Spring has come to Missouri!

Oh joy! Spring has come to Missouri!

Bluebird Eggs!!

We have two bluebirds eggs in one of our bluebird boxes!! This is a big deal if you are bird lovers, like we are. But we have other reasons.

Last year, a chickadee took over the bluebird box. There were two or three hatchlings from that batch. Nothing against chickadees, we love them, but it wasn't what we'd planned.

The year before last, we had five bluebird eggs in our bluebird house. They all disappeared one day. One day there were five eggs, the next day there were none. Not even the smallest piece of egg shell. We figure a snake got them. Hence the snake baffle on the house now.

Three years ago, we had two baby bluebirds hatch. It was a miracle to watch.

So you can see why we're excited this year. There are actually bluebird eggs in our bluebird box! Two of them. There could be more, but we aren't looking for a few days. The mama bird lays one a day, so we are going to give her a chance to lay the rest of her eggs undisturbed. We have our snake baffle, so they are more protected than before.

Bluebirds build the most beautiful nests. They are neat and tidy works of art. We've spent the last month watching the bluebird pair fly in and out of the box, each time carrying one sprig of straw or grass inside the small hole.


Here is a photo from a couple weeks ago, showing the papa bluebird resting on top of the birdhouse. You can see the snake baffle below it. You can also see the new bluebird house that sits closer to the creek.


I hope you like bluebirds because I may just have a few more posts about bluebirds this spring!

A Great Neighborhood

I live in a great neighborhood. In September, we have an old-fashioned block party, with police barricades blocking off the cars even. Last year we all had such a good time, we had another one, impromptu without the barriers, but we still sat outside in Nancy's driveway/street with a portable fire pit warming our tootsies and melting marshmallows for S'mores.

From last year's block party:
Jan and Tim set up kid games in their driveway.

From last year's block party:
Warren, Sam, and Tim are playing "Pitch to Sam." Best game on the block!

Take tonight for example, I walked out to take some shots of my blooming daffodils and ornamental cherry tree.

My daffodils are out! You can see Jan with her cane in the background.

Out on our block were Jan and Tim, who live next door, and their darling grandson. Tim was trying to get his lawn mower working. I was glad it didn't work because even though their grass is long, it's so peaceful without that noise. Seems too early to start the eternal mowing racket. Jan was limping around with a cane, her arthritis acting up again. Jacob was trying to play softball with the "big" kids.

Nancy and her two "big" kids, Sam and Maya, and a couple more boys, cousins or buddies of Sam, were playing softball in the driveway/street/Tim-and-Jan's front yard ball field.

Maya in her soccer practice outfit. You can see Linda on the left. Sam in the red hat on the right.

Along came Linda and her little min-pin, Gretchen, taking their nightly walk. We firmed up plans for our weekend "Wine Chat" with Nancy. More on that later. Nancy and I made a gardening date for Saturday.

Before I went back inside--it was getting too cold to be outside without a sweatshirt or jacket--I reminded myself how blessed I am to live in such a great neighborhood.

Then I got cold and went inside, Linda and Gretchen went on down the street, Jan and Tim took Jacob inside, and Nancy and her mob went off to Soccer Practice. The street quieted down.

But I suspect we will all be out there tomorrow night. The kids will be batting more softballs, Jan and Tim will be trying to get their lawn mower working, Gretchen and Linda will come by on their nightly walk, I'll be outside taking more photos and itching to begin that gardening, and Spring will continue to warm our hearts and gardens.

Life is good.

The Creek Revisited

Warren is in St. Louis with our son-in-law, Dan, in the process of getting rained out of the opening game of the Cardinals. I talked to him on his cell phone at the end of the 2nd inning. We were ahead 4-1. Their tickets led them to the top of the top tier. Great seats with a great view he said, and since Warren hates heights, I was impressed by his attitude.

He could see dark clouds in the west and a good wind was bringing them closer, but they were happy just to be there. By the time I got home the game was on hold and was eventually delayed till tomorrow night. I'm wondering if Warren will stay since his tickets will be honored tomorrow night. I'm doubting it since he spent the weekend in the car driving to St. Paul and back, delivering my Dad home.

The Creek in back of our house was calling me when I got home today.

I ran upstairs, quickly changed into jeans and sweatshirt, grabbed my boots out of the garage, and slogged down the hill. I just HAD to get some video of the "raging waters!" I was tempted the last time and this time I was going to get that video!

Here are three videos. The first is upstream at the culvert that brings the water from higher up the hill, under the road, and past our property. The next is right in front of our lower property, by the fence. The last is further downstream, on its way down to the mighty Missouri River.

Here's a great shot of the tree branches that Warren put along the inside edge of the stream. It really looks like they are doing their job of saving that bank!

Here are some more shots of the creek. My buddy, Linda, who is in my Easter dinner photo, came down the hill from her house and we had a good chat. Would have taken a "Sarah" photo of us both, but my camera's batteries died.

