April 2, 2018
Happy Easter!
Some of the eggs we dyed and hid up on the ridge yesterday ( lost 2 out of 2 dozen, about average)...
So it's been a long week... It seems like everyone is scamming,
from the unlikely robot calls that happen daily, to the City of Atlanta
being held hostage by ransomware (not to mention the government run by
looters). But it hit home last week when my identity on Facebook
was spoofed and people on my friends list started getting messages
offering to put them onto a S100,000 government grant. Some of my
friends strung them along in great fun, but one, basing it on coming
from me, fell for it and ended up losing $400. Then my son
called and said he had to get a new debit card because his was being
fraudulently used (which has happened a couple times to me as
well). I decided to quit Facebook, and go back to devoting
more energy to this blog, which has stood the test of time, although
I've certainly neglected it in recent years...
So here's an entry to the mildly interesting department:
On the way to the pottery this evening I saw the street light, and
noticed the orange nimbus around it. I didn't think there
was any fog, but apparently there was enough to cause a halo as the
photo proves it wasn't just my eyesight... Also it's not a
Chinese space station burning up...
April 4
Another sure sign of spring, along with the flowers emerging, is
the first tick, which I experienced as it was roaming my bedclothes in
the middle of the night. In spite of roaming the deer trails
freely every year, I'd guess we experience less than a dozen ticks
total, and of them one of them might attach to the skin before being
noticed. With nights still subfreezing the next sign of spring,
mosquitoes, is still held at bay...
April 6
I was remarking the other day that you never notice the last snow
melting in spring, because you're too busy noting the new birds and
flowers. The snow in gone in town except for the snow plow piles,
and when I walked the ridge the other day the seasonal run off creek
had dried up for lack of snow. But yesterday I walked around the
back of the mill pond and snow was still 6 inches deep in a lot of that
area, which is shaded and sheltered from the sun part of the day.
Then this morning there was a white blanket and more coming, so I guess
I can't look to the last snow for a while yet...
April 9
We've gotten about an inch of rain in the last few days, but it didn't
rain today and the freezing weather is gone for a while so it is time
to start garden plants in our freshly renovated green house. We
added insulation on the north side and a vent on the south side and
tried to seal it up so it will endure a 25 degree overnight temp
without freezing... While digging up potting soil from the
garden, I noticed a few garlics sprouting that I'd missed last fall so
I separated them and added another row of garlic, a crop that
likes to be started in the fall...
Here's a view of the lake--the north facing hills still snow covered:
April 11
Yes, it's spring, but... Butters and I walked up on the ridge and
there were lots of grass widows, buttercups, and even the first yellow
bell blooming, but when I looked through the photos I liked this one of
Butters best. It was near the end of the walk, and he loves to
roll in snow, so he'd just taken a snow bath, and jumped up and ran
toward me grinning and invigorated...
April 15
The hills are alive, with the spring wildflowers (ahhhhhhh)
These are so common that we felt comfortable to pick bunches of them for church... Grass widows...
It's been raining nearly every day, but after the rain today we walked up breakfast creek...
The runoff is quite awesome, but probably less so when Butters gives you a sense of perspective:
The only flowers we saw in the dark creek bed area were some trillium just opening where we started our journey...
April 18
The weather is warmer and colder but drier, with highs around 50 and
lows around freezing... The first cabbage family plants are up in
the greenhouse... Here's a view of the west end of Spirit Lake
yesterday...
April 19
I would have, and probably should have, taken my camera on a walk this
evening, but with clear skies no great sunset was scheduled, and it was
already dim enough by 7:15 that the wild flowers would not photograph
at their best. But Butters and I needed the exercise and solace,
so we started up the "reverse elven trails," as I have called them,
deer trails that fork and meander so that capricious elves seem intent
on making you lose your way, or find their way... (If we
start straight up the ridge, and then take the deer trails, that's the
regular non-reverse "elven trails") New flowers were blooming,
particularly glacier lilies, and the grass widows have never been so
thick, so I'll have to return soon to catch the purple passion...
Up ahead the white flags of 4 whitetails announced their presence and
soon absence to me, but not to Butters, who relies more on his nose
than eyes for his walking pleasure. The distant mountains above
lake Pend O'Reille lit up dim red with alpen glow as we started back on
a trail of Butters' choosing... The amazing thing about elven
trails is that we took a lower trail than usual, but ended up higher on
the ridge than usual also. As we rejoined the familiar main ridge
trail, 4 turkeys stood on the edge of a rock precipice, twenty feet
away, capable of flying away easily from us, but opting not to,
as Butters didn't notice them... We finished by going right down
the spine of the ridge nearly to the road, where the sunny exposure
advances the wild flowers towards the glacier lily phase. A
splendid evening walk...
April 21
It's fun to see the progression this month. Here's a photo from yesterday showing the grass widows at their height:
You can see the rarer albino version toward the bottom left...
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