First day of spring

Well, it's spring... Or so I thought. While I have seen blossoms on flowering trees when I go down closer to the Willamette River, out here at the farm, it still looks like winter.

I had some hope when vultures were seen and the quince began to open as they usually mean the hummingbirds will soon arrive. So far no hummers, and it looks like they were onto something we were not.

Perhaps the hummingbirds decided to skip our place this year as last summer Blackie got several of their babies :(. I would not blame them if they said forget that place. It would be hard to keep him in as he has always gone out during the days. He came to us as a stray from out there somewhere. Now BB, our geriatric cat, is too old to catch the birds. I dread the day Pepper goes out as she will be a very effective hunter. She's quick and loves to play with fast moving toys. That's the problem with the cats, it's a game-- a killing game.

Earlier this month, Farm Boss had to fly to Washington D.C. for a business meeting. He had not been gone more than fifteen minutes when Pepper, kicking her paws and vicious trying to destroy a toy on a string (attached to a pole for playing), got that string attached to her.

In a panic she began running through the house as if that pole was attacking her. I ran after her imagining her being strangled by it or having a leg broken as I had no idea how she had wrapped it around herself. Finally she went under one of the overstuffed chairs where the pursuing monster couldn't get her and finally I could.

I was relieved to see it was attached to a back paw and when I cut it free from the pole, I was able to unwind it from an undamaged leg. I had been visualizing a late night trip into an emergency veterinary clinic.

It seems things always go wrong when Farm Boss leaves and that trip was no exception. He flew home to Oregon on a second red-eye, arriving back at the farm at about 2 AM, just in time to hear the mourning sound of the cattle. I had hoped he'd get back and I wouldn't have to go out. Some of the cows had gotten out of their barn and into the sheep hay but their babies had been unable to follow them. It sounded like the furies out there.

This snow should be gone by noon... hopefully. My sinuses and I would just as soon skip spring and head straight for summer. Any chance of that?

It might look like it, but these were not black and white photos...