Signs of Spring in West Texas
Category: Local...
Posted Thursday, April 01, 2004 at 05:29 PM [GMT-6]

  • I saw the first snake of the year during this morning's bike ride. It could have been a juvie rattler, but it was really too long...I'm guessing a grass snake or a whip; I was moving too fast to be sure.

  • The mesquite is leafing out (as Ed Todd observed in this morning's MRT column, which apparently is not yet online). The Bradford pear and purple plums have already flowered and leafed, but they are the Cosmo Kramers of the tree world: hipster doofii strutting their stuff while totally oblivious to reality, and thus prone to getting whacked by late freezes. The mesquite, however, are muy sabio and rarely fooled.

  • My annual back porch war with the birds has begun, as they once again attempt to build nests behind the speakers mounted near the ceiling. What they lack in perceptiveness they more than make up in industriousness, as I'm having to knock down partially completed nests two or three times every day. Better now, of course, than when they contain eggs.

  • I've mowed my yard for the first time this year. This, of course, required that I engage in the mysterious and challenging Powered Equipment Resurrection Ritual in order to bring back to life my weedeater, lawn mower and leaf blower. The mower started on the first pull, even with a tank of six month old gasoline. The blower started on the sixth pull; not too bad for a two stroke engine. The weedeater -- ah, the weedeater -- well, it started on approximately the 300th pull of the rope. It's never been precocious, and, of course, I managed to flood it at least once in my enthusiasm to get the gas/oil mix pumping through its congested little metabolism. Interestingly, I not only didn't say bad things about its heritage while yanking the rope like a yo-yo'er on crack, I didn't even think them. No, I simply smiled inwardly and contemplated the rapidly approaching time when it would start a new era of existence as spare parts. Any day now, baby...any day now.
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Comments

Leaf Blower?
Is that one of those things that blows yard cuttings all over the neighborhood?

Jordan

Posted by: Jordan at April 1, 2004 06:56 PM

Umm...why do you ask? <whistling innocently>

Actually, I find mine is much more useful when converted to a vacuum, which, in fact, is how I used it this time.

But, yes, I suppose one could use it to blow debris through the neighborhood. Theoretically.

Posted by: Eric at April 1, 2004 07:22 PM

Hi Eric,

I was talking with a neighbor about your "war with the birds" and I think I might have a solution.

What he suggested works on the same principle as the scarecrow. As you know, what "scares" the crows is actually the human scent on the clothing as much as the general human outline.

My neighbor suggested sewing up a few small bags of cheese cloth and filling them with freshly trimmed cat hair (something you can get for the asking from a pet grooming service). Hang (or jam) the filled bags up behind the speakers where Tweety and his pals are constructing their condos.

The snuggly scents of Garfield, Morris, and Felix should give your feathered friends the idea that if they start building back there, they'll end up as lunch.

Then again, I don't know how Abbye will react to the smell of a cat on her "turf". I don't know how territorial she is. From what you mentioned about her reaction to Gabby and the other black Labs on the same day, she's very even tempered.

But I thought I'd mention it just the same.

Posted by: Mr. Freen at April 4, 2004 11:59 AM

Bags of cat hair, huh? Sounds like the makings of a witchly potion. ;-)

Frankly, I didn't even know cats went to the groomer (I never thought about it). Abbye's groomer doesn't do cats.

But, I do think it would probably work; I'm just not sure I want to go around town looking for cat fur!

Posted by: Eric at April 4, 2004 03:39 PM

Spring? This early? We're still waiting for the final big snowfall to hit us. My roses won't even grow out of their frozen stumps until May. Man! Am I in the wrong part of the country! Of course, I've also been in Midland during August, so maybe not. ;)

Posted by: manasclerk at April 4, 2004 09:48 PM

Yeah, you gotta take the bad with the good!

Posted by: Eric at April 4, 2004 10:07 PM
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