A Grand Day In

As expected, winter returned with a vengeance yesterday, armed with rain, wind, freezing rain and blobs of snow the size of my ears. Though like Lord Byron "nasty, brutish and short", this appalling weather will soon skulk off to make way for spring. At least I hope so...

Jack and I took one look out the door and presented a united front (well, rear, actually). We refused to budge from the shelter of the barn. We had the run of the barn, except for the tack room, which is unfortunate because we find that the most stimulating and diverting room of all. We had a huge pile of hay, a salt block, fresh water and some of my childhood toys that the woman keeps for sentimental reasons. We ate, drank, licked the salt block and prodded each other with the above-mentioned play things.

We were becoming somewhat bored when Herself appeared out of the gloom and proceeded with her chambermaid duties. We are selfless souls, Jack and I, and immediately began to help her in any way we could. We pressed ourselves on either side of her to show support, literal and moral. We stepped on the fork thing. We chewed on the wheelbarrow handles - actually, Jack gummed them. Then Sally joined us and mewed pitufully at the woman`s feet until she was picked up. Still, the woman seemed rather tense and distracted.

What she needs, we thought, is to be more thoroughly distracted. First I tried to roll in the newly cleaned rooms and Jack pounced on me. Then we reversed roles and I did the pouncing. Then Jack backed me into a corner and sat on me. I ran into his room and we began to spar over the halfwall. By now we had raised a tremendous amount of dust and had bedding spread liberally everywhere. The woman seemed to be taken by a fit of coughing. We could hear her but could not quite see her through the dust storm. Then Jack was inspired. He stood on his hind legs and planted one front hoof on the top of the partition wall whilst waving the other one dramatically in the air. I bit him on the fetlock and he made loud growling and grunting noises.

Of course you know what happened next. Herself rushed over, threw her arms around Jack`s neck and forced him to climb down. She simply can`t stand to see anyone have fun. Then, trying vainly to beat the dust out of her clothes, she announced she was going to the house for tea and some recovery time. We sighed and went back to our hay.

Today is sunny so we are in the paddock, helping her with the outside cleanup. She still seems rather peevish, so we are sticking close by, hoping to cheer her up.