Can you see the GREEN leaves sprouting on the branches? Spring really is here! It's not a fluke! My jeans are muddy, my cat's on my lap, and even though Warren is wet and happy in St. Louis, I guess I have found a bit of happiness here in the Capital City. :)

Henbit

No, not hen bit, as in bit by a hen. But in a sense we ARE bit by Henbit. Darn it.

Henbit is a beautiful weed. Aww, you say, it's only a weed in your mind. Only if it's not wanted. Well, that's what it is! Not wanted!

Half our front lawn is covered by Henbit right now.

Most fields around our area are covered by Henbit. Farmers don't seem to bother with it. They just plow it under and kill it off with whatever they use against all the other weeds that threaten their crops.

In our case, Henbit's choking out any grass we might have growing in that half of our front lawn.

It's really pretty up close. From far away Henbit gives a field or lawn a beautiful purple hue. But since Henbit chokes out the nice green grass, I'd say it's a weed and let's fight it. And fight it we've been doing. But every time we spray it, the rains come and wash the weed killer away. So here we sit with another crop of Henbit coming up in defiance of us all.

The straw-covered half of our lawn that isn't smothered in Henbit is newly seeded lawn Warren worked hard on last fall. Even it's showing a bit of Henbit encroachment lately. I hesitate to even mention it to Warren.

Right now, we're resting and relaxing, building up our strength, waiting for the rains to move on. Then we will begin round three--or is it four--fighting the good fight against Henbit!! And I'll bet you got just a little irritated with all those purple Henbit words showing up in this post and are ready to join us!

The Last 10 Days, Part Two

Another sign of spring. I just can't get enough of spring this year. Especially when you consider all the ice we had a few months ago.


But here's the sight to warm a daughter's heart. Here's my 91 year old father walking just three months after total right hip replacement. Way to go, Dad!


Always remember, you're my Favorite Dad!


This one we do the "Sarah" way. Pretty fun, don't you think!

The Last 10 Days

Here's a recap of all the FUN I've had lately, while Mind Blogging.

(1) A couples days after the Creek is Flooding blog, a pile of bikes showed up in the road, as I swung the car around the curve, heading home from work.

A crowd of boys was having the time of their life slogging through the boggy creek bed, discovering treasures and muddying up every article of clothing they had on. I had fun watching them. Are they the ones who got that soccer ball?

I hope so. I'm just glad I'm not the mother of this pack of wild things.

(2) Spring is so definitely here, that I had to take a few shots of the evidence.



(3) It's easy to catch nice photos on quiet days, when just Warren and I and the cats are rattling around the house. It's when four more people come roaring in with suitcases and exciting lives and big plans and lots of stories, that I forget to get out the camera.

First my dear hubby drove up to St. Paul to pick up my father for an Easter visit. He hit snow on the Minnesota border, from 4 to 10 inches around the Twin Cities.


They got back the next day with little to show for it but the traces of salt that covered the car. (No photo of that. But I did THINK about taking that shot!)

(4) We had great times, sitting around the table with family and friends, chatting about so many things. I was lucky to get any photos during this time.


(5) Here's a shot of my three "kids." Dan--Sarah's dear hubby, Sarah, and Ben.


(6) During this time period we also noticed a bluebird pair scouting our bluebird houses. Maybe this year, we'll be blessed with bluebird eggs that hatch!

The male scouts out the box:


The female waits patiently in the redbud:


I'll be back. Things to do. More Mind Blogging to take care of....

The Creek is Flooding

I missed it. I got home too late to see when the creek actually jumped the banks and flooded our lower property. Warren swears it happened and the puddles surrounding the fire pit are proof. But by the time I got home, the rained had slowed down for a couple hours and the water had already receded.

If you look really close at the first photo, you can see puddles of water on the ground this side of the fence. This is a rare event--has only happened a couple time in the 5 1/2 years we've lived here. I think our part of town had over 2 inches of rain in the last 24 hours.

I just shudder to think how much snow that could have been.

And wonder whose soccer ball that is trapped in the tree roots.


We're just happy we armored our stream banks with all the branches we cut down this winter after that horrible ice storm. Since I taught "The Armoring of Stream Banks" as a soil conservation technique in my high school Earth Science class, it seemed like the only thing to do with all those branches. Warren's peeks through the binoculars seems to show the bank on our side holding up rather well to the rushing water. When it dries out a bit, we'll go down there to check it out.

But right now, I'm trying to figure out where I'm going to put everyone this weekend, now that my daughter and her husband, my son, and my father have all decided to visit us for the weekend. What fun!

Oh, and my dear husband has volunteered to drive up to St. Paul to pick up my dad now that flying is no longer something he likes to do. How'd I ever get so lucky!

It was a Warm and Freaky Night...

