Signs of Spring

We're engulfed in what the weather gurus are calling "the storm of the season" but there are signs that sometime, eventually, spring may sidle into the picture. There is now enough light for a donkey to see his own feet at almost 7pm.

One sure sign is the return of the shiny black birds with red epaulets on their wings. They suddenly appeared in our trees on Tuesday and immediately began a pitched and noisy battle over territory. There's much avian profanity and posturing and then they all stop and groom their feathers until it starts over again. TJ is planning to kill them all.

Another sign is that the cat actually sets paw outside the house and, shaking the dampness from her feet with each step, she condescends to pay us a visit. She informs us regularly that she is not just a garden variety cat but a Russian Blue, and as such must be treated as royalty. We are not allowed to mention that she came to us through a rescue place. I think she may be part monkey because she is built very much on the length and swings around casually in the trees like a small grey ape. She's very haughty and addresses us as "You serfs". Her response to anything that annoys her is "Pffffttt". TJ is planning to kill her.

The black and white cat-sized creature with the gas cannisters on his hind end is beginning to stir. We stay clear of him because the dog bowled him over when she first arrived and for days afterwards the stench was incredible. She had to sleep in the horse trailer overnight. He's a very strange character, giving to absentmindedly digging small holes while mumbling to himself. Even the owl ignores him. TJ is planning to kill him.

Tonight the idiot mule charged up behind me so fast that his head and shoulders got wedged between my hind legs and he lifted me clear off the ground. I was propelled forward at high speed while he tried to figure out how to extricate himself. Of course it didn't occur to him to stop and backup. He finally ran me up a snow bank, dislodging himself with a violent crash. The woman laughed and said "Are you two playing wheelbarrow?" She really is quite thick. I suspect it was another form of the atomic wedgie she mentioned.