Spring?

[altivo]

Temperature made it to 74F this afternoon. That tied a record set for this date over a hundred years ago. It isn't going to stick, though. They way we'll be back in the 40s by the weekend. I was surprised while driving home to see unmelted snow piles still lying in shady spots in the woods. We've been above freezing day and night for nearly a week.

When I got to about a mile from home I had to slow way down as a very frightened (and pretty) sorrel mare came charging up the side of the road toward me at a full gallop. I estimate she was traveling at more than 30 mph, with a loose lead rope trailing. I don't know what had spooked her so badly and I've never seen her before so I have no idea where she came from. There seemed little point in turning around to follow her, as that would probably have just made her keep running. Usually a frightened horse will stop after a half mile or so and look for pursuit. Hopefully she did just that, and whoever is responsible for her will get to her then. I saw some people standing near a fence looking after her, but I'm not sure they were the ones who had lost her. None of them were making a move to follow. I just hope she didn't encounter a less thoughtful driver or step on that lead rope and hurt herself. Sigh.

Comments

[quoting-mungo.livejournal.com]

Hopefully she stops then and stays there, indeed. I spent much of an afternoon/evening a couple of years ago trying to retrieve escaped horses after they'd been scared by a bull and jumped their fence (two mares and a yearling), and in the end nobody actually caught them; the colt got hit by a car and the mares were waiting by their pasture in the morning.


-Alexandra

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the getting hit by a car is what worries me. Even though this is a rural area and several miles to the nearest high traffic road, there are a lot of people living here now who don't have "horse sense" about dealing with animals and will deliberately try to frighten them or just ignore them thinking they wouldn't get in the way...

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

They sound like bad driver's around there full stop.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of self-centered, impatient morons driving around here, yes.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

74°F is a lot. We've barely gone up to 10°C here; the various weather websites actually claim that the "perceived temperature" is even lower, but it feels very hot to me right now (with the sun in full force and almost no wind, it's hot enough for me to sweat sitting at my desk wearing only a t-shirt, despite the window being open).

I hope the mare will be OK, too. Poor girl.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Back to normal for March now. But at least the sun is back and spring bulbs are sprouting. So are the onions and potatoes in the pantry.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Cool! ^_^ Mmm, onions and potatoes - that's two ingredients for Labskaus already. :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I've had a Scandinavian version of that (probably Swedish) that was spelled as lapskus on the menu. And anyone who has read Patrick O'Brian's long series of sea captain novels (as in the film Master and Commander) has heard of the English version: lobscouse.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

*noddles* I've not read those myself, admittedly. *s* But it's a local specialty up here, and I really rather like it.

[saythename.livejournal.com]

Yes, it is spring.

And wild horses couldn't make me wish for more cold.

*rimshot*

^_^

[altivo.livejournal.com]

How about daffodils?

[saythename.livejournal.com]

Not even primroses or tigerlilys.

^_^

[heavens-steed.livejournal.com]

Oh, that was me. I tried to hit on her and she was so terrified that she bolted. ;)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

You mean you were less than a half mile from my house and didn't come say "Hi"?

Nah. She was running away from something a lot scarier than that. Mares do know how to say "No" in pretty clear terms, I think.