I have to give you some background. I've been reading a scifi thriller called The Grays by Whitley Strieber. I love scifi. I never get spooked by scifi or any other type of book. Most gore and alien freaknoidness comes across to me as stage makeup and augmentation. (I have a theater background.) For example, the movie Aliens got to me as far as the startle reflex, but it didn't freak me out or carry over into my real life. It didn't bother me much. The Grays is different, I guess. It's got lots of aliens buzzing around people, there but not there. You never know who's human and who's not. What's gonna come at you in the dark. Another bit of background for you. I LIKE the dark. Did even as a little girl. I loved a dark room. Just ask my sister.

So last night, I grab my camera and go out on the dark front porch at about 9 pm. I'm planning to take a photo of the thermometer there that has a freaky temperature for nine o'clock at night in March, even in Missouri. Here, take a look at it:

Pretty neat, huh! I knew rain was coming for tomorrow and maybe even snow this weekend and I just wanted to take a photo of this Sign of Spring.

And here's where it gets freaky. A white pickup truck comes driving down the street, just about when I snap the photo. It slows down just as it passes my driveway, which is to the right and in front of where I am standing in the dark. The dark where this bright light just flashed.

The pickup truck slowed down. Came to a complete stop. I'm a tad uncomfortable at this point.

It sits there for a second or two. Then the driver's side of the truck opens and a man with a flashlight gets out. My comfort level is just about gone right now. I'm frozen. I'm trying to cover the glowing of my camera. I'm not "daring" to open my front door and quietly step back inside. I just stand there and get uncomfortable.

The man with the flashlight walks around the front of the truck and stands under the streetlight that sits right at the edge of our property. A little background here. This streetlight flickers all night long. Our neighbors have called the city to complain and nothing has happened. I don't remember this as I try to melt into the front porch wall. I just wonder if this man is sneaking toward me, blocked from my view by the garage, which juts out beyond the porch.

At this point, I step into the house. Not so quietly. Speed is the main thing on my mind. I lock the door and go to the front window that's the farthest from the door and sneak a peek between the curtains, carefully. The man is still there. There's another man in the passenger side of the truck. They're talking through his open window.

Flashlight Man gets back into the truck. It drives slowly down the street. I go back out onto the porch to take a couple more shots. I can see the truck's lights on the next street over. It comes back around. I don't know if it will turn onto my street again or drive off. It slows down as it gets to my street. Whoa. I get back inside the house and peek out the curtain again.

The truck drives off down the road. I try a giggle to see if I can. It's pretty weak. I'm still uncomfortable.

I gotta stop reading scifi for a while. I'm spooking myself out for no good reason. For heaven's sake. There's gotta be a rational reason for this man to be doing this. Probably a city worker. You can't check out a flickering streetlight in the middle of the day, right? You gotta drive by at night. Gotcha. I know this to be true. Still, I'm freaked out and slightly ashamed of myself. I'm supposed to be this big brave sister. Ha!

Here's a picture I took tonight. You can see the rain has come. Warren's station Jeep is sitting in front of the garage. The streetlight is visible above the St. Patty's Day flag.


I guess inside of each of us is this freakometer, ready to respond to a threat, however real or imagined, however inspired by pulp science fiction. I hope that book from Laurie gets here soon. I'm ready to read about lions and elephants and Africa in the 1930s!

It's "Officially" Spring!

I abhor winter. I search for signs of Spring as early as January. Yup, as soon as the calendar swings around into the new year, I'm ready for Spring. This year, as with last year, we've had lots more winter than Missouri usually sees. So it's been grim around here in my search for the first sign of Spring.

But I now declare, IT'S OFFICIAL, SPRING IS HERE!

I don't care if they had 10 inches of SNOW in St. Louis this Tuesday or 4 inches over on the east side of my town on Wednesday. The blizzards raging through Ohio this weekend don't bother me a bit.


because I've found SPRING!


This little plot is located outside of where I work. It's a 3 x 9 foot patch of raw earth. For a gardener like me, I see a blank canvas waiting to be painted. Just last week, I was telling Warren how we were going to come over here soon on a weekend and level the dirt out and start PLANTING!

I've walked past this garden plot every day, dreaming and planning, looking at the dirt, wondering if it was old construction fill or if it has any topsoil with nutrients in it or if we'd have to haul some good earth over here along with the bulbs and seeds and mulch. I'm thinking we can split out some of my most prolific perennials and bring them here.

Then a couple of days ago, a faint shimmer of GREEN caught my eye as I walked up the ramp. I stopped in my tracks. What is that? Oh, wow! It's green! Some thing's growing in Missouri! Even though the green is weeds, I don't care. My long quest for a sign of Spring is over. I don't have to look anymore.

SPRING IS HERE!

Never mind the blizzards, people. The snow has already melted in St. Louis. It will melt in Ohio, too. Spring has definitely grabbed hold of the calendar and even though winter is not giving up without a fight, I know now that Spring will prevail.

Let's hear it for SPRING!