A Fool for April

Today, Gretchen went to school (without me, again) and she tried to work on her computer only the mouse wouldn’t work. She struggled with it again and again, restarting her computer, checking the wires, and even reinstalling everything. Meanwhile, her teaching partner sat at her desk and quietly laughed.

“They did that to me, too,” she said.

“Did what?” Gretchen asked.

“Covered the laser sensor on the mouse.”

Sure enough, a little note was taped to the mouse and it read, “April Fools!” Of course, “Fools” was spelled “Folls” which made Gretchen chuckle, but still, 20 minutes wasted trying to figure out the prank. She knew exactly which student pulled the prank the second said student walked into class with a book titled, “Encyclopedia of Immaturity.” The rest of the day, pranks sprang up again and again like tulips in the spring sun.

We had spring sun today, but we also had spring wind and rain and dark, dark clouds that reminded me of Darth Vader. Luckily, we only got wet once, but we sure got windblown as you can see from the photo — well, everyone but Gemma is windblown. Her hair is too short to go anywhere but her ears were sure flapping.

The first walk of the day was without me. Well, that’s partially true. I went for a walk with Argo and Ann, but Gretchen went solo on her walk with Rosie who was not windblown in the least. Her hair is too short, too and even if the wind did blow, I think she’s too focused on treats to even notice!

But Gretchen says Rosie notices the cold and will start to shiver if the temperature drops too much. Lucky for Rosie it was relatively warm in the morning. Not so later on!

Once Rosie went home, after their walk up to Jackson and along the ridge where they marveled at the light on the lake, Gretchen stopped by to pick up Gemma. The wind makes her feistier than normal and so Gretchen knew she had to wear her out with a nice long walk, but first, she had to come by and pick us up — Ann, Argo, and me.

That’s when we headed up to Woobie’s house who is like a four-legged windsock blowing every which way the wind blows.

Ann peeled off with Argo on the walk while Woobie and I escorted feisty girl home. She was sad to see us go, but since Gretchen is still being gentle with her surgery site and Saber was next on the docket, well, she had to go home.

Saber was happy to see Woobie who he only gets to play with on occasion, though Woobie doesn’t “play” with Saber much. She likes to sit on the tennis courts and pose while Saber and I bust a move all around the court.

As you can see, Saber has learned how to skillfully steal my ball. He waits for the exact instant that I drop it and then swoops in like an agile bird only he’s like a big elephant and even if Gretchen steps on the leash, he doesn’t stop. She has to be careful that she isn’t pulled off her feet when he charges off. But I’m patient, and eventually, I steal it back!

And yes, Gretchen carries more than one ball with her at all times, but Saber wants whatever I want and he’ll wait and wait and stalk and stalk until he gets the ball. Then he races off and I swear I can hear him laughing all the way.

Woobie, on the other hand, just waits all pretty like, the wind blowing her hair like Mariah in a movie.

Occasionally, she’ll take off in a dead run, but the conditions have to be just right. Not sure what those conditions are, but apparently they weren’t just right today.

Never stopped Saber. I don’t think he has a clue what conditions are or even if he did, why they would get in the way of his stealing my ball!

We walked Woobie home just as those gray, gray clouds bust open (speaking of busting a move) and pummeled us with heavy raindrops. Woobie was happy to get inside her warm house, but Saber and I still had a ways to go — back to his house. So down through the park again with the rain beating on us. And then, just like that, the clouds moved by and the sun warmed and dried us. Like magic.

I guess today really is April Fool’s Day. One minute we’re basking in the warm spring sun and the next we’re fighting winter blasts. “April Fools” the weather kept saying or maybe it was April Folls…hard to know.

Until tomorrow,

Rubin