
A friend gave these to me for my birthday, expecting I would be so horrified I would give them back. I don’t imagine, between the UV and the wind, they can last for more than a season.

A friend gave these to me for my birthday, expecting I would be so horrified I would give them back. I don’t imagine, between the UV and the wind, they can last for more than a season.

At least the hail didn’t get the columbines.


There were at least four hummingbirds at the feeder this morning. I managed to get this photo of two of them.

We are hosting my sister-in-law’s dogs, Lily and Lightning, this weekend. They earned the name “The Furry Golden Horde” when they first visited years ago, and actually did constitute a two dog invasion. (After the first visit, I went around muttering for weeks, “She ate my hat. I can’t believe she ate my hat.”) Lily (yes, she has the same name as my mare, but we can usually tell whether we are referring to the horse or the Golden Retriever) no longer destroys things, though she does like to carry soft objects around in her mouth. Lightning likes to bark at the horses, but is otherwise an exemplary Sheltie. The two are getting along with Lody and Mia quite well, and it is very entertaining to watch them try to figure out the hierarchy thing without doing anything so uncivilized as growling.

I became worried when I first saw Rags yesterday (Friday) morning, and even more concerned when he refused his small breakfast of horse chow. Rags and Hap got their spring shots on Thursday, and although Rags has had painful reactions in the past, he has been fine the past couple of years. However, I had never seen a horse this miserable from shots before. It was easy to tell where the shot went in: he had a huge lump on his butt.
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Although snow in the middle of May is not all that uncommon here, I was still surprised when I looked out the window this morning.

Here in Colorado, we whine after the second day of no sun. This is the third day, and this is my official whine. It wouldn’t be quite so bad if we were actually getting some rain to go along with the gray skies, instead of just enough drizzle to lay the dust.