Summer is Icumen In

Oh, yeah, it's coming, even though it's in the 20's at night, even though we woke up to an inch of snow this morning. School had a two-hour delay, and we walked slowly out to the mailbox, scaring a big flock of crows out of the enormous oak that guards our driveway. Chet thought for a moment he could take wing and join them, and he bounded through the meadow, leaping and twisting in his attempt to become airborne.

We were early, and we had time to romp around with Chet before the bus came. How we love this giant oak.

Some sure signs of spring on Indigo Hill include

farm daffodils abloom. We salvaged these from the side of the Rt. 77 interchange at Marietta. They still come up on land that used to belong to Bill's great uncle and grandmother, and is now part of a cloverleaf and Kroger complex. Sigh. Think how many decades these daffodils have been blooming, how many more decades they will come up. And now they come up on our farm, which is as it should be.

Heliotrope turning dark purple. When I bring my heliotrope into the greenhouse in October, it turns pale purple. It doesn't turn dark again until the sun gains intensity in March. It's turning dark!


Turkeys courting. I think there were 19 in this group. I love the electric blue and red of the gobblers' heads when they're aroused.


And a subtle but sure one: A pair of white-breasted nuthatches feeding side by side. Nuthatches are companionable little things, but they have to be in love to be this close.

Zick, buried in receipts and pay stubs. It's tax time. I will not bore you with a picture of THAT. But I am a little bit proud of myself for finally pulling the trigger on my taxes today. The carrot I held out for myself, to make myself tackle it, was finally finding out how much I spent on a certain Boston terrier in his first year with us. All I can say is o h m y g o o d n e s s. Certain things must remain confidential. But I am wondering how on earth those dogs lazing around on Whipple's shanty porches manage to survive without $600 worth of veterinary care.
Maybe there's something going on here I need to look into.