Spring as we know it is almost here. It is no longer bitter cold and dark at 5:00 p.m.; rather, it’s just cold and somewhat light. Way more bearable. But with warmer temperatures and more light comes a previously tamped sense of urgency that disappeared in the late fall. This sense of urgency will be with us for some time.

Hard to explain, but I will try. There is that sense that there is now more to do. With the onset of darkness, there was seemingly less to do. In our case, we are usually getting garden starts going, add this to other smaller outside projects, like brushing out the horses’ coats and pen cleaning. This is actually pre-breakup

time. It’s called Spring Break – there are no classes this upcoming week. Then it’s the push to the semester’s end, in this case a mere six weeks.

We are now sort of getting ready for our spring trip. We’ve made our veterinary appointments, ordered maps, and found a house sitter of sorts. I’ve found someone to take on Tinni and the chickens, and am waiting to hear back from a friend about the goats. I have tack to clean, food to prepare, horses to get in shape, the list is endless. And oh yes, the rear trailer door is going to need to be fixed.

We did our first serious outing with the three mares this afternoon. Pete rode Raudi and ponied Hrimmi and I rode Tyra. The footing was not so good, and so the horses were being cautious. Tyra doesn’t yet have the focus that Raudi has, but I am confident that she’ll do just fine on this trip. It will challenge her in a way that it challenged Raudi, and she will ultimately be ready for whatever else she’s asked to do. The same is true for Hrimmi who will be the pack horse.

The dog didn’t go with us today. Add it to the list. I need to keep working with her.

Right now Pete and I both are taking the Wilderness First Responder course through the college. And I am quasi-auditing the Wilderness EMT course. I have no desire to be an EMT. The Wilderness First Responder course prepares you to deal with wilderness-related accidents. This is a matter of happenstance. The EMT class prepares you to deal with urban-related accidents that are not a matter of happenstance. If you are an EMT, you are going to deal because it’s your job. I have no desire to prepare or assist in preparing individuals for ambulance rides to the hospital, or even helicopter rides to the same. I don’t have the ability to think on my feet the way my quasi classmates do, and I don’t work well under that kind of pressure.

But my attending the WEMT class will make me a more adept Wilderness First Responder.

I think the day we pull out of here with horses in tow I will breath a sigh of relief. It seems like a long ways away, and it seems very close at hand.

Next: 67. 3/9/19: Tolting the Divide III: Team Tyra