Wednesday is nearly here – deadline day – and once again I am sitting here staring at the darn computer screen. As usual, I couldn’t think of a thing to write about this week, but sometimes when I start typing…
Part of the problem is keeping my mind on what I should be doing. The middle of April is here. The sun is shining. It is sooo hard to stay inside and get my writing done.
The weather is beautiful, a bit breezy, (this is a very windy place to live), but still sunny and getting warmer every day. There are buds on most of the trees, flowers are peeking up everywhere. The grass is turning greener by the hour and Jack is outside trying to clean up the yard where the plow has scraped up some of the grass…not to mention all the sunken tire tracks that need to be filled in.
He attempted to use the hand rake, but discovered that was nearly beyond his powers to move our clay infused dirt out here. The soil out here on Whiteville where we are living now is just about impossible to scrape back into the holes.
Luckily son Don has a small backhoe that does the trick without all of the stress of physical labor for the old guy who lives here – and it is always available for “Dad” to use, although he still had to do a bit “by hand.”
The years catch up with us, especially when the seasons change and the urge to clean up and fix up still strikes us around this time of year. The mind is willing but the body…well you know the rest.
Time to come back in and rest the back. And the yard does look better.
I’m even getting the urge to start the spring cleaning. So far I have been able to resist that one; after all I do have articles to write.
It’s a good thing I can’t see the bird feeders from this computer. I get completely engrossed with watching the bird’s antics. Those feeders have been doing a brisk business with lots of our migrating feathered visitors arriving back in the area. We’ve been swamped with red-winged blackbirds, sparrows and mourning doves. Suddenly the goldfinches, who bicker with each other continuously as they fight over the thistle seed, have changed their color to a brilliant yellow.
When Jack fills the feeders, it is a fight to see who gets to the seeds first. The fight used to be with the squirrels. At our new place they fight still goes on, but here it is with each other.
We don’t see the wildlife like we used to when we were living along the river, but this spring have been seeing a small herd of deer regularly foraging for goodies in the field across the road.
Other than those, it’s just an occasional rabbit wandering around the yard and once in a while a pheasant in the cattails on the north and west sides of the yard.
I’ve seen a lot of deer here and in my travels around the area, but no spring babies as yet.
You sure have to watch carefully for deer in the road out here. I found that out the hard way a couple of months ago – and ended up with a dead deer and a totaled vehicle.
And I really loved that little blue Chevy too.
Now I will have another one, also small and blue, but a used Subaru this time, when some repairs on it are completed at Double D’s and son Don declares it safe for Mom to drive. Remember, if you do see wildlife babies while you are out, the Department of Natural Resources cautions, “Don’t touch them or bring them home.” Chances are “Mom” is close by, watching to see what you do. Human interference can cause some animals to abandon their young.