On the Ranch.

It's been a long day out on the ranch. I've been out in the saddle all day and have hardly been home and now I am enjoying myself with some well deserved computer time.

I woke up at 5:30 this morning and couldn't figure out why I was not in a good mood, it seemed something was off. I finally decided that the problem was that I needed to sleep some more, so I went back to bed until 7 o'clock when the alarm clock woke me very merrily. Darn thing wouldn't stop beeping until I got up out of bed and made it stop. I purposely don't have it sitting beside my bed, but across the room, so I have to get up to shut it off. There would be too much temptation to roll over and go back to sleep and it doesn't have a snooze button.

This time I was in a good mood and made myself a mug of Senseo and drank that very gratefully while I smoked my cigarette. Then it was time to begin the ritual of getting the day started, which means feeding the animals first. The cats are always more than ready and await me in the kitchen walking around restlessly until the food appears.

The Überhund pretends not to care if it is feeding time and only fakes a little bit of interest when I fill his dish and pretends not to give a hoot at all when I put it down on the ground. I have to talk him into eating his food, but once he gets started, it's gone pretty quickly, providing I don't go anywhere, because he will stop eating and follow me wherever I go. So I sit right by him until he's done eating.

Then the two of us go to the bathroom to get me ready and he waits patiently by the open door while I do my thing there. He sneezes from the hairspray and the perfume and then we are ready for our walk. I get baggies from the kitchen and he dances around me, all excited because he gets to go out.

When we get back, I have another coffee and make cigarettes for that morning and then hop on my bicycle to go to therapy, which was creative therapy this morning.

For a change I didn't make a collage, but started making a clay figure from a picture out of a book of sculptures and it is harder than I thought it was going to be, but I'm managing somehow. I started off with a big block of clay and had to remove a lot to get the shape out and I found that the most difficult. Then I had to add clay to put some of the shape back into it, which I found easier. I don't think a great sculptor is lost in me. I will do my darn best to finish it and maybe make another one, but that will be it. Unless somewhere along the way I get a taste for it and become hooked on it and want to do more.

During the coffee break, I sat out on the deck with an espresso without my jacket on. The sun was shining and I sat out of the wind and it was doable. We had our first warmish day today and it was great. The temperature got up to 13 degrees Celsius, which is 55 degrees Fahrenheit, which is warm for us right now. Tomorrow it's supposed to be 16 degrees which is almost 61 degrees Fahrenheit and that is real spring weather.

When I got home, the Überhund was beside himself to see me. He acted as if I had been gone on a Polar expedition. I drank some coffee and took him for a walk and then rode my bike over to my sister's house, because she has a real old fashioned bicycle pump and my tires were flat and needed some air badly. My sister pumped them up for me and after that, I flew across the streets when I rode my bike downtown. It's very hard to pedal your bike when you tires are very low on air.

I met my friend Von at Café Monopole and we sat on the terrace for a long time, I drinking cappuccinos and she drinking tea. She had brought her dog with her, who is a greyhound and a very beautiful dog who matches her exactly. Afterwards, we walked around town and bought French fries with mayonnaise in a big pointy bag and they were delicious. We bought them at the best place where there is always a line of people, because the French fries there are famous. We sat on a bench on the big square in the meager sunlight and pretended not to get cold as the afternoon grew later, but then it really was time to go home.

When I got home, I got another enthusiastic greeting from the Überhund and I spoke a good deal of endearments to him in Northern dialect, which I pretend he understands, even though he is a local dog. I fed him and the cats and took him for a walk around the field, where we had not been for awhile, so it was like new territory to him and he enjoyed it very much, so we'll do that again tomorrow.

I had collected many football cards for my nephew that the local supermarket gave away with every 20 Euros worth of shopping, so I dropped those off and I hope there were cards in there that he is missing from his collection. It was quite a rage with kids standing at the exit of the store begging for the cards when you walked out with your groceries. There were some cards that were hard to come by. The things they do to get the moms in to shop there.

I am very tired now from my day out and all the impressions I took in. I know I am going to sleep well tonight. I'm cold and hungry and I've turned up the heater and I'm going to make myself something nice to eat. Soothing warm food. Turn on the TV too.

Have a good evening, sleep well yourself.

Ciao...