Dogs of Our Lives: Nash's Herald of Spring

Hooh boy. I am so tired of winter.

Even when there is a break in the weather and Lisa opens the door so I can see out continue my vigilant protection of the homestead, 

that snow soon returns.

We just can't catch a break.

My toys are boring and I don't have enough of them to play with anyway.

Molly just wants to sleep and won't play with me.

Going to Grammy and Boompa's house for the day is a bright spot.

But in the end, all Pepper and Tammo really want to do

is snooze all day. Well, Tammo will play for a FEW minutes, but I need more exercise than that!

Because of the cold and snowy winter, no one is out walking their dogs.

Still, I remain on active duty. Constant vigilance!!

Sigh. 

Bored, bored, bored, bored, BORED.

WAIT!! What is that?? Could it be?? Why, yes, I think it just might!

https://youtu.be/DDmDxJYYWXk

Alert! Alert! Alert! Alert! Everybody meet me in the living room! STAT!

::Yawn:: ::Grumble and mutter:: ::Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle::

This had better be good, Nash. We were all very comfy and sound asleep.

Oh, it is, Pepper, it is! In fact, it's super exciting! I rolled when I went out to survey the backyard for safety, and look what's on my back!

::long silence::

Um, Nash, just what is that?

The first blade of grass of Spring! Spring's coming! It's gonna be getting warm and we will be able to get outside more and play in the sun!

:: General doggy cheering, great warooos, arfs, and barks::

Dogs, dogs! What is going on here!!

Lynn, look at my back! Do you see it?

What, the green thread that's from my last sewing project?

::long silence::

Aw, I'm just kidding you. Looks like a blade of grass to me, Nash. How about we all celebrate that sign of Spring with...

Ooo! Let's go get pup cups!

No, I wanna go play frisbee!

Can we please take a walk?

::Loud, shrill, whistle::

Listen up, pups! How about some of the special treats I keep in the pantry for big occasions?

::general doggy cheering and pandemonium::

::munch, munch, munch, munch::

That was yummy! If I bring in another blade of grass tomorrow, can we have those pup cups?

Seriously?? Frisbee is good exercise; we should celebrate that way.

Well, so is walking. We should do that.

::Sound fades and the dogs disperse to their comfy beds while arguing the choices::

ZZZZZzzzzzzz.....

Notes about this story:

Yes, Nash loves the outdoors and would much prefer to be outside than inside.

He really did roll in the dead grass in our backyard and when he came in, I noticed the green blade of grass and took a photo of it because, Spring!

Nash is well known for howling along with ambulances and other emergency vehicles. I was working in my office and he was looking out the window when he heard this one and started in. I grabbed my camera but only got the tail end of his howling.

The pics of the pup cup and the frisbee are from Google. I could not find any of my own. However, that is Tammo on the leash and going for a walk.

Spring! Spring! Spring!

Second Post of the Day

Spring is here in Indiana, and I cannot help but think of this book every year at this time:

My favorite Little Golden Book of all, one that my mother read to me and then I, in turn, read to my children. (Photos from Google Images.)

The animals celebrate spring together as a bunny goes looking for a home. I have read this story aloud countless times and can still recite it from memory. Spring! Spring! Spring, indeed!

Here is a look at Spring happenings in my corner of the world.

Spring Weather

Spring has been very active weather-wise this year. I didn't realize just how much so until I saw this map that was compiled by Live Storm Chasers on Facebook:

Yikes! Indiana has had the fifth most tornados in the country for 2025! And geographically speaking, we are the smallest state of those in the Top Five.

1st: Mississippi, 93

2nd: Missouri, 57

3rd: Illinois, 56

4th: Alabama, 49

5th: Indiana, 41 

Poor Mississippi has had significantly more than any other state and more than double the number we have had here in Indiana. And no doubt there are more spring storms and tornados to come to us all.

Spring Flowers

Between the multitudes of bunnies and squirrels that dug up my bulbs and then the multiple heavy rains exposing more bulbs, I don't have my usual daffodils, hyacinths, jonquils, and tulips blooming this spring.

Luckily my redbuds are beginning to bloom and are looking pretty.

 

I suppose I could cut some small branches and bring them inside to enjoy, but I'll probably just let them bloom where they are. Note to self: replant those bulbs this Fall!

Spring Happenings

Tiny Oxford, Indiana, just a few miles up the road from us, has been a sleepy little town for years. More recently, the town has been working to preserve its heritage and uniqueness helped out in part by my friend and Feast Director, Brooke Sauter. (She and her husband bought and are restoring the Dan Messner building.)

Oxford is the birthplace of Dan Patch and the town has done small celebrations of him for years, but they have begun focusing even more on him as well as Oxford's history.

