Saturday Slight

As I look toward the mountain to the west, I can see that snow came almost to the flat land overnight. Still, we didn't get quite the winter storm forecast. We had some wind but not the high winds we were hearing about on the news.

And, I must say this is as typical a first day of Spring Break as I've seen. After all, with two-three feet of snow on the ground the past two years, a little snow on the mountains and growing green grass here on the level looks pretty normal. Heck, we don't usually have grass this green until later in April, so no big complaining.

~~~~~
The quiet of the week ahead already seems tangible. It's not really very quiet as usual at this house because we have eight more pair of clattering feet, two more tails and substantially more barking than usual.

Barking occurred overnight a couple of times. It came from the garage where Annie, Kea and Kiwi sleep. This version was the aforementioned demented bark coming from Annie Dog. High-pitched "arf . . . arf . . . arf . . . arfs awakened me about 3:30 and again about half hour later.

I was thinking this was not a good sign because seldom does Annie do her dementia protests after going to bed. Later, I saw why. I had left the light on in the garage for the night, and I'm sure long about 3:30 when still no darkness had come, our old dog felt the need to protest.

I'll be more careful about that from now on.

While reading the paper a few minutes ago, I heard more barks. These were coming from Brooke and Todd. I'm sure they were thinking that if they made enough noise I'd let them and Kiwi and Kea out of the outside kennel.

It will be functioning as a holding pen for our weekend visitors so they can dry off before coming back into the house. They're normally squeaky clean dogs, but give a dog half an hour on a wet, muddy farm, and you get all kinds of smells.

Brooke loves the farm life, especially watching the horses walk to their morning breakfast and come back to the barn for dinner. Debbie and Willie are going to be thrilled to learn that Brooke has the same affinity for gobbling down horse apples as Kea and Annie Dog. While I cleaned stalls this morning, she spent her time sniffing about looking for any stray apples I might have left behind.

I'm sure the grandpuppies will have a fun weekend here, but I'm also confident they'll be getting a bath once they go home.

~~~~~
Our two-day family birthday celebration has ended. Now, we wait for Laurie's, which comes up the 7th.

Bill and I spent most of the day in Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene yesterday. After lunch and some shopping at Cabela's, we drove to the new location for the Orvis fly shop in Coeur d'Alene. I relaxed in the car (a rarity), while the store clerk taught him some fly-tying routines.

Then, we went to Hastings, where I picked up a paperback assigned to me by my farrier, John Fuller. It's called "The Art of Racing in the Rain," and it's written from a dog's perspective by a Seattle author. John told me I had to have it and "Born to Run" read by the next time he comes to shoe.

So, I've started the book and, after 23 pages, figure I'll enjoy it.

After our visit to Hastings, we did our Costco run (tons of Sandpoint people there). The purchase included a tasty red devils food cake to top off Bill's birthday. We arrived home to learn that Edna Iverson had dropped off a present for Bill: a butt end of a sinker log with the Humbird Lumber Co. brand.

It had been lying at the bottom of Lake Pend Oreille for about a hundred years until Donny and Kim Cox retrieved it in their ongoing sinker-log project. I'm pretty sure that this gift may rank pretty high on Bill's birthday presents cuz he's passionate about Humbird history here in the area. Thanks, Edna.

Also, thank you for the 1947 Girl Scout manual. Of course, it's meaningful cuz it was published the year of Edna and my birth, but Debbie, the scout lady in our family, will appreciate it too.

~~~~~
We haven't decided Easter plans yet. We do have a big ham, though. And from that ham could come quite a celebration. I have to talk with my sisters to see what they have in mind.

~~~~~
Now, I'm looking out the window and can see that the snow has decided to come after all. Guess I'd better get going and let those dogs out of the kennel.

Here's wishing everyone a nice Saturday.