Day: May 4, 2025

Yes, it’s spring, and has been for a while, but up here, one day it’s freezing, the next you’re in shorts.

I typically leave the plants alone, even those we think of as weeds during this time of the year. My run of thumb is, “If it blooms, I’ll leave it so the bees have something to eat.”

The down side is that next season, there might be more weeds. The up side is that I’ve found a lot more native plants in this area have some of the nicest little blooms. Many are short lived, but they’re really neat. The bees like them, and that makes me smile.

It’s no skin off my nose to leave things be, until after the blooms are done. This year because of the wild variations in temp the normal Spring progression has been very weird.

For example, the mountain lilac is in full bloom and fragrant but there are definitely not the normal number of bees. Normally there would be a constant hum within the lilacs but not this year. I think the cold snaps may have harmed some of the local bee colonies. 

Then there’s the other possibility. Someone in the neighborhood poisoned the hell out of their yard which killed off the colonies. I hope the latter isn’t true but it’s an unfortunate likelihood.

Nonetheless, I’ll continue to provide a safe place where there are no pesticides.

That being said, yesterday, I was outside with the weed whacker and cut down the taller native plants whose flowering cycle was done. Most of the work was in the back yard. There are some plants that get tall and provide cover for snakes.

That is a problem because the dog has the run of the back yard and the last thing I need, is him scaring or harassing a rattlesnake. The dog is fast and agile, but I don’t know if he’d be able to avoid the strike much less understand the danger. Sometimes, he’s not the brightest bulb in the pack.

Case in point, here’s a picture of a poor snake we encountered on our walk a couple of days ago. This snake is in “Stick Mode”, because Jesse came round a corner on the trail and completely missed that it was there. Jesse never broke stride and walked right over the poor thing. Exposed like it was, the snake decided to be a “stick”.  This guy was maybe 2 feet long and isn’t poisonous but could just as easily been a rattler.

Today, my arms are rubber, and my shoulders, chest and back are a bit sore.

I could use a massage!

I have a love / hate relationship with the yard work, I mostly enjoy doing it but as I’m getting older, it takes more out of me and longer to fully recover.

I did the yard stuff after our usual walk. So I got my steps in, and was outside for a few hours. It wasn’t until after I came in that I remembered I’d been outside without my hat. On the plus side I remembered to put my gloves and eye protection on before I started working in the yard.

Often the first few times I work outside in the Spring, I’ll forget gloves or eye protection and only remember after something has been kicked up in my face, or I look down and notice I’m dripping blood from a cut on my hand or something. 

This time, I just ended up with a bunch of plant debris in my hair and down my shirt.

When I was done in the front yard. I was just about to go inside and let the breeze carry the clippings away. (There wasn’t much to speak of.) Then I remembered the neighbor across the street who loses his mind if anyone uses a leaf blower in their yard.

I still had 25% charge in the battery. So, for the sake of being a bastard, I pulled the battery from the weed whacker & put it in the leaf blower. That gave me 30 satisfying minutes of driveway and step cleaning, with the neighbor screaming about this not being a parking lot and how it disturbs his sleep, and the usual staccato of obscenities.

I was vaguely aware of his complaints, but I couldn’t quite hear him over the music I was listening to via my AirPods. 

The two huskies across the street had been quiet throughout my working in the yard. They watched quietly and didn’t make a peep even while I began running the leaf blower. When the idiot started shouting and complaining from behind his screen door. They trotted over to their fence facing him, and began to howl as only two huskies can do.

When the battery on the blower died, I went inside for a nice glass of tea.

The huskies continued howling in his general direction for another 5 minutes or so. I must remember to take them some treats!

Have a lovely Sunday.