Fun Spots, Sorta

The day will end with abandonment.  Foster will forget my existence.  It will be sad, but I'll live through it, and Foster will have the time of his life.

The second he sees Annie this evening, all other first persons in his life will become secondary.  

After all, Annie paved the way for Foster's life here at the Lovestead in Sandpoint. 

When, as a young pup, it soon became evident that our mini Aussie just wasn't a city boy, his owner made a very difficult decision----find him a home where he could live the life Foster was intended to live.

Annie served as the conduit by bringing iddy biddy Foster home for a trial weekend. When the Lovestead was determined as a good fit, Foster came back a week later with a bus load of journalism students and their chaperones, Willie and Debbie Love.

Foster has been here ever since, and for the most part, I'm "his person."  

With any appearance from Annie, however, that dedication and loyalty goes out the window. Annie's "his person" and remains so throughout her stay.

I've mentioned to Foster a couple of times this week that Annie's coming.  He gets excited and looks toward the door, but he's a smart dog and has figured out to save his enthusiasm for an actual Annie sighting. 

Well, that's how today will end, and I'm excited for Foster.  Annie will smother him with attention and probably take him on a drive.  Foster will be in Heaven.  

Then, when she takes off Sunday, my esteemed position of First Person for Foster will begin anew.

As the person who spends the most time with all the Lovestead critters, I'm really enjoying them all this week, even those pesky deer.  

And, yesterday with no rain, I had a chance to enjoy my spotted friend, Miss Lily. 

The late afternoon turned nice and warmed up enough for a perfect horseback outing. This opportunity felt good after a month of pain in my wrist, pain in my knee and pain in my back. 

Over the past few days, sympathetic stars have lined up, giving me a break from the pain. I do appreciate it!

So, climbing aboard my big pretty mare seemed like a nice reward for putting up with all that pain. 

All went well on our pleasant ride down the road until we turned on to Forest Siding Road and Lily saw her first-ever adorable, wiggling, racing piglets.  

Their pen was near the road.  The wind was blowing, and the sight of pigs---probably along with the scent----set Lily off. 

That big muscle-bound body can feel like an earthquake rumbling when she gets nervous and scared.  

Fully aware of how nice it felt to be pain-free AND hoping to stay that way, I was able to talk Lily in to moving on down the road away from the piglets.  She did settle down.

We moved on to my friend Roxane's and visited for a few minutes.  

As we went out the driveway, Roxane's cute black foal decided she was really gonna really miss Lily, so she shot across the field and along the fence line right next to us, letting out desperate-sounding foal-force whinnies. 

Again, Lily's muscled, powerful body launched into a little sideways prance dance. Little Baby finally ran back to Mama.  

Then, as we turned onto the road, I talked really nice, soothing words to the deer hiding under the apple tree.

Good deer!  

It simply stood there looking back at me rather than taking off in a flurry. A very accommodating Bambi, indeed.  

Lily never even saw the apple-fed plump doe, but the wind still blew, and there were cars and a bicycle and Lily continued down the road as if she were performing in a parade between the loud cars and logging trucks.

In my younger days, I actually liked riding prancing horses in parades while souped up cars gunned their engines. 

Long ago, though, that ceased to be fun.  These days, I focus more on keeping my body in one piece while riding horses in any environment.    

As we continued down Forest Siding Road, one driver stopped, got out to talk and then along came Mary, the bicycle rider.  She's my neighbor, and she was nice enough to ride her bike at a snail's pace past the pigs.  

Mary provided the perfect diversion from the oinkers.  Lily never saw 'em nor smelled 'em. 

Once we had passed the pigs, I told Mary she could speed up her pedaling and head on her way.  

Lily behaved well past that point and we had a wonderful ride home----'cept for a brief moment when she spooked at the loud logging truck loaded with logs.  

Fortunately, no souped up cars came down South Center Valley Road.

It was great to get back on my big mare for a ride.  We did have a little minor excitement, but I remain convinced that Lily would never do anything too crazy.  

She actually seems to like me----even when Annie shows up.

And, that is a good thing.  

If all goes well, tomorrow we'll enjoy another horseback ride with my sisters.  If all goes well, my body will come back home, intact and pain free for another day.

Always a good thing.  

Happy Friday.