The following conversation took place in mid-afternoon, during a walk around the loop. It is fragmentary because none of us were overly pleased with the recent weather conditions.

Alys: Tinni, Ryder, let’s go to the left, up Murphy and down Samovar.
Tinni: Sounds good to me.
Ryder: Sounds good to me.
A: Look, the wind has stopped blowing.
T: It is very quiet.
R: I am now used to the sound of the wind.
A: It’s not all that cold.
R: It feels cold when the wind blows hard. Why is this?
T: Because the wind creates air pressure.

R: Huh?
T: What you’re feeling on your skin, that’s a cold wind.
R: I have a thick coat so I stay fairly warm.
T: I have a thick coat and I am wearing a blanket so I am staying fairly warm.
A: Ryder, do you want a blanket.
R: No. I want for the wind to stop.
A: What if it never stops?
T: It will be just like Iceland. When I lived there, the wind blew all the time.
A: Tinni, do you miss Iceland?
T: Yes I do. And I want to go back there.
A: But in looking at your ears, which they notched, I do not think you had a good time there.
T: I had a huge pasture to run around in. And I was brought inside when it was cold.
R: I don’t have a huge pasture to run around in. But I’m brought inside when it’s cold.
A: Tinni, would you like to come in the cabin?
T: No. I want to go back to Iceland.
A: There is this law, that once a horse leaves Iceland it may not return.
T: I did not leave of my own accord. I was put on a cargo plane and flown to the U.S.
A: The powers that be do not care if you left on your own or if someone took you out of the country. You are not going to be allowed back in.
T: You could sneak me in.
A: How?
T: By boat.
A: And if we got caught?
T: They’d just send us home.
A: They’d send me to jail and you home.
T: Then Pete would have to feed me. And that would be okay. He gives out larger portions.
R: Yes he does.
A: Ryder, what do you think about this weather?
R: It’s colder than a well digger’s ass.
A: Where did you come up with that phrase?
R: It was a line in a song that I heard when my first owner was listening to the radio.
A: Do you wish you were still with your first owner?
R: I don’t miss him. He was a mean man. But I do miss my brothers and sisters.
A: Did you come from a big litter?
R: I was one of eight.
A: I suspect that your siblings are now all in differing areas.
R: Perhaps.
A: Well, consider yourself lucky . . .
R: I know, I know, that I’m not a sled dog and being conditioned to run a thousand mile race.
A: Both of you are lucky.
T: You got a treat for me?
A: Here you go.
R: And me?
A: Here you go.
T: The wind is picking up again.
R: Yes, the wind is picking up again.
A: And look, we are now back where we started.
T: Not Iceland.
R: Not Idaho.
A: Home.
T: Yes, home.
R: Yes, home.

Next: February 2, 2018: Cabin Fever