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March 6
   I've been pruning the fruit trees without a coat today--55 degrees.  Other years I've had to put plywood on the snow and been able to trim the tops of the trees on that platform...

I also transplanted some volunteer spinach that has wintered and some that just sprouted into our greenhouse.  We did have a long bed, but have replaced it with large plastic planters... I'm sure it was in the 80's in the greenhouse today...

March 10
We made it up to the ridge and saw the grass widows are coming on strong, along with buttercups and spring beauties...  I checked back to the blog March 2010 to find a comparable early flower bloom...  I was too busy finishing the fruit tree pruning to check the temperature today, but am sure it was in the 60's.

March 12
We made it over to Farragut State Park for a walk today--just saw two other people in the whole park...

There were some Buffleheads in Buttonhook Bay...

This horned grebe (nonmating plumage) was a new one for us...  That green is the real color of the water in
Lake Pend O'Reille.


It was a serious post card day, warm enough for shirt sleeves instead of coats...


On the way home, just shy of Athol, 6 elk were grazing right next to the road.  Butters got excited... 
So did we--elk aren't that common a sight for us, especially at 20 yards or less.

March 13
Another fine sunny day, so Butters and I hiked up the ridge to get some flower photos.  Here's this year's grass widow, currently very common...



 
March 17
We got 1 3/4 inches of rain over last weekend, and it's sprinkling again today.  No question about it being Spring around here...  I took Butters for a run in the drizzle and noticed these odd geese with a pair of Canada geese at the new Fireside Park:

I couldn't find them in a book so I suspect they're escaped barnyard fowl.  Someone on Facebook will correct me if I'm wrong...  Thanks to daughter-in-law Susa for identifying these as Muscovy ducks, which have indeed established a feral population up into Canada...

March 18
We went for a walk on Maiden Rock today, and except that the foreground will soon be a bit greener, got a nearly perfect shot uplake towards clouded Mt. Spokane with a pretty good dog as well...


This left (southern) side of the lake has only a few cabins, but there are a number of floating docks stored for winter safety along the shore above Butter's head...

March 22
     I went for another walk along the new bike trail at the end of the lake.  Being Just Spring, I noted the butterflies and heard frogs croaking...

But before leaving home I took a picture of one of the pine siskins that are still feeding at our sunflower seed feeder...






I don't know the name of the first, but this is a mourning cloak butterfly, and there were lots of them out...
This chipmunk was watching me eat my sandwich...
It was a several mile walk, and I saw tracks of moose or elk, and no people, even though it was a nice Sunday and I'd seen a half dozen vehicles from the local bike club at another entrance to the bike trail.

March 25
We got another half inch of cold rain the last couple days.  The lake is about a half foot from full pool.  The 40's days and 30's nights are keeping the spring flowers in suspension, but the grass is growing rapidly...
I finished recovering a dozen kitchen chairs, this time with cotton/rayon cloth and scotch guard.  Previously I'd used vinyl, but it cracked easily and suffered cat claws badly...

March 26
We walked along the lake facing side of the ridge today.  The first yellow bells are blooming:



The grass widows are at their height on the sunny side...  Unlike Ferdinand the Bull, I think Butters was smelling for rodents.
It was cold and rainy yesterday, cool and humid today...

March 30
Last weekend I went to a workshop by a potter from near Medical Lake, Washington--Jeff Harris.  He's been at it nearly as long as I have, but with a more artistic direction in his pots.
 
He brought lots of pots and slides to keep us well entertained, including this two part pot that he added a donut of clay to the top to make it larger.  I'd heard of adding coils of clay to large pots previously, but not a donut shape...  He demonstrated how he used wax resist in glazing as well...

On Sunday church was a bit more interesting than usual because on arrival we were told there was a funny hissing sound from the plumbing, which proved to be water pouring out of a pressure tank into the crawl space under the church.  Shutting off the power to the compressor finally subdued it until a plumber could check it out...   After church we walked around Kootenai Marsh, which is about a mile walk from the Priest Lake Visitor Center.  We walked along the side, trying to identify raptors and water fowl.

This wasn't a great photo but good enough to identify some ring necked ducks, which are pretty common in North America but new to us...


Here's the view of the whole marsh...  It's just barely Spring there, with a few patches of snow in the shady places and no Spring flowers yet...    We including Butters had a great time...



 
Books read and other media of note:
Robert Parker's The Bridge by Robert Knott.    Another good western in the tradition established by Robert Parker, an author like A.C. Doyle who's not allowed to die...  This is spoiler country, but if you don't accept a totally mystical explanation, seems likely an actress could play a passable gypsy...

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. 
This reminds me of The Weapon Shops of Issher by AE Van Vogt, in that it has an entrenched imperial dynasty and guns seem to be the answer.  Otherwise it goes out of its way to not clue you in to the various alien concepts while keeping such familiar bits as captain and lieutenant, making it a mystery.  It is well written but slow moving, and did not make me long to read the sequel(s).

Guns of the Timberlands by Louis L'Amour
By this stage in his writing career, he was sensitive enough to environmental concerns to side with a cattleman against the timber men, at least on sensitive land.  L'Amour's women still don't seem to know how to do more than watch...  I'm listening to these while I work in the pottery, and they're entertaining but insipid.

David Thompson by Jack Nisbet 
Having toured through a good share of the Northwest, including a bit into Canada, this was fun reading for me,  and brought the historical surveyor and explorer to life...

Hondo by Louis L'Amour 
L'Amour's Old West was filled with beautiful single women running ranches on their own, and rugged handsome men who will fight off all the bad guys to get her.  That said, it's a fun fantasy...


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