Report From The Zoo

Thought I should check in to report progress - or rather, the lack thereof. A couple of days ago I was feeling much better, but during the night on Wednesday, I started hurting again. The muscles in my ribcage feel as bad as they did a week ago, and I have no idea of what I might have done to reinjure them. To say I feel totally bummed would be the understatement of the year.

Still, I try to keep my spirits up as best I can, and there certainly is never a dull moment around here. I'm not sure if the flooding we had around here in the spring had anything to do with it, but we are seeing sights we never saw before.

I mean, the deer have always come around, but now they are grazing in the back yard! And not just occasionally either. On Wednesday morning about 5:00 AM - as it was just getting light - I happened to look out and there was a buck with a rack grazing just this side of the paddock fence. Unfortunately, it was still too dark to attempt a picture, but I could clearly make out the antlers even if I couldn't quite count the points.

As I watched in rapt attention, I noticed movement on the other side of the hay feeder - which is just on the other side of the fence from the deer. It was Indy, contenedly munching some scraps of hay off the ground while the buck continued to graze. They were quite aware of each other and couldn't have cared less. Not only that, there were cats all over the place - as usual - and they didn't care either. Just one big, happy family.

A few weeks ago I saw something in the field that I didn't recognize. With the help of some binoculars, Mike and I determined that it was a fox - something we hadn't seen here before. Later, we realized it wasn't a fox - it was an entire family. We saw both parents frolickinig in the field with several cubs. Again, neither Indy nor Ami glanced at them twice, so I'm sure they weren't a new sight for them.

The last time I rode Indy, the Fox Family was again romping in the field - while we were riding there too - and I don't think Indy even glanced at them. While I was certainly glad Indy accepted our new "neighbors" I was worried about the barn cats, especially the very small kittens.

That concern seemed to be settled just a few days later. It was at dusk when Mike and I saw both adult foxes up by the front door of the barn - the very place where the kittens like to gather and play. The foxes were strolling around checking things out, the kittens were running and playing, and cats and foxes were totally ignoring each other. I know coyotes will kill cats, but appearently foxes very seldom will attack cats, even kittens. Around here, I'm sure the foxes have more than enough to eat without risking the wrath of a momma cat that's almost as big as they are!

Then, there was the turtle. This guy had a shell larger than a dinner plate, and he (she?) was moseying purposefully across the back yard, totally oblivious to the crowd of curious cats around him. We've seen him about three times, always in a different part of the yard.

Well, well. I took some time off from typing this and watched the news, They had a story about tagging turtles for some study or another, but it seems they were leading the people - including the police by now - to patches of marajuna! Seems turtles love the stuff. Who knew? Marajuna sniffing Police Turtles!

Honestly, I've never smoked a joint in my life, but I'm about ready to try anything. Now, where is that darn turtle...

Where Is Global Warming When You Need It!

Cold? Who's Cold? It was a balmy 29 degrees when we went out to feed the horses this morning. Balmy compared to the last few days when temps toped out at 10 or 11 degrees that is. Yesterday we started out with -4.

The footing was so bad that even Indy was reluctant to venture out into the field. It was so warm and so wet just a few weeks ago that the ground was unusually torn up - and then it froze that way. Indy just doesn't like it, but poor Ami gets foot sore. She always did that. I've had her since she was a yearling, and her soles always gave her problems on broken, frozen ground.

It will be better for them today though. Not only is it a bit warmer, we're getting snow. It's surprising how much cushion just an inch or two of snow can provide.

Besides, Indy especially loves snow, and not just to romp in either. He eats it. I've watched him at his outside hay feeder take a few bites of hay and then a mouthful of show. It's just like the sip of water he takes every few bites at the inside feeder. Well heck, hay is dry stuff.

We all had an interesting adventure on that -4 morning though. I was preparing the inside portion of Indy and Ami's breakfast - couple of soaked alfalfa cubes and their Omega 3 supplement - when I glanced out the kitchen window and there was a deer in the backyard! Actually, there were two deer in the backyard, just a few feet from the window. I got my Mike's attention, and we started watching them.

I know they could see us in the window, but they didn't seem to care. They just looked around, occasionally munching a bite of grass. Then one of the barn cats started coming to the house. When she saw the deer, she stopped short and hunkered down. She stared and the deer and they stared back - ah, predator and prey! Well, not exactly.

In fact, one of the deer started toward her to check her out. The deer wasn't worried, but the cat was. She hunkered down even further, but the deer stopped, distracted by something more interesting.

I peered around toward the barn to see if Indy and Ami were catching any of this. They hadn't been there the last time I looked, but they were there now, standing side by side at the fence, ears forward in interest but hardly alarm.

Finally, the deer got bored and wandered away. I'm sure this scenario has happened before, even if the dumb humans didn't see it.

Like I always say, never a dull moment!