Yay spring!
Apr. 4th, 2009 09:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altivoTess got to go out for the first time today. The pasture is still squishy and muddy, but she loved it. It takes a firm paw on the lead rope the first couple of weeks, she is so excited about going. On the whole, though, she was good.
Unlike what she often does in early spring, she didn't take off at a gallop when I released her and make several circuits of the field. Instead she stayed close to me, prancing like a parade horse and picking her feet up so high that the feathers were flapping. It was cute and very endearing, from my point of view. She only gets 30 minutes a day for now, so I just stuck right there at the gate for most of it and she kept coming back to "check in" by nosing me. There's not a lot of new grass yet, which is fine. A little is ok, and if she has to hunt for it, so much the better. Lots of dried turf from last year, which can't be any worse than hay if she eats it, I think. It was funny watching her consider where to roll. I thought she was checking out the grass and rejecting it as she snuffled at spot after spot, but she found a dry place to roll and scratch her back. It was dry enough that she got up completely dry when most of the field is still muddy enough under the turf that it goes "squish" even when I step on it and I'm only about a fifth of her weight.
I should have planted strawberries today, as there are 52 dormant plants sitting and waiting. Tomorrow, I promise, if it isn't pouring rain. Trees are starting to shed pollen I think. I can't tell whether I have a nasty cold coming on or just an allergic reaction. Usually though, the trees haven't bothered me. It's the grasses in June that sometime get me badly.
Crocuses are blooming all over the place, but not where Gary planted them. I think the squirrels have moved them. Daffodils in bud, but so far the only ones open are the ones Gary cut and brought indoors. And the woodpeckers are having parties drumming away on anything that makes a noise. Definitely spring.
Unlike what she often does in early spring, she didn't take off at a gallop when I released her and make several circuits of the field. Instead she stayed close to me, prancing like a parade horse and picking her feet up so high that the feathers were flapping. It was cute and very endearing, from my point of view. She only gets 30 minutes a day for now, so I just stuck right there at the gate for most of it and she kept coming back to "check in" by nosing me. There's not a lot of new grass yet, which is fine. A little is ok, and if she has to hunt for it, so much the better. Lots of dried turf from last year, which can't be any worse than hay if she eats it, I think. It was funny watching her consider where to roll. I thought she was checking out the grass and rejecting it as she snuffled at spot after spot, but she found a dry place to roll and scratch her back. It was dry enough that she got up completely dry when most of the field is still muddy enough under the turf that it goes "squish" even when I step on it and I'm only about a fifth of her weight.
I should have planted strawberries today, as there are 52 dormant plants sitting and waiting. Tomorrow, I promise, if it isn't pouring rain. Trees are starting to shed pollen I think. I can't tell whether I have a nasty cold coming on or just an allergic reaction. Usually though, the trees haven't bothered me. It's the grasses in June that sometime get me badly.
Crocuses are blooming all over the place, but not where Gary planted them. I think the squirrels have moved them. Daffodils in bud, but so far the only ones open are the ones Gary cut and brought indoors. And the woodpeckers are having parties drumming away on anything that makes a noise. Definitely spring.
