April

It appears the cold front that blew through the first week of April froze Joyce’s apricots. The day before she showed me the thumb-sized (to first knuckle) fruit. We had a pretty good freeze in late March which they apparently survived but the early-April freeze, though about the same low temperature (27°), ruined a promising crop. Maybe fruit is more sensitive to temperature than blossoms. Anyway, Joyce is disappointed to say the least. She has never gotten but maybe four or five apricots since the tree was planted and it looked like this might be the year for a nice crop.

A couple of mornings after the that cold front had passed, the day dawned frosty, sunny and still. I fired up my weed burner and experimented with burning wild onions. I haven’t found a herbicide that has any effect on them and there are far to many in the pasture to dig out by hand. Mowing them down after they blossom my reduce the rate of spread but otherwise has no effect other than making the mower smell like onions which makes the shop smell all to be damned. If I can just find a feasible way to kill them over time I think I could eventually get them under control. Burning might be the solution but the conditions have to be just right. A prairie fire might help but would have considerable downside.

Kari reported seeing a squadron of mallard drakes, six I think she counted, descend on the pond. I saw the tail end of the squadron and knew there were more than two drakes but didn’t realize there were six. Otherwise the same pair is usually all there is.

Meanwhile out at the Bluff it was beautiful sunny morning. There was a mockingbird in the mesquite next to where I park my pickup and it was singing its heart out. No doubt staking out its territory was behind all its singing so when it caught sight of itself in the side mirror next to its tree, the battle was on. Where I was working was some ways away but every time I took something to the dumpster I would see the mockingbird and its reflection going at it. That was amusing but it seems there is more to a mockingbird scuffle than flapping and squawking. When I finished up and got into my pickup I noticed the mirror and the lower part of the window next to were smeared with, well, white bird excrement. I guess that silly bird figured if it couldn’t drive its rival off it would cover it up so it couldn’t see it.

It was a group effort on the Saturday before Easter as Joyce, Rebecca, Chris and I pitched in to clean the lily pool. This was a thorough cleaning where the lilies in their baskets, the fish, and all dirt and debris are removed along with the water. The baskets were old and beginning to break down so we repotted the lilies in new baskets and replaced them along with the fish in the fresh water we filled the pool with. For now the water is crystal clear and really shows off the fish. Unfortunately the large one that had been in residence for years expired over the winter but the smaller fish aren’t so small anymore. Even the really small ones I added last spring are now a respectable size.

The week of Sunday April 12th started out with a cold, cold wind and snow on that Monday and Tuesday. Since outdoor work was out of the question, Joyce and I hunkered down with a nice fire, cups of hot chocolate and the TV to entertain us. By Wednesday the sun came out and I was able to spend the morning getting a few thing done at the Bluff. It was either that day or the next Joyce saw the first hummingbird of the season and scrambled to get feeders out. That bird likes to perch high up in the leafless pistache visible from our sky room on the east side of the house and isn’t noticeable unless we see him light on a limb.

The director of the Bluff applied for a milkweed grant and received the flat of 50 milkweed seedlings Thursday of that week. Joyce and I planted them on the following Saturday. For several of my weekly visits prior I spent some time preparing holes so we were able to plant them in a few hours. It will be interesting to see what the survival rate is. I would be pleased if half survived.

Yesterday (Saturday 4/25) a couple of geese were spotted out in the pasture. Geese fly over the place all the time on their to and from who knows where, but they don’t, or at least they haven’t, stopped on SA. It is with mixed emotion, you know like when your 15-year old daughter comes home at 3 in the morning with a Gideon bible under arm, that I view visiting geese. One or two, maybe even half a dozen would be acceptable but not the numbers that can visit an area. If they confined themselves to the pasture, well, maybe the fertilizer they left behind would be helpful. On the other hand, they could get into mischief, particularly if large numbers decided SA would be a good place to hang out.

While observing the geese, Rebecca found a dead possum about the size of a rat in the pasture. I blame cats of which there are many around. A fox would have consumed it while a cat or cats would just kill for sport.

I am skeptical of the way the various levels of government have handled the Covid-19 outbreak. W could both use a haircut but otherwise Joyce and I haven’t been much troubled by it. Many are not so fortunate. I sympathize with the many people who have lost there source of income. Those who have the fewest resources have been hit the hardest. Others have simply been inconvenienced. Government is being criticized for a one-size-fits-all approach and justifiably, so in my view. Of course that’s the problem with government generally: sclerotic, slow to adapt, heavy handed, etc. This, too, shall pass but how long it will take and how much unnecessary suffering is inflicted, only time will tell.