Lazy Day

I suffered from a bad case of lack of ambition yesterday.  It didn't help that the movie "Secretariat" was on.  John Malkovich did such a great job portraying Lucien Laurin, Secretariat's trainer.  I'm a sucker for any horse racing film and am already looking ahead to the Kentucky Derby and the other two legs of the Triple Crown.

Sitting on the front porch was as good a way as any to waste some time in the afternoon.  Almost freezing the day before, it was actually hot in the sunshine and I let it soak in while Bessie Anne poked around under the juniper bushes, looking for I don't know what.  I'm fortunate that she has a forgiving nature.  I can trim goat hooves without problem, but I hate, hate, hate to cut a dog's toenails.  Bess desperately needed a pedicure, but I didn't want to make a special trip into town just to have the vet do it.  I won't leave her in the truck while doing other errands, so a nail trim waits until she has one of her regular appointments.  What the heck, I can do this (I said to myself).  I've got the right tool and Bess is on my lap ninety percent of the time now anyhow so I wouldn't have to pin her to the floor.  Marshalling my fortitude, I clipped the first nail and don't you know I cut into the quick and the blood ran.  Exactly what I'd feared.  I did get three more nails trimmed without doing more damage before my courage and her patience ran out.  We'll try again today.

The day was neither a loss nor a total disaster.  I was watching Celeste play in the entryway with the Christmas toy mouse - and then she wasn't.  Where had the mouse gone?  Down on hands and knees at cat level, I peeked under the chest behind the door.  What a treasure trove of hidden booty!  There was the lost toy hamster that was Ralph's favorite, three pieces of bark the cats had taken from the firewood to bat around, a ping-pong ball, and an assortment of dust bunnies, as well as Celeste's mouse.  Now I'll know where to look when anything else goes missing.

That same sky at dusk, but with the sun below instead of above.  It's an ever-changing artwork right outside my door.