Spring Without Me

Monday March 3 2008 Winter's retreating, spring is moving in. Nothing like spring - and a case of the flu. I'm knocked out as the new season arrives. I think we are done with the snow - I'm going by the birds. Besides the nighthawks and killdeer, robins are here now, bright blue mountain bluebirds have migrated in. Every night starting about 11 PM, a screech owl shows up (or does she hang out here sleeping all day, too?) and starts hooting for a mate. Night after night, all night long, she hoots. Last summer I heard 3 screech owls at once, a male and female and another - baby? It seems the female has returned - without her mate, so far. I hope she finds one. The horses have free run of the canyon now, so they get their exercise every day, wandering up the canyon to pick at the fresh grass coming up, then once a day, sprinting back down to the house. Usually they're winded and panting and sweating when they get here after running from the top of the canyon. Although yesterday, I saw them moseying down, and only when I stepped outside and yelled at them, they started sprinting in, Finneas in the lead to make it look like he'd led the herd the whole way down. Uh huh. Then Finneas takes his time taking a long leisurely drink at the water trough, then parks himself there so nobody else can drink. The others have to wait, and wait, and wait, till His Highness gets tired of standing at the water trough. Diego thinks he's SUCH a butthead. The dogs are just miserable that they aren't taken for a walk every day. I'm here, why don't I take them? You should see the painful look of abject anguish Austin gives me when another day passes and I don't take them on their W-A-L-K. I did dare to take them out today, me on the 4-wheeler, buried in layers of clothing against the cool breeze, which I shouldn't be breathing. I don't know that I've ever had the flu, but I know I don't want it again. I do know it's so tempting to just go hop on a horse and take off on the trails I haven't been on for 2 months now, but I can't risk a relapse. While the dogs lay around and their girths expand, I lay around and mine shrinks from no appetite. And so, I wait to get better, the dogs wait for me to get better, the horses wait for me to get better so we can start riding again, and spring advances onward without me.

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