Spring is coming!

It's amazing what a little sunshine and riding will do to your attitude! On Saturday the sun came out for at least part of the day and Laura and I got to have cocktail hour on horseback for the first time in weeks. On Sunday, the roses got pruned, and then we actually put saddles on the horses and worked on Trail Trial obstacles, preparing for a clinic on March 6. The boys turned in a stellar performance, even allowing us to carry a bag of aluminum cans around and drag them through the arena. After we thoroughly tortured them, Ken saved them by bringing us beer. He was assisted by his brother Jim; the two of them were preparing for Superbowl, so the beer came earlier than usual so as not to interfere with kickoff. Jim also brought lots and lots of pizza for dinner, which worked out well for me as I was invited to join them.

When I went home, I performed an annual winter ritual in anticipation of Spring--I started tomato seeds (and pepper and eggplant and cucumber). Although the gophers always win the garden battle, I still feel a compulsion to plant LOTS of seeds and then peddle the extras to friends and neighbors. My friends at Swallowtail Garden Seeds (www.swallowtailgardenseeds.com) like to egg me on with their website, loaded with

luscious descriptions and voluptuous photos. Tonight I followed up with a tray of melon seeds. Offer up a prayer to the Gopher Gods for success this year.

My friend and hairstylist Yo, who knows I am lusting after a digital SLR camera, sent me a Craigslist posting for a Nikon D60. I contacted the person and made an offer which was rather

indignantly refused.

But it got me in the shopping mood, and today I went in to Shutterbug, just to look and get info of course, and came home with a new D40, which has been discontinued and was on closeout. I did get lots of information and found that unless I go much higher-end than I planned, none of my old Nikon lenses will work with the new cameras anyway, so this camera was an economical way to get into digital SLR and leave me some $ room

to just buy new lenses as I feel the need. So, that explains the addition of photos to this post--normally I woldn't bother taking

pics of a couple muddy horses on a drizzly day but got to try out the new toy! The horses weren't particularly cooperative--I wanted to try some action shots and usually they

play hard to catch and give me lots of opportunity. But tonight they were in a most congenial mood and didn't want to run away, even when I jumped up and down and tried to shoo them into a run. They were a bit taken about by this behavior. I believe they were discussing the situation: "I say, Dexter, she seems to have completely taken

leave

of her senses this time." "Quite right, Cowboy, I suggest we don't make any sudden moves." Cowboy did roll for me, one of his favorite activities. Cowboy is a champion roller, and can make it all the way over every time, sometimes 5 or 6 times in succession.

Anyway, I did get to play with the camera a bit and so far, so good.

Looks like we are in for more rain this week. And I woke up with a cold this morning, and I have a full work schedule. So it looks like another poor week for the program which seems to have largely been abandoned. Cowboy did get a bit of bodywork yesterday, and he seems to be in fine shape. His feet look great in barefoot mode. and he did very well under saddle yesterday. He's moving freely and picking up his gaits effortlessly. Maybe we're making more progress than we think!