Rainy Days and Sunday

Saturday turned out to be couch slouch day for me, and that was okay.  In addition to being a journalism junkie, I must add political and college basketball to the roster of items that fully intensify my interest. 

Stars lined up for all three on Saturday, and that was good cuz it was pretty ugly outside, so ugly that toward noon, Bill announced that he would spend the afternoon at the library, participating in the Saturday fly tying gatherings. 

Perfect.  

That meant I had the TV remote to myself, which meant that I could spend the wet afternoon engaged in indoor surfing----from CBS to ESPNs to Root to BYU to CNN to MSNBC.  

Total Heaven because SO much was happening in the political and basketball world on Saturday with the grand finale being the ZAGS-Pilots game at 9 p.m. 

My fingers and eyes had a busy afternoon switching from Kansas to Kansas (that would be the caucus plus the big game, both of which were well attended and successful in my mind). 

Mind you, I was not pulling for anyone in the caucus, just against, but I was pulling for the Jayhawks in the game because of my friend Mow a KU grad.  

That turned out well on both counts, and it was kinda neat that they actually switched from Kansas to Coeur d'Alene, ID---where I first met my KU friend Mow back in 1965---to a rally where Ted Cruz had just learned that he had won the Kansas caucus.  

Of more import to me was the self-professed anatomically endowed candidate lost.  

The fingers on the remote moved on to the North Carolina-Duke game where I knew my daughter-in-law Debbie would be thrilled with the final score which meant another win for the Tarheels. Debbie's got family associated with North Carolina, so she's always happy when they win. 

I watched Brigham Young play for a while, especially at the end, where it was clear that if the ZAGS won later, today's WCC contests would mean a third meeting between the Cougars and the ZAGS.  

Each has won one, so I'm hoping the odds in Las Vegas and throughout ZAGland will tip the scales in favor of the Bulldogs. 

Well, for the rest of the day, even after Bill returned from fly tying, my fingers walked on through primaries and caucuses along with hash and rehash and games continued on.  

For a while, during the two hours that Bill snoozed after his dinner, I held out hope that the ZAGS might not have to play their historic nemesis St. Mary's, but the Gaels pulled off a win over a determined LMU team in the last minutes. 

So, it was time for the ZAGS, but, no, it wasn't!  Instead of the scheduled 9 p.m. past-my-bedtime start, we learned the game would start at 9:30 p.m., way past my bedtime. 

After a full day of couch slouching, my fingers finally got a rest from punching the remote because, after all, one does not switch channels when the ZAGS are playing. 

At the very time my fingers got to hang it up for the night, my eyelids figured they needed equal opportunity.  

They just kept shutting and shutting, opening long enough for me to see Sabonis shoot a 3 or McClellan steal the ball and for me to see the score indicating the ZAGS were winning and easily. 

Well, I wasn't winning against my eyelids.  They remained relentless in sending me off to dreamland far too many times, but the ZAGS were winning and winning big, so I'm thinking the ZAGfathers will forgive me for admitting that I did not see every single great play in that game. 

Bill did.  He slept through the St. Mary's game and rejuvenated himself enough for a bowl of popcorn and eyes wide open. 

All that said, the day turned out well, in spite of my failure to close the day with my eyes wide open. 

So, yesterday when the rain kept falling and after I'd done just about everything active I could do inside and outside (got soppin' wet while walking through the neighborhood) to make up for Saturday couch slouching, I asked Bill if we could take a Sunday drive toward Bonners Ferry and maybe escape the rain.

Well, we did not escape the rain, but we still enjoyed visiting the Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge.  It's one of those places where, good weather or bad, the experience of watching the wildlife is always enjoyable. 

And, the best part?  When we returned home, the rain had stopped, and after the horses went to the barn for the night,  we took the dogs to the hay field where once again, Liam ran free and played with his buddies.  

This morning he did the same when Bill took him there while I cleaned barns.  My morning chores are no longer solo.  At any given time, a husband and three dogs will come into the barn for a visit, and that is a nice way to start the day. 

The rain has still stayed away.  I do not plan to be a couch slouch today.  I'm gonna stay active and work on those eyelids because I don't want to miss one second of tonight's game, again after bedtime, but hardly going to be a sleeper. 

GO ZAGS.  Enjoy the photos from the neighborhood and the bird refuge.  Happy Monday.