Wildlife

I was just tying my shoes this morning, when I heard a soft tapping at the front door. Thinking that perhaps The Grandson and his Younger Brother had arrived -- it's their day to come to Mama Lynnie's -- I went to the door. To my surprise, two quail scurried away from the door, down the front steps and across the lawn.

Add them to the robins nesting in our backyard, the three squirrels that provide exercise and entertainment for the neighbor's cats, and the three deer that strolled down the road in front of my house at midday last week. This is an interesting neighborhood.

It is beginning to look like Spring. There are a few yellow daffodils blooming in the circle around the willow tree in the front yard, and the brick planters by the porch have a scattering of tired-looking tulips sprouting. The lawn is greening up and probably will need its first mowing in a week or so. The tomato and squash plants I started last month are almost ready to transplant from the starting tray to their own little pots. Frank sprayed the apple trees this weekend. The lumber to build the raised beds for the vegetable garden is stacked on the concrete slab by his shop. That's probably next weekend's project.

It's all good. Even after the relatively mild winter we've had, I'm itching for green, growing things again.