Out

See this step?  This is where fate kicked me in the ankle on April Fool's Day and consigned me to Couch-land for 6 weeks.  I've been kind of eyeing it out of the corner of my eye every time I pass by, checking to see if it's wet or icy or dry or... plotting another diabolical attack on my freedom.  I decided when the doc set me back on both feet on Monday that this weekend I was going to conquer that step.

And I did.  I gathered up all my tools and accoutrements for bird feeder filling and rhubarb cutting, and went out.  I used my walker, not a cane, and got across the nice, dry rug to the nice, dry patio easy peasy, then I got busy and filled all the feeders, dumped and refilled the birdbath, even cut some rhubarb so Durwood and I can make an Old Fashioned Rhubarb Pudding Cake later today.

It was absolutely delightful being outside to see the new, bright green things popping up all over.  The fern fronds unfurling, the bleeding hearts blossoms, lilacs, the lone garden tulip, even the volunteer violets and dandelions in the grass.  ("dandelions are flowers too, Dad.")  I couldn't get enough of it all.  I even took up the mantle of "Crabby Neighbor Lady" when the neighbor's kid came over to show me his light saber and try to tell me that styrofoam grows if you plant it.  He kept darting in front of me and making me afraid I'd fall so I shooed him away.  Not my favorite role but he was harshing my mellow so I vamoosed him.










I even got the oriole feeder from the garage, assembled the new, even orange-er feeder I bought last year, and got the whole thing put outside and filled--so the finches and squirrels could have first crack at the jelly goodness.  Durwood had to chase away one squirrel that he said was just sitting in the jelly dish.  That can't have felt good--or maybe it did.  Ew.

 

As soon as I had everything filled, the suet-raiding robin came to nab a few choice morsels, and what I think is a Chipping Sparrow came to clean up fallen thistle seed.  While I rested before filling the oriole feeder I saw a big shape fly into a tree behind the house.  I squinted up and saw a hawk, so I got out my camera and zoomed and zoomed, using my walker to hold steady, and got a couple recognizable pix.  There were a lot of blurry shots but in a few you could actually see the bird.  I'm not sure what kind of hawk it was but I just love that I get to see them right out my window.
 







 





May 15--Mark Duran, BT-1003 V

The sun lit fire to the sky.
Bruised clouds curl around
yellow-orange sulphurous glow.
Laser beams pierce gaps,
try to ignite the placid bay.
Jagged teeth of an old pier
menace unwary sailors,
catch the setting sun's light
in its maw.
~~~~~

Oh, I knitted last night too.  I finished May Preemie Hat #3 and cast on #4.  Here's a picture of #3, I haven't taken one of #4 yet, it's too little.  The sun's playing peekaboo so it looks warm out there.  It isn't.  According to my phone (and everyone knows a phone is the last word in weather info) it's 49 degrees.  Forty-nine on May 15.  I have no words.
--Barbara