Spring

Three hundred and nine shades of green, and at least that for sweet smells attracting all manner of bugs and birds. Our little river rising, scouring the banks, sending more than a smidge of offal on its way.

Rain, sun, hail, snow (not too far up the hillsides), more rain, oh, and wind.

It's spring!!!!

Haven't seen any new fawns yet, but my cousin and his mom saw a big -- big -- black bear by their house. They're situated in the woods, and it's far easier for animals to stealthily get near their place than our "cabin". I saw the pictures, and it's pretty hard to imagine that critter has been sleeping most of the last seven months. It was huge and healthy looking.

I love the little zzzwzzwzzwzzwzzw of the hummingbirds. After we put the feeder up, we had two and three visiting within an hour. They'd come before to check out the windchime, but how do they sense there's food that quickly?

The river hasn't risen today, and I can say with solid confidence about every willow twig we planted last year and earlier this year: unless it's on the slope of the riverbank, it's gone. The river's up about 3.5 feet, maybe 4, from last fall. I'd completely forgotten the force of it against the bank when it's up like this... I had to tie down the willow stumps to keep them from floating away, and I know the skinny shrubs around which I tied the rope won't be happy if the current tries again. Serves 'em right for having 1" thorns (spikes, really) every couple inches.

This shot shows my Grandma's dock (steel cable from it around the apple tree). The foreground dock is usually ten feet from the water, but the slope's gentle here, and a little rise means a lot of encroaching.

I drove into town today for gas (yay Costco!), and the Flathead river near Kalispell is amazing. Its legendary green color is more a sickly brown-green, and it is high. Oh, and I'd forgotten my Costco card, so that was a worthwhile lunch hour! My lameness sometimes surpasses my own expectations.

The Wild Mile kayak competition on the Swan this weekend should be a blast. I've not been before, and this is supposedly one of the better short runs in the country when the water's up.

I've never understood how irises work. It's a long, flat leaf, there's really no stem, and from the long flat leaf flowers emerge. Amazing.

And you know what else is amazing? In the midst of stupid gas prices, a Long, Flat, Seemingly Endless Bataan Death March to the White House, and no permanent cure for simple allergies, trees and wildflowers and bugs are sticking to their schedule.

Monique's in California for the week, which means my diet has quickly devolved into cold Ravioli straight from the can, Sweet Tarts, and Rosauer's fried chicken. She's at a director's conference in Pasadena, and theater simple is performing there as well. It's weird not having her here, and this weekend for Memorial Day, it's gonna be weird not having any of my family here. Despite the holiday, I'm gonna try to go for a hike.

There's a log -- maybe 20 feet long and 10" diameter -- stuck against the big rock in front of the "cabin". It floated down sometime yesterday, and it's balanced perfectly. That takes some doing! The top is smaller and lighter than the bottom, so if it hit the rock in the middle, it would bounce off and float downriver. The rock face is definitely not flat, and the amount and force of water hitting the log is constantly changing.

This is a shot I took the other evening. Normally I like to hide buildings, power lines, etc., but I kinda liked the look of this, so I kept it in.

Spring... rebirth, regeneration, reawakening, hatching, cleaning, nurturing spring.

Ibuprofin and Tim Tams

Green's bustin' out all over. It snowed yesterday, hailed today, but dangit, it's spring. The raspberry canes we got through FreeCycle are in the ground, and so are the perennials from Swan River Nursery. We even scattered wildflower seeds today. Lots of work in this rocky, clay-dominant ground, and we got rained and hailed on, but it's good being outside.

Digging, raking, planting, planning, puttering. Our 4'x4' garden bed has plants in it. Beans, peas, and various other veggies are in.

That's the "ibuprofin" part... as for Tim Tams, they're just about the best dang cookie (or "biscuit") ever. Here's a previous entry of mine about them... http://freetimeproductions.com/ozalbum/feb04.html. Llysa brought them back from Australia, and Monique brought them back from Seattle.

I have one more pine to transplant this spring, a lovely little tree I promised the power company I'd move so they wouldn't tear it out. That'll probably be it until autumn.

And the other monster news here: the garage is in! The garage is in!!Tuesday was the big day, when the 24'x30' building arrived by truck, courtesy of Kinninburgh Construction. The first pic shows them coming on the property, apparently about to take out a few trees. In reality, I didn't have to remove any, and they didn't even run any over. The middle picture shows them moving it into place over the slab, and a Montana Highway Patrol car... seems when the guys were moving it over the Flathead River during a rainstorm, some yahoo decided to ignore the flashing lights, the "Oversize Load" sign, and the guy holding a stop sign on the road, flew by, and crashed into the cars that had actually decided to obey the law. The moving guys did everything they were supposed to do; morons will be morons.

The final pic shows the garage bathed in evening light and the end of its first day at its new home. I waited until Monique got home Thursday before putting either vehicle in there.

Thanks and thanks and thanks again to Bill and Yvonne for the garage!

It's ALL about timing

When I was a kid riding in our car, I used to wonder how the world would look if we'd left the house a minute earlier, if that stop light had stayed green another ten seconds. If that car that just passed us from Kansas had changed any one of a thousand points in its journey, I'd have never seen them.

I was reflecting on that idea this weekend, which I often do when I'm back in Spokane. Silas and Lucy, my sister's dobies, were in fine form Thursday and Friday, and this is a moderately rare photo... I actually got them to hold still close to each other. Silas (sitting) looks like he's winking, but it's either a half-blink or (more likely) Lucy spat in his eye to gain an advantage. Lucy's the alpha dog. She's also cute, sweet, demure, and a documented, unapologetic dirty fighter.

I also helped my folks prepare their new garden. It's a huge area, and a completely blank slate. We're still getting frosts here, so our starters are not ready for the great outdoors. They're ready, and we're ready, but the weather is not quite ready. Our little 4'x4' garden bed will be chock full o' green bits, when we can actually get stuff into it.

The world-famous Bloomsday race was Sunday, and it was a glorious morning. I wasn't able to get my usual perch, and had I arrived two minutes earlier, my second-favorite spot would've been open. I took a few pics of wheelchair racers warming up, and the start of the race for the elite women and men, and the wheelchairs.

Micah Kogo won in record time; in the photo below, he's number 103 (on the right). I've never been a runner. I could run fairly fast for a short period, but running -- jogging or sprinting -- has always been a painful, unnatural, un-fun activity.

I appreciate what good runners can do, and it's always fun watching someone who's genuinely gifted at their craft.



And finally, on the way home, I saw this lovely family. I won't say where I came across them, but as soon as she saw me, mama headed back up the hill and the triplets clambered dutifully behind.

Had I left Spokane five minutes earlier or later, I would have missed them. Had I not stopped at St. Regis (and I didn't need to), I would've missed them. Had I driven just a couple miles an hour slower or faster, ... ... ...

Timing.