Why do they call that thing that enables a person to find their place on the computer screen, and make changes, a cursor? To curse is to use foul words. So I cursor helps people find foul words. If you can’t find the foul words, you are shit out of luck. Har, har, har.

A momentous day. This morning, I heard from an old friend, one I had not heard from in years. Pam, who lives in Washington state, sent me an email, and said that she’s been reading my dispatches from time-to-time. She then made note of the old dog experiment, the one we did with Shadow and Ryder, where they had to locate treats placed in boxes. This is a memory test.

Pam did this with her horse, Blessi. I have been meaning to do this with the mares but haven’t had the time.

I ought not to, but I was surprised to find that Pam thought to tell me about this because animal cognition is what I’m most interested in. All this time, and she figured this out.

Shaggy Tyra

Pam and I go back a ways. She was the one who assisted me in finding Tyra and in making the connection with her former owner/breeder. We went to the farm where Tyra was at, and I fell in love with the filly the minute I saw her. She was spunky but had good manners. I remember standing in a barn doorway. I was holding Tyra’s lead. She caught sight of her herd mates, racing around, and badly wanted to join them. Instead, she stood by my side, trembling. I released her and she took off like a rocket, after them. If this had been Raudi, she would not have waited. Here we had two differing personality types.

Pam saved my ass when I was in Bremerton. Pete’s brother’s wife wasn’t up for my remaining an extra day at their place, and my mother and sister weren’t wanting me to visit. I had no place to go, so Pam was gracious enough to take me in.

We of course had a wonderful time. I got to spend time with her horse Blessi, who has an old soul. Blessi, like my horses and particularly Hrimmi, had been trained to think things out. Pam agreed with me that if you give a horse half a chance, it will exhibit high intelligence.

I got to ride Blessi, who under saddle was kind, willing, and responsive. In this respect he was like Tinni used to be and like Raudi is now. I have never enjoyed riding horses that are spooky or overly spirited. Some are up to this kind of challenge. Me, I like Blessi-type horses.

Pam is also a writer, and I don’t know yet if she finished, but she was working on her MFA in creative nonfiction writing. She’d been working on a book on Teddy Roosevelt’s children’s horse, who she at one point in time surmised was an Icelandic.

I wish she could visit here and take a look at all the children’s books we have on hand. This might provide her with other writerly options.

Next: 81. 3/23/24: Go, go, go