I just walked out of the house to do late night checks, and I nearly was blown over. Strong winds tonight! And 50ish degrees. Bizarre, and just another odd twist to our strange Washington weather this winter. Coming from my warm living room, with dogs and cats curled around the woodstove, I was fully prepared for a frosty night. I walked out bundled up in down and ski tuch, only to be wishing I was in a t-shirt. A tree falls somewhere near the house, dogs go rushing to defend their kingdom, and a horse snorts at the interruption.

I am finally writing you a belated Happy Holidays/Happy New Year/Solstice blog. Its been a while since I wrote, and I have no good reason, other than my short-windedness might be due to the doldrums of winter. Im at that midpoint where the proverbial fog is lifting, light in the tunnel has a horn blowing with it, and days should start to have more bloom than gloom.

And then you turn on the radio and hear that it is the first day of Winter.

WTF, is all I have to say to that. Granted, last year it would have been more appropriate for me to complain about this because by this date we had already had close to 14 snow days. Which in the horse industry is equivalent to 7000 normal days. But still, I feel it is quite justified to bring this up in a whiney voice despite the El Tepid winter that we are experiencing. I guess tis the season to be grateful – so despite the fact that we still have 4 months of snowing raining muddy frozen bliss to go – lets look at the bright side of things and lets plan our upcoming year. This will infuse a dose of unrestrained optimism in me.

Many folks are asking about our spring California trip – and I have to admit (don’t read this Jordan and Marissa) that I am leaning towards Plan B, which is a mess of local schooling shows instead. The reason this is sounding so appealing is that we have 4 young horses under the age of 5 who need show experience and Erica and Shauna both need to educate their new horses at low stress venues. Ive figured that for about the same amount of money to go to Cali, I can go to a 3 day schooling show at Thunderbird, 2 clinics in Washington and 2 one-day schooling shows with 3 horses. That’s a lot! So despite needing sunshine and warmth more than a clam needs butter and lemon, I think I am heading towards the local scene.

Next Blog…. 2012 goals for me and Taukalot, Rory, Lear and Dino.