Wet Dog Day

 

I don't know what kind of outdoor activity the dogs will have today, but it will be limited. 

We've got rain, a warm spring rain but still wet. 

Pretty much my least favorite extra chore(s) on rainy days is toweling off dogs, sometimes more than once. 

I've done that already this morning with Bridie after chore time. 

I told Bill she probably would not get her customary morning walk through the woods. 

By, the time we had fed the horses, however, she was already wet but the rain had ceased.  

So, we went to the fields and woods after all. 

Bridie veered off course once. 

A Canadian honker was sitting on the roof of one of the shelters along the lane, calling out to its mate which was answering back from a tree along the fence line without a top. 

The geese have liked that tree and have spent time there throughout the spring. 

Well, Bridie was minding her business trotting down the lane but couldn't help looking both directions from whence came the noise. 

When the goose atop the shelter suddenly flew off right over her head, Bridie's instincts set in, and off she went across the field following the goose's air trail. 

When the bird landed on the other side of the fence in the Meserve Preserve, Bridie stopped, turned around and came back to the lane.

Good dog.

In other news, yesterday included the beginnings of another chore I abhor----ridding the mouse population in the tack room of the barn. 

I still tell Sunny, the cat, that she is NOT earning her Meow Mix when she sits in the middle of countless mice and watches them eat out of her bowl. 

She's not getting the message, but the mice have been more obnoxious, stinky and numerous than ever. 

So, yesterday I established a trapline in the tack room and paid many visits during the day to empty traps and fill 'em up to catch more mice.

Current number is 16 but many more to go. 

One time when I went out there, a trap next to the catfood bowl was missing.  I searched all over but never found it. 

This morning while ridding the room of the carnage I spotted the trap underneath the shelves opposite the door.  

Stepping closer, I noticed that the trap was moving.  

Its victim was still alive, very alive except for having carry around a mousetrap on its tail. Must've been a bad day and night for that mouse. 

So, I picked up a grabber, like the ones my mother used to gather up her socks or anything else on the floor in her later years. 

It only took two tries to grab hold of that trap with a mouse hanging on it.  I carried it to the manure pile, did some precise maneuvering with the grabber on the trap and was eventually able to release the mouse.  

What did the stupid thing do?  It ran right back into the barn.  Next time a trap may get more than its tail.

Hopefully, with Round Two of Mouse Round-up today,  the dirty and disgusting action inside the tack room will cease, at least for a while.  

I've also decided that, with springtime, Sunny has the world as her oyster to go out catch all the dinner she wants.  

So, the Meow Mix will be put away until the room quiets down completely.

Yesterday I also did some work in the garden, digging up weeds and hauling them off. 

Over the winter, with chronic sore knees and a sore lower back, I've been learning firsthand more than I want to know about the vulnerability of older age.  

Do I like it?  Hell no. 

Still, my brain and body tell me that idealism has to step aside in favor of realism, so I've slowed down on a lot of the "back-breaking" work that has been my M.O. for years.  

It's called adjusting and resorting to new creative strategies. 

One adjustment that flashed into my brain yesterday, while digging up those weeds and throwing them into a sled, involved my lawnmower.  

It doesn't have to just mow lawn, which it did for a bit yesterday.  That mower can also pull things.  

So, my clods of dirt, rocks and weeds went to the woods in the sled behind the lawnmower, and, yes, it was a good time. I never shy away from sitting on my lawnmower and admiring the world around me. 

So, after today's rain, I should be able to finish off the garden prep, which will be very satisfying. 

In other news, I watched a portion of last night's debate for Idaho's Superintendent of Public Instruction.  

My oh my, don't we have some diverse choices?  

I heard later that one of the candidates, after using all the other necessary code words and phrases, inserted "Let's Go Brandon" into his closing statement. 

What the Hell does that have to do with public education?  Just curious. 

Sounds to me like the incumbent is doing her job the best she can in these crazy times, and there are positive educational results, if you're not throwing in those ludicrous code word tactics which have been made up purely for political gain. 

Just sayin' 

Can't wait for my absentee ballot to come so I can try to figure out which unacceptable, scary candidate I want to lose the most and vote against them. 

In fairness, there are a few qualified candidates who deserve to win, and I'll be voting for them. 

Guess that's enough for this rainy day. 

Happy Tuesday.  Let's watch the grass grow.