April 22, 2015 Planes & Dust

Our load of supplies for the girls' pen.

Shooting stars with western
spring beauties.

Monday 4/20. Put a fire in the stove this morning just to take the chill out.

Monday morning on the porch is the noisiest morning of the week.  We are right in the flight pattern of planes flying east from Sea-Tac, and they must have really been lined up on the tarmac today.

We worked on the final tweaking of the living room.  Moved my large, wood cedar chest that was built by my great-grandfather down from the loft and took a smaller one up.  Now it is perfect.  Very good feng shui.

JB hitched up the trailer to get it ready for tomorrow's trip for lumber, only to discover that this winter put an end to our hopes of the tires lasting just a little longer.  I suppose we can't complain, as they are the original ones that were on the trailer when we bought it about 30 years ago.  So we jacked up the trailer, took the tires off and he went down there to get two new ones.  I got to do the dishes.

When we felled those two big trees, fir cones went flying everywhere.  Part of the clean up I had not anticipated.  This afternoon I concentrated on raking and picking them up from around the house.  Filled two large kitchen garbage bags and made two piles near the chipper.  The "yard" looks so much better.

We put the new tires on the trailer when JB arrived back home.  Now we really are ready for tomorrow.

Our high for the day was 65!  In April!  Although the record for today was set in 2009.  Hmmm, don't remember that.

Tuesday 4/21.  It was 55 and mostly clear this morning.  No fire needed.

We almost filled up the trailer with our yearly load of cardboard for recycling, and left for Down There at about 10:00 am.  Flox and sweet peas have joined the balsam root and lupine blooming down in the canyon.  Most of the flox is white with a few pink ones sprinkled in.

Post office, latte, recycle, and then to Lowe's for the lumber and cement for the girls' run.  No room for supplies for the wood cradle.  The forecast temperature for town was 77, and I am sure it was well on the way to reaching that by the time we left at 12:30 pm.  We were home by 1:30, and once we reached the dirt road I got to ride in the back of the Wrangler sitting on some of the 2X12's.  VERY dusty ride.

Unloaded the wood, then JB cut down the little tree that was in the way of the new pen.  If tomorrow's forecast rain does not arrive, we will put up the 4"X4' uprights in cement.  I am going Down There Thursday to do laundry and pick up a few groceries, so we will start building the pen on Friday, weather permitting.

Our high for today was 65 again.  I feel like we have skipped April and May, and jumped right in to June or July.  Fluffy clouds began floating over late morning and by 5:00 pm the sky was mostly overcast.  Prairie stars are now blooming Up Here and I am seeing more and more shooting stars each day.  The flox and sweet peas should start appearing in a few weeks.

We finished watching season five of The Vampire Diaries, and we were both a bit teary-eyed - until I realized what really was going to happen.

Wednesday 4/22. It is 35 and clear this morning.  Looks like we will be able to get started on the girls' new pen today.

Thought for the day: Every Spring is the only Spring - a perpetual astonishment.  Ellis Peters