Flowers

We’ve had some unseasonably warm weather this April which makes for a lot of growing– growing of weeds, growing of grass, and growing of flowers.  I don’t think I’ve ever mowed as much in April as I have this year.  Luckily for me, Roger and Eric found me a nice, newer riding mower.  Roger bought himself a new, new mower (hmmm).  Anyway, there’s a lot of grass to mow and we’ve been doing it.

All the flowers seem to be about two weeks early, but of course, I think that most years.  The big event this month was a visit from my brother John and sister-in-law Marilyn and our subsequent journey together to Victoria, British Columbia.  Stayed at a very nice hotel that they normally book and went to some very nice gardens as well.  We also ate a lot of good food.  More pastry than I consume in a year.  (I think I’m finally back down to my previous weight.)

The photos from Victoria are numerous so I have placed them all in a Flckr album.  Here is the link:

 

You will see some interesting photos of John, a canoe, and our pond.  Let’s just say there’s a reward for finding an oar at the bottom of our pond and leave it at that.

So the theme of this posting is flowers–the wild ones and the cultivated ones.  This, I hope, will be a good antidote to last posting’s sad news.  Although, to be perfectly honest, Suzie–just this week has killed a rat and three fledgling wrens.  What a mighty hunter she has become.

Many other celebrations took place this month including–our anniversary!  And the Queen’s birthday which I celebrated with good friends Lunnette, Peggy Sue, and Vivien.  Here’s a photo courtesy of Vivien:

8:30 PM and it’s still light out.  That’s good because there’s lots to do to get ready for the merry month of May and the arrival of visitor season.  Thornbush is decked out in its finest.

Face of a Killer

Sometime the news isn’t so great here at Thornbush and we can’t shy away from it. This isn’t a Facebook Posting where only the good news gets shared. This is a report that chronicles events come what may. And this month, besides all the nice evidence of Spring and the birthday celebrations I have to swallow my pride and admit—that my poodle killed seven of our chickens. Whew.

You would think that after eight years of being around them, of being trained to stand guard and never chase them, that she would know in her heart what was right and good. But this month for some reason she decided she loved feathers. Loved them so much that she went after them whenever possible and gradually gathered her courage until one night, when both Roger and I had gone to a neighbor’s to celebrate the Equinox, she struck.

Oh, the carnage! We had to look for her in the chicken yard with only a flashlight, stumbling on carcass after carcass, feathers scattered from here to tomorrow, until we found her working over her last victim. She was wild. It took us all a couple days to settle back down. Me, to clean up all the feathers, Roger, to burn what was left of the cadavers and rig up the electric fencing again for the upper chicken yard, the surviving chickens to face the world again, and for Suzie to throw up all the feathers she ate and reflect on what she had done.

We brought the last four from the garden up to the “compost yard chickens” and they have melded in quite well. Suzie has left them alone after just one jolt of “tough love”. We are now down to fifteen.

 

And now for some good news. We had a very nice visit with “the kids” to celebrate Corbin’s Fourth, Iliana and Lenora’s Tenth, and Ethel’s somethinth birthdays. We took them to the Childrens Museum in Everett. A highlight was seeing Audrey drive a bus–she seemed a natural.

And of course, it is Spring. I heard it was the rainiest winter on record in Seattle and it wouldn’t surprise me if it was here, too. And the last few days have been glorious. Too bad I sprained my knee last evening and have it wrapped and elevated instead of being outside gardening. Then again, I am making progress on learning how to crochet. And you have gotten this post.