Somewhere

A week ago Sunday we could see the full arc of a rainbow from my sister's front door. So we're looking across the street at a neighbor's house with the rainbow above it.

Back yard happenings

Yes, spring continues to spring. Today has been especially wonderful. After weeks of rain and chill (in the 50°s Fahrenheit) we have had some sun and warmth (mid- to upper 60°s Fahrenheit). It's practically balmy. Tomorrow will be similar, but starting to cloud up, and then we'll be back to rain and chill for the foreseeable future. Hopefully, this brief interlude of kindly weather will give us renewed strength as we carry on.

My forsythia is fuller than ever. 

Behind it, the trees are not yet showing any buds. This is why we appreciate having a forsythia. I sat out on the deck for a while this afternoon, and enjoyed the warmth. We get some noise from the businesses on the other side of the creek.

The Darigold milk-drying tower (which turns milk into powdered milk) is a muffled roar, while Vander Griend lumberyard provides the sounds of lumber dropping onto hard surfaces, trucks beeping as they back up, and the like. 

Vander Griend has improved in one way since last year. Their property used to extend to the creek, but they arranged with the city to remove a creekside building and stretch their works out longer in the other direction. This left room for the city to install a new section of Lynden's Jim Kaemingk, Senior, Trail. It's named after my Uncle Jim, for many years on the town council and also serving as mayor. Anyway, Vander Griend's change of footprint involved tearing down an ugly metal building that was heavily graffitied and which was always on view from my yard during the winter when the trees had no leaves to hide it from sight.

I zoomed in a bit to show the trail. On my side of the creek, the ground is lower, at the level of the forsythia. (My back yard is a flood plain.) The opposite side is several feet higher, and that's where the trail runs. I've pointed out where a group of kids is walking. You can't see the surface of the trail, but you can see the people using it.

Behind the kids, you can see a row of shrubs that I hope will grow tall enough to make even more of a screen for the lumberyard.

While I was sitting in an Adirondack chair in the sun, my herb barrel was at my elbow. It has parsley, sage, rosemary, and ... chives. I need to add some thyme. What I planted last year didn't thrive.

And so the world keeps turning.

Spring is springing

 I believe I've shared before that my dad claimed that his favorite poem was:

Spring has sprung.

The grass has riz.

I wonder where the birdies is.

Well, spring hasn't entirely sprung yet, but it's springing. Here are three signs of spring from my yard and deck.

1. My forsythia is getting some yellow blooms. I planted forsythia for the exact reason that it brings some color in early spring, when we're longing for it.

2. My honeysuckle is starting to leaf out. At the end of last summer, this plant was looking pretty leggy and straggly. I cut it back severely, not knowing if it would even come back. It's not a spring chicken. (Har. I crack myself up.) Perhaps it will recover.

3. Some tulips are sending up leaves. I bought myself some tulips in a pot last year. When they were done, I just left the pot sitting on my deck. Now it looks like I'll get some blooms out of the deal.

Welcome, spring. 

Silly dogs

So I’m just sitting quietly at my desk, minding my own business, when my dogs start barking, Vociferously. I see that my nephew is driving the lawn mower back and forth, to mulch the leaves in the yard. I open the door and, according to their custom, Benedict and Rosamund rush outside, barking. Vociferously.

Benedict: Barking is my almost-favorite thing (second only to treats).

Beatrice, who is clever, has been pretending that she too wants to run outside, but when the door is open she hangs back. She knows that if the other two are not around to act jealous, I will let her cuddle up to me while I hold her in the crook of my arm. So I close the door and sit with Beatrice at my desk.

Beatrice: All I want is to be warm and cozy.

Soon the outdoor barking stops, even though my nephew is still driving the lawnmower. I peep out the window in the door and there are Benedict and Rosamund wanting to come back in. I let them in and they rush to the couch and armchair and start barking towards the window. Although they are not clever, they are not entirely without intelligence, and they have decided it’s much more enjoyable to bark in a warm room while standing on cushy furniture than to bark outside in the cold. I open the door to see if they’ll go outside again, but they come running just to stand by the open door and bark from there.

Rosamund: I'm just a hyper little dog.

So I pick up a bag of treats and lead all three of them down the hall, reward them for going into their crates, shut the crate doors, and give them each a chewstick. I close the blinds and leave the room, closing the door behind me, hoping they will settle down to a nap. That’s where they are now. The lawnmower is put away and all is quiet indoors and out, except every so often Benedict gives a yell. Quiet, boy.