AC Got To Chase His Ball

Turkey Tracks: March 6, 2022

AC Got To Chase His Ball

It’s been days since AC could chase his ball, days in which his blistered paw healed, a wound obtained by running on frozen pavement in cold temperatures as the field at the Snow Bowl is pretty much ruined for now. The ruts are deep and hard to negotiate when frozen or hidden under the snow.

So yesterday, I took AC to Barrett’s Cove to chase his ball in the parking lot—AND so I could spend some time outside in what was a warmer, sunny, beautiful day. We are all starting to smell spring in the air now. But spring does not bound in here in Maine; it crawls in, inch by inch.

AC was delirious with joy.

And you can see there is enough snow cover on the parking lot where AC would not be running on the pavement. Here’s a little video I took. Note that AC ”leads” the chuck-it throw. He almost took a walkabout into the deep snow on the grass—carrying his ball. If he dropped it over there, I’d have a hard time getting to it though the banked snow and then I’d have to negotiate the steep slope.

Today is very wet, but the air feels balmy. So far, I have hunkered down inside to do household tasks and to sew. AC is tolerating inactivity, though he asks to out for a run around the property off and on. The deer are very present today, and AC is sure it is his job to run them off.

The deer… They have broken into the protective burlap over a big rhododendron on the woods side of the house and eaten it back to some bare stems. They have been increasingly a problem in the past few years. I’m not sure why that is.

The roasted chicken is carrying me through today’s meals. Tomorrow I’ll plan on cooking something else that has carrying power.