It seemed that every goldfinch I tried to photograph yesterday had bits of seed hulls clinging to their beak. I look at this beautiful bird, then read the wise words of the poet, and then notice the seed hull stuck to his beak and it makes me giggle. Reminds me of myself and those times when I thought I was being so cool, charming and witty — only to discover I had a bit mustard tucked in the corner of my mouth during the whole of the conversation …

We’re all doing fine. Miss JesseDog has a new set of favorite dog candies and cookies that her Aunty Marie sends her. Buddy the WonderDog has had his last outing of the season to the ponds and up to the hill — it is ugly duckling and bambi season, keeping him out of those areas will keep him outta trouble.

Love to you!

The old rhodie on the left is diseased and ugly. The rhodies on the right are overgrown and have been beaten back too many times.

Before …

And now, after …

Eeek!

Now the fun begins. What to plant? Birds and bee friendly native plants and bushes, I’d expect. Now begins the fun of finding them!

BTW, I don’t think I’ve showed you my new jacket (my dad’s old jacket). Yup, that’s me, BadAss.

This is spring break for Stosh, he’s hoping to get a bit of sun so he can get some work done outside. He has decided to tackle the task of building me a flowerbed alongside the house. The beds will be 2.5 feet wide, only deep enough for me to reach comfortably. I plan to buy some bird and butterfly attracting plants as well as some yummy edibles. Yum!

Hmmm, I bet he could make me a lovely covered cold frame. Oooo!

“Stooo-oosh!!”

Stosh and I decided to explore the South Pond and paddle up into Middle Marsh today.

He stood in the back of the boat like a gondolier. The water isn’t very deep in most places, still I had to ask if he had ever fallen in before.

“Only once,” he said, “but it was the dog that turned over the boat.”

I leaned back to get a shot off at a couple of ducks flying over our heads.

I thought I had my feet solidly anchored. I didn’t. I fell back off the bench and onto my butt.

Stosh nearly fell on top of me. I started laughing.

“What are you doing??” he asked, a little annoyed at me.

“I was trying to get the shot,” I said, like he was the dumb one.

I couldn’t stop laughing. He had to stop the boat and hold my camera so I could haul my ass back up onto the bench.

I got pretty excited when I saw the Beaver’s home off in the distance.

Stosh always lets me pretend that I saw it first when it comes to great discoveries. I point and shout and he just nods his head and says, “Yup.”

Its seems to be a pretty nice place. I wonder if he has a girlfriend?

“Wanna come back to my lodge?”

As we head back, from the lodge looking south you can just barely see the dam on the horizon. That Beaver does some nice work …

Look! The rare Decoy Heron is waiting for us to pull up onto the shore …

I wonder if he is the one that left this feather behind …

And here is another way to tell that Spring has arrived …

The view above is from the north Beaver Pond looking south on the Middle Marsh.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we have a hard time telling when Spring actually arrives because most every day is so gray and rainy, so God sent us the Daffodil and the Skunk Cabbage. When we can spot the bright yellow sunshine lying on the ground, we know we can officially call it Springtime.

I’m not quite sure what I’m going to end up doing with this old bunkhouse, but I’ve been dreaming about creating something cool and interesting out of it for over 15 years.

It’s time to set Stosh to dreaming up something to do with it, he always comes up with terrific ideas.

He says the apple tree (shown on the right side of the pic below) will have to go, but there is no rush yet. It still feeds the elk and deer.

The pair of plum trees that you see behind him have breathing room for the first time in years. We’re going to see how they do this spring before we make any decisions.

Seems a little silly to dig a hole in the ground to plant a small tree with such a huge shovel. Silly, but fun!

I bought a Honey Crisp and a Sunrise semi-dwarf.

I said a blessing prayer and a prayer of thanksgiving beside each tree. I know Stosh must have thought I was a little crazy, but he didn’t say anything.

The BCP has a prayer for everything. This one was my favorite:

For the Beauty of the Earth: We give you thanks, most gracious God, for the beauty of earth and sky and sea; for the richness of mountains, plains, and rivers; for the songs of birds and the loveliness of flowers. We praise you for these good gifts, and pray that we may safeguard them for our posterity. Grant that we may continue to grow in our grateful enjoyment of your abundant creation, to the honor and glory of your Name, now and for ever. Amen.

I love that the prayer of thanksgiving asks God for help in safeguarding the gifts of creation for “our posterity” and not “our prosperity.” Not for ourselves, but for those that follow us.

Episcopalians have been praying for the stewardship of the earth LONG before it became fashionable to be “green.”

Thanks be to God.