Still not a horse

 

But still endlessly entertaining. 

Scamp is having a hard time with winter--a little bit of cabin fever.  I throw him out in the snow sometimes to counter the incessant meowing in my face when I would rather be sleeping.  All day and night long he's looking for any entertainment, whether it be from the window that I am trying to work at or the pen I am trying to use.

  

All of these things become of utmost importance when they are trying to be put into use.

 

Very subtle.

Annoying?  Who, me??

These things all also have to be tested for edibility.  Folder?  Reconstruction essay?  At least now we can be sure.

And I wonder why I never get any work done.

15º with a chance of Sleds

It was 15º when I got out of the car to ride today.  I think that's technically the coldest temperature I have ridden in so far, but weirdly it didn't feel as bad as other days have--it's all in the wind I think.

Now that we are approximately three snowstorms into the winter, it is increasingly difficult to get through the drifts in the fields to make it down the street to the indoor arena.  As a result I have ridden on the road the last few times, and maybe this is counter-intuitive, but because I'd rather not spend all that much time on the road, I have been trying to trit-trot as much as possible.  Maybe more things can go wrong at the trot, but it greatly decreases my time on the road, and the plows clear enough room so that I can be on the shoulder and EZ just loves mailboxes.

We made it off the road into the field up to the indoor, and the nice cushion of snow meant that we could have a little canter up the hill, which I have been dying to do since we've been making the trip.  This is our view from the top:

We had to make our own trail, but EZ didn't mind.  You can tell by the way his hair is sticking up like that.

On our way home the mailboxes were pretty well established as non-threatening, but we did not foresee the presence of screaming children on sleds, careening towards us at high speeds and did not take to them too EZily.  When the poor guy is nervous I can feel his little body quiver and his heartbeat against my legs.  He probably would've been sweating too, if it hadn't been 15º.  Anyway, we stood and watched the festivities until we were convinced nothing would eat us, and made it home in one piece, where we took another quick jaunt up the lake road hill.

 

 There is a lot of snow.

Good thing there are those trustworthy ears to lead the way!

This is the view though when a hound dog sneaks up behind us and we jump while holding the camera.  Sort of impressionist, no?


And, while we're talking about degrees here, driving home after dorm duty my car helpfully indicated that it is now -1º.  Winter does not kid around. 

Good thing the herd is all nice and bundled!