Who Knew I Had Such a Soft, Chewy Center?

Barley and I went for a long walk over the weekend and you know what? It's spring! I was in Atlanta last week and it seemed like when I returned home, spring was here. The grass is green, the flowers and trees are blooming, the air is warm in the morning, and just yesterday I saw the first batch of baby geese. Barley wanted to eat the lot of them as a little pre-dinner snack. There's a huge pine tree just outside my front door that now has a bunny living under it. Barley tried to attack it the other day and my guilt led me to leaving baby carrots for it the next day. I kinda want to name him so leave any suggestions you might have. He's a little gray guy if that helps at all.

Speaking of animals, I was a mess over Eight Belles last weekend at the Kentucky Derby. I have a soft spot for horses due to a traumatic event at age 12. I had a good friend whose family raised horses and I once went to a horse auction with them. Towards the end of the auction, they brought out several horses people were just trying to unload. The first one out was a young colt who had a badly deformed back leg and his tongue hung out of his mouth. There were some high school aged boys sitting in front of us and the started laughing and saying that no one would buy the "retard horse". The bidding started at $5 and no one made a move. This only made the boys laugh harder. I was heartbroken and begged by friend's parents to let me buy him and keep him on their land. They explained that he would probably die in a matter of weeks but I was determined to give him a good few weeks. Someone finally made a bid on him and a guy sititng behind us made a comment about the the bidder being from the glue factory. I burst into tears and was so upset that my friend's mother took me out to wait near the car. I cried for hours after the auction. And just sitting here remembering that little horse has me near tears again. Anyway, ever since then I've always been sensitive when it comes to horses. So when I saw the Derby last weekend and heard that Eight Belles was down on the track I knew it wasn't good. But out of nowhere one of the commentators said that she had been euthanized on the track and I was in tears. Big, fat, wet tears that I couldn't stop for half an hour. Later on the news they had some guy talking about how she died doing what she loved. And I might have hollered at the screen something to the effect of, "Oh sure! She ran so damn hard that her front legs broke and then she was shot on the track!" And my friend who was with me at the time gave me the "Get it together, woman" look. You think that's bad, you should have seen me when Barbaro died. Or when I read "Seabiscuit" while on vacation in Mexico. Total water works.

Speaking of vacation...
On a much happier note: Everything at work is in order, the brown dog is at the puppy hotel, bags are packed and boarding pass has been printed and a Xanax stands ready for the flight. This girl is ready to get on a plane and get out of town for a bit.