Just... Stuff

The sunrise was pretty and we're expecting a high around 55 today. Shady brought several of his toys into bed with me last night. I don't know if he wanted me to play with him, or if he was just gathering all his goodies together. Cloudy deigned to sleep by my head for about 4 hours this morning, but then slapped my nose and high-tailed it out of the room. I met Lizzie and Maggie May yesterday, whom I'll be with next week; Lizzie loved the chicken jerky I brought, and Maggie thought the idea of chasing treat pieces across the floor was great fun. The owner was greatly surprised when Lizzie licked me - apparently, she is not a demonstrative dog. The Rs were ecstatic when I arrived to walk them yesterday afternoon - Remy would not stop barking, even though he had an anti-bark collar on (it sprays citronella oil up his nose when he barks); and then, after our walk, Rosie wanted me to toss her red bone for her. I visited my kits yesterday morning and found that UPS had left my package at the apartment office, so I got that. - I just saw movement in the backyard, and watched a red fox trot across the back area. - Lovey and Banichi were very happy that snow covered less than half of the backyard yesterday, and they played outside quite a bit, coming back to me to shake the mud and dirt off, of course. Gimpy and a few younger squirrels had spats at the nut bowl inside the door - and one of the youngsters ran partially up my jeans-covered leg until he realized what was underneath the denim. ... There is flooding going on in northern Ireland and Great Britain. Rains in the Lake District where Wordsworth was born caused flooding of 8 feet and more, and washed away a 300-year-old stone bridge that crossed the Derwent River. The flooding was over 3 feet high in the town of Cork in Ireland, and areas of County Galway. In that County, a family of 5, including an 87-year-old grandmother, was plucked up through the roof of their house by rescuers in an Army helicopter. ... On the horse scene, Quality Road (who was scratched at the gate in the BC Classic) returned by van to New York on Monday, and on Wednesday he had his first starting gate lesson which reportedly went "fine." Sea the Stars won Europe's Cartier Horse of the Year Award after a sensational and unbeaten racing season in England, Ireland, and France. ... Here in Colorado, two more ski resorts open their runs today. We're expecting more snow in the mountains over the weekend, but none here in the foothills or out on the eastern plains. I hope you have a super Friday!