Knowing my love of horses and thinking I would be interested, Brooke just gave me this flier for an upcoming celebration of Dan Patch.

She was right! But unfortunately, I have already entered Indy Blooms on the same weekend. The Harness Horse Youth Foundation will be in Oxford on Friday; I'm toying with the idea of running up for part of the day and then maybe dropping in to see Brooke in the Dan Messner building. Stay 'tooned.

Don't forget the April Give Away! Whoever guesses closest to the amount of twill tape on the spool (in yards, please) will win the 75th Anniversary Brilliance Stablemate set. 

Comment on any blog entry posted Friday (4/11) through Sunday (4/14) at 11:59 OM EDT to enter. Amounts guessed can vary each time and the person closest without going over will win! 

Birds, a Harbinger of Spring

It's February and winter progresses. I'm not a fan of January, but February is not much better, although it's a shorter month. But, the days are getting longer so spring is getting closer.

Returning birds are a harbinger of spring.

Migratory birds are being sighted. We are right under the Sandhill Crane flyway and I have seen heard several flocks overhead.

They fly very high and can be hard to spot, but because they call to each other, I can usually find them.

Yesterday Craig and I saw a flock of Greater White-Fronted Geese at the lake when we walked Tammo and Pepper. 

That was a surprise - they usually stay west of the Mississippi. (They were still west of the Wabash but only by a quarter mile or so. LOL)

Geese photos and map from Cornell Lab All About Birds.

While driving out in the country earlier this week, I spied five or six turkey vultures. They return in the spring fairly early, but the first week of February? That's the earliest I've ever seen them come back.

Hawkeye Sarah lives up to her name - she has an eye for birds. Not only did she help me find Ruby over Christmas, 

but a few years ago there was a snowy owl near our home and she tracked it down, too.

This winter there have been snowy owl sightings where she lives in Iowa, 

so of course Sarah grabbed her camera and tracked it down, too.

She has far surpassed me when it comes to sighting and identifying birds.

This is a female snowy owl; the males are all white.

As you can see, it is really unusual for snowy owls to come as far south as Iowa or Indiana. The thought is, of course, that they are searching for food. (Map from Cornell Labs  All About Birds.)

Not only did Sarah find Ruby this winter, but she headed to Minnesota for a few days' vacation for some birding.

The temperatures there were below zero, but she found the owls she was looking for. (She did admit that she got a "little" cold.)

Over a dozen in the three days she was there. I don't remember what kind these are but I do see why she finds owls so appealing.

Here's one last appealing bird for you.

Erin, one of my former students, tagged me on social media yesterday so I'd see this crane she had folded. Long story short, origami cranes were a big part of a semester-long project  I did with my students. 

Just as was done in the book, Sadako and the 1,000  Paper Cranes, we would fold 1,000 origami cranes, string them, and hang them in our classroom.

That was one of my favorite projects to do with students and it warms my heart that Erin took the time to show me that she still enjoys making them now as an adult out in the work force!

Birds, be they feathered or paper, are wonderful reminders of spring. And it is coming. 

I am soooo ready.

Signs of Spring

For horse owners, a real sign of spring is when the pastures are once again able to support the horses. I got the call from Tim this weekend that he was discontinuing hay and that the horses would be on pasture until next fall.

The horses are very happy with that decision! Tim has moved them into two separate pastures that have been recently connected.

He has an ingenious way of rotating horses through the northwest pasture, the northeast pasture, the nursery paddock, the new barn paddock, the southwest pasture, and finally, the southeast paddock. 

Go here to see a satellite tour of the property. 

Using a gate system that he devised, the horses have always been within fencing during a pasture rotation except for when they were put into the southeast paddock.

It was disconnected from the others and the horses had to be haltered and led into it rather than simply opening a gate and letting them walk in by themselves.

Not any more. Last fall Tim fenced in a connecting lane between the new barn paddock and the southeast paddock, expanding the size of the southeast paddock at the same time by enclosing part of the lawn around the new barn.

The blue lines show how the new barn paddock (top rectangle) is connected with the southeast paddock (bottom rectangle) by a tunnel alonside the new barn that leads into a new pasture area which then leads into the southeast paddock. (Ignore the red pin and circle.)

The horses are able to walk back and forth between the two now and no longer do we have to halter them to move them.

Having the horses there made my visit yesterday much easier than it has been for a while. The horses were close by where I always park and I didn't have to call them all the way up from the northern pastures. (Or hike out to them.)

Sultanna gazes out from the connecting lane to the new pasture that's been added from the lane to the southeast paddock.

