Tuesday Twitterdeedum

We've got the foggy, foggy dew this morning but a beautiful day in store. I put the horses in the round pen to keep their feet relatively dry for John Fuller. He'll be here in the next hour to trim their feet and to put shoes on Lily for the first time this year.

As you can see from the photo above, we've got water. And, from what I've seen of next week's forecast, we'll have a lot more before it's over. This is the first year we've encountered endless mud, and I know the horses are getting tired of slogging around in it day in and day out.

Adding to the frustration of not walking on solid ground, Lily has "scratches." I'd never heard of "scratches" as a disease until last summer when Lefty incurred a bad case of them on one of his hind legs. Nobody seems to know the rhyme or reason behind scratches except that it's in the soil.

Most of the time, it comes when the horses are in deep mud, so it was somewhat mysterious when Lefty had it during the dryest of the dry summer. Scratches causes severe pain. The area looks dirty and crusty, and any horse suffering with a case will react with even the slightest touch on the area.

Usually when horses get scratches, it will come back at a later time, often worse than the first time. Treatment involves putting a healing salve on the area and wrapping it. With luck, the horse will get relief within a day or two.

Fun and games of mud.

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With all the rain, we've got worms aplenty, and I've never seen so many robins at this place. I swore when we first moved here that this was the robin center of North Idaho. I think they all multiplied. I worked on cross fences yesterday, putting up more steel posts and clamping the wire to the posts.

Virtually any direction I looked, half a dozen robins were digging for worms, sitting on fenceposts or flying over looking for their next perch. There's a definite sense of spring when you're standing in water and green grass and the chirping chorus is going wild. Love it!

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I also saw a grouse last evening while walking through the woods. It was on Wes' side of the fence, and it stood there as a statue for ten minutes. I stopped my walk to watch and see how long it would stay there.

I moved closer to the fence. I talked to it and made noises. Not one move. Even when the dogs came up behind me, it remained rigid. I began to wonder if it was a plant, stuck out there in the woods to humor me.

Finally, it could stand no more. Off it fluttered through the trees to go find another place to stand.

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Just before dark I looked out the upstairs window and noticed that blankets of fog had rolled in. It was within minutes of my walk. As I stepped closer to the window, I spotted the outlines of eight deer feeding in the hayfield, where I'd just been.

For sure, the deer were watching me----and waiting.

Bill figures we'll see a lot of deer this year because of the mild winter. And, I'm figuring they may make me mad a time or two while pilfering my garden and chewing on my shrubs.

In spite of their bad habits, though, I never tire of seeing them.

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Congrats to the Lady Zags. Off to the Sweet Sixteen. I'll admit I haven't followed them as closely as the men's team, but I knew they were good. It will be great if they have a very deserved Cinderella experience in this year's dance. GO ZAGS!

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Speaking of dances, I was happy to see "Dancing with the Stars" return last night. Somehow I think Buzz Aldrin should stick with walking on the moon rather than shooting for any other stars in the Galaxy. He had a good time, but I think even I could give him a run for his money on boogying.

Always a fun show. I think the ESPN lady and the NFL star "good ol' what's his name" are going to be good as will be the skater.

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Well, John will be here soon, so I'll call it a day and get outside to enjoy this beautiful Tuesday. Have a great day.