Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Spring's Arrival

I needed to use the iron over the weekend.


A stink bug. The last one I saw was back in October. I anticipate that ,as the weather warms, I'll be seeing more of these "lovely" things. The girls don't eat bugs like my other cats would. They love moths but once they knock it down and kill it, they look at me as if to say, "Fix it so it flies again". Um...yeah...about that. I grabbed this with a tissue and tossed it into the toilet for a quick flush. If you've never encountered them before, don't crush them. Oh my lord! The smell is horrible! It lingers, too. Just grab it with some tissue and flush.

Over the weekend, I cleaned out the birdbath.


I should have taken a "before" photo. Leaves, twigs and other debris had collected in the basin. I dumped it all out, rinsed the basin with hot water and refilled it. Sunday afternoon, a robin used this as it's intended, for a bath. I need to empty it again. They are such dirty birds and there was mud and plant debris in the basin when I came home from work today. The temperatures are to get below and at freezing for the next week, but will warm up into the 40's and low 50's so the water will thaw if the top freezes. Clean water would be appreciated by more than the robins.

I still don't have flowers in the front yard. I expect the crocus will bloom, if not the end of this week, next week. It was such a cold February when I usually see shoots, that I'm sure they are thinking, "No way. It needs to be 80 before I'm coming out of the ground."

The other exciting indication of spring is that the milkweed pods have split open.


I don't have as many around the yard as I'd like. I would like to hire people to dig up some of the crap in the beds so I can spread butterfly friendly flowers around. That's not happening this year.

I love the lacy look of the seeds and their fuzz. We've had some windy days lately and the air has been filled with the dancing of the seeds as they take off for other sections of the yard. I saw one monarch last year. The year before that, none. I'd like to devote more of the yard to indigenous flowers which would attract them. For now, I'll stay with milkweed.

Spring is in the air. I'm feeling much improved, both physically and mentally with the longer days. Sunshine on my face is wonderful.

Beverage:  Dr Pepper

Deb

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