Morning Walk and Other Things...

We slept in a little bit this morning, until just before sunrise.  Mo'i, Lea and I went out for our usual walk into a beautiful, clear, cold morning.  We had frost on everything insulated from the ground, so the air temperature must have gotten to below freezing.  Not a cloud in the sky.  The birds were in great evidence, the birds of spring, singing their little hearts out as if celebrating the impending sunrise.  Tendrils of mist swirled around our little valley.  Just beautiful...

The dogs didn't notice, of course.  They were too busy checking out who visited our yard last night.  Judging from their activity, we had a lot of visitors.

Having just Mo'i and Lea makes for a downright sedate morning walk. Debbie's got Miki and Race at an agility competition in Arizona, and those two are the ones who make morning walks challenging – they're just so full of energy and curiousity.  Mo'i and Lea are much calmer.

It's a strange sort of morning for mid-April here.  Colder and wetter than we've seen for a while.  Last year on this same date, we had not had rain for 2 months, and the temperature was in the low 90s.  We had rain yesterday, and a frost last night; forecast for today is the high 60s.  Al Gore must be in town...

Debbie reports from the agility meet that things are going well for her and the dogs.  Race took a first place yesterday on a standard course, beating the course time by some absurd amount.  The little guy is basically a rocket ship on paws!  Miki ran yesterday in Excellent A category for the first time.  He had a fault on both runs, and in that category a single fault disqualifies you.  But Debbie was still very happy with the runs – he was focused and fast, and the mistakes were arguably hers rather than his.  You could hear her smile and excitement over the phone.

Last night my neighbor and friend Jim B. rang me up and offered to deliver some birthday party food for me.  I was invited to the party, but they know and forgive my introversion – I don't enjoy myself with large gatherings (they had over 20 people), especially when they are people I don't know well.  So Jim delivered a feast: a freshly grilled burger, some deviled eggs, a crab & macaroni salad, and a fruit salad.  Delicious, and it provided my breakfast this morning as well.

Now it's back to work for me!