April 21, 2014 Easter

Dinga enjoying a last bit of snow on our road.

Delicate spring beauties with their
tiny purple stripes.

Friday 4/18. With the temperature down to freezing, there was quite a thick layer of ice on the dogs' water and bird bath this morning.

At 8:00 am, having been up much earlier to light the fire and let the dogs out, I was lying in bed and enjoying being lazy when the dogs started barking.  I got up and discovered that our coastie neighbor's dog was back for a visit.  If the dogs don't come out when he arrives, he will give a few barks to let us know he is here.  He is obviously so delighted when they do come out to play.

I fixed my coffee and took it out to the porch.  I love watching the birds, and when I think of them as tiny, flying dinosaur-descendants, it makes them even more fascinating.  The rows of wood on the porch are dwindling now, so sitting on the porch, I can see to all sides, instead of just straight ahead to the east.  I can easily watch the birds at their bath - bathing in and drinking the water.  Something their digestive systems can withstand, but certainly not mine!

I spent a lot of time sitting on the porch this morning, in and out of the house a few times.  And as I was there, Jesse came up and gave me the "Jesse mind meld."  I looked at the clock and, sure enough, it was time for our morning walk.  I wasn't dressed but had my capote on over my dressing gown, which was over my pajamas.  So I just put on my boots and off we went.  My capote is from our rendezvousing days and is a long coat with a hood made out of an Early's Witney 4-point blanket which is 100% wool and made in England.  Warm enough to keep out the coldest wind.

The problem I often have with sudoku is looking but not seeing a number and that causes me to make mistakes.  Kind of like life, I guess.  I often look but do not see.  Some things have to be believed to be seen.  Simple things, like the goodness in others.  That God-spark that is within all of us.  I tend to be lazy in that aspect and think that each person's goodness should be right out where I can see it.  Sadly, I often don't want to have to exert myself and go digging.

I know that certain closets, including mine, tend to shrink clothes that are hung in them for too long, but now it seems to be making either the buttons larger or the button holes smaller.  I was talking to my son about this concept and he said something to do with cookies and chocolate, but I really did not understand what he was talking about.  

After our walk I washed the dishes, did the dishes and hung it up outside.  With JB gone, I only wash the dishes on days I do the laundry, as there are not that many and I have to have the water on for a while anyway.

I have this great idea for making pine-cone flowers.  Well, at least I will find out how great it is when I actually start trying to make them.

After lunch the dogs and I took a walk down the driveway and I realized that I could drive Miss Kitty down and get a load of wood from the jumble at the foot of our driveway.  So that is exactly what I did.  I took the large pieces to the cutting cradle, then broke up the smaller ones and stacked them in the woodshed.  By then it was time for our afternoon walk, but since the dogs had walked down and back up the drive twice today, we only took half a walk.

I took the laundry down after our walk, but I had washed jeans and they were not quite dry.  So I hung them up inside the house.  I really need to get them hung out much earlier, especially on a day when our high was only 46.  By the time I brought them in, the sky was mostly overcast with the sun breaking through occasionally.  But by sunset, the sky was as clear as it had been in the morning.  That seems to happen a lot Up Here.

I finished watching season four of Downton Abby, but I'm sure there must be some special features from some of the seasons that I haven't watched yet.

Saturday 4/19.  It was 32 again this morning with thin, high clouds drifting slowly to the northeast.  The dogs water had no ice on it, but the bird bath did.  I was up at 6:00 am.  Fixed a poor-man's mocha (a packet of cocoa, a heaping teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa, a heaping teaspoon of instant coffee, and a dollop of milk).  And took it out on the porch to enjoy.

I listened to a conversation between two birds, one in our grove and one towards the south ridge.  They went back and forth with different sounds and intonations, and was simply fascinating.  Don't think I have noticed anything quite like it before, especially because of all the different tones and length of "tweets".  Just wish I had an interpreter, as their meaning was just out of my grasp.

It seems that our landscape has gone from white to brown to green so quickly this year.  Just a few weeks ago I was breaking up ice in our yard, and now I am pulling weeds.

Dinga was in a wild mood this morning.  While I was sitting on the porch, she came up to me with a wild, let's-play look in her eyes.  That consists of me acting as if I am going to grab her and her running away, darting about the yard and sometimes running completely around the house.  I don't have to move much, just make like I am going to go after her.  Even Jesse has caught on to the game.  She does all the running and he simply has to dart and pounce a bit.

I tackled my side of our bedroom closet before lunch.  I tend to just stuff things in there to get them out of the way, but then they seem to stay there.  Now I can actually see the floor.

At 1:00 pm the sky was clear to the west and north and the sun was shining.  I thought it would be a good time to drive Miss Kitty down the road for another load of wood.  I went down to the rope gate, but by the time I had a small load, the clouds had moved in.  There was no more sun and no blue sky.  In fact I could see rain moving our way from the west.  I finished filling Miss Kitty's bed with wood and drove back home.  I just wanted to yell at Mother Nature, "Oh, for Heaven's sake!  Make up your mind!"  Wouldn't have done any good, I am sure.

