Alys: Tinni, let’s go for a walk.
Tinni: Around the loop?
A: Yep. You betcha.
T: I wouldn’t mind going onto the trails.
A: I don’t think that you would enjoy being on them right now. The snow is waste deep.
T: No, probably not.
A: This is turning out to be a long winter.
T: I don’t mind it. I’m being well cared for.
A: Yes, it’s just that you aren’t getting enough exercise.
T: Look over there, in the shed.
A: Wow, a magpie is sitting on a hay bale
T: Keeping dry and warm.
A: And keeping an eye on things.
T: The hay shed seems to be a place of refuge for him this winter.
A: A good choice.
T: That magpie spends a lot of time conversing with Tyra.
A: What do they talk about?
T: A wide range of subjects.
A: Including?

Tinni

T: How nasty the weather has been.
A: Ho hum.
T: Actually, it’s an important subject. The birds have had a tough winter. The hardest thing of all for them to deal with was the recent windstorm.
A: I can imagine.
T: The magpies ended up hunkering down in buildings like our hay storage shed.
A: I never saw them.
T: This was because you didn’t look around. You focused on getting the hay to us critters.
A: Yes, that’s right. This took considerable concentration.
T: As did keeping us in warm water.
A: This was Pete’s job.
T: And he did well.
A: Tell me more about what the magpie and Tyra have been talking about.
T: Tyra told the magpie that you told her that she might be going on a trip to the Lower 48 this summer. She’s all excited about it.
A: Where does she want to go?
T: Just about anywhere where she can graze at night.
A: Does she mind being trailered long distances?
T: No, in fact like the rest she really enjoys it. Not such much going through the road construction sites. But like the others, she likes the rest stops, and being fed crackers by children.
A: That’s no surprise.
T: She also doesn’t like being high lined and prefers to be in the round enclosure.
A: And is she afraid of bears?
T: Nope. She did say to magpie that the last time she was on a long trip that she nearly got bit by a rattlesnake. You heard the rattles and thought it was some kind of insect. You didn’t see the snake, by the side of a bush.
A: Where was this?
T: I believe it was in Wyoming, at that campground outside of Saratoga Springs.
A: Tinni, would you like to go on a long trip?
T: Yes and no. I’d be up for this sort of adventure if you and Pete went at my pace, which is extremely slow. But given that you two like to move right along, I am just as well off staying at home.
A: Well, Tinni, the magpie just flew off.
T: He’ll be back.
A: How do you know?
T: There are some things horses know.
A: And humans do not.

Next: 47. 2/16/22: Moving in Slow Motion