Gotta Hurry.

We've got to move faster today. . . we're springing forward . . . we're losing an hour on most of our clocks, and it's gonna be a nice day on top of that.

All the more reason to put a spring in our step and get into forward motion.

One of the clocks in my house could just stay where it's set.  It stays permanently on Pacific Daylight Savings time and then some.

Fun to watch people who come to visit, look up at the clock and almost jump from their seat to hurry up and leave, thinking they've been here far too long.

Sometimes we tell them the clock is 1 hour and 15 minutes fast.  Sometimes we don't. 

I don't know what I would do if that clock read the right time.  Actually, I'd better tell Elisabeth when she comes here to stay.  That knowledge might save her some stress and hurrying off to town to soon.

Anyway, fixing the clocks will take a few minutes of this day.  

Getting outside will probably take precedent over indoor activities until the hour before ZAGS time.  Then, I'll have to get the bacon and sausages fried, beat up the egg and pancake mixtures and lay out all the other goodies for our Bulldog-watching breakfast-for-dinner feast.

Part of tonight's spread includes some wonderful cinnamon rolls from Clark Fork's Pantry.  I hid the rolls so Bill wouldn't break into them too early. 

I picked them up along with some fresh-baked bread and those wonderful individually wrapped chocolates from the Pantry's bulk bin.   

With everything wet and soppy around here yesterday, I decided the scenic route to pick up grocery supplies was in order. 

After selecting the goodies for tonight's meal from the Pantry, I turned up Spring Creek Road where the old fish hatchery is.  

Thank goodness, the hatchery is not too far up the road because I quickly came to the conclusion that, even with the beauty of Lightning Creek flowing alongside the road, those folks must REALLY want to live up there. 

That road----and it isn't even fully into spring break-up time----gave me some real fits with my cup of coffee from the Pantry.  

With each new series of water-filled potholes, I drank bigger gulps of coffee, figuring that if I could get the glass to less than half full, surely coffee would quit jostling and splattering all over my car. 

The fish hatchery was a welcome sight.  I turned around and held the coffee cup firmly until reaching the highway again. 

The short drive certainly turned out to be an early spring adventure.  Suburu and all, I figured dry pavement and beautiful views of the lake and mountains would satisfy my needs. 

Yes, this is definitely early spring, a time we all await and celebrate, but here at the Lovestead, we don't celebrate every aspect of early spring.

I have a very difficult time celebrating "stink time," especially with five dogs.  Dogs are not just wet when they come back to the house from doing their business and romping through the fields. 

Dogs STINK LIKE a fresh, wet manure pile.  Part of that stink comes from the fact that instead of a trip to the Pantry for their goodies, our dogs prefer to race straight to the manure pile. 

Forget Atta Boy and doggie biscuits when warm and soggy day-old horse apples await. 

In fact, Kea can't get enough of them, to the point that I've had to order her out of the barnyard when horses are in the enclosure.

Dogs are not allowed in any Lovestead enclosure with the horses, and they know it.  

For Kea, however, the tantalizing thought of apples straight from the horse's ___(you know) rather than the day-old variety causes her to rebel against the rules. 

Yesterday definitely ushered in Stink Days for a while.  I bathed Foster twice before he was allowed in the house.  Todd got the towel job three times before finally being restricted to the garage.  

After all, Todd's a little too big to put in the utility room sink. (By the way, he's doing great.  All stitches out and coat growing back nicely.)

So far this morning, the stink has not yet permeated the air because we had a slight freeze last night.  I'm confident, however, that when the beautiful sunshine takes over we'll have an added aroma to the air we breathe and dogs will be banned from the house. 

I hope spring Stink Time doesn't hang around too long.  As far as the rest of this new spring, however, "Bring it on."  We love it, and we'll happily spring forward.  

This day with fewer hours is a-wastin', so I'm outa here. 

Happy Saturday.  GO ZAGS!