You know what I'm ready for? Spring. Going outside without bracing yourself against the cold wind. Wearing less clothing. [1] Daylight in the evening so it's inviting to go out and do things after 5 pm. Love in the air. Kisses. [2]
Anyway it's cold out right now and I'm not really enjoying it.
I slept in as late as my migraine would let me, this morning, and then I trundled out of bed and into my windblocking fleece. Later I found out that should have been "silk long underwear AND windblocking fleece". I was too optimistic.
I started work on Mount Laundry and then left for the barn. Tara (our very own Ice Princess What Hates the Cold) had agreed to meet me. Right in front of Pluto's barn where the sun reflects, it was quite nice and warm. Deceivingly warm. I took off my down jacket and my warm hat. The warm hat wouldn't fit under the helmet anyway, but I could have worn the jacket..
About a tenth of a mile down the road I realized it was going to be a cold ride and there wasn't anything I could do about it. Pluto may have been having similar ideas. He slowly got taller and taller until by the time we reached the Alien Tarp of Death over one of the trailers he was the approximate height of a giraffe. A giraffe who jigged. [3] He jigged down the icy, muddy, steep hill just past the Alien Tarp of Death, while I anxiously reminded him he needed to go slowly. He jigged up next to Timber, who was spooking periodically at nothing I could see. Pluto didn't even spook in tandem with Timber because he was too busy jigging.
Maybe he was keeping warm?
Tara suggested we go most of the route and then go back the way we came, thereby avoiding the stranger horses on the other side of the farm who like to run up to the fence to see who you are. Given Pluto's mental state it seemed like somebody running up at us might cause levitation.[4] It sounded like a good idea to me. I hoped going back over ground we had just covered might help Pluto relax. For once in our mutual lives I was actually feeling pretty relaxed, but it didn't convey itself to Pluto.[5] I tried singing quietly, which seemed to help. But it wasn't until we got back a place he really recognized that he breathed a big, obvious sigh and suddenly shrank a few inches.
I was glad to get out of the house and get some exercise and see Tara and of course see Pluto. But I didn't feel like the word "success" could be applied to my ride. Tara, however, felt that us getting out and riding when it was so bleeding cold out was a triumph all on its own, and I can't argue with that.
In kitty news, I watched Olli run right under the dog's belly today, and I really wish I could have gotten it on video because it was pretty funny.
[1] Though the hot flashes may take care of that one for me.
[2] I already have kisses but I don't want them to stop.
[3] Jigging is like trotting except you don't really go anywhere. Kind of like jogging in place.
[4] Very brief levitation, then a painful fall.
[5] I'm pretty happy that I've reached the stage where Pluto freaking out does not automatically cause me to freak out also. Him just looking funny at things two years ago would have caused me to have difficulty breathing. Him nervously jigging around in the woods today was uncomfortable, but kind of amusing in an "oh my horse is such a twerp" way.
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