Sunday Sampler

I can just imagine how thrilled my horses, cats and dogs are to experience the first morning of "falling back."  

Nobody prepares them with constant TV news time-change reminders for the shock of having to wait an extra hour for breakfast. 

Instead, while their humans keep on snoozing, the poor animals' stomachs keep on growling. 

Their time clocks don't change with the whims of human society. 

This year's edition of "fall back" had Lovestead animals a bit confused this morning.  Dogs bladders had to wait an extra hour before the trip outside.

And, once that door at 6 a.m. Pacific Standard Time for them to relieve themselves, Bill said a trio of shocked horses standing at the fence nickered a few protests when they saw him and the dogs instead of me coming to feed them. 

Unfortunately, the nickers did no good. Lily, Lefty and CB had to wait until what yesterday had been 7 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time  

When I walked outside in partial daylight, I knew they were upset and certainly in a dither for me to hurry the heck up and get to the barn and feed them, dammit!

Even Sunny, the kitty, had come to the fence to wait with her three equine buddies.  

As I walked toward the barn, three hungry horses and one pretty calico high-tailed it toward the stalls and the tack room. 

I can report that all were more than anxious to gobble that first bite.  

Seems a little callous when you think about it. 

As we humans grab some extra rest, our beloveds are wide awake and starving. 

I guess, however, there's a plus side to this time-change situation. 

Come spring, once again, we won't tell them one word about "springing forward." 

Just imagine their pleasant surprise when breakfast comes an hour early.  

It all works out, I guess, so we don't have to feel too guilty about our one-day animal negligence. 

Anyway, I liked my extra hour of sleep, especially after another busy day which included several hours in the house preparing for a birthday dinner, honoring two LOVEly princesses. 

Today is Debbie's birthday, while Annie's was several days ago. Twas a festive party last night, complete with a ham dinner, topped off by chocolate cake and ice cream. 

I learned last night that Debbie's not a chocolate fan, but she did enjoy her ice cream, her crown and posing with Annie next to the beautiful Costco cake. 

Happy Birthday, Debbie!   

It was a fun party. 

Family consensus:  the Costco cake decorators did a magnificent job with the birthday cake, which definitely had an Irish theme.  

My day included more brush hogging.  Two fields down and one to go. 

It's a great job because it offers a good dose of fresh air, nice scenery and a sense of satisfaction once the fields have received their fall grooming.

Plus, the brush hog redistributes all the horse piles, thus adding some fertilizer for spring.

I'll probably be out there again today, loving the tractor and the project.  

While I was preparing for the birthday party, Bill and Annie teamed up on a geocaching adventure which netted a significant milestone for Annie. 

From Annie's Facebook wall:  15 years ago my dad took me to find my first geocache. Today he was with me when I found my 10,000th! 

Who knew that first cache would lead me to so many amazing adventures, a career I love and so many awesome new friends around the world! Looking forward to the next 10,000!

Congratulations, Annie.  The residual adventures that we've all enjoyed thanks to your involvement in geocaching have been pretty nice, to say the least. 

Keep on caching!

Happy Sunday to all.