The Birds

Fickle Weather

The fickle weather continues. Some heavy rain yesterday with warmer temperatures was followed by strong winds and another cold front.  Much of the snow melted but some turned to ice. Fortunately, most of the paddock area is cleared of old snow, so the Boys had plenty of safe places to walk.

And, they seem to have some grass to nibble on. Right now they are out in the pasture, grazing, or at least pretending to graze. I just think after nearly three months of snow cover, they are relieved to see the ground and the paltry little blades of green appearing here and there.

It's actually not that bad outside now and the footing on the trail might be OK.  I'll at least think about taking Chance out for a ride. But, we'll have to see. I am in such "couch potato" mode that I may not.

Meanwhile,  I took some pictures of the grackle flocks the other day, just to give you a feeling of the number of birds.

Each one of the black things is a bird. They make an incredible amount of noise too.  The flocks might be around any time of year too. I've seen them on the trees in back of the woods in the summer as well.  But, as noted, if they eat the stinkbugs, then I say, "Welcome."

To close, I have to post a cute kitty picture or two. Reggie, the black cat, and Church, the gray one were settled on the couch, quite comfortably, from the looks of it.

And you wonder why I am a couch potato?   I have role models!!

Afternoon addendum:  I took Chance out for a ride in the woods. He was an absolute angel after not being ridden in over two months.  For the most part, the footing was excellent along the edge of the field and good in all but the deepest part of the woods where there was a bit of snow, some ice and some slippery mud.  I was rather surprised at how nice it was.  We even cantered just a tiny bit on the first part of the forest trail. Maybe 20 yards of canter, but that's OK.  If the weather stays nice tomorrow, I will take him out again.

I have to be careful with Toby and Tucker. This is the first time barefoot for Toby, so I don't know how his feet will be, and we already know Tucker does not "do"barefoot. Still, I might try to lunge each of them a little. The arena footing is also surprisingly good. But I do have  a lot of poo picking yet to do.  I did clean the area where I can lunge, so that's a plus.

Guess we'll see what tomorrow brings as there is some more precipitation on the way. But it may not come in until Sunday night so the day may be OK.