Punxsutawney Pookey

"I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,

And what can be the use of him is more than I can see..."

-- Robert Louis Stevenson (no relation-haha)

Well, here's something we haven't seen in a long time.

Pookey's shadow.

For the past three months, while his friends have frolicked in the pasture, Pookey has been cooped up in jail, recovering slowly from his nasty founder episode. With the exception of a few short, careful walks each day, in early morning and late evening, he has been pretty much stall-bound.

And for the past three days, with all the rain and storms, he had not even ventured outside at all. Since he was tiptoeing very carefully around his stall, even with his Soft Ride boots on, I assumed that when he did get out, he would be rocked back on his haunches, barely putting any weight on those front feet.

But our Blackland soil was really soft and spongy after all the rain, and in an uncharacteristic bold move, I decided to remove his boots before his walk, to see how he would move, unimpeded.

Amazingly, he seemed to move very easily without his boots. And while he is by no means walking normally, he was swinging both front legs from the shoulder, and bearing a decent amount of weight on his right front without flinching.

It was a sight for sore eyes!

So was his cute little shadow, which he has not seen for so long.

We stood outside for a long time, listening to the mockingbirds and soaking up vitamin D.

Pressing on!