SPRING SURPRISE

During a warm week in late March, I was doing some garden cleanup, weeding and such.  I was rummaging around my little potting bench looking for the nasturtium seeds I had harvested in the fall when I moved a plastic bag which had been shoved to the back of a shelf.  Out burst a little bird squawking at me.

 I was startled, then curious.  Why was there a little bird hiding in a plastic bag?
 Apparently it made a nice nesting spot because there were 5 jelly bean sized eggs in a tiny nest inside the bag.  I pushed it back as best I could to it's original spot and vowed to leave it alone.

Yeah, right.  I was peeking in every few days to see if the mommy bird had returned and then to see the progress.  I was alerted to the baby birds by the most adorable peeping comping from the bag - that time I did not peek.  But a week later I couldn't help myself and took a look at the ugly little things (Wiki calls them naked and helpless) squirming around in the nest.  Then I kept my vow for another week or so.

Last Sunday I was working in the yard and saw the mommy bird fly out and took another peek.  I startled one of the babies which caused it to hop out of the nest and flutter and hop into the nearby bushes.  I felt terrible.  Had I doomed this little bird which obviously could not fly back home?

I fretted all afternoon until I noticed that the adult birds were hopping and flying around in the bushes and soon there were several (I couldn't count how many) little birds hopping and trying to fly around in the bushes.  They were all peeping and the sound was just so joyful.  They all seem to have made their way back to the nest and I SWEAR I will not interfere again.

I determined that they are House Wrens and that they babies should be leaving the nest within the week, and they did.  So glad my curiosity didn't do any damage, though I miss them!

FRIDAY FAST ONES

1.)  I am still adjusting to the new job, still really like it but come home tired every night.  I am hitting the gym 2

times a week on my way home but thinking maybe going more often might up my stamina?  The housing market in the Bay Area is going gangbusters and the staging business is hopping - so that means we are on the run all day, every day to keep up!

I did turn in my vacation schedule today - off to Idaho for a family thing at the end of July.

2.)  I am happy that I am able to collapse in the evenings in front of one of my favorite shows - So You Think You Can Dance!  It is such a positive and uplifting show and Tom and I have been laughing and cheering through the current audition shows.

I am not a big basketball fan - but Tom has been watching our Golden State Warriors win many more games than anyone thought possible!

3.)  This Saturday we are going to ride our bikes into Livermore and watch the Amgen Tour stage 7 start in the downtown area before they head up Mt Diablo for a day of hill climbing!  The riders arrive and mingle with the crowds for an hour before the start, there will be a parade and booths, etc. They are also going to have big screen TV's so they can televise the riders on the route.  No sure we will hang out all day but it should be fun to be a part of the Tour de California!

4.)  I am hoping to take down the tarps and get my mosaic area up and running for the season.  I have missed my hobby time.

5.)  I hope Spring smells good where you are!  I am loving the gardenias outside our office and the jasmine in my yard makes my whole house smell wonderful each evening.

FRIDAY FAST ONES

1.)  Just did a little chair dance with sound effects when I saw that John Irving has a new novel coming out next month.  I so love his books.  This while I have a new Ann Tyler waiting for me in my Nook.  Oh the riches of the Spring publishing season!

2.)  Speaking of Spring.  I provide this public service reminder:  When you put on that first slathering of self tanner, remember to wash well with soap.  I was very tired that evening and suffered the oddly stained hands for several days.  My legs looked pretty good, though.

3.)   Thursday was Hilda's Sweet Sixteenth birthday - it cost me $100.00.  Not because she figured out how to shop online or order Pay Per View but because she was lonely and barking and our grouchy neighbor would rather call the police than close his windows ( she is in our house with all of ours closed)
or call us on our cell phones, which we have asked him to do.  One more reason to move...

4.)  Jen on the Edge enlightened me to the eBay way to snag current styles shoes at discounted prices.  I am watching for the black and white ballet flats of my desire to drop under $80.00.  I had no idea that people had current styles on eBay -  am losing my shoppers touch!

5.)  We had such a mild winter here that I keep forgetting that it isn't even May yet.  I have gotten so many warm weather projects done already.  I refurbished my BBQ with new innards and scrubbed off the grease and crud.  I have planted a lime tree, a hibiscus and several herbs and annuals.  This weekend I hope to untarp my mosaic area and get to work making this:

Except covered with colorful tiles!

SUFFERING FOR THE FIRST TIME



The culprit...



For the past 5 days I have experienced something I never thought would happen to me.

Allergies.

I am suddenly beset by sneezing, sniffling, coughing, eyes watering, post nasal drip and general malaise.  I understand why they call people with allergies "sufferers."

And apparently it takes a week or so for the Claritin or whatever to make a dent in the symptoms.  I usually throw my windows open and deeply inhale the wonderful scents of my garden this time of year.  The jasmine and the wisteria are just bursting into bloom and here I am thinking of purchasing those particle filtering masks just to make it through the day!

I am taking odds on whether the allergy meds will take effect before whatever is blooming is done - one way or the other I know it will be over soon and I will be able to enjoy the Spring again.

FRIDAY FAST ONES

1.) Our domestic energy sources of power are not looking so cheap lately - especially to the families of the now 36 workers lost this month alone. We need to be willing to pay more for such a dangerously extracted commodity.

