Henry gets a new toy and gets to entertain his cousin, Cynthia

Today Henry had a new experience.   For the whole two years he has lived here, he has NEVER had the thrill of participating in the local transfer station exhange program.  Today he did.  Matthew gathered all the trash and other treasures and headed on up to the transfer station (otherwise known as the Dump), only this time he invited Henry to come along for the ride.  Henry was thrilled.  He mewed and whined and made all kinds of 'where are we going now' noises.  I think he was also a bit unnerved having to sit in the front passenger seat.  It is not what he is used to, but the amount of items to be left at the transfer station precluded his sitting in his normal back seat by the window.

When Henry and Matt arrived at the Dump, I mean, transfer station, Henry had to patiently wait for Matt to clear his car of all the disposable items.  After that, Henry had to wait for Matt to check out the actual "mall" area for exchanges that might be of use.  NEVER underestimate what might be found in such a place.  My husband has brought back some very remarkable items; in fact finding old redwing art pottery that generally lists for many hundreds of dollars in collector catalogues. (And I thought the thing was as ugly as sin).  Well, when Matt returned from the "mall" area, he had in his possession a blue and green plaid necktie for himself and a horrific orange and black and grey stuffed toy snake measuring approimately five feet for Henry.  Can you even believe this thing????

Well, Henry could and he spent the entire rest of the day trouncing it, biting it, playing with it, showing it off to anybody and everybody who would give him ten seconds to see it.  

And just when life could not get any better today, Henry was surprised to see his cousin Cynthia walk into his house late this afternoon.  And, he got to show her his new snake.  He raced and raced around the house dragging his snake, stopping to 'kill' it once in a while, all the time very, VERY proud of himself. 

I think the 'killing' thing is very instictual.  I have seen so many different animals 'kill' snakes in the exact same fashion, some on television programs, some in real life, some with stuffed animal snakes.....I remember our cat, Nova, back in 1995 bringing a little garter snake into the house and pounding the pudding out of it prior to presenting it to us.  Didn't take her more than a minute to dispatch it.  'Course she also  brought in a toad (her first 'kill') that was far from dead and proceeded to hop around our bedroom until we were able to catch it and return it to the part of the world outside our walls.

Back to Henry and lessons learned (or not) There is no doubt in my mind that he wants to work for us....even when he is in the absolute grip of being an 'independent thinker'....not so different from us human beans.....we do like recognition in one form or another for our thoughts, actions, motives.  Too bad we can be so lousy at the types of decisions we make in seeking that recognition.

Henry was so very disappointed to find he could not go trail riding with Cynthia; that he was to watch her from the ring.  At least while Cynthia worked on her riding skills on QTee, Henry did manage to find various forms of entertainment.

APRIL (?) has arrived; Henry meets a new riding friend

April First brought the most remarkable fool's day joke, or should I say, surprise in the way of walkways, perennial beds, and pasture pathways completely free of snow....even on the NORTH sides of our house and property. I honestley do not remember the last spring when the snow was clear before the beginning of April.   For others in the greater geographic area, April brought devastating floods and resulting damage, we were incredibly fortunate.  

For our part, the streams were flowing strong, many of them having reached flood capacity, but none of them an immediate threat.  As time passed, we would learn that none of us in our town were to worry.  Thank Goodness!!!!

April 1st also brought Henry face to face with his new human riding buddy, Nancy.  As always, Henry was very, very excited to meet a new friend, and then he found out that Nancy would be a riding buddy as well.  Could life get any better?  I think not.  Nancy came late up to the barn on thursday evening.  Not any time left to ride, but we could certainly bring Jody, the horse, up to the barn for brushing and general meet and greet time.  After we left the barn and returned home to Henry, he was sooo verrrrry excited to smell the horses on Nancy.  Henry's enthusiasm was a close second to Nancy herself when we all left for the barn the following Saturday.

We took a long ride down through some very deep woods that we have come to call the Trollwoods, after some woods on an Island in Sweden the I walked in many times when I was much younger.  The woods here in Franklin County look as though there could be all kinds of little trolls, fairies, and other woodsy creatures hiding in all the fallen trees.  Lots of mud, vernal pools, mossy rocks, and new spring growth added considerably to the overall sense of mystery.  Henry could hardly contain his enthusiasm as we marched into the woods with all his favorite Buds; Colleen, Lilly, and Getty, Nancy and Jody, me and QTee, and Henry's mother, Sally.  He raced around the horses, people, and Sally like a wildman chasing and being chased by Getty.  Sally remains way too dignified for such behavior.  I think (hope) that she is trying to model a more restrained approach to a long march through the woods to the younger, more impulsive pups.

Eventually even Sally couldn't resist the temptation when Henry flushed out a HUGE turkey from the underbrush.  Off the two of them went, hunting in tandem; fortunately for the turkey and for the rest of us, the turkey made a daring, but sucessful escape flying up towards the tree limbs.

Over two hours later, back at the barn, Henry almost begged me to put him into the car so that he could lie down on something soft and collapse.  Another lesson not yet learned about pacing oneself.  Once again, Henry put whatever iota of energy left into his evening walk, and came home to absolutely pass out for the night.