Chris got his panties in a twist over two mallard drakes together in the pond. He suspects them of the love that dare not say its name. I like to think they are brothers, yearlings, yet to take a mate, just hanging out, two young bachelors doing the bachelor thing. I haven’t seen the mallard pair together lately though I think I’ve seen the drake by himself. I conclude that because he isn’t as skittish at my presence as the bachelor brothers. I seem to remember a similar pattern from previous years. At first it was the pair, the drake and the hen. Then we wouldn’t see much of the hen. Maybe she’s sitting on a nest somewhere. If she is, hubby ought to be staying close by to protect the family, but maybe they’ve got it handled. They’ve been doing it for several years now and no doubt know better than I how to proceed.
Wednesday at the Bluff I was fiddling with a mower trying to get it started when I felt an ominous presence. I looked up and saw this fellow sneaking up on me. Actually, I think he was uncomfortable with the situation. He was still when I saw him, probably thinking to himself, ” Aw hell, what is that?!” He was a handsome fellow but I don’t know what kind he was. I’ve never seen one like him before. My guess is some variety of king snake. After taking a picture, I went back to tinkering with the mower. When I looked up again he was gone.
Last fall Joyce helped Rebecca collect some swallow-tail butterfly chrysalises to take to school. There were several batches of larvae on the fennel in one of our beds so eventually there were a number of chrysalises. Joyce and Rebecca were thinking the kids could watch them emerge as butterflies but they wouldn’t hatch so Rebecca brought them back home after a few days and kept them in jars in the garage. Now they are emerging and Rebecca has taken the butterflies to school for show-and-tell, after which she brings them home and releases them.
Rebecca started tennis lessons Saturday. A local fellow who is a former tennis pro started a league, I guess you would call it. Kari said they were hoping to have 100 kids sign up but had to stop enrollment when they hit 500.
Kari and I went for a hike to the Lighthouse in Palo Duro Canyon Saturday morning. It was supposed to be a guided hike to examine new spring growth. PDC is a very popular place on a pleasant spring Saturday morning and we encountered traffic delays. When we arrived at the trail head about 10 minutes late the group seemed to have already shoved off so we just hiked to the Lighthouse, which was a pretty nice hike, about five miles round trip.
Friday evening after dinner at the neighbors, Abigail played Fairytale by the Pointer Sisters for me on the piano. I gave her the sheet music before Christmas, it being one of my favorites and one I used to try to play when I still tried to play the piano. It is not an easy song and she did a nice job with it. She told me she has been working on it since before Christmas.
Juanita Browning passed away Saturday evening. She’d been in ill health for a while. For many years she’d been below her recommended weight and the last few months she’d lost more, much more. There didn’t seem to be anything that could be done so now her problems are over. RIP