Self-indulgence . . . Ah!

I do not believe a soul in the Northwest had reason to complain about this Memorial Day weekend. I cannot remember a time when the entire three days offered perfect conditions for all things outdoors. Great weather for planting, recreating, getting together with family and friends or just plain relaxing in the sun.

So, a big thanks to Mother Nature.

Yesterday turned out to be an ultimate opportunity for me. I was selfish. I did exactly what I wanted to do from start to finish, owing nothing to anyone except myself. Such days are rarities, and I decided I'd better take advantage, or I'd have only myself to blame.

Bill had already announced that he would be returning to Cocolalla Creek for the afternoon and evening fly-fishing challenges. He says he likes to go early on opening day and later in the weekend when most of the other anglers have gone. So, that was his plan.

In the morning, my plan was to drive to Spokane to see my Lily. She's my Appaloosa mare, and she's been at the equestrian center since early May, getting another round of training for this year's show season. My sister Laurie will be riding her in Western classes, and I'll be riding her down roads and trails.

Laurie's hope is that Lily will get over her bucking/kicking out at the lope. Lily is lazy and doesn't like to lope. So, we figured another month of boot AND spur camp would be good for Lily. At shows, horses can also be shown in a hackamore (it's a rawhide, hard nose band with no bit) through age 4.

That takes some training too, so going forward without bucking and learning to respond to the hackamore are the two goals of this training session with trainer Monty. He says our Lily still wants to kick out, but he just keeps her going until she wears down on that antic. He also says she's doing beautifully with the hackamore and that he thinks Laurie's gonna like her.

So, we're excited to see the results. Since she won't be coming home for another week and it has been more than three weeks since I've seen her, I couldn't wait to walk into her stable and say hi.

I thought that wasn't going to work out by mid-morning, however. The latest growth of dandelions had reared all their ugly heads all over the lawn, and I needed to mow. Pots filled with veggies still sat on the shelves in the greenhouse, waiting to be plopped in garden soil. The old workaholic in me could not leave home with those projects incomplete.

I worked at it with gusto, however, and by the time Bill was about to leave for Cocolalla Creek where the best fishing started in "16 minutes, according to the fishing forecast," I had actually finished my work. I could leave home and know that when I returned, the dandelions could still be in the plotting stages.

So, we took off within 15 minutes of each other, both doing exactly what we wanted to do. The Border Collies happily jumped in the back seat of the Jimmy, and we drove off down the road headed for the big city and the stable. Once at the equestrian center, I ambled in to see Lily who was nibbling at a bare surface at the bottom of her stall. She was engrossed.

I tapped on the stall door, and she looked up. No screams of welcome, no smile, just a rather blank expression. That's Lily. When I walked away to go back to the car and let the dogs out, I knew that she knew Mom had arrived. The pawing at the stall door began. That's Lily too.

Later, I put on her halter, and when I took her outside, she just looked all around. I eventually figured she must be thinking she was going home and looking for the horse trailer. Poor Lily.

We walked around the grounds and down the driveway. I gave her some grain and combed and brushed her. She didn't seem too thrilled to see the dogs who normally spend the entire day watching her every move.

It was a good visit, and she kicked the stall wall the last time I left. That's Lily at her best. She can be self indulgent every day because, after all, she's a Queen Bee.

We drove off, and my next selfish move was to stop at Cabela's to buy another pair of their jeans. I've discovered I like the way they fit, so it was time to get a pair for wearing to town---a pair not stained by green grass mowings or garden dirt.

Jeans in hand, we moved on to Rathdrum where I did the really ultimate indulgence at Dairy Queen: vanilla ice cream in a chocolate waffle cone. Messy but very satisfying. In the meantime, dogs munched on the handfuls of Quaker's snack mix I threw to them in the back seat.

After arriving home at 6:30 and grabbing a few bites of dinner, I set out on my bike for the grand finale of this full day of my own.

A six-mile spin along Selle Road to Hickey Road, right on Jacobson Road, right on East Shingle Mill Road and back home on Selle Road----a grand ride, to say the least. Perfect temperature, a slight breeze, beautiful green farm fields, lilacs starting to bloom, a deer here, Canadian honkers and their fuzzy babies there.

I liked my day, and I look forward to other such opportunities, but it may be a while. Schedules tend to fill up, and work must be done. When such days come along, though, they tend to infuse one's soul with the ample elixir to return to the mundane and to do so with more vigor than usual.

Happy Tuesday. Hope your holiday weekend was a good one.