Lots of rain

Further bulletins as events warrant.

Nightmare on Boring Street

Last night, I foolishly stayed up late (just fiddling around on the web--not, of course, accomplishing anything useful, just wasting my time) and then I woke up early this morning and felt irritable all day. I finally took a little nap after my dog's evening meal and walk (for which he had been agitating for hours, apparently believing that because I came home and let him out of his box at about 1:00 in the afternoon, it still meant food and a walk, like it does when I come home from work at 5:30 on weekdays--I was so cranky that when we came in I crabbed at him, "Now you're good for the night and you don't have to bother me any more"; he looked up at me so puzzled and with such big eyes that my annoyance became tinged with remorse and I petted him a little to try to make amends).

"Are you implying that I could ever be a bother?"

While napping I had a stressful dream. I dreamed my brother, who lives nearly 3,000 miles away but who is coming to visit soon, had made an appointment for a hearing at the local district court and had asked me, because I am a paralegal, to submit the correct forms and make sure everything was lined up. I dreamed I had assumed he submitted the correct forms but I was realizing I may have needed to check and correct them and that I might have needed to confirm his hearing with the district court clerk's office, but had thought I didn't need to. My co-worker was in my dream, helping me try to figure it out, and I realized my brother had scheduled his court business for two days but that one of the days was Memorial Day, so he would either have to reschedule or only have the second day. I was looking through calendars and court rule books. It was about then that I woke up on my living room couch, feeling overheated and worried.

In waking life, my brother's visit is not for a couple weeks yet and he has no business to conduct with any court while he's here (as far as I know), and there is nothing I need to confirm, correct, or reschedule. The dream was a mishmash of home and work anxieties,  with that dream effect that wherever you look for information or help is the wrong place. Phew. It took me a few moments to convince myself that my anxiety had no basis in reality.

Re-reading the story of my dream above, I realize that the nightmares of a legal assistant, while terrifying to experience, come across as rather boring in the telling. No monsters, no violence, just calendars and court rules. Any other person would fall asleep during that dream.

Bunny tale

A week ago or so, I saw a bunny in someone's front yard while I was walking my dog. A couple days ago, I saw two bunnies in someone else's front yard, just a few houses away. I wonder if in a few more days I'll see four bunnies, then eight, and so on. That is the reputation rabbits have.

My dog, who ignores squirrels, would have been willing to chase the rabbits if I hadn't had him on a leash.

Nimrod

Pleasant lines

Feeling good today! I fulfilled my springtime ambition and visited Hi Hoe Nursery this afternoon. I didn't have my camera, but I took a few pictures with my phone. After I got home, I was e-mailing the pictures to myself when my phone battery died. Here are as many as I received from myself so far.

A little bridge in the "Hydrangea Walk"

Remarkably large hostas (bear sculpture in the background)

Sweet mossy bench

Shrubs and trees for sale

A week ago Friday, I stopped at the Garden Spot on my way home from work, so I have two nursery visits of plants to get in pots. I was working on my deck this evening and was delighted by the contrast between how I felt today and how I felt a couple weeks ago. Then when I even moved a couple flower pots from here to there, I had to sit and rest because I was exhausted. This evening I was moving things not only from here to there but also hither and yon, and not getting tired at all. In fact I'd still be at it now if the sun hadn't gone down.

When I came back from my evening walk with the dog, I looked at my house and yard and thought about the job I like so much and tried to recollect the line of the Psalm: "My lines have fallen in pleasant places." Actually it's "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage" (Psalm 16:6). It's true!

Cottontail

While walking the dog this morning, I saw a bunny rabbit in a neighbor's yard not too far from here. It sat perfectly still, and my dog did not notice it. I wonder where it lives.

Spring fever

It's been a rather sickly spring for me. Around March 15th, I believe it was, I started to have nasal congestion and related issues. Since then, I really have not been without them. Sometimes it's worse and I think I've got a cold and sometimes it's better and I think I'm getting well, then it gets worse again. This week, my doctor has decided to treat my allergies aggressively. I am using fluticasone, a steroid nasal spray, and taking a week of Prednisone, also a steroid.

Steroid suppress the immune system and, since allergies are basically the immune system gone wild, that makes sense.

Yesterday and today, I've had some crazy coughing fits that tire me right out, so I hope that stops now.

What's particularly frustrating is that this weekend we had beautiful warm weather and I really wanted to make my first big outing to Hi Hoe Nursery, but I just didn't have the energy. I have barely started to clean my deck up.

A little at a time, I am scraping the moss from between the cracks...

...and sweeping it into a pile, then disposing of it.

I have straggling and dead plants from last summer that I need to trim or get rid of.

I am hoping to have it at least neat and clean, if not blooming, by Sunday, Mother's Day. I traditionally host our family's Mother's Day celebration so that the mothers can relax. If the weather's nice, we could sit out there a bit.

I just looked at the 7-day forecast, and it says it will cool down and rain by next weekend. At least that would take the pressure off needing to be ready for outdoor entertaining.

We'll see. Those longer-range forecasts are not always correct.

Below, my dog demonstrates how to enjoy a deck.

First, relax.

Next, doze.

And that's really all there is to it.

Fragrant, fleeting lilacs

Well, my major preoccupations this week have been my sinuses and the weather, two topics I blog about too much, so I'll spare you.

Spring is making progress, however. Sunday night at a Bible study we were commenting that lilacs were already starting to bloom. That was a smidge early. I believe my sister-in-law says that every year but one her lilac has bloomed by May 8, so it was perhaps a week early to have it start April 28. We also discussed how quickly the lilac bloom season is over. They are always past their best by Memorial Day. I know that because I have sometimes thought it would be nice to put some lilacs on my flower-loving grandma's grave on Memorial Day, but they are never good enough any more. On the other hand, my sister-in-law often brings me a fragrant vase full of lilacs on Mother's Day, when I host the Mother's Day lunch for our family so that the mothers don't have to fix the food.

From Spring 2012. This year's blooms are not quite this full yet.