Playing with Me

 Since Phoenix died, he's been playing with me.  For a solid 8 months, I would guess, he was playing with electronic equipment and lights in our house and on the porches.  I'm pretty confident in saying that 90% of our lightbulbs had to be replaced in about a 6-month span.  And he would do themes: the row of vanity bulbs above the bathroom sink, one by one, or the lights around the living room, as examples.

He also caused the TV to come on at least twice when we weren't around (on vacation one time and the horse sitter reported it was on when she came in, and then one morning it was on when we came downstairs) and set my digital scale to glowing when I went into the bathroom one night.  

The final thing that I'm certain of was him blowing out the light in our brand-new microwave a few days after we got it.  

Then it went quiet and it was like grieving him all over again - not having those little reminders that he was still around and watching us.  I begged him so many times during the day to come back "just once more" and flicker another light, turn on a radio...anything.  

But I think he's coming up with other ways to let us know now.  At least I hope it's him.  There were a few weeks in there where pennies were showing up in odd places.  

Then I would hear - sure as if he was standing there - a gentle snort when I was walking to or from the hay shed.  (The other horses weren't anywhere near.)  I heard that again this morning near the roundpen (Onyx and Cosmo were already in the pasture on the other side of the property) and I said hello to him.

And now this afternoon, while I was lying on the couch watching TV and having my lunch, one of the horns from the longhorn skull hanging above our front door came off.  This is impossible to occur on its own.  It's like an outer casing of the actual horn, which slides firmly down over the bone.  It would be defying gravity for it to be lifted up and over the point of the horn-bone.  

My horse is a clever little stinker, and I still miss him desperately - even when he lets me know he's still around.