April 4, 2014 Ticks and Down There

The view from my chair on the porch on Tuesday,
looking at the east slope.

Wednesday 4/2. Because the temperature has climbed to 50, the ice in the yard has visibly getting smaller each day.  Should be gone soon, but then it will probably be mud.  As it is, the dogs need their paws wiped every time they come in.  Typical April.

Sandy called this morning, finally able to talk without coughing.  So we had a lovely chat.  Such a great way to start the day.

With Spring comes bugs.  Lots of stink bugs.  I always knock each piece of wood I bring in to get any of them off that might be clinging, but some always manage to get in anyway.  At least I don't have to bring in as much wood, as now we usually do not need a fire after the first one in the morning.

Right after lunch we hiked up to the south ridge to take down some more of the fence.  We had asked our neighbors to move it off our property the first few years we were Up Here, and when they hadn't, two years ago we told them we would take it down.  We made a few gaps in it last year, and now this year we hope to get it all down.  They don't run much cattle any more, and the south ridge is too steep for them anyway.

It just feels so good to get outside and really work again without being so bundled up that just moving gets one out of breath.  The sun was so warm up on the ridge that we took off our jackets.  And the breeze coming up from the canyon was actually warm.  The dogs had great fun up there with us and the way they were diving into the bushes after suspected critters, I thought for sure we would find ticks on them.  But when I checked them over this evening, there were none.

The brown areas are quickly greening up.  The ridge and the canyon already have a green hue to them.

I got all the mail ready to take tomorrow.  Checked my lists to be sure I had remembered everything.  And figured out my route.  I am actually excited about going Down There. . .

We watched the movie In Time with Justin Timberlake.  The premise for the movie was very good but I just don't think he carried off being the main character.  It needed someone like a 28-year-old Clive Owen.

Thursday 4/3. It was 33 with a light overcast.  I don't like taking a shower in the morning as the bathroom is always so cold, and it certainly was this morning.  But I bit the bullet and charged in, and was able to get on my way by 9:00 am.  There are bare spots on the road but also still a lot of ice.  It was such a nice drive down in Miss Kitty.

It was much warmer Down There than Up Here.  I had a good trip and a nice visit with my cousin.  Of course my first stop was for a vanilla latte.  Ah, nectar of the gods.  Also stopped in to see Larry and Elsie.  She wants to go more gluten free, so I took her one of our cookbooks and JB had copied off some recipes for here.  I also loaned her the current issue of Mary Jane's Farm magazine as there is a huge article in it about being gluten free with lots of recipes.

After this trip down, I have definitely decided to keep my hair short as it passed the Fred Meyer ladies'-room-mirror test.  That mirror has a horrible cast to it and I always look like an old hag.  But today I actually looked human!  Had to have been the short hair.

I arrived back home at about 2:00 pm.  I had run a lot of errands but not really bought a lot of bulky items except a bag of dog food.  Not a big grocery run.  But after unloading, we were able to sit and enjoy the magazines and newspapers, which is always a treat.

We watched the first two episodes of Downton Abbey season four.  Don't know if I have noted how much I love that show. . .

Friday 4/4.  It is 35 and mostly clear, with a few clouds around the horizon.  There is a light breeze and more of the ice in the yard is gone.  We plan to take down some more fence today, and I have to get cleaning the house as JB's nephew and his six-year-old son are coming to visit tomorrow for one or two nights.

In answer to a reader from Kentucky, yes we do have ticks up here but they aren't really tiny.  Just "normal" tick size.  Sounds like we don't have nearly as many as you do, thank goodness, although a couple years ago the dogs came in one day with more than ten on each of them.  I have only had one on me, but I got it before it latched on, and I don't think JB has had any.

Thought for the day: The welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants. Albert Camus