I visited with the horses and then decided to do a "mama check" on Suntanna. She is due to foal in early May.

A good way to tell when foaling is getting close is if the mare is bagging up. (The udder begins to fill with milk.)

Things still looked pretty normal, but then, she's not due for a few more weeks.

When we finished visiting, the horses meandered down the lane and then out into the southeast paddock.

I think they like being able to walk back and forth through the lane. And I am glad that every time Tim rotates pastures, everyone is safely enclosed throughout the process. Win-win!

Bonus Spring Video

Last night after dinner, Craig and I were sitting on the patio with the dogs and enjoying the weather. The Wabash River is just through the woods on the other side of our neighborhood, and that woods is very old and chock full of wildlife. Listen to the spring peepers in them! (Also sometimes called tree frogs because they live in trees.) They were so loud last night!

Springtime in Indiana

It's Spring in Indiana! At last. And even though we had a very mild Winter, "at last" seems like an appropriate comment - this past Winter consisted of endless cold, grey days for weeks at a time. It's so nice to have some sunshine and warmer weather.

Despite the fact that I plopped my Abby stone right where my daffodils were slumbering last Fall, they have come up around her stone. It's hard adding new stones to the stepping stone garden - this isn't the first time I've done that.

A short but sturdy pink hyacinth has been accommodating Cowpoke Braden's stone since 2017.

 

And a purple hyacinth since 2019! It is always interesting how plants maneuver around obstacles to reach the sunlight. (Hmmm, seems like there may be a lesson in that.)

This isn't in my stepping stone garden - it's a manhole cover from Jacksonville, Florida.

Beach Son Kyle thought I might appreciate seeing it and snapped a picture of it for me. There is a part of me that wishes I could get one of these for my stepping stone garden - wouldn't that be cool and a nice connection to my Florida family?

Not only are flowers blooming, but look what else is, too, around our neighborhood.

Odd circles are greening up all over the place.

At people's homes (a second one has since popped up in this yard)

and in the park by the lake. I count five in this picture. (I climbed up to the top of the kids' play structure to snap that picture - go, me!)

Coming on the heels of the blog posts about UFOs earlier this month,

these turf circles make me smile. And, they make me wonder. They are spread out around the neighborhood - what has caused them all? It's been fun to observe them as more pop up and to wonder about their origins.

Our neighborhood is doing some Spring sprucing up - we have new street signs.

I love our jumping horse logo.

When we were looking for a new home back in 2006, we drove past the Arbor Chase neighborhood and laughed because the entrance sign had a jumping horse. "That's where you will want to live!" Craig joked at the time.

Well, we happened to find the perfect home for us in Arbor Chase and eighteen years later, we are still here!

Schools are on a much needed Spring Break this week. Teacher Daughter Lisa is enjoying a week off from teaching to recoup some energy and rest, and Local Son Curt and his family are traveling. Here they are with one of Curt's best friends from middle school on into adulthood, Adam J. and his family. (Adam is in the orange jacket.)

I have to share this story about Adam, Curt, and their friend Ian. (Sadly Ian passed away; Curt's son Ian is named after him.) I was driving the guys to a high school soccer practice and the conversation in the back seat got very interesting. I perked my ears up when Adam and Ian began giving Curt laundry tips. 

Their best one?

"All you need, Curt, is a bottle of Febreze. Just spray your clothes when they get stinky and you don't have to wash them. You can go a long time without ever having to do laundry if you do!"

Oh. My. Goodness.

Needless to say, I had a chat later with Curt about the difference between getting rid of dirt and getting rid of smell when it came to laundry! And I think of that story whenever I see Adam.

Love is in the air this Spring.

Our grandson JC and his fiancé Jayci (go figure on those names!) have sent out save the date cards. We will be heading out to Utah for the wedding and guess who will be performing the marriage?

Craig! What a thrill that is for him and so very special to JC to have his Boompa marry him to his love, Jayci. The rest of the family is pretty excited, too.

Finally, it would not be Spring in Indiana without following the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament. And of course, my family has a bracket going, just as we did for the Super Bowl.

I have my hometown school, Purdue, winning it all. And then I have my alma mater, Illinois, playing Purdue in the championship game. Those are actually two reasonable, probable picks - so glad that two teams I love have had such good seasons!

Poor Cowpoke Titan has been at #16 since the tournament began. And Pony Pal Kate has been flirting with #1 during the same time. Me, I am in the middle of the pack at #7, but I am ahead of some family members (Curt, Todd, and Andrew) who know basketball far better than me, so I'm happy.

Strong winds, maybe severe weather, is due tonight. Ask me tomorrow as to how happy I am that it is Spring! Hah!

Stay 'tooned!