I had a great conversation with Sandy, mostly about Downton Abby.  We both have the same thoughts about what we think is going to happen next season and the same opinions about what has already happened.  When we were done, I went in and brewed myself a big cup of Earl Grey tea.

I could hear loud gunfire in the canyon this afternoon, which even made Dinga nervous.  Neither of the dogs strayed more than a couple feet from me on our afternoon walk.  Well, this is redneck territory, so I am sure that a lot of the guys around here thought, "Hey, it's Easter weekend.  Let's go shooting."  I guess that's one way to celebrate.

That got me to thinking about living in a place where guns are a part of everyday life.  I have become so used to the sounds of gunfire that I don't give it much of a thought, other than, "Oh, I wonder who that is?", and try to figure out where the sound is coming from.

During my evening chat with Larry and Elsie, Larry said they would be up tomorrow afternoon with "Easter" eggs and the rototiller.  He is all done tilling their garden and now he said he would till ours.  Says it will only take him about and hour and a half as ours is so small, and anyway JB isn't here to say, "No! We can do it."

The wind blew a rain cell through at about 8:00 pm, but by 9:00 pm the stars were out.  I went to bed at 10:00 pm with the wind howling, but within just a few minutes there was suddenly a very loud silence and the wind had completely disappeared.

Easter Sunday 4/20.  It was 33 and clear, with a light wind this morning.  Whatever one's beliefs, this is a day to celebrate renewed and forever life, from Spring itself to infinite possibilities.  I awoke at 5:00 am with the dogs wanting to go out.  The moon still out and riding high.  It too seemed to be in joyous celebration as it reflected the golden light of the new day.

But it was just too early to stay up, so I went back to bed for a couple hours until the phone range at 7:30 am.  It was my son calling to wish me a happy Easter, while he was getting ready to go to church.  How nice!

Took my coffee out on the porch again.  Just had too, even though it was cold and breezy.  The birds don't seem to care, so why should I?  I always take my pen and notepad with me, but this morning my pen was rebelling against the chill.

As the wood piles on the porch shrink, I am thinking how to arrange everything.  I love to nest, and this is really the only place I can re-arrange.  We are definitely going to take the washer and (unused) dryer that are sitting there Down There and donate them to Habitat for Humanity.  Should have done that last summer, but lots of "should have's" didn't get done last summer, just the "must do's".

Years ago I read in a holy scripture, "Man is that he might have Joy."  If this isn't a joyous time, then I don't know what is.  So today I am going to be especially Joyous.

The dogs wanted in while I was eating breakfast and both seemed a bit spooked.  They both lay down on the floor near my chair.  I hadn't heard any gunfire, so there must have been a furry, four-footed critter of some sort out there - bear or cougar?

After breakfast I had some M&M's, after all, it is Easter.  And I take much Joy in chocolate. . .

Then I cleaned up the house and vacuumed.

People have commented to me that they think I am a natural-born writer.  But I think that is only because I communicate better when I have time to think about my words.  What I am "natural born" is really a scatter-brained klutz.  I am sure that one of my Mother's most-used expressions while I was growing up was, "Rose, pick up your feet!"  That would still apply today, were she here.  And I am personally acquainted with every door jamb in every house I have ever lived in.  I am sure much of that comes from lack of focus on what I am doing, thus the scatter-brain.

I started on my idea for pine-cone flowers today.  First I cut the bottoms off of a stack of cones with my large clippers.  Then I pulled the little seeds out of them with a small pair of needle-nosed pliers.  Now I have to figure out how to put a stem on them.  I already have a few ideas on how to decorate them.

One chore I did have to get done before Larry and Elsie arrived was to put the corner post back up in the garden.  The wind keeps blowing it over.  I used the post-hole digger and managed to get it upright again.

While doing that, I noticed that my iris are popping up and two of them have divided.  So I weeded around them and transplanted the two new plants.

A light overcast formed and dissolved a couple times during the day, but by late afternoon the sky was mostly clear.  Our high for the day was 52, but sitting in the sun in my swing, it felt more like 72.

Larry drove up at about 4:30 pm, but Elsie had a migraine and was unable to come.  It did indeed take him about 1-1/2 hours to till the garden and I was so grateful.  We chatted a bit until the setting sun began to cool.  Then he left and I went inside to put in a fire.  I had spent most this glorious day outside, and it felt so good.

Well, it is obvious that with JB gone I have more time to think and write, and tend to get very verbose in my blog.  Am so glad he will be back on Wednesday.  Am going to have him pick up some onion and potato starts on his way back.

Monday 4/21.  It is 39 and overcast this morning.  Rain is forecast for much of the week.  We'll see if it really gets here.

Thought for the day: Thank you, Lord, for this new day.  Thank you for all our blessings and those that are on their way.  W. Rose