her former owner told me she didn't care for clipping. That was an understatement, I soon learned. One day, three of us---my two sisters and I---attempted to clip Lily's ears and beard. Lily won.

And, she has continued to win ever since. We even told her trainer last year it would be nice if he could figure out a way to clip her. He didn't.

So, yesterday I brought Dr. Pavlov into the mix. Not that I haven't tried kindness, firmness, life threats, profanity, encouragement . . . . everything short of having the vet put her under like dentist do when they take out wisdom teeth.

Well, yesterday I started what will, no doubt, be a long process: a can of grain and a pair of clippers. Lily will get used to seeing those two items hand-in-hand, and I'm hoping that some day, maybe when she's ten (that's six years), we'll both revel in clipped ears and a big, big helping of grain for being such a good girl.

Item No. 4: A local affair. Bill was looking at the license plates in the parking lot as we walked into the golden anniversary celebration for Jack and Shirley Parker yesterday at the new Panhandle State Bank. He spotted a 7B 323 and brought it to my attention.

Except for the fact that we were going to a party, I think Bill would have enjoyed surveying the entire lot to see how many low numbers there were on plates of those attending. Inside, his observation was confirmed many times over as---I'm guessing---90 percent of the guests represented generations worth of Sandpoint locals who could jokingly claim to know each other for a hundred years.

And, everyone throughout the gathering seemed to be reveling in the fact that we could be at this party where we all knew each other. Those situations seem to be happening less and less as we all grow older and the local demographics continue to change.

I even enjoyed a few conversations with old adversaries where we shook hands on on mutually letting bygones be bygones. That's a pretty cool feeling when you've lived in a small-town all your life where occasionally divisive and passionate situations are part of the territory.

So, I count that as a supreme achievement on a day of satisfying accomplishments.

It's always a good feeling to let go of the frustrations in life in favor of big smiles and warmth. I saw that with Heather, my strawberries, to a small degree with Miss Lily and in a big degree with some folks I've known forever.

It was a very good day, indeed, and I shall savor all the memories.