Nedi and the Squirrel

It's nearly 11 a.m., it's 40 degrees outside, I'm inside and wearing a hat - and I'm chilly! - Even with an Ooch in my lap! We (the Front Range and eastern plains of Colorado) are expected to be dry and breezy for the majority of the up-coming week, while the ski resorts of the north-central mountains (Vail, Aspen, Steamboat, Breckinridge) are expected to get another 12 to 36 inches of snow. That's fine with me - but I'd prefer to have sunshine, and not just a grey overcast sky - it makes me feel colder. I still have no idea of when I'll go to the Stock Show... but the last day is the 23rd, so I'd better get my ducks in a row!
I know one should never laugh at one's pets - it gives them a complex. But I did laugh out loud at Nedi this morning: I was ready to leave for Ooch's visit, Lovey had just come inside, but Nedi had vanished, so I stepped out on the patio to look for him. At the south end of the yard, two squirrels were chasing one another in a tree, while a third was industriously seeking previously hidden snacks - nuts, what-have-you. Nedi decided to chase the squirrel on the ground. The squirrel ran rather lazily in several circles, banking off the chain-link fence and the brick building at times, with Nedi in hot pursuit. Then the squirrel just stopped, sat down, and proceeded to groom it's tail. Nedi "snuck" closer to the squirrel - as if a 6-pound long-haired black kitten can hide in green grass, and a couple patches of white snow. Nedi stopped about 5 feet away from the squirrel. The squirrel finished its ablutions. Nedi and the squirrel looked at one another, face to face. Then the squirrel leaped straight up, and while coming down, reached out with a forepaw to swipe at Nedi. I laughed. Nedi ran immediately to me. - Even if old Gimpy, the squirrel, isn't around, some of the younger ones who learned from him are still about. The move I saw the squirrel make this morning was exactly the same one Gimpy taught his sons and daughters to use on Banichi a few years ago. So now a new generation of squirrels is using the same tactic on a new generation of my kits. Somehow, it seems fitting. ...
If you're in Florida, the Ocala Mixed Winter Sale of thoroughbreds begins on Tuesday, the 18th. And, down under, in Australia, they are having their Mega Millions Thoroughbred Sale; a yearling grandson of Sunday Silence is, so far, the only horse to sell for over $1 million (Australian).