May 3, 2013 Pack Rat



A zoomed photo taken from our north ridge
of the balsam root blooming by
the gate (bottom left) on the canyon road





Our porch sans the winter firewood
















Wednesday, 5/1.  Busy day.  Hung the laundry both inside and out.  Took down the metal frame we were going to use for a greenhouse, as that is just not going to happen.  JB fixed MAX.  I worked on getting most of two piles of branches broken and stacked, with the larger pieces going to the cutting cradle.  Using a dolly and lever, we took the LARGE rock out of the garden.  Turned out to be a very nice day, sunny and cool but no wind, with a high of 45.

The water is coming in awfully slowly to the cistern.  We think a piece of bendable pipe may have pinched, so we will dig down to it on Saturday to check it out.

We received 9-1/2" of snow in April!  Must have been making up for January.

The new Smithsonian magazine is very interesting, as usual, but there is a one-page article called "The Paper Chase" about how "the true revolution in portable publishing began not with e-books, but with [Robert Fair] de Graff, whose paperback made reading into an activity that travels everywhere."

I tried a chicken-wrapped-in-ham-&-swiss-cheese dinner that I saw in an advertisement for a cookbook.  No idea exactly how to make it, so I guessed.  Turned out pretty good, but with a few changes it will be great.

We watched the last four episodes of the fourth season of "Castle" after dinner.  We now have a list of TV programs for which we need another season.  Fortunately some of them are older ones.

Thursday, 5/2.  The day began clear and 35, and was already 40 when I left for town at 8:30 am.  Saw three grouse and a deer just past the hair-pin corner down from our driveway.  It was such a beautiful drive with all the wild flowers.  The Spring "lush" is upon us.  Got all my shopping done and errands run quickly, and was home by 1:30 pm.  There was a light, hazy overcast by mid afternoon with a slight breeze and a high of 55.  Just an all-around perfect Spring day.  Plus JB made banana bread while I was gone. . .

Monday evening Larry told JB that there was a tree down over the road on the short cut to RJ's cabin, so this afternoon JB took MAX and Dinga down to check it out.  Seems like there are several trees down in addition to the one across the road.  The wind must have really roared down that slope.  We will probably take JB's Jeep and the chainsaw down on Saturday to cut it out of the way.  Jesse stayed at home with me as he has a sore front leg.  Looks like he sprained something. 

We are starting to plan for our trip to Alabama at the end of this month.  Our son is flying us out so we can attend the ceremony where he becomes a Commander in the Naval Reserve.  We have never been there when he has been promoted and this is a really important one.  Right now he is at Fort Meade on orders for a month.

Friday, 5/3.  It is clear and 40 out there this morning.  Going to be a beautiful warm day.

Last evening Dinga and Jesse were barking and sniffing around the battery shed.  I looked inside but couldn't see anything, then this morning JB saw a HUGE pack rat go in the opening on the ground.  He tried to get a photo but it disappeared too quickly.  He will put some poison in there this morning before he leaves for Down There.  It is obviously too big to get into the shop, thank goodness. 

Thought for the day:  In May, everything seems possible.