2.) In a telephone job "pre-interview" I was asked what my personal motto was - I went blank. My family just laughed at me because I had just had this saying made for my license plate holder: We are made kind by being kind.

Instead all I could think of was something I used to say to my kids "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." which is a way of saying Do the Right Thing. Which would have been a better personal motto. Geez. Hope that isn't why I didn't make it to the interview stage for that job!

Do you have a personal motto? (That is appropriate for a job interviwer?!)

3.) We keep having a few days of warm and sun and then a few more of cold and rain. It is making me a little crazy. Today is a sunny day so I am out to plant a few things that didn't get into the ground before the last round of rain. Hope it is spring where you are!

FRIDAY FAST ONES

1.) I have such bad Spring Fever that I have doubled up on my lottery ticket purchases to increase my chances of winning and never having to work again. Why is it that I am getting calls for jobs now that the weather is so nice? Don't I sound like a spoiled teenager?

2.) I am really close to ignoring the news from now on. I just get so upset and discouraged by our government, the crazy right winger/tea bagger people and the party leaders who will not admit that they are crazy AND the media that focuses on such stupid, gossipy non -of-our-business crap and ignores the really important things.

I could go on and on but listening to Sarah Palin saying that the "mainstream media" was making up the brick throwing, spitting and verbal attacks on public officials , this after she posted names of congress people with rifle cross-hairs next to them and the slogan "Don't retreat - reload" was just too much for me. Why doesn't anyone stand up and call her out as the smarmy liar that she is???? John McCain deserves to lose his seat for getting involved with her again.

3.) Ally and I survived the long haul of shopping for a Junior Prom dress. We found something she loves that is both affordable and not too flesh baring. In fact, since her boyfriend is a Senior, we found another dress, on sale for half price which fit her perfectly and was a more mature, Senior Ball look, so we bought that too. We were really pleased with ourselves. We stopped in to have a salad and iced tea ( the Prom dress is snug and requires a few pounds be trimmed from the waistline...) and chatted about things including our upcoming trip to Philly for Maggie's graduation.

Suddenly it dawned on Ally - is the Senior Ball the same day we are going to Philadelphia? A call to a friend affirmed - yes. SAME DAY. Non-exchangeable, non-refundable tickets for the trip. Dress not returnable. Dad unmovable about letting her stay home anyway. Her boyfriend really unhappy, Ally really unhappy. Sigh.

DO I REALLY WANT A JOB NOW?

We are experiencing a string of glorious early spring days. Temperatures in the 70's, trees in bloom everyone walking around with grins on their faces. The kind of day that makes you happy to be unemployed.

Of course, this is when I get a call for a job interview! So I got dressed up and left the lovely day outside the door of the office building. And then was led into a windowless conference room where I spent the next hour and a half. It was a good interview. Not exactly the sort of work I want to do, but good pay and benefits, and it is in my town, so no commute. Big pluses.

So -now I wait to hear. He has to interview some internal candidates...in the meantime, I get to enjoy this great weather!

A SPRING TEASE

We are having a little glimpse of Spring here in the Bay Area. After being enveloped in lingering damp grayness since December, it has warmed up o the mid-sixties and the sky is impossibly blue.

I saw patches of yellow daffodils and some flowering plum trees in blossom. People are out walking, riding bikes, tops are down on cars, dogs are being trotted around the park. I suspect the sale of sunglasses rose a bit in the local shops.

I cleaned off the BBQ last night and grilled a flank steak for my Valentine. And I barely complained at all about going to Ally's soccer game, I just turned my face into the warm sun and soaked up the vitamin D.

REASONS I AM LOVING SPRING

The Bay Area is experiencing a large migration of Painted Lady Butterflies. The little orange butterflies have been fluttering past and stopping in gardens to dine for the past several days. They have come up from the Southern California desert on their way to the Pacific Northwest. Seeing them careen through the skies is magical fun.

Last Spring I bought a freesia plant to put on the dining room table. I have loved the scent of the flowers since I was introduced to them in my friend's bridal bouquet - what is it now, Chris? Twenty-five years ago? When the flowers were spent, I planted the bulbs in the garden with no real expectation that they would come up this year - but they did. I now have a very fragrant little vase of them on my desk.

Last weekend I planted my Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes and another kind I can't remember of salad tomatoes. I planted parsley, basil and tarragon, too. I threw around some nasturtium seeds which usually yield a few nice trailing plants that serve, in part as ground cover and also make the veggie garden look nice. I like to grow Roma tomatoes, but my space is too small in this yard, so those come from the Farmer's Market all summer.

This year I remembered to buy snail bait. Last year my first basil was eaten down to the stems overnight! I had planted marigolds around my tomatoes last year to keep the tomato worms at bay - but they came anyway. I usually just pick them off, but I may resort to chemicals this year.

I had my first whiff of wisteria this morning. We have a huge wisteria plant that entwines itself through anything and everything. Tom calls it a killer because it has taken over a neighboring tree. Last year made it's way to our upstairs deck and was trying to find a gap in the slider and into our room! I had to hack it back to the railings. Then it found the drainpipe and wound it's way up to the roof. I cut the tendrils, but it is wound so tight I haven't been able to pull it all off yet.

I think it is worth it just to smell those flowers in the spring. Heavenly.