Friday...let the games begin!

Moose from last summer

Well, alrighty, then, we made through another week without too much trouble, didn’t we? This is going to be a really busy Friday for me, though. I told you yesterday that we have our Small Business Expo here in Buffalo today and tomorrow. Today is going to be a long day as Rob and I have to get down to the fairgrounds around 10 a.m. to get our booth set up, even though the doors don’t open to the public until 3 p.m.

This is always one of my favorite shows as we see a lot of people for the first time since winter is starting to fade.  Around here, people tend to stay shut up most of the winter or they are off vacationing before the tourists hit town so we don’t see a lot of people. Of course, this has been a strange weather year and we’ve actually had everyone out and about earlier than usual.

Thistle woke me up at the ungodly hour of 2:30 this morning because we have a very loud Great Horned Owl sitting in the tree across the street.  He’s still out there hooting right now, as a matter of fact. She is totally freaked out by him and I guess I can’t blame her.  He really is rather loud. He almost sounds like he’s sitting on the front porch!  In order to get her to calm down, I had to get up and take her outside so she could get a closer look and listen. She has been making small growling noises under her breath ever since. I think she’s convinced he’s coming in the house or something.  Right now, he’s hooting to beat the band and she’s got her head cocked, listening and a very worried look on her face.  This is not going to bode well for my long day, though! I was really hoping to get a good night’s sleep.

I wish I could get a picture of Mr. Owl as he’s quite large and gorgeous but it’s just too darn dark out there.  He’s sitting in a tree near the streetlight so I can see him and I swear he’s at least 2 feet tall. Hopefully, he’ll stick around til daylight and I can get a picture! I just hope he’s not waiting for the little yorkies across the street to be let out in their backyard, thinking he’s got an easy meal coming. That would be awful!

Yesterday, I busied myself with getting everything packed and ready for today’s show.  Our large photos had so many grubby fingerprints on the plastic sleeves, I had to change out about 40 of them.  They look so much better now! That project took me most of the afternoon.  Thistle and I did manage to get two walks in, one in the morning after my tan and one when I took a break from the photos.  We had a nice morning walk out at the Mtn Plains Park, although the wind was still a little chilly.  Several people had the same idea so Thistle had some nice encounters with other dogs.  Unlike Tumbleweed, who didn’t care much for other dogs, Thistle just thinks they’re awesome.

Our afternoon walk was just around the neighborhood, which took longer than I expected because so many of our older neighbors were out working in their yards.  Everyone had to stop what they were doing and greet Thistle, of course.  We have this really nice older, retired couple who moved here from Kaycee and they have turned their whole front yard into a magnificent flower garden.  They were unable to grow anything in Kaycee and they are making up for lost time here. During the summer, they are out there all day, every day, tending to their flowers.  I really admire that kind of dedication and it sure makes the neighborhood look nice.

Thistle hanging out

I won’t be writing tomorrow as this show is going to take up all of my time but I’ll be sure to fill you in on Sunday.  I’m hoping Mr. Owl will give me a break tomorrow night and let me sleep, I fear I will need it after the long day we have today! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and you’ve got lots of fun things to do! It’s almost unbelievable that we’re at the end of March already!