The following conversation took place as we did an evening walk around the loop.

Alys: Tyra, look. The first sprigs of grass.
Tyra: So good. High sugar. Want more, more, more.
Alys: Okay. I’ll let you graze a bit. But tomorrow there will be a lot more here.
Tyra: Will you take me for a walk tomorrow?
Alys: I don’t know. I suspect that I’ll be really busy.
Tyra: You are always busy these days.
Alys: Yes.
Tyra: What are you doing with your time?
Alys: Nothing of consequence.

Tyra talks to chickens

Tyra: Everything is of consequence.
Alys: Have you been studying metaphysics?
Tyra: What’s that?
Alys: You mean there’s something that you don’t know?
Tyra: I never said I knew everything.
Alys: This is not what Raudi and Hrimmi told me.
Tyra: Well then, what did they tell you?
Alys: That you said to them that you know everything.
Tyra: I never said that. They lie.
Alys: I’d prefer to believe that they misunderstood you.
Tyra: It’s two against one. Who you going to believe?
Alys: The one I am talking to.
Tyra: Well, you are talking to me.
Alys: Look Tyra, it’s spring.
Tyra: Yes. This my tenth spring.
Alys: Now you are a double digit horse.
Tyra: What does this mean?
Alys: Old enough to know better.
Tyra: My educational sphere is limited.
Alys: Where do you get your information?
Tyra: From the birds.
Alys: What birds?
Tyra: Ravens and magpies mostly.
Alys: What about robins?
Tyra: They are really stupid birds. Don’t get me wrong. I’m very glad to see them in the spring. But they never have anything of consequence to say. They return from wherever they have been, and hang out in the tops of trees, making noise, in hopes of finding a mate. Then, when they find their mate, they build nests, then in the late summer, they take off.
Alys: So they don’t converse with you.
Tyra: Attempting to converse with a robin is like attempting to converse with a beet, with one difference.
Alys: What’s that?
Tyra: Beets are more articulate.
Alys: Okay. What about swallows?
Tyra: I feel about them the way I do about robins, but with one difference.
Alys: What’s that?
Tyra: Swallows have an excuse. They have attention deficit disorder. They cannot stay in one place for more than thirty seconds. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, it makes me dizzy watching them.
Alys: Don’t you think you are being over critical?
Tyra: No. I have lived in this enclosure now for seven years and watched these seasonal birds come and go. Every year it’s the same.
Alys: At least they are entertaining.
Tyra: Yes, they entertain one another.
Alys: I’m surprised that you are being so critical.
Tyra: I’m not being critical. I’m just being realistic.
Alys: You used to find joy in everything.
Tyra: I still do. I find joy in eating the first grass sprigs of spring.
Alys: Do you enjoy going for trail rides?
Tyra: Your word count is nearly up. Let’s save that subject for another day.

Next: 120. 5/1/24: May 1, 2024