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Every morning for the past week I’ve woken up to honking. Not inner city traffic and pissed off commuters, but honking all the same.
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Canada geese are on their way north, and the river behind our house is a veritable goose super highway. No need for an alarm clock when these fellows are overhead…. they’re loud!
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Large groups and small, for the first hour after dawn the sky is full of travelers.
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A raucous and sure sign spring is on the way.
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❤️
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Someone needs to invent the technology and WordPress needs to adopt it.
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Because our apple trees are in full bloom and the scent is beyond heavenly.
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I wish the pictures did them more justice.
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The white and pink blossoms really pop in person.
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And from the looks of the quantity, it’s going to be an autumn filled with pie.
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And cobbler, and torte, and crisp, and cake, and muffins…
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Well, you get the idea.
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This time of year brings the return of warmer temperatures, green grass and two of my favorite things.
They’re baaaaack!
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Well, at least one of them is. Our first returning woodchuck has made an appearance in the back yard. Let the games begin.
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And speaking of games….
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Red Sox baseball is back and available for viewing in the newly used to be a barn filled with crap remodeled man cave.
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Yes, watching my favorite team at my beloved Fenway Park while perched at our private bar sipping a cocktail is the very definition of sweet.
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The first few games? Not so much. Pitching will be a problem this year and getting swept by the Orioles on our home turf was depressing to say the least. But we whooped Florida and swept Baltimore in their home park. Life is good.
😉
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We had some lovely weather this weekend and it felt good to open the windows for the first time this year.
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As you can see….
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We weren’t the only ones who enjoyed the sunshine and warm breezes.
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Dudley, who so far has been an indoor only cat, got his first whiff of spring.
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And I do believe he’s hooked.
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He went from window to window and totally flipped out when he heard the birds he’s always cackling about.
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In our backyard, in April?
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That can get pretty noisy.
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In the continuing saga that is my kitchen calendar ( Bless you my loyal readers, the content here at River’s World is sometimes less than thought provoking ) we have now arrived at April.
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The rodent featured this month seems to be knee deep in a pagan celebration of spring. But seeing that we live in Maine, where May can bring snow …. our resident red bitch from Hell is probably not celebrating in kind.
No, more than likely she’s gathering up dead grasses and leaves in anticipation of building a nest for her future demon offspring in our one of our eaves.
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The battle continues.
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Because our buck is sticking around with his family this year and I’m enjoying his weird head.
We always see him with his impressive rack in the fall….
But rarely in the spring when they start to grow back.
It really is a strange process.
Yes, I’m talking about you.
The weather was perfect.
75 degrees with bright sunshine and a gentle breeze.
We’d spent the day mowing and trimming and weeding….
And everything looked perfect.
Lilacs were cut for vases and perfumed the air with the scent of a long awaited spring.
And we ended the day with adult beverages on the big barn porch…. where the only thing to worry about was walking back inside for refills.
Life is good.
Thankfully the eau de la cow pie fragrance is dissipating and something more wonderful is taking it’s place.
It started like this…
And then…
Boom!
Apple blossoms.
And if you’ve never stuck your head right up inside a tree and sniffed?
What are you waiting for!
We have 4 such trees.
And they’re glorious.
It started out well enough, with a sighting of a beloved yet rarely seen visitor.
This time he was across the street, walking along the edge of our neighbor’s farm.
He’s a beautiful ring necked pheasant we named Phineas.
They’re not native to Maine and can’t survive the winters, but a man up the road raises them and occasionally one or two will break free. Last year, Phineas brought his woman to our backyard. She was looking for a nesting site… but we never did see any chicks.
Later on in the day….
Saturday, May frickin‘ 9th?
We had ducks.
And snow.
This is the first time we’ve ever had mallards.
Sadly….it isn’t the first time we’ve had snow in May.
The ducks stayed quite a while, raiding the droppings from the bird feeders and the leftover deer grain.
And then a friend joined them.
A fowl day for sure.
Spring has been a long time coming and I’m way behind on my garden work.
By this time I’ve usually got all the beds cleaned out and a few flowers blooming.
This year?
I’ve got weeds.
And random spikey things.
I spent 3 hours today getting rid of both.
I also reseated the brick border and tackled a bit of the bush from Hell.
If anyone ever asks if you want a flowering quince? Run.
Run far, and fast.
Preferably after you punch them in the throat for suggesting it in the first place.
Ours was here when we moved in and we’ve been battling it ever since. It grows over the roof each season and has roots that are 300 friggin’ feet deep. We’ve tried to dig it up, burn it out and hack it down to nubs numerous times.
I believe it likes the challenge….. and comes back stronger every time.
Did I mention it’s also full of thorns?
Good times.
I did 6 beds in the back and on the side of the house and felt good….
Until….
I turned over a brick and disturbed an ant nest. Within seconds those little suckers were crawling all over me and I had to run for a hose.
I rinsed most of them off but not before a few crawled up my pant leg.
Sadly, yes…. there were.
And the little bastards bit me too.
River's world..... 