I'm countin' again...!!! and Warm Weather Hap'nins

Here's Garfy... He's sacked out on one of his favorite things: a paper (what else?) sack. Garfy's rescue story was recently featured on The Animal Rescue Site. At least three of my (online) buds recognized either him or my name and I contacted me. How cool is that? Every morning I take my first cup of coffee and click over from my reminder email to help feed shelter animals. Reading the rescue stories always gives me a lift and a good start to my day. It reassures me that there really are lots of responsible animal people out there. Some folks listen do the morning news. I read the rescues.

Then I click over to Freekibble.com to check out the bow-wow and meow trivia questions and again, to donate kibble to shelters.

And what am I counting? YOU. All the "yous" who didn't mail back their census forms can expect a visit. Training started yesterday and I was over the top to learn I had several weeks of paid work for the Department of Commerce once again. This will be quite different from the canvassing and map spotting of last year, but it should be interesting to say the least. I'm hoping for friendly dogs and friendlier people as I have to ask all sorts of personal and repetitive questions. Though it's in the best interest of everyone to participate, there's a lot of paranoia out there - especially around here. So look for the 2010 Census Blogs to begin!!

And here is a sure sign that we went from cold to very, very warm really fast. Bogo is my dear elderly lady who grew an amazingly thick coat this past year in the coldest winter I've experienced in my 20 years in GA. Even with all that horsehair, a blanket on the coldest nights and lots of extra food, she lost a lot of condition. All my other horse are fat. Poor Bogo is very thin and looks rather motheaten.

I'm trying a few different diets to help fatten her up. She's 23 this year - not that old for a horse, though my Roman only lived to be 24, and I don't know what sort of care she had before she came to me two years ago. Isn't it amazing how different her summer and winter coats are?

She seems to feel fine - and all the routine medical work show her healthy, but she's not digesting hay and grain well enough. I'm open to any suggestions from the horsey folks out there. Right now she's on pasture that is adequate but not yet very lush or long, along with Strategy, a pelleted feed with a cup of corn oil added for extra fat and calories. When the Burmuda grass comes in, the pasture will be at its best.