with trunks of memories still to come

I would love to say that I spent the nicest week of the year so far enjoying the fresh Spring air, but if I did I would probably start to cough and hack up a lung.  I wheeze like a 10 pack a day habit.  I have been waylaid, ambushed, and accosted by an upper respiratory infection.  

I missed awesome growth in the yard, flowers and shrubs have really started to bloom.   Last Saturday the daffodils were just peeking above the soil and one week later the are healthy, hale, and full of beauty. 

The tulips are breaking some serious ground and my birthday bush is starting to peep green.  Andrew's Forsythia is almost, almost flowering.  I think there is more than one kind of Forsythia, because a neighbor that has the longest row, has some blooming, some near, and ready to bloom in two weeks. 

The glory of the demesne is showing her beautiful life. 

I was reminded that it is time to start the garden.  I am looking forward to that, well not the weeding, it is time to decide what to grow.   Tomatoes, I want tons of tomatoes, of every variety and color.  Eggplant, zucchini, and squash should round it out.  Maybe some string beans.

We have been adjusting to life without multiple dogs, and let me say that it is wonderful from a vacuuming standpoint.  The amount of dog fur/hair was incalculable, there was a major significant amount of hair going on inside of this house that needed to be sucked up.  When we lost Sadie, the hair situation improved only negligibly.  So when the kids moved out and took Skazi with them, it was almost nirvana.  Buddy and Chico do shed, but not a crazy amount and now that it is only Chico, who does a lot of sleeping, there is no fur that constitutes constant vacuuming.  Now that we have been elected to take care of Luna, well she comes with a whole bunch different concerns.  Her dander makes us both sneeze, but her fur effects Andrew much more.  Also, the litter box, not my favorite thing by any stretch of the imagination.  She is de-clawed and she loves to go outside.  Luna pesters Andrew continuously to go out.  I think the funniest thing is how utterly silly you feel about being outside with a cat on a leash.  One stands there like a happy idiot as she meows and crawls around almost on her belly.  Luna makes herself very noticeable by rolling all over the sidewalk and curb.  I have never seen a cat wanting to get dirty, she just wants to roll, twist, then climb into the shrubs and bushes to eat the birds.....she is not successful in the bird eating department but I think she would love to get her paws into a poor little bird.  It doesn't help matters in that we both say to her while she is laying in the window "do you want to eat them birdies"?

Oh, and yes she is a beggar. 

we found things to do in stormy weather